Religion & Law

Britain's Supreme Court Holds Jewish School's Application of Halachic Criteria Is Racial Discrimination

Posted on December 16, 2009
In an important decision today, the Supreme Court of the United Kingdom held that the admissions policy of a government-funded Jewish school violates the prohibitions on racial discrimination in Britain's Race Relations Act 1976. In R (on the application of E) v...

Arkansas Court Allows Freethinkers Display Next To Capitol's Creche

Posted on December 15, 2009
Yesterday, an Arkansas federal district judge issued a preliminary injunction permitting the Arkansas Society of Freethinkers to place a secular display celebrating the winter solstice and "freethinkers" such as Albert Einstein, Bill Gates and Elanor Roosevelt on the grounds of the Arkansas Capitol near the Christian nativity scene that has been displayed there for more than 50 years...

Federal Executive Branch Employees Get Half Day Off On Christmas Eve

Posted on December 15, 2009
Last Friday, President Barack Obama signed an Executive Order (full text) giving employees of all Executive Branch departments and agencies a half day off on the afternoon of Christmas eve. Christmas Day is a legal public holiday under 5 USC Sec. 6103.

Senate Committee Approves Feldblum For EEOC

Posted on December 15, 2009
Last Thursday, the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee approved and sent to the full Senate the nomination of Chai R. Feldblum to be a commissioner on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. (Committee press release.) A coalition of conservative Christian groups are attempting to block Feldblum's nomination, concerned about her record as a gay rights activist and her pro-abortion record...

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Dutch Court Says Public Transport Company Can Ban Employees From Wearing Religious Necklace

Posted on December 15, 2009
A district court in the Netherlands has ruled that Amsterdam's public transport company, GVB, can prohibit staff from wearing necklaces over their uniforms during working hours, even when a cross, as a religious symbol, is hanging on the necklace. NIS reports today that the suit, brought by an Egyptian Christian male tram conductor, claimed that the ban was discriminatory, especially since Muslim women conductors are allowed to wear headscarves...

Final Decision Denies Attorney Fees and Court Costs To High School Teacher

Posted on December 15, 2009
Yesterday's Orange County Register reports that a California federal district judge yesterday issued an opinion affirming an earlier tentative ruling, holding that high school student Chad Farnan is not liable for attorneys' fees incurred by his high school teacher in Farnan's suit against him...

Egyptian Court Reverses Al-Ahzar Ban On Niqab

Posted on December 15, 2009
ANSAmed yesterday reported that in Egypt, the Administrative Tribunal in Cairo has ruled unconstitutional a ban on women students wearing the niqab. The controversy began when in October, Egypt's top cleric, Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi, announced plans to ban women wearing the full face veil from entering any of the schools of Sunni Islam's premier institute of learning, al-Azhar...

Unenforceable South Carolina Provision Barring Atheists From Office Is Focus of Attention

Posted on December 15, 2009
Yesterday's Ashville Citizen-Times reports on a story about a newly-elected Ashville, North Carolina councilman that has inexplicably been carried repeatedly by online media. Cecil Bothwell who took his oath as city councilman last week affirming, rather than swearing, to uphold the law, and not placing his hand on any sacred text, says he is an atheist, or at least a post-theist...

Evangelist Oral Roberts Dies

Posted on December 15, 2009
Evangelist Oral Roberts, died today at age 91. The New York Times called him "one of the most recognizable and controversial religious leaders of the 20th century." The Washington Post says "he helped create television evangelism and 'prosperity theology'...

Rahm Emmanuel Lights National Menorah On Sunday

Posted on December 14, 2009
Yesterday, White House chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel lit the National Menorah on the Ellipse in front of the White House. The event was sponsored by Chabad. According to AP, Emanuel stood in a cherry picker that lifted him up to light the menorah in front of about 1000 onlookers...

Russian Museum At Odds With Orthodox Church Over Loan of 14th Century Icon

Posted on December 14, 2009
Today's Moscow Times reports that officials at St. Petersburg's Russian Museum are distressed at the decision made by the Russian Republic's Culture Ministry last week to lend a fragile 14th century icon of the Virgin Mary in the Museum's collection to a newly-constructed church in an upscale gated community...

India's Parliament Given Proposal To End "Bigamy Through Conversion To Islam"

Posted on December 14, 2009
According to DNA, last Thursday the Law Commission of India forwarded to Parliament its August 2009 report titled Preventing Bigamy via Conversion to Islam ? A Proposal for Giving Statutory Effect to Supreme Court Rulings. The report suggests amending the Hindu Marriage Act of 1955 and various other marriage statutes to bar a person who was married as a non-Muslim from marrying again even after converting to Islam, unless the first marriage is dissolved or declared null and void...

Recent Articles of Interest

Posted on December 14, 2009
From SSRN:Ellen P. Aprill, The Ballot, the Bimah, and the Tax Code, (CCAR Journal: The Reform Jewish Quarterly, Forthcoming).Jose Antonio Seoane, The Boundaries of the Medical Conscientious Objection - About the Refusal of a Blood Transfusion by a Jehovah?s Witness, (InDret, Vol...

Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases

Posted on December 13, 2009
On Nov. 30, the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in Chavis v. Fischer, Docket No. 09-7079 (Order List). In the case the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed an inmate's claim that his free exercise rights were infringed when he was required to work on Sundays...

Chirstian Leaders Broadly Oppose Uganda's Proposed Anti-Homosexuality Bill

Posted on December 13, 2009
In the wake of a report issued last month by Political Research Associates charging U.S. conservatives with using churches in Africa to promote homophobia on that continent (see prior posting), USA Today reports that last week 75 Christian leaders from a variety of backgrounds signed a Statement (originally released 12/7) denouncing the Anti-Homosexuality Act of 2009 (full text) currently under consideration by the Parliament of Uganda...

