Religion & Law

Nepal Court Orders Government To Stay Action Against Hindu Temple Treasury Pending Resolution of Lawsuit

Posted on February 01, 2011
A single -judge panel of Nepal's Supreme Court yesterday ordered the government's culture ministry to take no further action regarding the assets of one of the oldest Hindu temples in the country pending resolution of a challenge to the government's order for the temple to disclose the assets...

Required Disclaimer By Pro-Life Pregnancy Centers Violates Free Speech Protections

Posted on February 01, 2011
In Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien v. Mayor and City Council of Baltimore, (D MD, Jan. 28, 2011), a Maryland federal district court struck down as a violation of free expression a Baltimore ordinance requiring various disclosures by limited-service pregnancy centers...

In Britain, Parliament May Retaliate If Church Refuses To Ordain Women Bishops

Posted on January 31, 2011
In England, legislative changes to permit the ordination of women as bishops in the Church of England is slowly proceeding.  In July, the Church's General Synod approved the proposal and referred it to diocesan synods. If a majority of them approve the measure, it returns to the General Synod where it will require a two-thirds majority in each house (laity and clergy and bishops) to pass...

Muslim Brotherhood Not Pressing Its Religious Agenda In Current Egyptian Crisis; Others Call for Liberalization

Posted on January 31, 2011
Ya Libnan reported yesterday that Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood is subordinating its religious goals to the effort to achieve democratic elections in the country. In that effort, they are backing Mohamed ElBaradei as the lead spokesman for negotiating political reforms on behalf of the various opposition groups...

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Recent Articles and Books of Interest

Posted on January 31, 2011
From SSRN:Mike Madden, Second Among Equals? Understanding the Short Shrift that Freedom of Religion is Receiving in Canadian Jurisprudence, (Journal of Law and Equality, Vol. 7, No. 1, pp. 55-86, 2011).Lucia Ann Silecchia, Reflections on the Link between Faith and Intellect, (CUA Columbus School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper No...

Religious Marriage Ceremony Alone Does Not Create "De Facto" Marriage In Kentucky

Posted on January 30, 2011
In Pinkhasov v. Petocz, (KY Ct. App., Jan. 28, 2011), the Kentucky Court of Appeals held that a marriage solemnized religiously without the parties obtaining a civil marriage license is not legally valid and will not, in light of the state's refusal to recognized common law marriages, be recognized as a "de facto" marriage...

Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases

Posted on January 30, 2011
In Diaz-Morales v. Wells, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 6208 (SD GA, Jan. 20, 2011), a Muslim inmate filed a habeas petition challenging loss of good conduct time imposed because he participated in a group boycott of religious meals. A Georgia federal magistrate judge recommended dismissal of plaintiff's free exercise, equal protection and related claims because they cannot be raised by way of habeas corpus, for failure to exhaust administrative remedies and because of lack of support on the merits for his equal protection claim...

India's Supreme Court Upholds Haj Subsidies Against Constitutional Attack

Posted on January 29, 2011
In Goradia v. Union of India, (India Sup. Ct., Jan. 28, 2011), India's Supreme Court rejected a constitutional challenge to India's Haj Committee Act of 2002 under which the government provides air fare subsidies for Haj pilgrims.   The suit was brought by Praful Goradia, a former member of Parliament from the Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party...

British Appellate Court Says EU Employment Discrimination Directives Do Not Cover Volunteers

Posted on January 28, 2011
In an important ruling in X v. Mid Sussex Citizens Advice Bureau, (EWCA, Jan. 26, 2011), the England and Wales Court of Appeal held that volunteers are not covered by the EU directives requiring equal treatment in employment and occupation.  In a release supporting the result, the Christian Institute (which had intervened in the case) said that the decision protects churches that use volunteers from being "forced to navigate a minefield of equality laws that threaten religious liberty...

Hawaii Senators Move To Voluntary Pre-Session Prayer

Posted on January 28, 2011
Last week, the Hawaii state Senate, after receiving a complaint from the ACLU voted to end the practice of opening Senate sessions with a prayer. (AP 1/21). However, on Wednesday a group of nine Senators held hands, bowed their heads and prayed on the Senate chamber floor before the day's legislative session formally convened...

