Challenge To "In God We Trust" On Currency Is Rejected

In a brief opinion in Kidd v. Obama, (D DC, Oct. 30, 2009), the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia rejected an Establishment Clause challenge to use of "In God We Trust" on U.S. currency, brought by a plaintiff who described himself as an atheist. The suit against the President and the Federal Reserve Board Chairman sought to have all currently circulating currency replaced with bills carrying no religious inscriptions. The court quoted a 9th Circuit opinion stating that use of the motto on currency: "is of a patriotic or ceremonial character and bears no true resemblance to a governmental sponsorship of a religious exercise."

Arkansas Superintendent Pondering Complaint Over Gideons In Classrooms

Today's Arkansas Times reports that the Superintendent of the Benton, Arkansas schools is "trying to figure out what to do" about a parent's complaint over religious activity at Ringgold Elementary School. For at least six years, school principal Ann Kerr has gone into 5th grade classrooms with members of Gideons International. The Gideons speak about their evangelical work and leave copies of the New Testament (plus Psalms and Proverbs) behind that students can pick up. The principal apparently believed that the practice was legal so long as Bibles were not actually handed to students.

All-Christian Private Prison Planned For Oklahoma

The Tulsa (OK) World reported Monday on plans by a non-profit prisons ministry, Corrections Concepts Inc., to build a private all-Christian prison in Wakita, Oklahoma. The 600-bed facility will be for men near the end of their sentences who volunteer to be housed there and agree to participate in its program. Unlike faith-based or Christian units in state prisons, this one plans to employ only Christians as administrators and staff. Oklahoma or other states will pay $42.80 per day for inmates to be housed in the facility. Inmates will be required to participate in Christ-centered literacy and life-skills classes, though attendance at religious services and Bible study will be voluntary. Bill Robinson, founder of the Dallas-based Corrections Concepts, says he has legal opinions indicating that as a religious organization the ministry can limit hiring to Christians. Robinson says the born-again staff will see this as a mission. [Thanks to Blog from the Capital for the lead.]

British Court Says Catholic Diocese Is Responsible for Abuse At Community Home

Today's London Times reports that a High Court judge in Leeds has ruled that the Middlesbrough Catholic Diocese, rather than the De La Salle Order of lay brothers, is responsible for damages to 142 people who allege physical and sexual abuse at the St. Williams Community Home in Market Weighton. The home's former headmaster, Brother James Carragher, was sentenced to 14 years in prison for abusing boys at St. Williams that housed boys between 10 and 16 years old who had behavioral and emotional problems. The systematic abuse of children at the home in the English county of East Yorkshire took place from 1960 until 1992. The court said that the Diocese had management responsibility for the home. However the court granted the Diocese leave to appeal. The Diocese claims that the De La Salle Order is responsible for what could be damages of up to £8 million.

Road Protection Law Would Infringe Mennonites' Religious Beliefs

Howard County, Iowa is considering a road protection ordinance that would ban steel-wheel vehicles on hard surfaced roads. According to Rochester, Minnesota's AgriNews, at a hearing on Monday an Elizabethtown College sociologist testified that the ban would create problems for members of the Old Order Groffdale Mennonite Conference. When the Groffdale Conference accepted the use of tractors for farm work, it required they have steel wheels or steel cleats. The Conference was concerned that use of rubber tires would lead to use of the tractors for transportation, and eventually to the use of automobiles, which would break up the Mennonites' close-knit communities. The requirement to use steel cleats or wheels is part of the Conference's Ordnung, and anyone who violates the rule could face excommunication.

AU Asks IRS To Investigate Mayoral Endorsement By Pennsylvania Pastor

Americans United yesterday (press release) asked the Internal Revenue Service (full text of letter) to investigate whether Bethel Village AME Church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania violated IRS regulations applicable to non-profits by supporting one of the city's mayoral candidates. AU cites an introduction by the church's pastor of Linda Thompson, the current city council president who was the Democratic candidate for mayor. Thompson then spoke from the pulpit for ten minutes. In the introduction, Pastor Martin Odom praised Thompson as "a person who knows the ins and outs of city government," and referred to her as "the next mayor of the city of Harrisburg." Thompson won the mayoral election on Tuesday. (Harrisburg Patriot-News.)

