Religion & Law

Rifqa Bary's Parents Seek to Withdraw Settlement Consent Entered Last Week

Posted on January 30, 2010
Last week, it seemed like the case of Rifqa Bary was finally over. Her Muslim parents agreed that the 17-year old girl who fled, fearing her life was in danger because of her conversion to Christianity, could stay with her Ohio foster family, and that everyone would get counseling...

FFRF Objects To Planned Mother Teresa Postage Stamp

Posted on January 29, 2010
A month ago, the United States Postal Service announced the commemorative postage stamps it plans to issue during 2010. One of the stamps will honor 1979 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Mother Teresa, a nun who worked among the impoverished in Calcutta, India...

North Carolina County's Sectarian Prayers Violate Establishment Clause

Posted on January 29, 2010
In Joyner v. Forsyth County, North Carolina, (MD NC, Jan. 28, 2010), a North Carolina federal district court adopted a magistrate's recommendations (see prior posting) and concluded that the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners' invocation policy, as implemented, violates the Establishment Clause...

Air Force Academy Adds Chapel Space For Earth-Centered Faiths; Talks With Secular Student Group

Posted on January 29, 2010
The U.S. Air Force Academy Chapel is adding a worship area for followers of Earth-centered religions, such as Wicca and Druidism. A release from the Academy reports that dedication of the new outdoor worship circle on the hill overlooking the Cadet Chapel and Visitor Center is tentatively scheduled for March 10...

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DHS Secretary Meets With Faith and Ethnic Leaders

Posted on January 29, 2010
A press release from the Department of Homeland Security reports that DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano met yesterday with leaders from Muslim, Sikh, South Asian and Arab communities. The meeting focused on ways that DHS can increase engagement, dialogue and coordination with, and enhance information sharing between, the Department and faith- and community-based groups.

Court Says Pastor's Defamation Is Not Barred By 1st Amendment

Posted on January 29, 2010
In Tubra v. Cooke, (OR App., Jan. 27, 2010), an Oregon appellate court reversed a trial court's judgment notwithstanding the verdict in an interim pastor's defamation claim against his former church and two of its officers. The jury had awarded damages to the pastor, but the trial court held that the First Amendment deprived it of jurisdiction...

1st Circuit Rejects Religious Persecution Claim By Chinese Woman Seeking Asylum

Posted on January 28, 2010
In Weng v. Holder, (1st Cir., Jan. 27, 2010), the U.S. 1st Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a decision by the Board of Immigration Appeal denying asylum, withholding of removal and protection under the Convention Against Torture to a native and citizen of China who claimed she has and in the future will likely face religious persecution...

In West Bank, Mosques Become Part of Battle Between PA and Hamas

Posted on January 28, 2010
IPS yesterday reported that in the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority's Fatah Party is using mosques in its battle against rival Hamas, as well as against critics within its own party. Earlier this month, the PA Ministry of Religious Affairs distributed a prepared sermon that imams were ordered to read before Friday prayers...

Court Applies Ministerial Exception to Dismiss Suit by Catholic School Teacher

Posted on January 28, 2010
In Weishuhn v. Catholic Diocese of Lansing, (MI Ct. App., Jan. 26, 2010), a Michigan appellate court dismissed a lawsuit brought by a Catholic school teacher who taught mathematics and religion to 6th, 7th and 8th graders. Plaintiff challenged her termination...

Bill Proposed In California To Protect Clergy From Perfoming Same-Sex Marriages

Posted on January 28, 2010
As the federal court trial challenging the constitutionality of California's gay marriage ban continues (New York Times 1/27), proponents of same-sex marriage yesterday introduced a bill in the California legislature to make the prospect more appealing to opponents...

Building Permit Charges Against Amish Farmer Dismissed on Free Exercise Grounds

Posted on January 28, 2010
In Jackson County, Wisconsin, a state trial court judge earlier this month dismissed on free exercise grounds charges against an Amish farmer and his wife that they failed to apply for a building permit to build a home and a second residence on their property...

Indonesian Government Says 20% of Mosques Face Wrong Direction

Posted on January 28, 2010
Worshippers in mosques are supposed to face Mecca when the pray. According to today's Jakarta Globe, Indonesia's ministry of religion says that there are errors in the direction worshippers face in 20% of the country's mosques-- mainly in the earthquake-hit areas such as Yogyakarta, West Java and West Sumatra...

Peres Addresses Bundestag On International Holocaust Remembrance Day

Posted on January 27, 2010
Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day, as set by a 2005 United Nations Resolution. Marking the occasion, Israeli President Shimon Peres addressed the German Bundestag. (Full text of remarks.) In a wide-ranging speech, he urged that authorities bring to justice those still alive in Germany and elsewhere in Europe who participated in the genocide of the Nazi era...

House of Lords Today Debates Religious Hiring By Faith Schools

Posted on January 27, 2010
In Britain today the House of Lords will debate a series of amendments proposed by Baroness Turner of Camden to limit the extent to which voluntary-aided faith schools can hire teachers on the basis of religion. (Ekklesia, Accord Coalition). Under current law, these faith schools (which receive government support) can broadly discriminate in recruitment, pay and promotion on the basis of religion, and can dismiss teachers for conduct that is incompatible with the precepts of the school's religion...

Focus on Family Ad Featuring Tim Tebow Will Run During Superbowl

Posted on January 27, 2010
According to yesterday's Gainesville Sun, the conservative Christian group Focus on the Family has raised over $2.5 million to run a 30-second ad during the Superbowl featuring former University of Florida quarterback Tim Tebow. The athlete is known for his Chritsian beliefs, often writing references to Bible verses in his eye black...

