Religion & Law

6th Circuit Upholds Permanent Injunction Against McCreary County's Ten Commandments Display

Posted on June 10, 2010
While in 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a preliminary injunction barring the a display of the Ten Commandments along with other historical documents that refer to God in two Kentucky county courthouses, it turns out that decision hardly ended the litigation...

Pro-Muslim Ad Campaign Launched In Britain

Posted on June 10, 2010
Politics Daily reported yesterday on a new advertising campaign in Britain aimed at improving the public perception of Islam. Ads running on buses, in subway stations and on a fleet of cabs emphasize the way in which contemporary Muslims balance their religious traditions with human rights concerns and social responsibility...

Arizona Charges Against Former FLDS Leader Warren Jeffs Dropped

Posted on June 10, 2010
Yesterday's Salt Lake Tribune reports that, upon the motion of the prosecutor, an Arizona court has dismissed the two charges of sexual conduct with a minor pending in Arizona against former FLDS leader Warren Jeffs. Jeffs, who headed the polygamous FLDS sect, has already been sentenced to two 5-year to life sentences in Utah on charges of rape as an accomplice...

Mormon Church Agrees To Penalty For Late Reporting of Prop 8 Contributions

Posted on June 10, 2010
The Mormon Church has agreed to pay a proposed $5,539 monetary penalty to California's Fair Political Practices Committee (FPPC) for failing to properly report contributions of $36,968 (including staff time) it made in 2008 to support the passage of Proposition 8, California's ban on same-sex marriage...

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Suit Claims Humane Society Discriminated In Firing Muslim Veterinarian

Posted on June 10, 2010
Yesterday's Naples (FL) News reports on a federal lawsuit charging religious discrimination filed last month by a Muslim veterinarian who was employed briefly by the Gulf Coast Humane Society (GCHS). The complaint (full text) in Atmani v. Gulf Coast Humane Society, Inc...

Virginia Supreme Court Says Division Statute Does Not Apply To Episcopal Church Split

Posted on June 10, 2010
Today in Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of Virginia v. Truro Church, (VA Sup. Ct., June 10, 2010), the Virginia Supreme Court reversed a decision of the state's circuit court (see prior posting) and held that Virginia's 1867 "Division Statute" does not apply to nine congregations that broke away from The Episcopal Church and affiliated with the Convocation of Anglicans in North America...

$1 In Damages Awarded In Claim That Police ID Card Containted Mark of the Beast

Posted on June 10, 2010
In Brooklyn, New York, a federal judge has awarded damages of only $1 to a school safety officer who was suspended from her job after she refused to be fingerprinted or accept the New York Police Department's new biometric identification card with embedded computer chips...

Librarian Loses Suit Claiming University Was Hostile To His Christian Beliefs

Posted on June 09, 2010
Today's Columbus (OH) Dispatch reports that a librarian at the Mansfield campus of Ohio State University has lost his federal lawsuit in which he claimed that the University as "an aggressive proponent of the homosexual lifestyle" is "a naturally hostile environment to the expression of traditional Christian beliefs and morality...

2nd Circuit Says School Closing Did Not Violate Establishment Clause

Posted on June 09, 2010
In Incantalupo v. Lawrence Union Free School District Number 15, (2d Cir., June 7, 2010), the 2nd Circuit rejected parents' Establishment Clause challenge to a consolidation plan adopted by the Lawrence Union Free School District. The plan resulted in the closure of one elementary school...

Critics Question State Funds To Christian Counseling Clinic Owned By Member of Congress

Posted on June 09, 2010
The Minnesota Independent last week reported that a Christian counseling agency owned by U.S. Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) and her husband Dr. Marcus Bachmann has received over $27,000 in state funds since 2007. The state funds are paid to the clinic to treat low-income Minnesotans for mental health and chemical dependency problems...

Group Urges End To Limits On Use of Meeting Facilities For Religious Purposes

Posted on June 09, 2010
Alliance Defense Fund announced yesterday that it has written to 151 governmental entities operating libraries, parks, schools and community centers urging them to end policies that restrict or exclude groups from using their public meeting rooms and facilities for religious purposes...

Enfield School Board Changes Its Mind-- Will Appeal Church Graduation Ban

Posted on June 09, 2010
The board of the Enfield, Connecticut Public Schools has changed its mind and decided that it will appeal a federal district court ruling barring it from holding this year's high school graduation ceremonies in First Cathedral, a Bloomfield, CT Christian church...

Korea's Constitutional Court Says Pre-Embryos Are Not Humans

Posted on June 09, 2010
South Korea's Bioethics and Biosafety Act, Art. 16 and 17, permit excess embryos that have been fertilized in vitro for purposes of assisted reproduction to be used for research for specified medical and reproductive purposes, so long as the embryo has not developed beyond 14 days...

EPA Presses Amish Farmers To Lessen Run-Offs Into Chesapeake Bay

Posted on June 09, 2010
Today's New York Times carries a long article on the efforts of the Environmental Protection Agency to get Amish farmers in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania to take steps to reduce the manure run-off from their farms. The run-off from the 61 million pounds per year of manure produced in that county adds substantially to the pollution of Chesapeake Bay...

Authorities Reluctant To Interfere With Gay Exorcism Rites

Posted on June 08, 2010
The June issue of Details Magazine reports on exorcism rituals practices by some Pentecostal and Evangelical churches across the country aimed at driving out demons which are deemed by them to be the cause of homosexuality. The article focuses in particular on 20-year old Kevin Robinson of Enfield, Connecticut who has undergone gay exorcism at least ten times since he was 16...

