Religion & Law

State Department Hosts Iftar

Posted on September 18, 2009
Earlier this week, the U.S. State Department hosted its annual Iftar dinner in honor of Ramadan. The State Department has posted the full text of remarks at the dinner by Farah Anwar Pandith, Special Representative to Muslim Communities, and by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton...

Creationist Views of Florida Mayoral Candidate Debated

Posted on September 18, 2009
The St. Petersburg (FL) Times reported on Wednesday that the Creationist views of St. Petersburg mayoral candidate Bill Foster have become an election issue. Foster believes that the earth was created in literal six days, and that dinosaurs and humans lived at the same time...

EEOC Sues Clothing Chain Over "Look Policy" Barring Head Coverings

Posted on September 18, 2009
The EEOC announced yesterday that it has filed a federal religious discrimination lawsuit against the retail clothing chain Abercrombie & Fitch for refusing to hire a 17-year old Muslim because she wore a hijab (head scarf). The complaint filed in an Oklahoma federal district court alleges that an Abercrombie Kids store in a Tulsa, Oklahoma mall interviewed Samantha Elauf for a sales position, but refused to hire her because wearing of a head covering violated the company's "Look Policy...

School Principal, Athletic Director Acquitted of Contempt In Prayer Case

Posted on September 18, 2009
Late yesterday afternoon, a Florida federal district court judge acquitted a Santa Rosa County (FL) high school principal and the school's athletic director of criminal contempt charges growing out of their failure to follow the terms of a temporary injunction against faculty-led school prayer...

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National Groups Want Bush Administration's RFRA Memo Withdrawn

Posted on September 18, 2009
Yesterday 58 national civil rights and religious groups sent a letter (full text) to U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder seeking a change in an interpretation of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act issued by the Bush administration in 2007. In the 2007 memo, the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel concluded that RFRA trumps the religious anti-discrimination provisions of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act, allowing a Christian youth program to receive a federal grant even though the organization hires only Christian staff...

Bankruptcy Judge Accommodates Hindu Temple In Chapter 11

Posted on September 18, 2009
Yesterday's Atlanta Journal Constitution reports that a Georgia federal bankruptcy judge has found a creative solution to what could have become a troublesome church-state problem. After the Hindu Temple of Georgia defaulted on a $2.3 million loan and faced foreclosure on its 9-acre property in Norcross, Georgia, it filed for a Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection...

Court Says Congregation Cannot Disaffiliate From National Church Body

Posted on September 17, 2009
In Classis of Central California v. Miraloma Community Church, (CA Ct. App., Sept. 15, 2009), a California Court of Appeals held that a local congregation of the Reformed Church in America lacked authority to amend its governing documents to disaffiliate from the national church in order to avoid a takeover by its hierarchical governing body, the classis...

Today Is Constitution Day, As Contempt Trial In School Prayer Case Begins

Posted on September 17, 2009
Today is Constitution Day, marking the 222nd anniversary of the signing of the 1787 Constitution. Liberty Counsel is circulating a press release noting that the criminal contempt trial of the principal and athletic coach of Pace High School in Santa Rosa County, Florida, begins today...

City Council Acts To Keep Invocations Non-Sectarian

Posted on September 17, 2009
Yet another city council has reacted to a letter from the Freedom from Religion Foundation objecting to sectarian invocations. With almost no discussion, the Tracy, California City Council voted Tuesday to take steps to assure that invocations are non-sectarian...

Florida Church's Lawsuit Challenges Zoning Denial

Posted on September 17, 2009
Yesterday's Jacksonville (FL) News reports that the predominantly African-American First Baptist Church of Mandarin has filed a federal lawsuit-- apparently under RLUIPA-- against St. Johns County, Florida challenging the county's denial of its zoning application to build a sanctuary, ancillary buildings and a commercial retail area to support its mentoring program, the Jesus Christ Institute...

Do Government Economic Incentives Trigger Church-State Limits For Grocery?