Father's Suit Against Family Planning Clinic Dismissed

Posted on January 27, 2010
Yesterday's Corpus Christie (TX) Caller reported that a Texas federal district court has dismissed a lawsuit against a family planning clinic brought by a father who objected to the clinic's giving his 14-year old daughter the "morning after pill." He said that this violated her religious and moral training...

German Family, Persecuted for Homeschooling, Granted Asylum In U.S.

Posted on January 27, 2010
Yesterday's Washington Post reports that a couple who fled from Germany to Tennessee in order to home school their children have been granted political asylum by a U.S. immigration judge. Uwe Romeike and his wife argued that they were persecuted in Germany for their evangelical Christian beliefs and for homeschooling their children to avoid public schools whose curriculum they believed to be opposed to Christian values...

Rabbis Urge AG Holder To Grant Rubashkin Pre-Sentence Release

Posted on January 27, 2010
Six prominent Orthodox rabbis held a news conference in Washington, D.C. yesterday and then walked to the Department of Justice to deliver a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder protesting the pre-sentencing detention of Sholom Rubashkin, former manager of the Postville, Iowa Agriprocessors kosher meatpacking plant...

9th Circuit Rejects RLUIPA Zoning Challenge In Brief Opinion

Posted on January 26, 2010
In an unpublished opinion which sets out none of the relevant facts, the 9th Circuit last Friday in Lowry v. Yavapai County Board of Supervisors, (9th Cir., Jan. 22, 2010), rejected a pro se appeal in a case in which plaintiffs claimed that a zoning decision violated their free exercise rights...

Gnostic Center Fails Britain's "Public Benefit" Test To Be A Charity

Posted on January 26, 2010
In Britain, Third Sector today calls attention to a decision (full text) handed down last month by the Charity Commission rejecting an application by The Gnostic Center for registration as a charity. Apparently the decision, finding that the Center failed the "public benefit" test imposed by Britain's Charities Act, was reaffirmed earlier this month after a review by two of the Charity Commission's board members...

Bangladesh Takes Next Step To Ban Religious Political Parties

Posted on January 26, 2010
Bangladesh has taken another step toward banning religious-based political parties. Earlier this month, the country's Supreme Court reinstated a constitutional ban on such parties. (See prior posting.) Now, according to RTT News today, the Election Commission has written to three Islamic political parties directing them to amend their charters to remove various religious references.

Federal Court Applies Younger Abstention In Challenge To Maine's Charitable Solicitations Act

Posted on January 26, 2010
In Christian Action Network v. State of Maine, (D ME, Jan. 13, 2010), a Maine federal district court applied the Younger v. Harris abstention doctrine and dismissed a challenge by Christian Action Network (CAN) to Maine's Charitable Solicitations Act...

House of Lords Votes To Keep Broader Discrimination Exemptions For Religious Organizations

Posted on January 26, 2010
In Britain yesterday, the House of Lords defeated a a government attempt in the pending Equality Bill to narrow the employment discrimination exemptions currently available to religious institutions under the Employment Equality (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2003...

French Parliamentary Report Urges Ban of Full Face Veil In Public Buildings and Transport

Posted on January 26, 2010
A long awaited report from a French parliamentary committee released today recommends a ban on women wearing the Muslim full-face veil in hospitals, schools, government office and on public transport. It suggested that anyone ignoring the ban in a public building should be denied the services offered in it...

Ban on Burqa Debated In France, Britain

Posted on January 25, 2010
In France, a Parliamentary commission is scheduled to publish its recommendations tomorrow on whether the Muslim women should be banned from wearing the full-face veil in public places. According to Islam Online yesterday, France's Conference of French Imams supports a ban, saying that a majority of Muslim scholars agree that women are not required to cover their full face...

Recent Articles and Books of Interest

Posted on January 25, 2010
From SSRN: Lance McMillian, Atticus Finch as Racial Accommodator: Answering Malcolm Gladwell's Critique, (January 16, 2010). Other articles:Richard F. Duncan, The "Clearest Command" of the Establishment Clause: Denominational Preferences, Religious Liberty, and Public Scholarships that Classify Religions, (South Dakota Law Review, forthcoming)...

Malaysian Court Overturns Book Ban on Academic Essays on Muslim Women

Posted on January 25, 2010
In Malaysia, the Kuala Lumpur High Court today overturned a ban imposed by the Home Ministry in 2008 on the book Muslim Women and the Challenge of Islamic Extremism. According to The Edge, the book, which contains ten academic essays by activists and intellectuals, was published by a Muslim feminist NGO...

Christians In Nigerian City Charge Military With Genocide

Posted on January 25, 2010
In Nigeria, the Army's attempt to end Muslim-Christian violence in the the northern city of Jos (see prior posting) has led to charges of genocide by the Plateau State Christian Elders Consultative Forum. According to today's Nigeria Guardian, Christian leader charge that Maj-Gen...

Italian Judge Removed In Dispute Over Crucifixes In Courtrooms

Posted on January 24, 2010
In Italy, The Superior Council of Magistrates has removed Judge Luigi Tosti from the professional rolls of Italian magistrates. AP reported on Friday on the action that essentially removes Tosti from office. Tosti has refused to hear cases because there are crucifixes in Italian courtrooms...

Appellate Court Allows Church Parking Lot Over Historical Preservation Objections

Posted on January 24, 2010
In Friends of The Bethany Place, Inc. v. City of Topeka, (KS Ct. App., Jan. 22, 2010), the Kansas Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, upheld the decision of the Topeka City Council to allow Grace Episcopal Cathedral to build a parking lot on a tract in downtown Topeka that is listed on the Register of Historic Kansas Places...

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