Religion & Law

Supreme Court Denies Cert. In Oklahoma 10 Commandments Case

Posted on March 01, 2010
The U.S. Supreme Court today denied certiorari in Haskell County Board of Commissioners v. Green, (Docket No. 09-531, March 1, 2010). (Order List.) In the case, the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals held that a display of a Ten Commandments monument on the lawn of the county courthouse in Stigler, Oklahoma, violated the Establishment Clause...

Op-Ed Presses For Continued US Foreign Aid Through Religious Groups

Posted on February 28, 2010
Nicholas Kristof's op-ed in today's New York Times focuses on the history of the U.S. channeling foreign humanitarian aid through religious organizations. He says that evangelicals have become the "new internationalists," pressing for U.S. programs abroad for a range of human service needs...

DC Catholic Archdiocese Says It Will Be In Compliance When Same-Sex Marriage Takes Effect

Posted on February 28, 2010
Washington, D.C.'s new law legalizing same-sex marriage takes effect this Wednesday. (See prior posting.) Yesterday's Washington Post reports that the Washington Catholic Archdiocese that receives significant social service funding from the city says it will be in compliance with law, though it has not specified exactly what it will do...

Mennonites Have Problems With Road Protection Law In Iowa County

Posted on February 28, 2010
Today's WCF Courier reports on the problem posed for the Groffdale Conference Mennonite Community by Mitchell County, Iowa's Ordinance No. 41 that bans steel wheels on the county's hard surfaced roads. This group of Mennonites use modern tractors, but as a religious matter they replace inflated rubber tires with metal rims surrounded by a thick rubber belt containing metal bars to provide traction...

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Anti-Semitism Showing Reductions In Poland

Posted on February 28, 2010
Today's New York Times reports that Poland "is finally showing solid signs of shedding the rabid anti-Semitism of the past." There has been a small Jewish revival in Eastern Europe, with hundreds of Poles converting to Judaism or discovering Jewish roots that were hidden during World War II...

Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases

Posted on February 28, 2010
In Yoshiyah v. Norris, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14176 (ED AR, Feb. 18, 2010), an Arkansas federal district court adopted a magistrate's recommendations (2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 14386, Jan. 28, 2010) and dismissed claims by an inmate who was a member of the House of Yahweh who complained that he was denied various religious publications and that he could only watch religious videos alone on Wednesdays rather than with a group on Saturdays...

No Compromise Found For Hutterite Drivers' Licenses

Posted on February 27, 2010
Last July, the Supreme Court of Canada upheld a requirement imposed by the province of Alberta that all drivers' licences contain a photo of the license holder. Hutterites had objected to the requirement on religious grounds. (See prior posting.) A report from yesterday's Calgary Herald says that months of discussions between the provincial government and the Hutterites have failed to work out a compromise...

Controversy In Trinidad Over Aid To Prime Minister's Church

Posted on February 27, 2010
In Trinidad & Tobago, a bitter fight between Prime Minister Patrick Manning and his critics is underway involving the extent of government aid to a Christian church with which Manning has ties. Today's T&T Guardian reports that Manning delivered a strongly worded 53-minute statement to the Lower House of Parliament yesterday accusing his critics of persecuting the Full Gospel Fellowship Movement...

New Policy on Comments on Religion Clause Blog

Posted on February 26, 2010
Beginning with this morning's posts, I am turning off the Comment function on new postings on Religion Clause. In recent months, comments have largely become a lengthy colloquy between a small number of readers. While their views are robust, it has become an exchange that is so extensive that it calls for those readers to create their own forum for their debate rather than imposing me as an intermediary...

Malaysian Professor Discusses Controversy Over Christians Using "Allah" For God

Posted on February 26, 2010
The American Muslim on Wednesday published an interview with Prof. Chandra Muzaffar, Malaysia's best known public intellectual, on the controversy over Christians in Malaysia using the term "Allah" for God in their Malay language publications. While saying there is nothing in Islam that prohibits the practice, he urged understanding of the fear by Malays that they are being turned into an economically subordinate community in their native country...