Posted on September 17, 2009
In St. Louis (MO), some are arguing that a new downtown grocery store, Culinaria (owned by the Schunck's grocery chain), should be subject to church-state separation requirements because more than half of its funding came from government sources. Funding sources included tax credits and a leasing arrangement which results in the Missouri Development Finance Board owning the building in which the store is located...

Dutch Supreme Court Says Football Chant Violated Ban on Insulting of Religious Group

Posted on September 17, 2009
The Netherlands Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a lower court's conviction and sentence of a football fan under Section 137c of the Dutch Penal Code that prohibits "insulting of a group of people because of their ... their religion or belief..." The conviction grew out of an odd football tradition in the country (explained by Counter Jihad)...

Treatment Of Muslims By French Army Criticized

Posted on September 17, 2009
World Bulletin yesterday reported that the France's Defense Ministry is exerting additional control over Muslim officers in the French army by arranging their travel this year for the Hajj. The Ministry will provide a plane to fly them to Saudi Arabia and will organize their stay...

Teacher Awarded Qualified Immunity In Suit For Remark Against Creationism

Posted on September 17, 2009
A long-running lawsuit in which a California high school student and his parents sued history teacher James Corbett for making remarks hostile to religion has finally come to a close. In May, the court found that one of the teacher's comments-- calling Creationism "superstitious nonsense"-- violated the Establishment Clause...

Israeli Student's Legalistic Protest of Hametz Law Fails

Posted on September 16, 2009
YNet News yesterday reported on the results of the trial in Israel growing out of an incident earlier this year that attracted significant attention. Yeshiva student Aryeh Yerushalmi protested an Israeli court's interpretation of the law that prohibits the public display of leavened products for sale or consumption during Passover...

Missouri Court Says Negligence Is Enough In Sex Abuse Case Against Church

Posted on September 16, 2009
Yesterday's Missourian reports that in a lawsuit against a St. Joseph Missouri Methodist church, a state trial court has held for the first time under Missouri law that a church can be sued for negligence in a clergy sexual abuse case. Earlier Missouri cases had required plaintiffs to show that a church actually knew the abuser was going to harm children and failed to take actions to prevent it, in order to recover against the church.

Cuba Will Now Permit Group Christian Services Inside Prisons

Posted on September 16, 2009
AP reported yesterday that Cuba's Communist government has relaxed tensions with religious groups by extending opportunities for prison inmates to worship. Authorities have agreed they will allow inmates to attend Roman Catholic Mass and Protestant services inside prisons...

New Poll Compares Conservative and Progressive Religious Activists

Posted on September 16, 2009
Public Religion Research yesterday released a 40-page report titled Faithful, Engaged, and Divergent: A Comparative Portrait of Conservative and Progressive Religious Activists in the 2008 Election and Beyond. Religion Dispatches accurately describes the study (based on extensive polling) as revealing few surprises...

Christian Citizenship Applicant Protests Vaccination Requirement

Posted on September 16, 2009
Yesterday's Christian Post reports on Simone Davis, a 17-year old British citizen, who has been living with her grandmother in Florida since 2000. Now she is attempting to obtain U.S. citizenship, but objects on religious and moral grounds to the requirement that applicants for permanent residence show they have received a list of vaccinations, including Gardasil that protects against cervical cancer from sexually transmitted viruses...

City's Settlement of RLUIPA Lawsuit Leaves Challenged Ordinance In Effect

Posted on September 16, 2009
The city of Bellmead, Texas (under prodding from a federal judge as trial approached) is close to settling a RLUIPA lawsuit brought against it by the Church of the Open Door which was refused zoning permission to move its halfway house for released prisoners into a former nursing home building it had purchased...

EEOC Sues On Behalf of Jehovah's Witness Fired For Refusing Halloween Participation

Posted on September 16, 2009
Yesterday's Charleston Regional Business Journal reports that the EEOC has filed a religious discrimination lawsuit against the former owner of an ambulance company that was based in Orangeburg, South Carolina. The EEOC alleges that in 2006 the company fired a Jehovah's Witness employee who refused on religious grounds to represent the company at a local Halloween carnival...