US Calls For Afghanistan To Release Two Facing Possible Death Penalty For Apostasy

Posted on January 28, 2011
The Wall Street Journal yesterday reported that the U.S. government, along with some international Christian organizations, is calling on the government of Afghanistan to release two men who have been arrested on apostasy charges and could face the death penalty...

Bill Would Create Special Envoy for Religious Minorities in Near East and South Central Asia

Posted on January 28, 2011
Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) announced this week that he, along with 7 co-sponsors, has introduced H.R. 440, a bipartisan bill to provide for the establishment of the Special State Department Envoy to Promote Religious Freedom of Religious Minorities in the Near East and South Central Asia...

Suit Charges Religious Discrimination In Closing of Facebook Account

Posted on January 28, 2011
Wednesday's New York Daily News reports on a lawsuit filed in a New York state trial court by a Staten Island man accusing Facebook, among other things, of religious discrimination in closing down his account. Mustafa Fteja, an Albanian Muslim who has lived in the U...

Federal Court Suit Challenges School's Teaching of Evolution

Posted on January 28, 2011
Earlier this month, a former Pennsylvania high school teacher filed an action pro se challenging the teacing of evolution by the Blue Mountain, Pennsylvania school district.  The complaint (full text) in Ritter v. Blue Mt. School District, (MD PA, filed 1/18/2011), alleges teaching that the only explanation for life is evolution (without the possibility of a Creator) amounts to the promoting of Atheism, which in turn amounts to teaching of a religion...

Magistrate Rejects Preliminary Injunction Request for Jehovah's Witness Congregation Zoning

Posted on January 27, 2011
In Merrimack Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses v. Town of Merrimack, (D NH, Jan. 24, 2011), a New Hampshire federal magistrate judge recommended denying a preliminary injunction to a Jehovah's Witness congregation that unsuccessfully sought a zoning exception to build a Kingdom Hall in an area zoned residential...

Courts Decide Claims For Return of Contributions To Religious Groups

Posted on January 27, 2011
Court decisions on two continents have recently struggled with attempts to recover transfers made by individuals to religious organizations. In Canada, a Windsor, Ontario Superior Court judge overturned a small claims court decision in a dispute over whether $35,000 transfered to the Society of the Madonna di Canneto was a loan or a contribution...

Mother's Religious Beliefs Lead To Award of Health Care Decision Making to Father

Posted on January 27, 2011
In Winters v. Brown, (FL App., Jan. 26, 2011), a Florida appellate court upheld applying the "best interest of the child" test to affirm a trial court's award of control over health care decisions for his minor child to the child's father. Matthew Brown, the father, who was never married to Shannon Winters, the mother, petitioned for establishment of paternity and control over health care, religious and educational issues when Winters obtained a exemption from the public school immunization requirements for the child...

New Argentine Law Allows Muslim Women To Wear Hijab In Public

Posted on January 27, 2011
Press TV reports that Argentina has adopted a new law allowing Muslim women to wear a hijab (head scarf) in public. It also allows them to wear a hijab for their national identity card photo. Muslims make up 2% of Argentina's population.

Romania Now Taxes Income of Witches

Posted on January 27, 2011
Religion Dispatches yesterday reported on Romania's 16% income tax that beginning January 1 began to apply to the 4,000 witches in the country.  Witches in Romania-- known as vrajitoaries-- combine Christian and pre-Christian elements in their rituals...

Amended Opinion Issued, En Banc Review Denied, In World Vision Case

Posted on January 26, 2011
Yesterday, a panel of the 9th Circuit issued an amended opinion and denied an en banc rehearing in Spencer v. World Vision, Inc., (9th Cir., Jan. 25, 2011). At issue is whether the Christian humanitarian organization, World Vision, comes within the exemption in Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act (42 USC 2000e-1) for "a religious corporation, association, educational institution, or society with respect to the employment of individuals of a particular religion to perform work connected with the carrying on by such corporation, association, educational institution, or society of its activities...

