Religion & Law

Sen. Reid Opposes Ground Zero Mosque As Republicans Make It A Campaign Issue

Posted on August 17, 2010
Republicans are making a campaign issue out of President Obama's statement (see prior posting) that Muslims have the right to build a mosque and community center near New York's Ground Zero. The Los Angeles Times reports yesterday that Senate majority leader, Nevada Sen...

Israeli Court In Middle of Dispute Over Removal of Tombstones From Area Said To Contain No Graves

Posted on August 16, 2010
According to last Friday's New York Times, in Israel last week, a Jerusalem district court initially agreed with the city and the Israel Antiquities Authority that the Aqsa Foundation had placed tombstones on top of an area of the former Ma'man Allah Cemetery where there were no graves in an attempt to prevent construction by the Simon Wiesenthal Center of a Museum of Tolerance...

Tanzanian Court Dismisses Illegal Preaching Charges Against Two Evangelists

Posted on August 16, 2010
BosNewsLife reports that a court in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania yesterday dismissed charges of "illegal preaching" against two Anglican evangelists who have been held since October 2009.  Apparently Muslims invited evangelists Eleutery Kobelo and Cecil Simbaulanga to engage in a religious debate in a neutral venue in Dar Es Salaam...

New North Carolina Law Allows 2 Excused School Absences For Religious Holidays

Posted on August 16, 2010
Yesterday's Charlotte (NC) Observer reports on a new law signed last month by North Carolina's governor that requires public schools and colleges in the state to adopt rules giving students a minimum of two excused absences each academic year for religious observances required by the student's faith...

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Recent Articles of Interest

Posted on August 16, 2010
From SSRN:Toni M. Massaro, Christian Legal Society v. Martinez: Six Frames, (Arizona Legal Studies Discussion Paper No. 10-27, Aug. 12, 2010).Geoffrey P. Miller, Nomadism, Dependency, Slavery and Nationhood: Comparative Politics in the Book of Exodus, (NYU School of Law, Public Law Research Paper No...

Suit Challenges Library Meeting Room Rules

Posted on August 16, 2010
Last week, Ilene Vick, author of the book Personality Based Evangelism, filed a federal lawsuit against the Putnam County, Tennessee Library challenging its rules on use of its meeting rooms. The complaint (full text) in Vick v. Putnam County, (MD TN, filed 8/12/2010), alleges that plaintiff was denied use of the Library's meeting room to hold a small group discussion on the ideas in her book...

9th Circuit Stays Order Striking Down Proposition 8; Seeks Briefing On Standing

Posted on August 16, 2010
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals today in Perry v. Schwarzenegger entered an order (full text) granting a stay during the appeal process of the district court's order that enjoined enforcement of California's Proposition 8. (See prior posting.) The court also ordered that the appeal be expedited and that it be scheduled for argument during the week of December 6, 2010...

Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases

Posted on August 15, 2010
In Nelson v. Runnels, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 82080 (ED CA, Aug. 11, 2010), a California federal magistrate judge recommended denial of defendants' motion for summary judgment, concluding that genuine issues of material fact remain as to an inmate's First Amendment claims that he was denied the right to attend religious services on two occasions in retaliation for his filing administrative grievances...

Church Wins In Its RLUIPA and Constitutional Challenges To Zoning Denial

Posted on August 15, 2010
In a lengthy opinion, a New York federal district court in Fortress Bible Church v. Feiner, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 82043 (SDNY, Aug. 11, 2010), held that the Town of Greenburgh, New York violated RLUIPA's "substantial burden" provisions, as well as the free exercise and equal protection provisions of the U...

Biblical References In School Board Member's Speech Did Not Violate Establishment Clause

Posted on August 15, 2010
In Rodriguez v. Jurupa Unified School District, (CA App., Aug. 10, 2010), a California state appellate court dismissed an establishment clause claim brought by a member of a school board who was censured by the board for sexual harassment. Plaintiff had claimed that comments by the school board president made when the censure motion was being considered-- comments drawing an analogy to events in the Biblical Garden of Eden-- violated the Establishment Clauses of the state and federal constitutions...

Court Orders Mets To Allow Kosher Vendor To Operate On Sabbath While Suit Is Pending

Posted on August 14, 2010
A New York federal district judge on Friday ordered the New York Mets to allow Kosher Sports to sell kosher hot dogs and other items at Friday night and Saturday afternoon games at Citi Field while a lawsuit is pending.  Yesterday's New York Daily News reports on developments in the damage suit brought by the food vendor that says it lost a half million dollars when it was banned from operating on those days...

Consent Decree Filed In DOJ's Suit Against Restaurant Charging Falun Gong Discrimination

Posted on August 14, 2010
The U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday that it had filed a consent decree in its religious discrimination action against a Flushing, NY restaurant that ejected ten patrons on three separate occasions in 2008 because they were wearing shirts displaying beliefs of the Falun Gong movement...

President Hosts Iftar At White House; Supports Right To Build Mosque Near Ground Zero

Posted on August 14, 2010
Last night, President Barack Obama hosted an Iftar-- a meal to break the Ramadan fast-- at the White House.  In his remarks (full text), the President focused on the importance of faith and religious free exercise in America, and came out in support of the right of Muslim groups to build a controversial mosque and community center near Ground Zero in New York City...

British Tribunal Says Council Can Fire Housing Officer For Religious Barrage of Client

Posted on August 13, 2010
In Britain, an employment tribunal has ruled that the London borough of Wandsworth was justified in firing a housing officer who gave a client a half hour lecture telling her that she was ill because she did not have God or faith in her life. Solicitors Journal and BBC News this week report that the Christian employee, Duke Amachree, appealed his dismissal by the Wandsworth Borough Council claiming religious discrimination...