10 Commandments on City Hall Property Is Problematic

Posted on September 15, 2009
A new molded concrete depiction of the Ten Commandments has gone up on the city-owned Veterans Plaza next to the city building in Baker, Louisiana. According to the Baton Rouge (LA)Advocate last week, both this monument and an identical one nearby on the grounds of the Baker First Baptist Church face the Baker High School campus across the street...

Teens Sue After Ejection From Stadium For Refusing To Stand During "God Bless America"

Posted on September 15, 2009
The Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger last week reported on a federal lawsuit filed by three high school students against Thomas Cetna, owner of the minor league baseball team, the Newark Bears. The students claim that Cetna cursed them and had security officers eject them from the stadium when they refused to stand during the 7th inning stretch while "God Bless America" was being sung...

Proposed Landmark Law Would Protect Church Slated For Closing

Posted on September 15, 2009
The Cleveland, Ohio Catholic Diocese has ordered fifty churches to close by next Summer as part of a downsizing plan. However the city of Lakewood is about to pass an ordinance to limit the impact of the closing on historic and ornate St. James Church...

3rd Circuit Hears Oral Arguments On School Holiday Concert Policy

Posted on September 15, 2009
The U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday heard oral arguments in Stratechuk v. Board of Education, South Orange Maplewood School District. In the case, a New Jersey federal district court upheld a school board's holiday music policy that barred inclusion of religious holiday music in school holiday concerts...

Goa Rejects Christian Requests For Burial Grounds

Posted on September 15, 2009
In the Indian state of Goa, Christian leaders are criticizing a statement made by the mayor of the Corporation of City of Panjim. Today's Times of India reports that in rejecting applications of various religious groups for burial grounds in the city, Mayor Carolina Po declared: "The corporators feel that people who have converted to other religious sects should ask those people who led them to convert to provide them with burial grounds also...

Advocacy Group Launching Campaign To Encourage Religious Speech On Public Campuses

Posted on September 15, 2009
Arizona Republic's Livewire Blog reported yesterday that Alliance Defense Fund is using a $9.2 million anonymous donation as the catalyst to launch its $20 million "University Project." The Project is a legal campaign to get public colleges and universities to encourage religious speech on campuses.

Religious Homeless Shelter and Treatment Program Not Limited By Fair Housing Act

Posted on September 14, 2009
In Intermountain Fair Housing Council v. Boise Rescue Mission Ministries, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 82459 (D ID, Sept. 10, 2009), an Idaho federal district court held that the homeless shelter component of the Boise Rescue Mission is not a "dwelling" and therefore is not subject to the religious anti-discrimination provisions of the federal Fair Housing Act...

Recent Articles of Interest

Posted on September 14, 2009
From SSRN:Wilbren Van der Burg & Frans W.A. Brom, In Defense of State Neutrality, (in: K.P. Rippe (Hrsg.), Angewandte Ethik in der Pluralistischen Gesellschaft, Freiburg, CH: Freiburger Universitätsverlag, 53-82).From SmartCILP and elsewhere:Brooke Goldstein & Eitan Meyer Aaron, "Legal jihad": How Islamist Lawfare Tactics are Targeting Free Speech, 15 ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law 395-410 (2009)...

Suit Challenging Star of David In US Supreme Court Dismissed As Frivolous

Posted on September 14, 2009
In Smith v. Roberts, (IN Ct. App., Sept. 8, 2009), an Indiana state Court of Appeals rather easily dismissed as frivolus an unusual lawsuit filed by an Indiana resident against U.S. Chief Justice John Roberts. According to the court, plaintiff's "complaint alleges there is a Star of David carved into the Supreme Court building and 'alleges that Roberts has acted negligently in his officials [sic] duties by allowing and continuely [sic] establishing, advocating, and advancing the Jewish religion in violation of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution of America [sic]...

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