Religion & Law

Teachers Suspended Over Charge Of Sprinkling Holy Water On Colleague

Posted on May 23, 2010
Yesterday's South Florida Times reports on the investigation of two reading teachers growing out of an incident at Blanche Ely High School in March. The two, who are Christian, are charged with bullying and harassment for sprinkling their colleague Schandra Rodriguez with holy water...

Georgia Governor Signs New Disclosure Law On Kosher Foods

Posted on May 23, 2010
On Thursday, Georgia's governor, Sonny Purdue, signed into law H.B. 1345 which revises the state's provisions relating to the sale of kosher food. An ACLU press release reports on developments. Georgia's previous Kosher Food Labeling Act required that any food sold as kosher must meet "Orthodox Hebrew religious rules and requirements...

Court Says Challenge To Tax Code Parsonage Allowance Can Move Forward

Posted on May 23, 2010
In Freedom from Religion Foundation, Inc. v. Geithner, (ED CA, May 21, 2010), plaintiffs are challenging two provisions of the Internal Revenue Code on Establishment Clause grounds. Section 107 exempts from income the rental value of a parsonage, or the amount of a parsonage allowance, furnished to a member of the clergy as compensation for service performed in the exercise of a religious ministry...

Texas Board of Education Adopts More Conservative Social Studies Curriculum

Posted on May 23, 2010
In two party-line 9 to 5 votes yesterday, the Republican majority on the Texas State Board of Education adopted controversial changes to the state's social study guidelines that reflect a more socially conservative viewpoint. AP reports that over 200 amendments were offered this week to draft standards that had been prepared over the last 18 months by groups of teachers and university faculty...

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South Dakota Tea Party Candidate For Governor Presses For Religion, Church Endorsements

Posted on May 23, 2010
In South Dakota's June 8 primary, 5 candidates are competing for the Republican nomination for Governor. According to today's Argus Leader, the two with the most money behind them are Lt. Gov. Dennis Daugaard and Senate Majority Leader Dave Knudson. However they are being challenged by Tea Party candidate Gordon Howie, a state senator from Rapid City...

Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases

Posted on May 23, 2010
In Barhite v. Caruso, (6th Cir., May 14, 2010), the 6th Circuit rejected a prisoners free exercise and RLUIPA claims objecting to prison officials confiscating from him numerous photos of scantily clad young women. Plaintiff failed to allege that the photos were related to the practice of his Mormon religion...

California Reacting To New Texas Textbook Changes

Posted on May 23, 2010
AP and Fox News report that last Monday, the California state Senate Appropriations Committee voted 6-3 (bill history) to approve and send S.B. 1451 on to the full state Senate. The bill is designed to prevent California from adopting textbooks that contain the controversial changes approved last week by the Texas State Board of Education...

Court Says Woman's Muslim Faith Relevant To Her Emotional Distress Claim

Posted on May 22, 2010
In Jama v. United States, (WD WA, May 17, 2010), a Muslim woman brought various challenges to the manner in which law enforcement officers searched her apartment in a raid seeking evidence of khat distribution. During the raid, police officers forced plaintiff to remain outside her apartment in a nightgown without her head covered...

Caretakers Ready To Erect New Cross On Sunrise Rock

Posted on May 21, 2010
Fox News reported yesterday that the long-time caretakers of the Mojave Desert Veterans' Memorial have constructed an exact replica of the 7-foot cross that was recently stolen from the site and are ready to put it up if the Department of Justice approves...

New Russian Law Restores Properties To Churches

Posted on May 21, 2010
Interfax reported yesterday that the government committee of the Russian Federation has signed into law a new bill that allows communities to transfer back to religious organizations without charge property that was originally part of a religious complex...

10th Circuit Upholds Drug Charges; Alleged Religious Beliefs Found Insincere

Posted on May 21, 2010
In United States v. Quaintance, (10th Cir., May 19, 2010), the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an Arizona federal district court's refusal to dismiss the indictments of Danuel and Mary Quaintance for conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute marijuana...

Islamic Scholars Debate UAE's New Law On Organ Transplants

Posted on May 21, 2010
The National yesterday reported on a debate among Islamic scholars over a new legal instrument released this week by the United Arab Emirates permitting organ transplants from patients who are brain dead, but whose heart is still beating with the assistance of a ventilator...

Lawsuit Dismissed After School Board Broadens Anti-Bullying Instruction

Posted on May 21, 2010
In Alameda, California, a group of parents dismissed their lawsuit against the Alameda Unified School District after the board of education agreed to a change one of the safe-schools anti-bullying and diversity lessons. According to a press release from Pacific Justice Institute, parents were seeking to have their young children excused from the class that focused on bullying of gays and lesbians...

Group Asks IRS To Invetigate Church's Online Endorsement of Candidate

Posted on May 21, 2010
Americans United this week wrote the Internal Revenue Service (full text of letter) asking it to investigate a Los Angeles church that endorsed a Neighborhood City Council candidate through postings on the church's website and through Twitter. According to AU (press release), Oasis Church used its website to ask its members to vote in the May 13 Greater Wilshire Neighborhood City Council elections for Alex Jones-Moreno, the church's director of social justice, who was running for reelection...

Pakistan Blocking Facebook and YouTube Over Blasphemous Material

Posted on May 21, 2010
In Pakistan yesterday, the Lahore High Court ordered the Ministry of Information Technology and the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) to block all access to Facebook's website pending another court hearing on May 31. Pakistan's Express Tribune reported that the order stems from concern over a Facebook page that hosts publicity for the May 20th "Everybody Draw Muhammad" Day...