Youth Pastor Can Proselytize In California Mall

Posted on August 13, 2010
In Snatchco v. Westfield LLC, (CA Ct. App., Aug. 11, 2010), a California appellate court upheld the right of a youth pastor to approach shopping mall patrons to talk with them about religion. Unlike the federal constitution, free speech protections under California's state constitution extend to activity at privately owned shopping malls...

Suit On Behalf of Monks Challenges Louisiana's Regulation of Funeral Industry

Posted on August 13, 2010
The Institute for Justice announced that yesterday it filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Louisiana on behalf of Saint Joseph Abbey of St. Benedict, Louisiana, to vindicate the right of the monks to make and sell their plain wooden caskets...

Russian Dairy Will Enforce Religious Rules On Employees-- Church Weddings and No Abortions

Posted on August 13, 2010
In Russia, the head of a prominent dairy company says he will fire any employee who refuses to be married in Russian Orthodox Church ceremonies, and will also fire any female employee who has had an abortion.  Reuters, in a report in today's Toronto Sun, quotes the president of Russkoye Moloko, Vasily Boiko-Veliky, who says his company-- with 6000 employees-- was created to promote the Orthodox revival in Russia...

RFRA Defense To Forest Service Permit Requirements For Large Groups Rejected

Posted on August 13, 2010
In a case decided several weeks ago, but which has just become available on LEXIS, a Colorado federal district court rejected a defense under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to charges of violating U.S. Forest Service regulations requiring a permit for groups of more than 75 individuals on Forest Service land...

Suit Seeks Return of State Tourism Grant To Restore Bald Knob Cross

Posted on August 13, 2010
Activist Rob Sherman yesterday filed a lawsuit in an Illinois federal district court seeking to force Friends of the Cross to return to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity a $20,000 grant it received to replace and install the exterior panels on the 11-foot high Bald Knob Cross in the Ozarks in southern Illinois...

Bulgaria Hopes Religious Archeological Find Will Draw Tourists

Posted on August 13, 2010
Today's Wall Street Journal reports that the Bulgarian government is hoping that tourism receives a boost after an archaeological discovery on an island off Bulgaria's Black Sea coast. Archaeologists and clerics say they have found bones belonging to St...

Clergy Abuse Victims Testify In Wilmington Diocese Bankruptcy Proceedings

Posted on August 13, 2010
In what appears to be a first, seven victims of clergy sexual abuse were called to testify in the bankruptcy proceedings for the Catholic Diocese of Wilmington, Delaware.  Today's Delaware News Journal reports that the testimony came as Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi is considering whether to lift a stay on lawsuits against the Diocese...

Russia Refuses To Recognize US Court Order On Return of Jewish Book Collection

Posted on August 12, 2010
According to Interfax today, Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs is refusing to comply with an order issued last month by a United Stated federal court requiring the Russian government return a library and archive of Jewish books and manuscripts to the Chabad movement in the United States...

Imam Leading Efforts To Build Ground Zero Mosque Will Be State Department Speaker In Middle East

Posted on August 12, 2010
At Tuesday's State Department daily press briefing (full text), Assistant Secretary Philip Crowley discussed the travel of Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, leader of the group planning to build the controversial mosque near Ground Zero in New York City, as part of the State Department's International Information Program...

White House Issues Greetings On Start of Ramadan

Posted on August 12, 2010
President Obama yesterday issued a statement (full text) extending best wishes to Muslims in the United States and around the world on the occasion of the start of Ramadan. He said that Ramadan rituals "remind us of the principles that we hold in common, and Islam?s role in advancing justice, progress, tolerance, and the dignity of all human beings...

6th Circuit Upholds Trademark Infringement Claims By Seventh Day Adventist Church

Posted on August 12, 2010
In General Conference Corporation of Seventh Day Adventists v. McGill, (6th Cir., Aug. 10, 2010), the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected efforts by defendant to obtain dismissal of various trademark infringement claims against him brought by two Seventh Day Adventist organizations...

Court Denies Stay of Prop 8 Decision But Delays Order 6-Days To Allow Appeal

Posted on August 12, 2010
A California federal district court today rejected a motion for a stay pending completion of an appeal of the court's order enjoining enforcement of California's Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage. (See prior posting.) However the district court did grant a stay until 5:00 p...

Imperial County Appeals Proposition 8 Ruling To 9th Circuit

Posted on August 11, 2010
Imperial County, California on Tuesday filed an appeal in Perry v. Schwarzenegger, the ruling invalidating California's Proposition 8 banning gay marriage. (See prior posting.)  The County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 to authorize the appeal. Voters in the county approved  Proposition 8 by a large majority...

Egypt Suspends Daylight Savings Time For Ramadan

Posted on August 11, 2010
NPR reports that the Egyptian government is suspending daylight savings time beginning today for the month of Ramadan.  When Ramadan is over, daylight savings time will be reinstituted.  The government's action allows Muslims to break the Ramadan fast an hour earlier than otherwise-- though it begins an hour earlier the evening before...

Iowa County Raises Fines On Mennonites' Steel Wheel Tractors

Posted on August 11, 2010
Today's Des Moines Register reports that in Mitchell County, Iowa, the county's battle with Old Order Groffdale Mennonites continues. (See prior posting.) The county Board of Supervisors yesterday approved higher fines for driving tractors with steel-studded wheels on county roads while the constitutionality of such bans are still working their way through the courts...

Rifqa Bary Turns 18 and Is Released From State's Child Custody

Posted on August 11, 2010
AP reports that Rifqa Bary, the teenager who ran away from her parents' home in Ohio claiming her father threatened her life for converting from Islam to Christianity, turned 18 yesterday and was released from state children's services custody by an Ohio juvenile court...

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