Court Says School Can Insist Valedictorian Remove Religious References From Talk

Posted on February 26, 2010
A Montana trial court this week upheld the action of Butte High School officials in refusing to let one of the class' ten valedictorians speak at her 2008 graduation when she refused to remove religious references from her remarks. Yesterday's Billings Gazette reports that officials asked Renee Griffith to replace the words "Christ and his joy" with "my faith" and "from God with a passionate love for him" with the words "derived from my faith and based on a love of mankind...

White House Official To Meet With Secular Coalition Members

Posted on February 26, 2010
This morning, Tina Tchen, the director of the White House Office of Public Engagement along with representatives from the Justice Department and the Department of Health and Human Services are scheduled to meet with the Secular Coalition for America. According to McClatchy Newspapers, some 60 individuals from the Coalition's ten member groups will be at the meeting being held at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building next to the White House...

Court Finds No Meeting of the Minds on "Mahr"

Posted on February 26, 2010
In Obaidi v. Qayoum, (WA App., Feb. 23, 2010), a Washington state appellate court refused to enforce a mahr-- a prenuptial agreement based on Islamic law that provides an immediate and long-term dowry to the wife. When the couple's marriage was dissolved after 13 months, the wife claimed she was entitled to $20,000 under the terms of the mahr...

Finnish Court Imposes Damages on Parents for Son's Circumcision Without Anesthetic

Posted on February 26, 2010
A district court in Helsinki, Finland has imposed damages of 1500 Euros on an Orthodox Jewish couple who had their son ritually circumcised by a British Chabad rabbi who is a recognized mohel in Britain. The damages are payable to their son for pain and suffering...

Suit Charges Car Dealership With Employment Discrimination Against Sikh

Posted on February 26, 2010
A lawsuit filed in a New Jersey state court yesterday alleges that a Little Falls (NJ) Lexus dealership refused to hire plaintiff, a Sikh, because he was not willing to shave his religiously-mandated beard. The refusal came after plaintiff completed a two-day training course for potential sales employees...

Suit On Religious Use of Cannabis Dismissed On Ripeness Grounds

Posted on February 26, 2010
In Oklevueha Native American Church of Hawaii v. Holder, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 16123 (D HI, Feb. 23, 2010), an Hawaii federal district court dismissed on ripeness grounds a suit seeking a declaratory judgment that a church and its founder can grow, possess and distribute cannabis free from federal drug crime prosecution...

Complaint Filed With EEOC Over Conflict Between Hijab and Abercrombie's Employee "Look Policy"

Posted on February 26, 2010
National Law Journal reports today on an EEOC complaint filed against Abercrombie & Fitch on behalf of Umme-Hani Kahn, a Muslim stockroom worker who was fired from Hollister (an Abercrombie subsidiary) because she insisted on wearing her hijab (headscarf)...

Murder Trial of Cult Members Under Way In Baltimore

Posted on February 25, 2010
The Baltimore Sun in two articles is reporting on the murder trial of a religious cult leader who convinced another cult member to starve her 16-month old child to death because he was likely possessed by an evil spirit. Two other cult members are also on trial for their parts in the death...

Tony Perkins' Invitation To Speak At Military Prayer Luncheon Rescinded Over Stand on Gays

Posted on February 25, 2010
CBN News reported yesterday that the Andrews Air Force Base chaplain's office has withdrawn its previous invitation to Family Research Council president Tony Perkins to speak at the National Prayer Luncheon scheduled at Andrews on Feb. 25. The move came after Perkins spoke out strongly against President Obama's call to end the military's don't-ask-don't-tell policy that bans gays and lesbians from serving openly in the military...

