Religion & Law

In 2 Suits, EEOC Charges Businesses With Refusing To Accommodate Sunday Sabbath Observance

Posted on October 02, 2010
In two lawsuits filed Friday, the EEOC sued two unrelated businesses for refusing to accommodate the religious observance of employees who refused to work on Sundays because it is their Sabbath.  In a suit filed in federal court in Washington state, the EEOC charged that Walmart ended the accommodation it had provided the manager of its Colville (WA) store for the last 14 years...

Reference To Defendant's Satanist Beliefs Is Not Basis For Reversal of Death Sentence

Posted on October 02, 2010
In Davis v. State of Texas, (TX Ct. Crim. App., Sept. 29, 2010), a Texas appellate court rejected a defendant', appeal of his death sentence, finding that defendant's various claims of prejudice because he was a Satanist did not call for reversal of the jury's decision in the punishment phase...

Indian Court Issues Compromise Ruling In Long-Running Dispute Over Title To Sacred Land

Posted on October 02, 2010
In India on Thursday, the Allahabad High Court issued a compromise ruling in a 60-year long dispute over title to a sacred site claimed by both Hindus and Muslims.  NDTV and the Wall Street Journal report on the 2-1 decision that divided the site in the town of Ayodhya between the two religious groups...

CNN Fires Rick Sanchez For Anti-Semitic Comments On Radio Interview

Posted on October 02, 2010
Yesterday CNN fired news anchor Rick Sanchez after Sanchez's anti-Semitic remarks in an interview on SiriusXM radio.  In the interview with Pete Dominick on "Stand Up!", Sanchez called Comedy Central's John Stewart a bigot.  Sanchez was promoting his new book, "Conventional Idiocy...

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Challenge To Pledge and National Motto In Capitol Visitor Center Dismissed On Standing Grounds

Posted on October 02, 2010
In Freedom from Religion Foundation v. Ayers, (WD WI, Sept. 29, 2010), a Wisconsin federal district court held that neither the Freedom from Religion Foundation, nor any of its members, have standing to bring an Establishment Clause challenge to a Congressional joint resolution calling for the Architect of the Capital to engrave the Pledge of Allegiance and the National Motto, ?In God We Trust?, in the Capitol Visitors Center...

Judge Refuses To Recuse Himself Over Charge of Religious Bias

Posted on September 29, 2010
Palmer v. City of Prescott, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 101136 (D AZ, Sept. 7, 2010), is a suit against the city of Prescott, Arizona and various of its officials alleging violations of plaintiff's 4th and 5th Amendment rights. Plaintiff moved to disqualify federal district court Judge David Campbell from hearing the case because Campbell is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints...

EEOC Sues AutoZone On Behalf of Sikh Employee

Posted on September 29, 2010
The EEOC announced yesterday that it has filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Massachusetts against AutoZone, Inc. on behalf of a Sikh employee.  The suit alleges that AutoZone refused to allow employee Frank Mahoney-Burroughs wear a turban and kara (religious bracelet)...

DC Circuit Stays Preliminary Injunction Against Stem Cell Guidelines

Posted on September 29, 2010
Yesterday the Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit in Sherley v. Sebelius granted a stay of a preliminary injunction during the appeal of a federal district court's order enjoining application of the Obama Administration's guidelines expanding grants for stem cell research...

AU Asks IRS To Investigate Church's Political Endorsement On Pulpit Sunday

Posted on September 29, 2010
Reaction is now beginning to activities of churches which last Sunday participated in Alliance Defense Fund's Pulpit Sunday challenging tax code restrictions on non-profits, including churches. (See prior posting.)  Americans United announced yesterday that it has sent a letter (full text) to the Internal Revenue Service asking it to investigate Fairview Baptist Church in Edmond, Oklahoma...

Lehi, Utah Police Investigate TV Reality Show Polygamous Family

Posted on September 29, 2010
The TLC Channel on Sunday premiered a new reality TV show titled "Sister Wives." The network describes the program as" "Meet husband Kody-- along with his three wives: Meri, Janelle and Christine and their combined 13 children-- and see how they attempt to navigate life as a 'normal' family in a society that shuns their lifestyle...