State of the Union Speech Includes Two References To U.S. Religious Diversity

Posted on January 26, 2011
President Obama's State of the Union address last night (full text) contained two references to religious affiliation of Americans.  The first was in connection with U.S. efforts to prevent al-Qaeda attacks:And as extremists try to inspire acts of violence within our borders, we are responding with the strength of our communities, with respect for the rule of law, and with the conviction that American Muslims are a part of our American family...

Court Preliminarily Enjoins Enforcement of County Funeral Picketing Law

Posted on January 26, 2011
In Phelps-Roper v. County of St. Charles, Missouri, (ED MO, Jan. 24, 2011), a Missouri federal district court issued a preliminary injunction against a St. Charles (MO) County Ordinance that prohibits picketing within 300 feet of a funeral. In the lawsuit, filed on behalf of members of the Westboro Baptist Church, the district court concluded that 8th Circuit precedent make it likely that the law would be invalidated as not narrowly tailoered or as facially over broad...

Hockey Player Sues Teams and Coaches For Anti-Semitic Harassment

Posted on January 26, 2011
TSN and CNN reported yesterday that Jason Bailey, a Jewish hockey player, has filed suit in a California state court alleging an anti-Semitic work environment created by the coach and assistant coach of the Bakersfield (CA) Condors.  The suit also names as defendant the Anaheim Ducks, the Condors' parent team...

Ban On Firearms In Churches Does Not Infringe Free Exercise Rights

Posted on January 26, 2011
In GeorgiaCarry.Org, Inc. v. State of Georgia, (MD GA, Jan. 24, 2011), a Georgia federal district court upheld the constitutionality of a Georgia statute that prohibits the carrying of firearms in any place of worship. The suit was brought by a firearms group, a Baptist church and its pastor...

Swiss High Court Says No To Trademark Registration of "Madonna"

Posted on January 25, 2011
International Law Office yesterday published an analysis of an interesting trademark law decision handed down in September 2010 by Switzerland's Federal Supreme Court.  The court refused to add the figurative international trademark "Madonna" to the Swiss Trademark Register on the ground that commercial use of the term-- a reference to the Virgin Mary-- would be immoral under Swiss trademark law...

Court Finds Priest Abuse Claim Against Diocese Is Not Time-Barred

Posted on January 25, 2011
In Wisniewski v. Diocese of Belleville, (Ill. App., Jan. 13, 2011), an Illinois appellate court in a 2-1 decision rejected a statute of limitations and repose defense raised by a Catholic diocese held responsible for sexual abuse by a priest.  In a lengthy decision, the majority found that the fraudulent concealment doctrine tolled the statute of repose in the suit in which a jury had awarded plaintiff $2...

Suit Challenges School's Refusal To Install Pavers With Biblical Verses

Posted on January 25, 2011
The Desert Sands (CA) Unified School District Board in late 2009 approved a PTO fundraiser. Parents, community members and students were given the opportunity to purchase bricks and benches that would be placed permanently on the new Palm Desert High School campus...

Supreme Court OK's Suits Under Title VII For Retaliation Against 3rd Parties

Posted on January 25, 2011
In Thompson v. North American Stainless, LP, (US Sup. Ct., Jan. 24, 2011), the U.S. Supreme Court held that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act allows suit by a third party who was the victim of retaliation because someone else-- here plaintiff's fiancee-- filed an anti-discrimination claim...

ADL Has Become Leading Defender of Mosque Construction Projects

Posted on January 25, 2011
According to a report yesterday by CNN, the Anti-Defamation League over the last few months has become a leading advocate supporting mosque construction projects around the country against local opposition.  Generally it has invoked RLUIPA to support mosque zoning applications...

India's Supreme Court Withdraws Language Criticized By Christians

Posted on January 25, 2011
According to Cath News, India's Supreme Court today withdrew on its own initiative a paragraph in an opinion it handed down last week that had created significant concern among Christian leaders and human rights groups. At issue was the court's decision reviewing the life sentence imposed on radical leader Dara Singh who was convicted of leading a mob that set fire to a station wagon in which Australian missionary Graham Staines and his two sons were sleeping, killing the three...

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