Negligent Supervision Claims Against Archdiocese Dismissed on 1st Amendment Grounds

Posted on February 25, 2010
In two decisions handed down on Tuesday, Doe v. Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis and Nicholson v. Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis, (MO Ct. App., Feb. 23, 2010), a Missouri state appellate court held it is bound by Missouri Supreme Court holdings on whether the 1st Amendment to the U...

Florida Federal Court Rejects Jurisdiction In Church Homeless Shelter Challenge

Posted on February 25, 2010
In Westgate Tabernacle v. Palm Beach County, (SD FL, Feb. 18, 2010), a Florida federal district court dismissed claims by a West Palm Beach church that its federal and state constitutional rights were violated by Palm Beach County's zoning enforcement efforts against its use of its church building as a homeless shelter...

Employee Loses Sabbath Accommodation Claim

Posted on February 25, 2010
In Waltzer v. Triumph Apparel Corp., (SD NY, Feb. 18, 2010), a New York federal district court rejected claims under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and under the New York City Human Rights Law by a former employee of an apparel manufacturer who wanted to leave work early on Friday afternoons to accommodate her observance of the Jewish Sabbath...

Maryland AG Says Same-Sex Marriages From Other States May Be Recognized

Posted on February 25, 2010
Maryland Attorney General Douglas F. Gansler has issued a 55-page Attorney General's Opinion concluding that same-sex marriages validly entered in other states may be recognized in Maryland. The opinion (94 Op. Att'y. Gen. 3, Feb. 23, 2010) says in part: While the matter is not free from all doubt, in our view, the Court is likely to respect the law of other states and recognize a same-sex marriage contracted validly in another jurisdiction...

Brazil's Catholic Church Sues Columbia Pictures Over Use of Statue In Film

Posted on February 25, 2010
AFP reports that the Catholic archdiocese of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil is suing Columbia Pictures for unauthorized use of its famous Christ the Redeemer statue in the motion picture 2012. The disaster movie shows the famous landmark being destroyed by a giant wave in a worldwide apocalypse...

Report Urges More US Religious Engagement In Foreign Policy

Posted on February 24, 2010
The Chicago Council on Global Affairs yesterday released a task force report titled Engaging Religious Communities Abroad: A New Imperative for U.S. Foreign Policy. The 32-member task force includes former government officials, religious leaders, heads of international organizations, and scholars...

European Human Rights Court Says Turkey Violated Rights In Conviction For Clothing

Posted on February 24, 2010
The European Court of Human Rights yesterday held that Turkey violated Art. 9 (freedom of thought, conscience and religion) of the European Convention on Human Rights when it convicted members of a religious group known as Aczimendi tarikatÿ for the clothing they wore...

Oregon Senate Agrees With House That Teachers Can Wear Religious Garb

Posted on February 24, 2010
According to the Oregonian, yesterday by a vote of 21-9 Oregon's state Senate approved House Bill 3686 repealing an 87-year old ban on teachers wearing religious dress in the classroom. Beginning in the 2011-12 school year, teachers will be allowed to wear head coverings or other clothing in accordance with sincerely held religious beliefs...

Saudi Judges Can Require Women Witnesses To Unveil Faces For Identification

Posted on February 24, 2010
Today's Saudi Gazette reports that Sheikh Ibrahim Al-Haqeel, chairman of Saudi Arabia's Court of Grievances, speaking at a workshop said that judges now have the right to require Muslim women inside the courtroom to unveil their faces for identification purposes...

New USCIRF Executive Director Named

Posted on February 24, 2010
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom announced on Monday that it has appointed a new executive director. The new top staff person is Jackie Wolcott, ambassador to the United Nations Security Council in the George W. Bush administration...

Court Upholds School Board Invocations Under Legislative Prayer Precedents

Posted on February 24, 2010
In Doe v. Indian River School District, (D DE, Feb. 21, 2010), a Delaware federal district court upheld against an Establishment Clause attack the policy of the Indian River School Board to open its meetings with a prayer delivered by members of the school board on a rotating basis...

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