New York Town Wants Sufi Cemetery Shut Down

Posted on September 29, 2010
AP reported  yesterday that in the rural upstate New York town of Sidney Center, the town board voted in August to pursue legal action to shut down the town's small Sufi cemetery. Town Supervisor Bob McCarthy says the cemetery is illegal and that the two bodies already buried should be removed...

MRFF Charges New Religious Freedom Problems At Air Force Academy

Posted on September 29, 2010
The Military Religious Freedom Foundation announced yesterday that it has sent a letter (full text), co-signed by the heads of nine other groups, to the Secretary of Defense making three demands for changes to deal with the allegedly worsening situation involving Christian proselytizing at the Air Force Academy...

European Human Rights Court Rules on Right of Churches To Dismiss Employees for Private Behavior

Posted on September 29, 2010
In a press release last week, the European Court of Human Rights announced two Chamber Judgments, ruling for the first time on the application of the European Convention on Human Rights application to the dismissal of church employees for conduct in the sphere of their private lives...

Egypt's Coptic Leader Apologizes For Bishop's Questioning of Qur'anic Verses

Posted on September 28, 2010
The leader of Egypt's Coptic Christian Church, Pope Shenouda III, in an interview aired on Egypt's state-run television Sunday apologized to Muslims for remarks made recently by the church's top bishop. Al-Azhar criticized Bishop Bishoy for provoking sectarian tension after Egyptian media quoted him as suggesting that verses in the Qur'an disputing the divine nature of Jesus were inserted after the death of the Prophet Muhammad...

Pew Survey On Religious Knowledge Shows Confusion Over Religion In Schools

Posted on September 28, 2010
The Pew Forum yesterday released the results of a survey on U.S. Religious Knowledge (Executive Summary, Full Report). The survey of 3,412 Americans asked questions about the Bible, Christianity, Judaism, Mormonism, world religions, religion in public life and atheism...

Property Tax Exempt As Parsonage, But Not As Property Use Exclusively For Religious Purposes

Posted on September 28, 2010
In Rockland Hebrew Educational Center, Inc. v. The Village of Spring Valley, (NY Sup Ct, Sept. 8, 2010),  a Jewish religious educational organization challenged a village's refusal to renew the tax exemption for its property. A New York trial court held that the village carried its burden of showing that the property was not entitled to a tax exemption as real property owned by a religious or educational institution and used exclusively for those purposes...

Cert Filed In Challenge To Inauguration Oath and Prayers

Posted on September 28, 2010
Yesterday a Petition for Certiorari (full text) was filed with the U.S. Supreme Court asking it to review the D.C. Circuit's decision in Newdow v. Roberts. In the case, the majority of a 3-judge appeals court panel held that plaintiffs lacked standing to bring an Establishment Clause challenge to prayer and use of "so help me God" in the oath at Presidential inauguration ceremonies...

Obama Tells Audience Why He Is A Christian

Posted on September 28, 2010
As reported by the New York Times, President Obama continues his series of stops in back yards in various parts of the country in the run up to the mid-term elections. Today, in New Mexico, he was asked by one questioner : "Why are you a Christian?" Here is the CBN News transcript of his answer (the article also includes a video of the Q&A and a transcript of his response in the Q&A to a question about abortion rights):I?m a Christian by choice...

Church Loses RLUIPA Claim On Special Use Permit

Posted on September 27, 2010
In Grace Church of Roaring Fork Valley v. Board of County Commissioners of Pitkin County, Colorado, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99950 (D CO, Sept. 20, 2010), a Colorado federal district court rejected RLUIPA and 1st Amendment challenges to the denial of an application for special review use of a church's property...

Court Dismisses 1st Amendment, But Not Statutory, Challenge To Vaccination Requirement

Posted on September 27, 2010
In Caviezel v. Great Neck Public Schools, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 100451 (ED NY, Sept. 24, 2010), a New York federal district court held that the First Amendment does not give religious objectors the right to an exemption from New York's mandatory vaccination law for school children...

