Religion & Law

New Museum of American Jewish History Opens In Philadelphia This Month

Posted on November 09, 2010
RNS reports that the National Museum of American Jewish History in Philadelphia will open to the public on November 26, after grand opening ceremonies on the weekend of Nov. 12-14. Covering 350 years of the history of Jews in the United States, the museum is described by Prof...

Proposed Bill In India Threatens 1000-Year Old Religious Festival

Posted on November 09, 2010
India's Pune Mirror today reports that the government of the Indian state of Maharashtra is set to enact the Prevention of Human Sacrifice, Sexual Harassment and Inhuman Acts Bill this winter. However warkaris complain that the proposed law may end up banning the Palkhi Festival during which for 1000 years adherents walk barefoot some 150 miles, singing and dancing, to the holy town of Pandharpur...

Annual "Friend or Foe Christmas" Campaign Launched

Posted on November 09, 2010
Liberty Counsel yesterday announced that it is launching its "Eighth Annual Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign. The annual promotion takes aim at attempts to rename Christmas events as "holiday" activities and at decisions that have banned a range of items, from nativity scenes to wearing of red and green Christmas colors, from various public venues...

Cert. Filed In Seventh Day Adventist Case: Does RFRA Apply To Suits Between Private Parties?

Posted on November 09, 2010
A petition for certiorari (full text) was filed yesterday with the U.S. Supreme Court in McGill v. General Conference Corporation of Seventh Day Adventists. In the case, the court refused to dismiss trademark infringement and related claims brought by two Seventh Day Adventist religious organizations against a break-away church that used a similar name...

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Mixed Reactions To Pope's Visit To Spain

Posted on November 08, 2010
London's Independent yesterday reported on Pope Benedict XVI's just-completed visit to Spain (Pope's itinerary). The paper says:the visit has touched a sensitive nerve in Spanish society, divided between traditional Catholics and a growing movement to eliminate Church influence in state affairs...

Obama In India Responds To Question About Jihad

Posted on November 08, 2010
President Obama is on a trip to Asia, and yesterday he and Michelle Obama spoke with students at a Town Hall at St. Xavier College, in Mumbai, India. (Full text of remarks and Q&A). In the first question to the President in the Q&A, a college student asked Obama's "opinion about jihad...

Recent Articles of Interest

Posted on November 08, 2010
From SSRN:Marc O. DeGirolami, Book Review: The Handmaid of Politics, (Journal of Law and Religion, Forthcoming).Thomas Venzor, Protecting the Unborn Child: The Current State of International Law Concerning the So-Called Right to Abortion and Intervention by the Holy See, (Nebraska Law Review, Vol...

Federal Court Issues TRO Barring Certification of Oklahoma Anti-Shariah Amendment

Posted on November 08, 2010
AP reports that an Oklahoma federal district court today issued a temporary restraining order barring Oklahoma's State Board of Elections from certifying the results of last week's vote on an amendment to the Oklahoma constitution that bars state courts from considering international law or Shariah law in deciding cases...

1st Circuit Hears Arguments On Whether FMLA Covers Accompanying Spouse For Faith Healing

Posted on November 07, 2010
Corporate Counsel reports that on Thursday the 1st Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in Tayag v. Lahey Clinic Hospital, Inc.  One of the issues in the case is whether the federal Family and Medical Leave Act provides leave for caregivers accompanying sick family members who are seeking spiritual healing...

Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases

Posted on November 07, 2010
In Fabricius v. Maricopa County, (9th Cir., Nov. 1, 2010), the 9th Circuit upheld dismissal of a pre-trial detainee's complaint that a jalil's playing of holiday music violated the Establishment Clause.In Freeman v. Julious, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 115367 (ED CA, Oct...

Court Says Avoiding High Cost Alone Not A Compelling Government Interest Under RLUIPA

Posted on November 07, 2010
An Indiana federal district court has decided an important prisoner religious rights case brought as a class action by the ACLU, holding that RLUIPA was violated when an Indiana prison stopped serving kosher meals for cost reasons.  In Willis v...

Court Rejects Establishment Clause Challenge To Waldorf Schools

Posted on November 07, 2010
Yesterday's Sacramento Bee reports that on Friday, a California federal district court dismissed a lawsuit that had been in the courts for 13 years challenging two California school districts for using the Waldorf teaching method in two of their schools...

Malaysian Politicians Condemn Teacher's Caning of Srudent For Bringing Non-Halal Food to School

Posted on November 06, 2010
In the Malaysian state of Sarawak, politicians from the governing Barisan Nasional party, as well as from opposition parties, have condemned the actions of a public school teacher who caned a boy for bringing non-Halal food to school.  According to Saturday's Free Malaysia Today, the senior teacher of St...

Fair Housing Charges Dismissed In Case of Church Posting For Female Christian Roommate

Posted on November 05, 2010
The U.S. Region V Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity has found no reasonable cause to believe there was a violation of the Fair Housing Act in the case of a woman who posted an ad for a "female Christian roommate" on her church bulletin board...

9th Circuit Hears Oral Arguments In Church Zoning Case

Posted on November 05, 2010
On Wednesday, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in International Church of the Foursquare Gospel v. City of  San Leandro. An audio recording of the oral arguments is available from the court's website. In the case, a California federal district court rejected RLUIPA, First Amendment, due process and equal protection challenges to a California city's refusal to rezone for "assembly" use industrial property a church had agreed to purchase...