Stolen Sunrise Rock Cross Replacement-- Up Again, Down Again

Posted on May 21, 2010
In a posting last night, updated this morning, I chronicled the reappearance of the Sunrise Rock Cross at the Mojave War Memorial after the original Cross-- the subject of a recent Supreme Court decision-- was stolen. Now, according to the San Diego Union Tribune , the National Park Service took down the replacement yesterday afternoon after determining that it was not the original Cross...

Court Protects Geithner From Questioning In Bailout Establishment Clause Challenge

Posted on May 21, 2010
In Murray v. U.S. Department of Treasury, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 48692 (ED MI, May 18, 2010), a Michigan federal magistrate judge refused to permit plaintiff to take the deposition of Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and granted Geithner a protective order barring plaintiff from deposing him...

School Prevails In Requiring Cap and Gown Over Lakota Regalia For Part of Graduation

Posted on May 21, 2010
In Dreaming Bear v. Fleming, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 48970 (D SD, May 18, 2010), a South Dakota federal district court refused a Lakota Sioux high school student's request for a preliminary injunction that would excuse him from his high school's requirement that he wear a cap and gown at graduation while receiving his diploma...

Mormon Missionaries Encountering Resistance Over Arizona Immigration Law

Posted on May 21, 2010
Yesterday's Arizona Republic reports that Mormon missionaries in the state are encountering resistance from Latinos they are seeking to convert because the sponsor of the state's controversial new immigration law (SB 1070) is a Mormon. Also some recent Latino converts are leaving their new faith over the issue...

EEOC Settles One Religious Discrimination Suit; Files Another

Posted on May 21, 2010
The federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission today announced the settlement of one religious discrimination lawsuit and the filing of another. The Pollard Agency, an Alabama-based security company, has agreed to pay $49,566 to settle a lawsuit charging it with refusing to accommodate a security guard's religious practices...

Court Again Rejects Housing Act Challenge To Homeless Shelter Activities

Posted on May 20, 2010
Last September, 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. It also held that both in the homeless shelter and in the Rescue Mission's second component-- a residential recovery program for individuals with drug or alcohol dependency-- the Religious Freedom Restoration Act bars application of the Fair Housing Act to prohibit the Rescue Mission's religious activities or religious favoritism of certain participants...

Preliminary Injunction Denied Against Community College Graduation Prayer

Posted on May 18, 2010
Yesterday's Orange County (CA) Register reports that a California federal district judge last week refused to issue a temporary injunction against graduation prayer at two California community colleges. The lawsuit against the South Orange Community College District was filed by faculty and students at Saddleback College...

Charges Dropped Against British Street Preacher

Posted on May 18, 2010
In Britain, charges under the Public Order Act have been dropped against a Baptist street preacher who was briefly arrested by police in Workington after he condemned homosexuality as a sin in a conversation with a shopper, and then began a sermon on drunkenness and adultery...

Vatican Files Motions To Dismiss U.S. Lawsuit Against It

Posted on May 18, 2010
Yesterday, the Vatican filed two motions to dismiss the clergy sexual abuse lawsuit that has been brought against it in federal court in Kentucky. The suit alleges that the Holy See is liable, under the doctrine of respondeat superior, for failure of clergy in the United States to warn parishioners that their children would be under the care of known pedophiles, and for the failure of U...

North Carolina City Council Switches From Moment of Silence To Invocation

Posted on May 18, 2010
In Greensboro, North Carolina, Mayor Bill Knight has decided to end the long City Council tradition of opening each meeting with a moment of silence, and instead replace it with an invocation. Knight says he will invite people from a broad spectrum of the faith community to offer opening prayers...

10th Circuit Upholds Church's RLUIPA Victory, Avoids Deciding Constitutionality of RLUIPA

Posted on May 18, 2010
In Rocky Mountain Christian Church v. Board of Commissioners of Boulder County, Colorado, (10th Cir., May 17,2010), the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals held that sufficient evidence was presented at trial to justify the jury's determination that the denial of a special use application to Rocky Mountain Christian Church violated the equal terms and unreasonable limitations provisions of RLUIPA...

British Court Dismisses Libel Action By Sikh Leader

Posted on May 18, 2010
A High Court in Britain yesterday dismissed a libel action against free lance journalist Hardeep Singh brought by religious leader Sant Baba Jeet Singh Ji Maharaj. London's Press Gazette and Journalism.co report on the decision. Jeet Singh is the head of Nirmal Kutia Johal, a Nirmal Sikh institution...

In Uzbekistan, Police Raid On Large Protestant Congregation

Posted on May 18, 2010
Forum 18 reports that in Uzbekistan on Sunday, the police, National Security Service secret police, Tax Inspectorate, Fire Brigade, and Sanitary-Epidemiological Service all raided Church of Christ, one of the largest Protestant congregations in Tashkent...

PUBLICATION SCHEDULE: THE NEXT NEW POSTINGS ON RELIGION CLAUSE WILL APPEAR FRIDAY MORNING

Posted on May 18, 2010

Court Rejects Charter School Challenge To Ban On Classroom Use of Bible

Posted on May 18, 2010
In Nampa Classical Academy v. Goesling, (D ID, May 17, 2010), an Idaho federal district court dismissed a challenge by a state funded charter school and two of its teachers to a policy adopted by the Idaho Public Charter School Commission. The Commission adopted the view of the state attorney general that the use of religious documents or texts in a public charter school classroom would violate Art...

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