Religion & Law

State Department's 2012 International Religious Freedom Report Released; New Envoy To Monitor Anti-Semitism Announced

Posted on May 21, 2013
Yesterday, after comments by Secretary of Statse John Kerry, Suzan Johnson Cook, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for International Religious Freedom, released the U.S. State Department's 2012 International Religious Freedom Report. The Report assesses the situation county-by-country around the world...

Alaska's Compelling Interest In Limiting Yupik Eskimos' Salmon Fishing Trumps Free Exercise Claim

Posted on May 21, 2013
In an Alaska state trial court yesterday, acting Alaska District Court Judge Bruce G. Ward ruled in a 7-page opinion that Yupik Eskimos may not assert free exercise defenses to citations against them for illegally fishing for King Salmon.  The judge held that while subsistence fishing by the Alaska Natives may well be the practice of their religion, the state has a compelling interest in placing limitations on the taking of Chinook salmon...

Science Education Group Issues "Scorecard" On 2013 State Anti-Evolution Proposals

Posted on May 21, 2013
The National Center for Science Education yesterday issued their "scorecard" on state legislative proposals this year that are anti-evolution or anti-climate change. It reviews activity on "anti-science" bills in 9 states-- a total of 10 bills and one resolution.

This Year's Dearborn Arab International Festival Is Canceled

Posted on May 21, 2013
For the past 18 years, the Arab American Chamber of Commerce has sponsored an Arab International Festival in Dearborn, Michigan.  In recent years the festival has sparked confrontations between Christian proselytizers and Muslim attendees, some of which have led to extensive litigation...

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Britain Releases 2011 Census Data On Religious Affiliation and Characteristics of Population By Religion

Posted on May 20, 2013
Last week, Britain's Office for National Statistics released new data from the 2011 census on religious affiliation for residents of England and Wales. The data on numbers and median age shows 33.2 million Christians, 14 million with no religion, 2...

Recent Articles of Interest

Posted on May 20, 2013
From SSRN:Anissa Helie and Marie Ashe, Multiculturalist Liberalism and Harms to Women: Looking Through the Issue of 'The Veil', (19 U.C. Davis Journal of International Law & Policy 1 (2012), pp. 1-65).David H. Schraub, Our Divine Constitution, (44 Loyola University Chicago Law Journal 1201 (2013))...

Supreme Court Grants Certiorari In City Council Invocation Case

Posted on May 20, 2013
The U.S. Supreme Court today agreed to weigh in on the extensively litigated issue of opening city council meetings with prayer.  It granted certiorari in Town of Greece, NY v. Galloway, (Docket No. 12-696, cert. granted 5/20/2013). (Order List)...

Appeals Court Dismisses Suit Alleging Defamation In Church Annulment Proceedings

Posted on May 19, 2013
A Kansas appellate court, in a 2-1 decision, affirmed the dismissal of a suit brought by plaintiff against his former wife alleging that she made defamatory statements to a Catholic Archdiocesan Tribunal in seeking an annulment of their marriage.  The annulment petition claimed plaintiff had been diagnosed as bipolar...

Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases

Posted on May 19, 2013
In Rich v. Secretary, Florida Department of Corrections, (11 Cir., May 14, 2013), the 11th Circuit sent back for trial a Jewish prisoner's challenge under RLUIPA to Florida's refusal to provide him with kosher meals.In Watkins v. Rogers, (10th Cir...

Afghan Parliament Tables Bill Protecting Women After Objections From Islamic Legislators

Posted on May 18, 2013
Today's Deutsche Welle reports that in Afghanistan's Parliament, lawmakers have withdrawn a bill that would have instituted a number of protections for women.  The action came after  religious parties complained that the proposed law was un-Islamic...

French President Signs Same-Sex Marriage Bill After Constitutional Council Upholds It

Posted on May 18, 2013
The New York Times reports that in France today, President Francois Hollande signed into law Projet de Loi Ouvrant le Mariage aux Couples de Personnes de Même Sexe, making France the 14th country to legalize same-sex marriage. Hollande's action follows a decision handed down yesterday by France's Constitutional Council rejecting constitutional challenges to the new law...

Convictions Handed Down In Securities Fraud Conspiracy That Used Ministers To Sell Stock

Posted on May 17, 2013
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Missouri announced Wednesday that 5 defendants were convicted in federal court in a $10.2 million securities fraud conspiracy involving the use of clergy to sell shares in Petro America Corporation...

Louisiana Appeals Court Upholds Election, Injunctive Relief In Baptist Church Dispute

Posted on May 17, 2013
In Thornton v. Carthon, 2013 La. App. LEXIS 923 (LA App., May 15, 2013), a Louisiana state appeals court affirmed the trial court's decision confirming the court-ordered election of the board of trustees of Shreveport's Baptist Temple Church.  Some of the newly elected trustees had been attempting to call a membership meeting to oust Rev...

Kansas City Diocese Settles A Child Pornography Lawsuit

Posted on May 17, 2013
The Kansas City Star reported that on Tuesday the Kansas City-St. Joseph (MO) Catholic Diocese has agreed to settle a child pornography lawsuit filed against it, Bishop Robert Finn and Catholic priest Shawn Ratigan, for $600,000. The suit was brought by parents of a girl who claimed that Ratigan took sexually explicit photos of the girl when she was 2 years old, and distributed them over the Internet...

Rabbi's Sex Assault Conviction May Encourage Others In New Jersey Orthodox Community To Bring Complaints To Civil Authorities

Posted on May 17, 2013
AP reported earlier this week that a guilty plea in the sexual assault trial of former yeshiva teacher Rabbi Yosef Kolko "may be a watershed for the prosecutor's office and the Orthodox Jewish community in Lakewood [New Jersey]."  The plea came Monday, part way through Kolko's trial, after two others claiming to have been abused by Kolko contacted the prosecutor's office last week...