New Zealand OKs Cola Ad Portraying Humorous Confessional Exchange

The New Zealand Advertising Standards Complaint Board has rejected a complaint that a television ad by Demon Drinks, Ltd. violates provisions in its Advertising Code of Ethics barring any ad "which in the light of generally prevailing community standards is likely to cause serious or widespread offence"or which is prepared without "a due sense of social responsibility." Yesterday's New Zealand Catholic reports that the ad, for Illicit Cola, portrays a young man in a confessional telling a supposed priest: "Father, I've sinned. I'm seeing this girl, but I also want her sister." The priest responds:"Don't be shy, my son; date them both." Then the young man refers to Illicit Cola and says: "It's good to be bad." The Board ruled that the ad contains obvious hyperbole and humor and thus does not cause serious or widespread offense.

Obama, Other Officials Meeting With Eastern Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarch

Yesterday, Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, leader of worldwide Orthodox Christians, met at the White House with President Obama. (White House press release.) Fox News reports that the Patriarch, who is a leader in the environmental movement, will also meet this week with Vice President Biden, Secretary of State Clinton and Congressional leaders. The government of Turkey has refused to recognize Bartholomew as the leader of the Eastern Orthodox church. The White House statement indicated that the President supports the reopening of the Halki Seminary in Istanbul. The seminary was closed down over thirty years ago after Turkey's Constitutional Court ruled that parts of the country's Private University Law were unconstitutional. President Obama urged reopening of the seminary as part of his speech before Turkey's Parliament last April. (Background).

Jehovah's Witnesses Denied Recognition By Nagorno-Karabakh Court

Forum 18 reported yesterday that in Nagorno-Karabakh, the General Court of First Instance in Stepanakert has upheld the denial of registration under the country's Religion Law to Jehovah's Witnesses. The country's Department for Ethnic Minority and Religious Affairs refused the registration application because Jehovah's Witness charter allows proselytism. Under the Religion Law only the Armenian Apostolic Church may proselytize outside its own religious community. Unrecognized religious communities are banned from meeting together for religious activities, though so far authorities are not interfering with religious meetings of Jehovah's Witnesses. Nagorno-Karabakh is an internationally-unrecognized self-governing area of Azerbaijan.

Utah High Court Hears Arguments In FLDS Leader's Appeal

Yesterday the Utah Supreme Court heard arguments in the case of State v. Jeffs, an appeal by Warren Jeffs, former head of the FLDS Church. Jeffs was convicted of rape as an accomplice (see prior posting) for his role in the arranged marriage of a 14-year-old to her 19-year-old cousin. (Audio of oral arguments.) Today's Dallas Morning News summarizes the arguments. Members of the FLDS Church practice polygamy in arranged marriages. Defense attorney Walter Bugden argued that the state charged Jeffs with a crime that does not fit the facts. He asserted:"This is an unpopular religion, and the state decided to find a way to bring down this unpopular religious figure."

European Court Says Crucifixes In Italian Classrooms Violate Human Rights Convention

In Lautsi v. Italy, (ECHR, Nov. 3 2009) [judgment in French], the European Court of Human Rights has ruled that crucifixes in public school classrooms in Italy violate the European Convention on Human Rights' protections of thought, conscience and religion (Art. 9) and the right of parents to educate their children according to their convictions (Protocol 1, Art. 2). The Court's press release on the decision recounts that the challenge was brought by a mother who wished to raise her children as secularists. It summarizes the court's conclusions:

The presence of the crucifix ... could easily be interpreted by pupils of all ages as a religious sign and they would feel that they were being educated in a school environment bearing the stamp of a given religion. This could be encouraging for religious pupils, but also disturbing for pupils who practised other religions or were atheists, particularly if they belonged to religious minorities. The freedom not to believe in any religion (inherent in the freedom of religion guaranteed by the Convention) ... extended to practices and symbols which expressed a belief, a religion or atheism.... The State ... was required to observe confessional neutrality in the context of public education, where attending classes was compulsory irrespective of religion, and where the aim should be to foster critical thinking in pupils.

The court awarded damages of 5000 Euros to plaintiff. According to Zenit yesterday, the Italian Bishops Conference issued a statement saying that the decision:

ignores or neglects the multiple meaning of the crucifix, which not only is a religious symbol, but also a cultural sign. It does not take into account the fact that, in reality, in the Italian experience, the display of the crucifix in public places is in harmony with the recognition of the principles of Catholicism as part of the historical patrimony of the Italian people, confirmed by the Concordat of 1984.

AKI reports on the court's decision, giving additional background. [Thanks to Dott. Pasquale Annicchino for the lead.]

UPDATE: According to CNA (Nov. 4) , Italy's Minister of Education, Mariastella Gelmini, rejected the ECHR decision, saying: "Nobody, much less a European court that is steeped in ideology, will be allowed to strip our identity away."