Developments On Vatican Treaties With Israel, Brazil

Posted on December 13, 2009
Asia News reports on Thursday's meeting of Bilateral Permanent Working Group between the Holy See and the State of Israel. The talks over implementation of the 1993 Fundamental Agreement between the Vatican and Israel are dealing with issues of Church property and taxation...

Catholic Bishops Say Clergy Exemptions In Britain's Proposed Equality Bill Are Too Narrow

Posted on December 13, 2009
On December 15, Britain's House of Lords is scheduled to debate the proposed Equality Bill that has already passed the House of Commons. The Bill is designed to consolidate into a single statute the various anti-discrimination laws that Britain has enacted...

Dutch Muslim Lawyer Cleared of Contempt For Refusing To Stand, Wearing Hat

Posted on December 12, 2009
In the Netherlands, the appeals chamber of the Bar Association's disciplinary council has acquitted Muslim lawyer Mohammed Enait on three contempt of court charges. NIS today reports that one charge involved Enait's refusal to rise, as is customary, when the judge enters the courtroom...

ACLU Challenges Illinois' Increase In Lobbyist Registration Fees, Including Church Exemption

Posted on December 12, 2009
The ACLU announced yesterday that it has filed a federal lawsuit in Illinois seeking to block the January 1 increase in fees for registering as a lobbyist for a non-profit organization under the Illinois Lobbyist Registration Act. The complaint (full text) in ACLU of Illinois v...

Hanukkah Greetings, Party Plans From the White House

Posted on December 11, 2009
The White House today released a statement (full text) from the President sending warmest wishes from him and Michelle to all who are celebrating Hanukkah. The statement says in part: Hanukkah is not only a time to celebrate the faith and customs of the Jewish people, but for people of all faiths to celebrate the common aspirations we share...

Defamation Counterclaims By Charter School Against ACLU Dismissed

Posted on December 11, 2009
In ACLU of Minnesota v. Tarek Ibn Ziyad Acadamy, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 114738 (D MN, Dec. 9, 2009), a Minnesota federal district court dismissed counterclaims for defamation and tortious interference with contract brought by the sponsor of a charter school against the ACLU that was suing it alleging Establishment Clause violations...

Opening Grounds To Displays Gives County Problems On How To Choose

Posted on December 11, 2009
In Leesburg, Virginia, earlier this year the Courts Grounds and Facilities Committee banned all displays on courthouse property this year. However after a request to put a Christmas tree on the courthouse lawn, the Board of Supervisors last week voted to overturn the ban on displays...

Hanukkah Begins Tonight; Chabad Public Menorah Displays Grow

Posted on December 11, 2009
The Jewish festival of Hanukkah begins this evening. A press release yesterday from Chabad Lubavitch traces the largely successful 21-year campaign by Chabad to put up large Hanukkah menorahs on public property. The 1989 U.S. Supreme Court decision in County of Allegheny v...

Lawsuit Charges Indiana Lawyer Assistance Program With Religious Bias

Posted on December 11, 2009
The ArchAngel Institute is a Christian pro-life organization. Its Executive Director, Bryan Brown, a member of the Kansas bar since 1996, was denied admission to the Indiana bar in 2008 after psychological and psychiatric examinations ordered by the Indiana Board of Law Examiners and the Judges and Lawyers Assistance Program (JLAP)...

Group Complains About City's Favoritism of Salvation Army

Posted on December 11, 2009
Each year, the city of Meriden, Connecticut sponsors the Festival of Silver Lights in Hubbard Park. From Thanksgiving until the week after New years, the Festival features over 300 lighted displays. For the past two years, each night a different local charity was allowed to collect donations...

Suit Challenges Refusal To Permit Solstice Display at State Capitol

Posted on December 11, 2009
Yesterday the Arkansas Society of Freethinkers filed a federal court lawsuit against the Arkansas secretary of state challenging the state's refusal to allow the Freethinkers to install a temporary Winter Solstice display on the state capitol grounds...

Obama Accepts Nobel Peace Prize With Speech Focusing on "Just War"

Posted on December 10, 2009
President Barack Obama this morning accepted the Nobel Peace Prize with a speech (full text) that focused extensively on the concept of "just war." Here are some excerpts: Over time, as codes of law sought to control violence within groups, so did philosophers, clerics and statesmen seek to regulate the destructive power of war...

Court Rejects Free Exercise Challenge To New Mexico Cock Fighting Ban

Posted on December 10, 2009
In Kizzar v. Richardson, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 114191 (D NM, Oct. 31, 2009), a New Mexico federal district court dismissed a pro se plaintiff's scatter-shot challenge to New Mexico's 2007 law banning cock fighting. Plaintiff's pleadings were somewhat incoherent as to the exact action that had been taken against him under the new law...

Resolution To Protect Sanctity of Christmas Introduced Into House

Posted on December 10, 2009
On Tuesday, South Carolina Congressman Henry E. Brown, Jr. introduced H. Res. 951 which urges protection of the symbols and traditions of Christmas. The operative language reads: Resolved, That the House of Representatives?(1) recognizes the importance of the symbols and traditions of Christmas;(2) strongly disapproves of attempts to ban references to Christmas; and(3) expresses support for the use of these symbols and traditions by those who celebrate Christmas...

9th Circuit Hears Latest Appeal In Mt. Soledad Cross Case

Posted on December 10, 2009
Yesterday the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in Jewish War Veterans v. City of San Diego. (Recording of full arguments.) The case is part of the 20-year long series of lawsuits challenging the Mt. Soledad Veterans Memorial in San Diego, California, and the large Cross that is part of the memorial...

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