Religion & Law

Signatures Filed For Colorado Personhood Amendment

Posted on February 13, 2010
On Friday, Personhood Colorado submitted 79,917 signatures in support of a proposed ballot measure that would amend Colorado's Constitution to provide that the term "person" as used in three provisions of the state's bill of rights "shall apply to every human being from the beginning of the biological development of that human being...

Another Lawsuit Seeks Return of Break-Away Parish Property To Episcopal Church

Posted on February 12, 2010
Yesterday's Modesto (CA) Bee reports on a new lawsuit growing out of the Dec. 2007 decision of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin (CA) to break away from the Episcopal Church to join the more conservative Province of the Southern Cone. (See prior posting...

Saudi Religious Police Again Crack Down On Sale of Valentine's Day Items

Posted on February 12, 2010
As Valentine's Day approaches, yesterday the Saudi Arabian religious police (muttawa) started their annual crack down on stores selling red roses, heart shaped items or gifts wrapped in red. AP reported that police have published a statement in Saudi papers warning stores not to stock such items...

Haitian Judge Recommends Release of U.S. Missionaries

Posted on February 12, 2010
In Haiti, a judge has recommended that the ten U.S. Baptist missionaries charged with kidnapping be released and allowed to leave the country, so long as they keep a representative in Haiti to respond to further questions. The Americans went to Haiti to rescue orphans, but a number of the children they tried to bring into the Dominican Republic were turned over to them by parents...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Muslim Scholars Rule That Body Scanners Violate Islamic Law

Posted on February 12, 2010
According to yesterday's Detroit Free Press, the Fiqh Council of North America, a body of Islamic scholars, has ruled this week that going through airport body scanners would violate Islamic law. The fatwa concludes that the scanners violate Islamic rules on modesty...

Magazine Explores Religion of the Founders and Texas Social Studies Curriculum

Posted on February 12, 2010
The New York Times Magazine (in a preview of Sunday's Magazine) has posted a long article titled How Christian Were the Founders? The article's author, Russell Shorto, explores that question largely through the prism of the recent review of the state's social studies curriculum by the Texas State School Board...

Evangelist Challenges Ban On Leafleting Near California Courthouse

Posted on February 11, 2010
A federal lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles on Monday by a Christian evangelist challenging the breadth of a rule banning the distribution of leaflets and educational or counseling activities within 100 feet of any courthouse door. The complaint (full text) in Miano v...

State Bills To Ban Implanted RFIDs Moving Ahead Partly Out of Biblical Concerns

Posted on February 11, 2010
Virginia's House of Delegates yesterday passed by a vote of 88-9 with 1 abstention House Bill No. 53 banning insurers or employers from requiring implantation of microchips into a person's body. According to yesterday's Washington Post, while privacy issues are the main concern, the bill's sponsor Del...

British Court Vindicate's Hindu Man's Right To Cremation on Funeral Pyre

Posted on February 11, 2010
In The Queen on the Appliation of Ghai v. Newcastle City Council, (Eng. & Wales Ct. App., Feb. 10, 2010), Britain's Court of Appeal upheld the right of a Hindu man to be cremated in England on a traditional funeral pyre according to his religious beliefs...

Student Prayer Club Satisfies All Sides On Church-State Issues

Posted on February 11, 2010
Georgetown, South Carolina school officials have found a way to allow students to open their school day with prayer, yet satisfy church-state concerns of groups such as Americans United (AU statement) which complained about Georgetown High School's long-standing practice of permitting a local resident to hand out Bible verses and lead students in prayer in the morning before school...

Palestinians Ask UN To Halt Jerusalem Museum Construction

Posted on February 11, 2010
The New York Times reports today that sixty Palestinians (represented by the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York) have signed a petition to the United Nations asking it to take steps to stop construction in Jerusalem of the Center for Human Dignity- Museum of Tolerance being built by the Simon Wiesenthal Center...

5th Circuit Upholds Deportation; Rejects Religious Persecution Plea

Posted on February 11, 2010
In Muhammad v. Holder, (5th Cir., Feb. 10, 2010), the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a decision of the Board of Immigration Appeals that allowed deportation of Baboo Muhammad, a Pakistani who is a member of the Shi'a Ismaili sect. The court agreed with the findings of the Immigration Judge that Muhammad had not shown past religious persecution or a clear probability of religious persecution by Sunni Muslims in the future if he were returned to Pakistan...

Anti-Semitic Statements By Juror Should Have Led To Hearing On New Trial Motion

Posted on February 10, 2010
In Fleshner v. Pepose Vision Institute, P.C., (MO Sup. Ct., Feb. 9, 2010), the Missouri Supreme Court held that the trial court in a wrongful termination case should have held a hearing on juror misconduct where it was alleged that a juror made anti-Semitic remarks about one of the witnesses during jury deliberations...

Catholic Church Now Faces Old Sex Abuse Charges In Germany

Posted on February 10, 2010
The New York Times reported yesterday that the Catholic Church is facing yet another child sex abuse scandal-- this time in Germany. It began last month with charges of abuse in the 1970's and '80's by 3 priests at Berlin's elite Canisius High School...

Morocco Deports US Missionary For Proselytizing Among Muslims

Posted on February 10, 2010
Yesterday's Christian Post reports that in Morocco some 60 security force officers raided a Christian Bible study session in a town south of Marrakech last week. Eighteen Moroccans (including five children) were temporarily taken into custody and an American missionary was deported...