UPDATE 2: The Nov. 7 Christian Post reports that Italy plans to appeal the ruling of the 7-judge panel to the ECHR's 17-judge Grand Chamber.

British Tribunal Says Environmentalism Is Protected Under "Religion or Belief" Regulations

Britain's Employment Equality (Religion or Belief) Regulations 2003 prohibit employment discrimination on the basis of religion or belief. In Graingner PLC v. Nicholson, (EAT, Nov. 3, 2009) [full text, Word.doc], Britain's Employment Appeal Tribunal has held that:

A belief in man-made climate change, and the alleged resulting moral imperatives, is capable, if genuinely held, of being a philosophical belief for the purpose of the 2003 Religion and Belief Regulations. The belief must be of a similar cogency or status to a religious belief, the ECHR jurisprudence is directly material and the limitations on the concept and extent of a philosophical belief can be derived from that, without the need to place any additional limitation on the nature or source of the belief.

The company claims that Tim Nicholson, a former executive of the real estate company Grainger, was dismissed for operational reasons and not because of his environmental beliefs. The case now goes back to the Employment Tribunal for a hearing on this issue. The Independent today reports on the case.

Two Employment Discrimination Suits Filed Recently Charge Religious Harassment

Two unrelated lawsuits, both alleging religious discrimination in employment, have been filed recently. In one, yesterday the EEOC sued Administaff, Inc. and Conn-X, LLC (a Baltimore cable provider) alleging religious harassment of two brothers who are Jewish. The complaint alleges unusually harsh anti-Semitic harassment by managers and co-workers, including anti-Jewish slurs, defacing one of the brother's work vehicles with a swastika and and forcing him into a trash bin to the amusement of managers who watched on a surveillance camera calling the action "throw the Jew into the dumpster." Trading Markets reprints the EEOC's press release on the case. [Thanks to Steven H. Sholk for the lead.]

In Atlanta last week, James Bara, a former employee of Google's data center who is a practicing Wiccan, filed suit charging both religious and gender discrimination. According to the complaint (full text) in Bara v. Google, Inc. (ND GA, filed 10/29./2009), after Bara objected to remarks made by his supervisor about a newly hired transgender employee, the supervisor retaliated against Bara in setting his working conditions, and also subjected him to "a steady discourse of comments and 'jokes' regarding witches, witchcraft and witch trials." Tech Crunch yesterday reported on the case.

Maine Voters Reject Same-Sex Marriage

In a referendum yesterday, Maine voters rejected the state's recently-enacted law to permit same-sex marriage. The New York Times reported early Wednesday morning that with 87% of the precincts reporting, 53% of the voters had voted in favor of repeal. The Catholic Church was one of the primary supporters of the repeal referendum. It asked parishes to pass a second collection plate at Sunday Mass to support the repeal effort. The website of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland features a strong rebuke to a group of Catholics who had taken out an ad favoring marriage equality. It also features a Homily (full text) delivered in October, which supports legal recognition of domestic partnerships, but opposes same-sex marriage:

It is not discrimination to call things by their own names. We have different names for different things. A cat is not a dog; an oak tree is not a rose..... It is not discrimination to call one person a husband and another person a wife. It is not discrimination to say that one person is heterosexual and another person is homosexual. It is not discrimination to call the union of a man and a woman marriage and to call the committed relationship of homosexual persons something else -- you pick the word. It is difficult to believe that Maine people, much less Christian people, see no difference between marriage and homosexual unions, even when homosexual unions are perceived as desirable. There remains a difference and the difference should have its own name.

Marriage is an absolutely unique and irreplaceable relationship. Other relationships can be loving; other relationships can be committed; other relationships can even be permanent, but still not be marriage, but something else. Marriage is the miracle of the coming together to a man and a woman whose love and commitment is open to overflow to create the new life of a new person.

3rd Circuit Finds Combined Restrictions On Abortion Leafleting Are Unconstitutional

In Brown v. City of Pittsburgh, (3d Cir., Oct 30, 2009), the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals held that Pittsburgh's combination of a 15 foot buffer zone and a 100 foot "bubble zone", when taken together, were unconstitutional on their face in restricting anti-abortion leafleters. As described by an AP story on the decision: "The Pittsburgh law bans protesters from standing within 15 feet of entrances but also makes them stand 8 feet from clients in a 100-foot buffer around entrances." According to the court, the combined restrictions are not narrowly enough tailored to survive a free expression challenge. It said: "the layering of two types of prophylactic measures is 'substantially broader than necessary' to achieve" the governmental interests involved. However, the court said, either restriction by itself could be constitutional. Plaintiff also claimed that the ordinance violates her free exercise of religion because it impermissibly interferes with her religiously motivated efforts to dissuade women from undergoing abortions. The court however found that the restriction is a valid facially neutral law of general applicability. It also concluded that the law does not violate Pennsylvania's Religious Freedom Protection Act.

