Religion & Law

Nominal Damages Awarded In "Day of Truth" T-Shirt Case

Posted on May 04, 2010
An Illinois federal district court last week issued yet another decision in the long running litigation against a suburban Chicago school district over its attempt to prevent two Christian students from wearing a T-shirt carrying the slogan "Be Happy, Not Gay" as their participation in "Day of Truth," an event set up to counter the LGBT "Day of Silence" event...

Pastors Convicted of Tax Evasion Despite "Love Offering" Defense

Posted on May 04, 2010
In Charlotte, North Carolina yesterday, a federal jury convicted husband and wife co-pastors of the Greater Salem City of God Church on numerous counts of tax evasion and fraud. WCNC News reported yesterday on the convictions of Anthony and Harriet Jinwright, following their 4-week trial for failing to report some $1...

Title VII Religious Institution Exemption Not Applicable To Harassment Claim

Posted on May 04, 2010
In Kennedy v. Villa St. Catherines, Inc., (D MD, April 30, 2010), a Maryland federal district court held that the exclusion in Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act that permits religious institutions to use religious criteria in their hiring does not prevent a suit under Title VII for religious harassment or for retaliation stemming from opposition to the harassment...

Challenge To Town Council Invocations Moves To Britain

Posted on May 04, 2010
The challenge to prayers prior to city council meetings, quite common in the U.S., has now made its way to Britain. Today's London Daily Mail reports that the National Secular Society (NSS) is filing a test suit against the Bideford Town Council, in North Devon...

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9th Circuit Says RLUIPA Does Not Cover Court House Holding Cell

Posted on May 04, 2010
In Khatib v. County of Orange, (9th Cir., May 3, 2010), the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, concluded that a court house holding cell is not covered by the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. A majority, therefore, upheld the dismissal of a RLUIPA lawsuit filed by a Muslim woman who, on two occasions in a single day when the court was dealing with her probation violation, was required to remove her hijab (headscarf) for security reasons...

Court Says Dependency Finding Did Not Infringe Parents' Free Exercise Rights

Posted on May 04, 2010
In In re Z.S., (OH Ct. App., May 3, 2010), an Ohio appellate court rejected the claim that parents' free exercise rights and their right to control the education of their six children were infringed by a Juvenile Court's determination that the children were neglected and dependent...

Mennonite Service Agency Added To List of Conscientious Objector Alternatives

Posted on May 03, 2010
Last month, the Selective Service System added one additional alternative for conscientious objectors if the draft should ever be reinstated. According to the Army's website, on April 20 the Selective Service System signed the first new Alternative Service Employer Network agreement in 25 years...

Defrocked Orthodox Priest Did Not Show Malice In Allegedly False Statements

Posted on May 03, 2010
In Kondratick v Orthodox Church in America, (Nassau Co. Sup. Ct., April 14, 2010), a New York trial court refused to grant summary judgment to a former high-ranking priest in the Orthodox Church in America who, after an investigation by the Church's Spiritual Court, was removed from the priesthood because of his alleged role in a church financial scandal...

British Street Preacher Charged Under Public Order Act For Anti-Gay Statement

Posted on May 03, 2010
The London Telegraph reported yesterday on the arrest of a Baptist street preacher by British police in Workington, Cumbria for violating Britain's Public Order Act. According to Preacher Dale McAlpine, after he told a passing shopper that homosexuality violated the word of God he was approached by a police community support officer who introduced himself as the LGBT liaison officer for the Cumbria police...

Recent Articles and Film of Interest

Posted on May 03, 2010
From SSRN:Daphne Barak-Erez, Law and Religion Under the Status Quo Model: Between Past Compromises and Constant Change, (Cardozo Law Review, Vol. 30, No. 6, pp. 2495-2507, 2009).R. Randall Kelso, Modern Moral Reasoning and Emerging Trends in Constitutional and Other Rights Decisionmaking Around the World, (April 1, 2010)...

Cert. Denied In Boy Scouts Case

Posted on May 03, 2010
The U.S. Supreme Court today denied certiorari in Boy Scouts of America v. Barnes-Wallace, (Docket No. 08-1222, May 3, 2010). (Order List). The long -running case challenged the constitutionality of San Diego's leasing of city property at nominal rents to the Boy Scouts...

French Court Orders Facebook To Remove Page That Is Insulting To Bishop

Posted on May 03, 2010
Last week, BNA's Electronic Commerce & Law Reporter [subscription required] reported on a decision by a French court ordering Facebook to take down a page that the court found violated the privacy of a French bishop. It was also ordered to ensure that the page was not reposted...

Army Hospital Emblem Challenged Because of Religious Content

Posted on May 02, 2010
AP reported Thursday that the Military Religious Freedom Foundation has protested to the Army over the religious symbol and motto on the emblem of Evans Army Community Hospital at Fort Carson, Colorado. The central feature of the emblem is a cross with a pointed base, said to be an emblem of mercy and a symbol from the Middle Ages when pilgrims carried this type of cross to mark a campsite...

Court Enjoins Planned Student Prayer At High School Graduation

Posted on May 02, 2010
On Friday, an Indiana federal district court issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the planned student-led prayer at suburban Indianapolis' Greenwood High School's upcoming graduation. The school conducts a student ballot at an assembly in which students vote on whether to have a fellow student deliver a non-denominational prayer at graduation...

Kenyan Churches Will Oppose New Draft Constitution

Posted on May 02, 2010
In Kenya, churches have decided to spearhead a campaign against approval of the country's new draft constitution which will be the subject of a referendum in the near future. Jurist reports that the draft (full text) was approved by Kenya's Parliament on April 1...

Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases

Posted on May 02, 2010
In Smith v. Goord, (2d Cir., April 27, 2010), the 2nd Circuit remanded with instructions that plaintiff should be granted leave to amend his complaint that prison staff members violated his free exercise rights when they failed to provide him with an alternative method of tuberculosis testing consistent with his religious beliefs instead of placing him in confinement...

President Issues 2010 National Day of Prayer Proclamation

Posted on May 01, 2010
Despite the questions of legality raised by a recent federal district court opinion (see prior posting), yesterday President Obama issued a Proclamation, (full text) designating May 6 as this year's National Day of Prayer. The Proclamation reads in part: Prayer has been a sustaining way for many Americans of diverse faiths to express their most cherished beliefs, and thus we have long deemed it fitting and proper to publicly recognize the importance of prayer on this day across the Nation...

Presidential Proclamation Sets May As Jewish American Heritage Month

Posted on May 01, 2010
Yesterday President Obama issued a Proclamation (full text) declaring May 2010 as Jewish American Heritage Month. It reads in part: The Jewish American story is an essential chapter of the American narrative. It is one of refuge from persecution; of commitment to service, faith, democracy, and peace; and of tireless work to achieve success...

Court Permits Wife To Move Husband From Jewish Cemetery

Posted on May 01, 2010
In Matter of Eirand-Herskowitz v. Mt. Carmel Cemetery Association, (Queens Co. NY Sup Ct., April 23, 2010), a New York trial court granted a petition filed by a wife to disinter her deceased husband who was buried in a Jewish cemetery to permit her to bury him elsewhere so she could be buried beside him...

Nurse Files State Claims After Being Required To Assist In Abortion

Posted on May 01, 2010
As previously reported, last July a nurse at New York's Mt. Sinai Hospital filed a federal lawsuit claiming her conscience rights, protected by federal law, were violated when she was required to assist in an abortion performed on a woman who was 22-weeks pregnant...

Muslim Woman Loses Suit Against Judge Who Banned Hijab In Courtroom

Posted on April 30, 2010
In Council on American-Islamic Relations v. Callahan, (ED MI, April 29, 2010), a Michigan federal district court dismissed a case in which a Muslim woman, Raneen Albaghdady, sued a state court judge who requested that she remove her hijab in his court room...

Lower House of Belgian Parliament Passes Burqa Ban

Posted on April 30, 2010
According to reports from RTT News and CNN, yesterday Belgium's Chamber of Deputies-- the lower house of the Belgian Parliament-- passed a bill that would ban Muslim women from wearing the burqa in public places. More precisely, the legislation bans clothing that would hide the identity of the wearer in any place that provides services to the public or is meant for public use...

Court Can Enjoin Expelled Member From Entering Church Property

Posted on April 30, 2010
In Church of Christ in Hollywood v. Cage-Barile, (CA App., April 27, 2010), a California appellate court upheld against constitutional attack an injunction issued barring an expelled Church member from entering Church property. Lady Cage-Barile was expelled for disrupting religious services and harassing the congregation...

British Appeals Court Rejects Plea For Special Panel To Adjudicate Religious Rights Cases

Posted on April 30, 2010
Yesterday in Britain's Court of Appeal, Lord Justice Laws sharply rejected charges that the regular judges of the court do not understand Christianity or other relgious faiths. He reiterated an earlier decision of the court to refuse to allow an appeal of a controversial employment discrimination case...

Head of Egypt's Al-Azhar Cuts Political Ties

Posted on April 30, 2010
On Wednesday, IPS reported that the new head of Al-Azhar, Egypt's premier center of Islamic learning, has resigned from President Hosni Mubarak's ruling National Democratic Party in order to avoid charges that the government is mixing religion and politics...

Delaware Court Dismisses Abuse Suits Against Out-of-State Dioceses and Parish On Due Process Grounds

Posted on April 30, 2010
A Delaware Superior Court this week decided four cases involving jurisdiction over lawsuits claiming sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy. In Tell v. Roman Catholic Bishops of Diocese of Allentown, (DE Super. Ct., April 26, 2010), in an opinion also covering a second case consolidated with it for decision, the court held that it lacked personal jurisdiction over Pennsylvania and Maryland Catholic dioceses and a Catholic parish in Maryland...

Court Says Juror's Discussion With Pastor On Capital Punishment Was Harmless Error

Posted on April 29, 2010
In Centennial, Colorado, a trial judge has ruled that a juror's discussions of the death penalty with his pastor during a recess in jury deliberations in a murder trial amounted to harmless error. Yesterday's Aurora (CO) Sentinel reports that, in violation of the judge's instructions, a juror in the trial of Robert Ray sought the advice of his pastor on his church's views on capital punishment...

5th Circuit Hears Oral Arguments In Challenge To Texas Pledge of Allegiance

Posted on April 29, 2010
Yesterday the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in Croft v. Perry, (recording or oral arguments), an Establishment Clause challenge to the Texas Pledge of Allegiance recited in public schools in Texas. State law permits students to opt out of reciting the Pledge, which refers to Texas as "one state under God...

Retired Chaplains Urge President To Retain Don't Ask, Don't Tell

Posted on April 29, 2010
Yesterday 41 retired military chaplains sent a letter (full text) to President Obama and Secretary of Defense Gates urging them to retain the military's current "don't ask, don't tell" policy on gays and lesbians in the armed forces, or at least to include robust religious liberty protections in any change...

Iran Limits Rights of Sunnis To Conduct Prayers

Posted on April 29, 2010
According to a report yesterday from Asharq Al-Awsat, the government of predominately Shiite Iran has recently issued a ban on Sunnis praying at state universities and military camps. The order follows a ban in several cities of Sunnis holding Friday prayer services in their homes.

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