Catholic Diocese Settles Suit Complaining About Priest's Statements During Confession

Posted on May 17, 2013
The Concord Monitor reports today that the Catholic diocese of Manchester has settled a breach of contract lawsuit filed against it in February in which a 14-year old boy's parents complained about statements made by a priest to their son during confession at his Catholic school...

In Wake of IG Report, Evangelical Leaders Charge IRS Also Dealt Improperly With Religious Non-Profits

Posted on May 16, 2013
As widely reported, this week the Treasury Department's Inspector General for Tax Administration issued a report (full text) concluding that the Internal Revenue Service used inappropriate criteria in reviewing applications of Tea Party and similar conservative organizations for tax exempt 501(c)(4) status...

6th Circuit Denies Asylum To German Family Claiming Persection of Home Schoolers

Posted on May 16, 2013
In a case that has been closely followed by home-school advocates, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals this week denied asylum to a German family that claimed persecution because of Germany's ban on home schooling.  As reported by RNS, the evangelical Christian family prefers home schooling largely for religious reasons...

Georgia Governor Orders Gideon Bibles Returned To State Park Cabins

Posted on May 16, 2013
AP reports today on the controversy that has arisen in the state of Georgia over whether it is appropriate to permit Gideon Bibles to be placed in rooms of cabins at state-owned resorts. Atheist Ed Buckner complained about the Bibles after his family visited a state part to celebrate his son's birthday...

Florist Counter-Sues State AG Over Right To Refuse To Create Floral Arrangements For Same-Sex Wedding

Posted on May 16, 2013
As previously reported, last month the Washington state attorney filed a consumer protection lawsuit in state court against a retail florist for refusing, because of her religious opposition to same-sex marriage, to furnish floral arrangements for a customer's same-sex wedding...

NEW EEOC Commissioner Sworn In

Posted on May 14, 2013
Yesterday, Jenny R. Yang was sworn in as a Commissioner of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, bringing the EEOC up to its full 5 commissioners.  (EEOC press release.) Yang was nominated by President Obama in August 2012 and her nomination was finally confirmed by the Senate on April 25, 2013...

EEOC Sues Medical Services Company That Required Employees To Participate In Scientology Classes

Posted on May 14, 2013
The EEOC announced last week that it has filed a Title VII lawsuit against the Florida-based Dynamic Medical Services, Inc. for requiring its employees to attend courses that used Scientology religious practices. The suit-- alleging hostile work environment and failure to accommodate employees' religious beliefs-- claims that the Miami company that provides medical and chiropractic services required its employees to spend at least half their work days in courses that involved practices such as screaming at  ashtrays or staring at someone for eight hours without moving...

Suit Against Church Over Pastor's Sexual Assault Dismissed on Collateral Estoppel Grounds

Posted on May 14, 2013
In Liddie v United Community Church of God, (NY Queens Co Sup Ct, April 30, 2013), a New York trial court dismissed on res judicata and collateral estoppel grounds a suit against United Community Church by a woman who claims she was sexually assaulted by the church's pastor while attending a bible study class at the the church...

PUBLICATION SCHEDULE: NEXT NEW POSTINGS ON RELIGION CLAUSE WILL APPEAR THURSDAY NIGHT

Posted on May 14, 2013

Christian Evangelists Escorted From 2012 Arab International Festival Lose Civil Rights Suit

Posted on May 14, 2013
In Bible Believers v. Wayne County, (ED MI, May 14, 2013), a Michigan federal district court dismissed a suit for declaratory and injunctive relief and nominal damages brought by a group of traveling Christian evangelicals who were escorted away by police and threatened with dsorderly conduct citations at last year's Arab International Festival in Dearborn, Michigan...

Recent Articles and Books of Interest

Posted on May 13, 2013
From SSRN:Seval Yildirim, Global Tangles: Law, Headcoverings and Religious Identity, (Santa Clara Journal of International Law, Forthcoming).Faisal Bhabha, From Saumur to L. (S.): Tracing the Theory and Concept of Religious Freedom under Canadian Law, (58 Supreme Court Law Review (2d), 2012)...

2012 Report On Catholic Diocese Child Protection Compliance and Complaints Issued

Posted on May 13, 2013
Last week, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops released the 2012 annual audit (full text) on diocesan compliance with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People. A May 9 Release from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops summarizes the findings of the annual report...

Minnesota Becomes 12th State To Legalize Same-Sex Marriage.

Posted on May 13, 2013
The Minnesota state Senate today, by a vote of 37-30, gave final passage to HF 1054, a bill authorizing same-sex civil marriage in the state.  The House of Representatives passed the bill last week by a vote of 75-59. (Legislative history.)  According to the New York Times, Governor Mark Dayton promised he will sign the bill tomorrow (Tuesday) afternoon...

School Board Cancels Official 6th Grade Graduation After Complaints About Prayer; Privately Sponsored Ceremony Planned

Posted on May 12, 2013
In Lake City, Arkansas, the Riverside School District has voted "to no longer sponsor the 6th grade graduation" after the Freedom From Religion Foundation, on behalf of a parent, wrote to object to prayer being part of the graduation ceremony. Yesterday's Christian Post reports that instead several mothers are organizing a graduation ceremony at a local church...

Saudi Court Sentences 2 To Jail, Lashings For Aiding Woman's Conversion To Christianity

Posted on May 12, 2013
Naharnet today reports that a court in the Saudi Arabian city of Khobar has sentenced two men for helping a young woman, identified only as "the girl of Khobar", convert to Christianity and flee to Sweden. All 3 were co-workers at an insurance company in Khobar...

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