Bankruptcy Court Says Bishop Need Not Appear At Chpater 11 Creditors Meeting

The federal Bankruptcy Code provides that when a debtor is going through a Chapter 11 reorganization, the U.S. trustee is to convene a meeting of creditors where the trustee and creditors may question the debtor under oath. (Background.) In the pending Chapter 11 bankruptcy of the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington (see prior posting), the diocese designated its vicar general of administration, the Rev. Monsignor Thomas Cini, as the person to attend and answer questions. However, according to yesterday's South Jersey Courrier Post, victims of sexual abuse who have claims against the diocese wanted Bishop W. Francis Malooly to appear instead. An attorney for the victims said: "The goals of the debtor for transparency, for healing, for atoning, if you will, for what happened to these people requires that this person show up." Judge Christopher Sontchi however agreed that it would make more sense for Cinci to appear, since he knows more about the situation. Malooly has been with the diocese for only about a year, and there are no allegations of wrongdoing against him.

Foreclosure On Georgia Hindu Temple Can Move Ahead

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported yesterday that a federal bankruptcy judge has lifted a temporary stay, clearing the way for creditors to sell off at a foreclosure sale of The Hindu Temple of Georgia. The move came after the court found the Temple in contempt for failing to hand over specified financial documents. The Temple filed for bankruptcy after it defaulted on a $2.3 million loan on its $5 million facility in Norcross, Georgia. The judge also asked the U.S. trustee handling the case to have the FBI investigate potential criminal wrongdoing by Temple leaders.

DC Council Holds Hearing On Same-Sex Marriage Proposal

Last week, the District of Columbia Council, Committee on Public Safety and the Judiciary, held a hearing on the proposed Religious Freedom & Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act of 2009 which would allow same-sex marriages to be performed in the District of Columbia. (A video of the hearing is available online.) Under the bill, no clergy would be required to solemnize a marriage if it violated the clergy person's free exercise of religion. No religious organization is required to make facilities or services available for a marriage that is in violation of the group's religious beliefs unless the group makes the facilities available to the general public. The Pilot yesterday reported on written testimony submitted at the hearing by the Catholic Archdiocese of Washington. The Archdiocese urged broader religious exemptions, including exemptions for religious groups that provide services or rent space to those outside the group's faith. The Archdiocese warned that under the current bill, organizations that oppose same-sex marriages for religious reasons but serve the community could be denied government contracts or access to government facilities. It also claimed that under the bill, doctors, social workers and child-care workers opposed to same-sex marriage could have their licenses revoked, employers could be sued for not providing benefits to same-sex couples and religious colleges could have their accreditation revoked. (See prior related posting.)

Cert. Denied In Connecticut Order For Release of Priest Abuse Records

The Supreme Court yesterday denied certiorari in Bridgeport Roman Catholic Diocese v. New York Times Co., (Docket No. 09-246, 11/2/2009) (Order List.) In the case, the Connecticut Supreme Court granted the request of four newspapers for release of some 12,600 pages of documents filed in 23 cases alleging sexual abuse by Roman Catholic clergy. (See prior posting.) The denial of certiorari is not surprising since the court last month refused to grant a stay of the Connecticut order pending a decision on the granting of cert. (See prior posting.) AP reported on the case yesterday.

New York Bishop Supports City Council Candidate Through Recorded Phone Message

In New York, Catholic clergy are becoming surprisingly involved in the election race tomorrow for the New York City Council seat from Brooklyn's District 34. Today's New York Times reports that this week end, a recorded phone message from Bishop Nicholas A. DiMarzio was sent to every registered voter in the district. The call praised Assemblyman Vito J. Lopez who supports one of the two City Council candidates, Maritza Davila. Lopez was key in defeating a bill in the New York Assembly earlier this year that would have provided a one-year window for bringing clergy sexual abuse cases as to which the statute of limitations had already expired. (See prior posting.) The other candidate in the City Council race, Diana Reyna (who is Catholic), has been fighting Assemblyman Lopez over the rezoning of the 31-acre Brooklyn Triangle site. (See prior posting.) At one point she urged the ouster of a local priest as head of the local housing group that was opposing the rezoning.