Bill Would Amend Title VI To Include Ban On Religious Discrimination In Schools Receiving Federal Funds

Posted on September 27, 2010
Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act currently prohibits denying participation in any program receiving federal financial assistance  based on "race, color or national origin." Senator Arlen Specter and Rep. Brad Sherman announced on Friday that they were introducing bills to amend Title VI to also ban discrimination on the basis of religion in order to protect Jewish, Muslim and Sikh students from harassment at schools and colleges receiving federal funds...

Recent Articles of Interest

Posted on September 27, 2010
From SSRN:Barbara P. Billauer, Human Reproductive Cloning: The Intersection of Kaballa, the Bible and Biology - Parable, Exegesis and Modern Science, (September 22, 2010).Barbara P. Billauer, Human Reproductive Cloning: Science, Jewish Law and Metaphyics, (September 20, 2010)...

More Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases

Posted on September 27, 2010
In James v. Hayden, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 99205 (SD NY, Sept. 21, 2010), a New York federal district court dismissed an inmate's claim that a group strip search violated his free exercise rights and his rights under RLUIPA, finding insufficient evidence of a substantial burden on plaintiff's religious beliefs...

Texas State Board of Education Condemns Supposed Pro-Islamic Distortions In Textbooks

Posted on September 26, 2010
At its Sept. 24 meeting, the Texas State Board of Education approved, by a vote of 7-6, a resolution (full text) condemning supposed "pro-Islamic/ anti-Christian distortions in Social Studies texts." The resolution cites textbooks that devote more lines to Muslim than Christian beliefs and practices and claims "patterns of perjoratives toward Christians and superlatives toward Muslims", "politically correct whitewashes", and "sanitized definitions of 'jihad'"...

Christian Missionaries Acquitted of Most Charges Growing Out of Dearborn Arab Festival

Posted on September 26, 2010
According to the Detroit Free Press, a jury in Dearborn, Michigan on Friday acquitted four Christian missionaries, members of a group called Acts 17 Apologetics, of breach of the peace charges growing out of their activities at this year's Dearborn Arab International Festival...

Ft. Bragg Christian Concert Draws Church-State Objections

Posted on September 26, 2010
"Rock the Fort", a festival of Christian music and other activities, apparently went on as scheduled yesterday at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina despite a call by Americans United for the Army to cancel the event.  In a letter to the Secretary of the Army (full text), AU argued: " 'Rock the Fort' is not an event designed to minister to the needs of soldiers unable to otherwise access religious services; rather, it is an event designed to proselytize soldiers and community members into the worship of Jesus Christ...

TSA OKs Carrying Lulav and Etrog On Planes

Posted on September 26, 2010
We are currently in the midst of the week-long Jewish festival of Sukkot.  The federal Transportation Security Administration has issued a press release assuring Jewish travelers that they will be able to bring the traditional lulav and etrog on airplanes...

Today Is 3rd Annual Pulpit Sunday Challenging IRS Restrictions On Church Political Activity

Posted on September 26, 2010
Today is Alliance Defense Fund's 3rd annual Pulpit Sunday in which pastors around the country will defy IRS limitations on partisan political activity by non-profit groups, including churches.  An ADF news release issued Thursday says the group expects 100 pastors to participate by preaching sermons today setting out Biblical perspectives on the positions of electoral candidates or current government officials...

Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases

Posted on September 26, 2010
In Lee v. Johnson, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 97703 (WD VA, Sept. 17, 2010), a Virginia federal district court permitted an inmate to move ahead with several claims alleging that House of Yahweh inmates were not given the opportunity to meet together for religious services and practice their religion in other ways...

Ministerial Exception Precludes ADA Claim

Posted on September 25, 2010
In McNeil v. Missouri Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church, (WD MO, Sept. 20, 2010), a Missouri federal district court held that under the "ministerial exception" doctrine it will not second guess hiring decisions made by religious institutions...

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