D.C. Election Board Rejects Referendum on Same-Sex Marriage Law; Appeal Filed

Posted on February 10, 2010
In In re Referendum on the Religious Freedom and Civil Marriage Equality Amendment Act of 2009, (DCBOEE, Feb. 4, 2010), the District of Columbia Board of Elections and Ethics rejected an attempt to hold a referendum on recently passed DC legislation authorizing same-sex marriage...

Court Dismisses Religious and National Origin Discrimination Claim Against College

Posted on February 10, 2010
In Shakir v. Board of Trustees of Rend Lake College, (SD IL, Feb. 8, 2010), and Illinois federal district court granted summary judgment to defendants in a case in which plaintiff, the former vice president of student services at Rend Lake College, charged religious and national origin discrimination...

8th Circuit Denies Qualified Immunity To Officials Who Conspired Against Faith-Based School

Posted on February 09, 2010
In Heartland Academy Community Church v. Waddle, (8th Cir., Feb. 8, 2010), the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of appeals refused to dismiss on qualified immunity grounds a civil rights action for damages against various Missouri officials who conspired in 2001 to remove 115 students from a Christian faith-based boarding school for children with behavioral and substance abuse problems...

Court Orders Cemetery Title Transferred To Allow O'Hare Airport Expansion

Posted on February 09, 2010
Yesterday's Chicago Tribune reports that an Illinois court has cleared the way for expansion of Chicago's O'Hare Airport by ordering the transfer of title of the 5.3-acre St. Johannes Cemetery from St. John's United Church of Christ to the city for $630,000...

Human Rights Activists Charge Egypt Plans To Monitor Sermons In Mosques Through Cameras

Posted on February 09, 2010
Egypt's Ministry of Islamic Endowments has denied that it plans to monitor sermons given in mosques through the use of cameras. Media Line yesterday reported that concern over monitoring arose after cameras were installed in the Sayyida Nafisa Mosque in Cairo...

Costa Rica's Constitutional Court Rejects Bishops Power To Select Religion Teachers

Posted on February 09, 2010
CNA yesterday reported that Costa Rica's Constitutional Court, by a vote of 4-3, struck down the agreement between the Catholic Church and the government that gives the Bishop's Conference of Costa Rica the right to approve teachers of Catholic religion in public schools...

ACLU Say College Prof Teaches Religion and Anti-LGBT Views As Fact

Posted on February 09, 2010
The ACLU of Northern California yesterday sent a demand letter (full text) to the president of Fresno City College complaining about a faculty member, Dr. Bradley Lopez, who teaches a health science class in which he presents religiously-based and anti-LGBT views as scientific fact...

Indian Court Strikes Down Quotas for Backward Classes of Muslims

Posted on February 08, 2010
In India, by a vote of 5-2 the High Court of Andhra Pradesh has held that the Andhra Pradesh Reservation in Favor of socially and Educational Backward Classes of Muslims Act 2007 is unconstitutional. According to New Delhi's The Pioneer today, the court also struck down two government orders under the law that had granted a 4% reservation to fifteen backward classes of Muslims in educational institutions and in jobs...

Recent Articles of Interest

Posted on February 08, 2010
From SSRN:Carissima Mathen, What Religious Freedom Jurisprudence Reveals About Equality, (Journal of Law and Equality, Vol. 6, No. 2, 2009).Dov Fox, Taking Sides on Genetic Modification, (American Journal of Bioethics - Neuroscience, Forthcoming).Alexander Tallchief Skibine, Culture Talk or Culture War in Federal Indian Law?, (Tulsa Law Review, Forthcoming)...

White House Faith Based Council Posts Votes On Two Controversial Church-State Issues

Posted on February 08, 2010
Last Thursday, the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships posted the votes by its Advisory Council on two contentious issues. The first is whether faith-based social service providers should be allowed to provide services in rooms that contain religious symbols, artwork or messages...

Lawsuit Challenges Library's Meeting Room Policy

Posted on February 07, 2010
A federal civil rights action was filed on Thursday challenging the refusal by the New Smyrna Beach, Florida, Public Library to allow its meeting rooms to be used for a seminar titled "Is Religion Alive in America?". The seminar, which focuses on how Christian principles apply to current events, includes prayer, Bible reading and religious songs...

Anglican Factions In Zimbabwe Struggle Over Control

Posted on February 07, 2010
Virtue Online today carries a report from the Feb. 1 Christian Post on the struggle between two Anglican factions in Harare, Zimbabwe. Controversy began in 2007 when Nolbert Kunonga, a supporter of President Robert Mugabe's regime, accused the Anglican Province of Central Africa of being pro-gay...

Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases

Posted on February 07, 2010
In Newingham v. Magness, (8th Cir., Feb. 4, 2010), the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals held that Muslim prisoner could proceed with his claim under RLUIPA for injunctive relief to obtain use of a prayer rug, but the court dismissed his claim for damages...

Activist Charges Conflicts In Some Illinois Capital Funding For Religious Groups

Posted on February 07, 2010
There are new developments in the campaign by Chicago activist Rob Sherman to challenge state legislative appropriations to houses of worship, parochial schools and religious institutions in last year's Capital Bill. (See prior posting.) Last month he filed a challenge with the State Government Suggestion Award Board...

Lenient Sentence Imposed on Muslim Man By Britain's Cherie Blair Brings Complaints

Posted on February 06, 2010
Britain's Judicial Complaints Office this week began an investigation into Cherie Blair, wife of former Prime Minister Tony Blair. Ms. Blair, who practices employment law under her maiden name, Cherie Booth, also acts as a part-time judge in London. According to UAE's The National today, Britain's National Secular Society filed a formal complaint against Ms...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.