Israel Passes New Law On Egg Donation, Allowing Religion of Donor To Be Ascertained

Posted on June 08, 2010
According to Haaretz, Israel's Knesset yesterday approved a bill that for the first time in Israel allows women between the ages of 20 and 35 to donate their eggs for couples having difficulty conceiving a child. The law provides that a baby born through in vitro fertilization will be the legal child of the birth mother, not the egg donor...

Evangelical Leaders of Immigration Reform Say Same-Sex Provisions Will Kill Bill

Posted on June 08, 2010
Last month, a group of evangelical leaders made news by calling for a "Just Assimilation" immigration policy that would secure the borders, but also create a path to legalization for millions of undocumented residents. (See prior posting.) Now most of the same leaders say that they will oppose the immigration bill that has been drafted by New York's Sen...

Canadian Case Raises Issue of Defendant's Right To Have Accuser Remove Niqab

Posted on June 08, 2010
In Canada, the Ontario Court of Appeals today hears oral arguments in a case in which defendants facing sexual assault charges say that the right to face their accuser means that the victim should be required to remove her niqab when she is questioned...

New Florida Law, Responding To Santa Rosa Case, Limits School Officials

Posted on June 08, 2010
On Friday, Florida Governor Charlie Crist signed H.B. 31 (full text), a reaction to the settlement by the Santa Rosa County (FL) School District of litigation against it challenging religious practices in the schools. Since the settlement, elaborate litigation strategies have been developed to attempt to overturn the settlement...

Helen Thomas, Dean of White House Press Corps, Under Fire For Anti-Semitic Remarks

Posted on June 07, 2010
CNN reported yesterday that Helen Thomas, dean of the White House press corps, is under fire for anti-Semitic remarks she made in an interview (YouTube) with RabbiLIVE at the May 27 American Jewish Heritage Month reception at the White House. After saying that "Israel should get the hell out of Palestine," Thomas was asked where the Jews in Israel should go...

Police Department To Take Booking Photos With Religious Headgear On

Posted on June 07, 2010
Friday's Detroit Free Press reported that the Canton Township, Michigan police have changed their policy and will no longer require persons being booked for arrest to remove head coverings if they are worn for genuine religious reasons. Booking photos will be taken with the person's religious garb normally worn in public still on...

250 Receive Payments In Covington Diocese Settlement

Posted on June 07, 2010
Yesterday's Kentucky Post carries an article titled Covington Diocese Sex Abuse Settlement-- 1 Year Later. While court records remain sealed, the article reports on a few of the victims who received payment form the 2009 settlement by the Diocese. 250 claims (out of 400 applcations)were found entitled to payment from of the $90 million victims' fund...

Recent Articles Of Interest

Posted on June 07, 2010
From SSRN:J.P. Nichols, The Hidden Dichotomy in the Law of Morality, (Campbell Law Review, Vol 31, p. 591, 2009).Adam S. Hofri-Winogradow, A Plurality of Discontent: Legal Pluralism, Religious Adjudication and the State, (Journal of Law and Religion, Vol...

Recent Prisoner Free Excercise Cases

Posted on June 06, 2010
In Busick v. Neal, (5th Cir., May 26, 2010), the 5th Circuit rejected an inmate's claim that that county policy requiring inmates to receive all magazines and books from a single publisher violated his rights to religious freedom because the publisher did not offer free bibles to inmates while other organizations did...

Armenian Church Sues Getty Museum For Return of Bible Pages

Posted on June 06, 2010
Peace FM Online and Courthouse News Service report that a lawsuit was filed last Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court by the Western Prelacy of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America against the J. Paul Getty Museum. The suit seeks return of seven illustrated pages, known as the Canon Table, taken from an illuminated Armenian Bible created by Toros Roslin for Constantine I in 1256...

Saudi Plaintiffs Say Their Government Is Violating Islamic Law

Posted on June 06, 2010
In Saudi Arabia, two separate lawsuits have recently been filed by Islamic conservatives challenging actions by the Saudi government as being inconsistent with Shariah. Zawya reports today that a member of the public has filed a complaint with the Prosecution and Investigation Commission in Asir province claiming that TV channels and print media affiliated with the Ministry of Culture are advocating the mixing of genders and the unveiling of women, as well as mocking religious symbols...

Court Invalidates Arrangement With Jehovah's Witnesses On Orders For Blood Transfusions

Posted on June 04, 2010
In San Joaquin County Human Services Agency v. Marcus W., (CA App., June 2, 2010), a California appellate court essentially invalidated an arrangement that the County Human Services Agency had made over a decade ago with a Jehovah's Witnesses organization...

Joining Religious Commune Does Not Excuse Support Payments

Posted on June 04, 2010
In Shippen v. Shippen, (NC App., May 18, 2010), a North Carolina appellate court upheld a contempt finding against a husband who failed to pay child support and post-separation support to his wife. Shortly after the court ordered the support payments, husband John Lee Shippenjoined the Twelve Tribes of Israel, a religious commune that prohibits its members from earning outside income...

9th Circuit Re-Certifies Issues To California High Court In Boy Scout Case

Posted on June 04, 2010
In a case with a complicated procedural history, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has once again certified three questions of state constitutional law to the California Supreme Court in a case challenging leasing (at nominal or no rent) of camp ground and aquatic center space by the city of San Diego, California to the Boy Scouts...

Judge Orders Observance of Religious Rules In Custody Decision

Posted on June 04, 2010
Yesterday's Jewish Chronicle reports on an unusual order in a bitter custody battle over their 7-year old son between Elina Margolina, an Orthodox Jew, and her former husband, Nelson Derbigney who is now remarried to an Hispanic Catholic woman. Elina complained that her former husband was ruining their son's religious upbringing...

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