Lawsuit Seeks To Bar Certification of Oklahoma Vote on Shariah Law

Posted on November 05, 2010
Two days after Oklahoma voters overwhelmingly approved a ballot measure barring state courts from considering or applying Shariah law, the Council on American-Islamic Relations filed a lawsuit seeking to enjoin the State Board of Elections from certifying the election results on the proposed constitutional amendment...

Consent Decree Entered In Suit By Group Seeking To Distribute Bibles In High Schools

Posted on November 05, 2010
On Tuesday, a Florida federal district court entered a consent decree (full text) in World Changers of Florida, Inc. v. District School Board of Collier County, Florida, (MD FL, Nov. 2, 2010). The lawsuit challenged a school policy instituted in 2008 that only permitted distribution of literature in the schools by outside groups if administrators found that it promotes student interests...

Police Officer's Claim of Religious Discrimination In Investigation Dismissed

Posted on November 05, 2010
Longmire v. City of Oakland, (ND CA, Nov. 2, 2010), is a lawsuit by an Oakland,California police officer who believed that racial and religious discrimination impacted an investigation that concluded he interfered with the police department's criminal investigation of a Black Muslim Bakery...

Evangelist Sues Challenging City's Noise Ordinance

Posted on November 04, 2010
A lawsuit was filed yesterday in a Virginia federal district court by a Christian evangelist challenging Winchester, Virginia's noise ordinance.  Michael Marcavage, director of Repent America, was required by police to stop using a hand-held microphone and speaker while preaching at at Winchester's 2010 Apple Blossom Festival...

SG's Standing Argument In Arizona Christian School Organization Case Surprises Some

Posted on November 04, 2010
The Los Angeles Times reports that many are surprised at the government's position on standing put forward yesterday by Acting U.S. Solicitor Gen. Neal Katyal in his Supreme Court argument on the constitutionality of Arizona's tuition scholarship tax credit...

Christian Proselytizer Seeks To Appeal Mormon Judge's Refusal To Recuse Himself

Posted on November 04, 2010
Yesterday in Palmer v. City of Prescott, plaintiff filed a motion for interlocutory appeal (full text) of an Arizona federal district court judge's refusal to disqualify himself from hearing plaintiff's civil rights case. (See prior posting.) Plaintiff, an evangelical Christian who proselytizes Mormons, claimed that Judge David Campbell's Mormon religious beliefs would bias him...

Financial Scandal Surrounds Pakistan Ministry's Hajj Arrangements

Posted on November 04, 2010
With the arrival of Hajj participants from around the world underway in Saudi Arabia, scandal swirls around the financial dealings of Pakistan's Religious Affairs Ministry in its arrangement of housing for Pakistani Hajj pilgrims. First, according to Monday's Pakistan Express Tribune, Pakistan's Hajj officials arranged for housing for Pakistanis too far away from Hajj activities, so many are instead camping on foot paths and roads...

Colorado Voters Defeat Personhood Amendment

Posted on November 03, 2010
In Colorado, Amendment 62, the anti-abortion Personhood Amendment was voted down yesterday. 70% of the voters cast their ballots against the amendment. (Election results.) The Denver Post reporting on the defeat, said the result was similar to the vote on a comparable proposal in 2008...

South Africa Plans To Amend Tax Law To Equalize Treatment of Shariah Compliant Mortgages

Posted on November 03, 2010
Bloomberg reports today that in South Africa, the government plans to introduce new tax rules next year to level the playing field for Islamic mortgages. South African law now exempts interest under $3206 (US) earned by those under 65 years of age from taxation...

3 Iowa Supreme Court Justices Voted Out of Office Because of Their Gay Marriage Ruling

Posted on November 03, 2010
In Iowa, for the first time since the judicial merit selection system was adopted in 1962, three state Supreme Court justices were voted out of office. Chief Justice Marsha Ternus and Justices David Baker and Michael Streit each received only 45% support for retention...

Oklahoma Voters Approve Ban On Courts Using Shariah Law

Posted on November 03, 2010
In Oklahoma yesterday, voters approved State Question No. 755, amending the Oklahoma constitution to bar state courts from considering or using international law or Shariah law when deciding cases. With all precincts reporting, 70% of voters cast ballots in favor of the measure...

Supreme Court Hears Arguments In Arizona Tuition Scholarship Tax Credit Case

Posted on November 03, 2010
The U.S. Supreme Court today heard oral arguments (full transcript) in Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn along with Garriott v. Winn. At issue is the constitutionality of Arizona's program that gives tax credits for contributions to school tuition organizations that in turn provide scholarships primarily to children attending parochial schools...

Ugandan Court Grants Temporary Injunction Against Tabloid Publishing Names of Gays

Posted on November 02, 2010
CNN and Canadian Press both report on a temporary injunction issued by a court in Uganda ordering the publication Rolling Stone (unrelated to the U.S. magazine of the same name) to stop publishing names of photos of people it claims are gay.  Last month the tabloid published the names of 100 supposedly leading gays and lesbians in the country accompanied by a yellow banner reading "hang them...

Settlement Approved In Suit Challenging Ban On Wearing Rosaries In School

Posted on November 02, 2010
A New York federal district court yesterday approved a settlement in a suit that was brought on behalf of a 13-year old middle school student in Schenectady, New York who was suspended for wearing a rosary outside his shirt to school. The school argued that items made of beads are gang-related...

High-Profile Defendant Removed From Jury Selection For Singing Hymns In Court

Posted on November 02, 2010
Yesterday in Salt Lake City, Utah, jury selection began in the federal court trial of Brian David Mitchell who is charged in the high profile 2002 kidnapping of then 14-year old Elizabeth Smart. Mitchell insisted on softly singing hymns during the court proceedings...

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