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Religion & Law

Religion Clause

Current legal, political and scholarly developments relating to free exercise of religion and separation of church and state.
By Howard M. Friedman

Post Frequency: 19.9/day

Last Entry: November 05, 2020 at 07:00:00

Report Says Shiites On Trial In Jordan

Posted on August 23, 2009
The Associated Press reports today that in Jordan six Shiite Muslims are being tried before a closed military tribunal for instigating religious sectarianism in the majority Sunni country. The first of its kind trial apparently reflects Jordan's concern about the growing influence of Iran and Hezbollah movement in the country.

Court Hears Arguments In Challenge To State Humane Slaughter Act

Posted on August 23, 2009
In Everett, Washington last Friday, a state court judge heard arguments in a challenge by an animal rescue group to Washington state's Humane Slaughter Act. The group argues that the exemption for ritual slaughtering of animals (RCW 16.50.150) violates the Establishment Clause in the federal and Washington state constitutions, the federal equal protection clause and the state's privileges and immunities clause...

Philippine Presidential Race Draws Religious Leaders As Candidates

Posted on August 23, 2009
In the Philippines, two religious leaders have announced that they will run in next year's presidential elections, and a third is considering doing so. According to yesterday's Philippine Star, former Catholic priest Ed Panlilio, Governor of the province of Pampanga, was the first to announce...

Satmar Police Recruit Files Religious Discrimination Complaint

Posted on August 23, 2009
Friday's Lower Hudson (NY) Journal News reports on a religious discrimination complaint filed with the EEOC against the town of Ramapo, New York and its police department by Baile Glauber who joined the Ramapo police force after being raised in the Satmar Hasidic Jewish community...

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Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases

Posted on August 23, 2009
In Seneca v. Arizona, (9th Cir., Aug. 19, 2009), the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals reversed part of a district court's decision to dismiss an inmate's free exercise and RLUIPA claims. The appellate court held that plaintiff's challenge to the requirement for a verification letter to change religions was not moot...

Santa Rosa School Clerk Cleared On Civil Contempt Charge Over Banquet Prayer

Posted on August 22, 2009
Ruling on a civil contempt motion brought by the ACLU, a Florida federal judge on Friday concluded that a school clerk did not violate a preliminary injunction barring the Santa Rosa County (FL) school district and its employees from including prayers in any school event...

Malaysian Woman Sentenced To Caning; Syariah Judge Says Sentence Is Illegal

Posted on August 22, 2009
In Malaysia, 32-year old Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarno, a Muslim woman, has become the first woman sentenced under the country's Islamic law to caning for drinking alcohol. Reuters reported Friday that Kartika-- who in 2007 was caught drinking beer at a hotel bar in Kuantan-- has defiantly asked that her punishment be carried out in public...

Ramadan Begins With UAE Seeking To Keep Prices In Check; Others Viewing Economy's Impact

Posted on August 21, 2009
Ramadan begins this weekend-- tonight in North America, last night in other parts of the world. In the United Arab Emirates, the Ministry of Economy is working to to prevent market instability, manipulation of food prices and monopoly practices in markets for foodstuffs and other essentials...

Condo Residents Get Shabbat Elevator, Ending Discrimination Complaints

Posted on August 21, 2009
Today's Baltimore Jewish Times reports that efforts by Orthodox Jewish residents of the Strathmore Tower condominium in Baltimore (MD) to obtain a "Shabbat elevator" have finally been successful. The 6-3 vote by the condominium board to start work on the changes resolves a two-year dispute in which the Maryland Commission on Human Relations issued a report finding probable cause for charges of religious discrimination...

Utah and Arizona Issue Updated Guide On Polygamous Communities

Posted on August 21, 2009
The Utah and Arizona Attorneys General have released a revised edition of The Primer, a guide designed to assist law enforcement and human services agencies that provide assistance to fundamentalist Mormon families. It provides basic information on more than a dozen polygamous communities, using description mostly prepared by the groups themselves...

2nd Circuit Narrows Remedy Against Postal Unit Operating On Church Premises

Posted on August 21, 2009
In Cooper v. U.S. Postal Service, (2d Cir., Aug. 20, 2009), the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals held that religious displays by the Full Gospel Interdenominational Church in the Contract Postal Unit it operates along side its ministry and outreach efforts in a store front facility in Manchester, Connecticut violate the Establishment Clause...

President Sends Greetings To Muslims As Ramadan Begins

Posted on August 21, 2009
Today President Obama sent the greeting of Ramadan Kareem to Muslims who are beginning the month-long observance of Ramadan. The White House website carries written greetings plus a 5-minute video address by the President reaching out to Muslims in the U...

Canadian Court Affirms Abortion Opponent's Tax Protest Conviction

Posted on August 21, 2009
In Canada, the Court of Appeal of New Brunswick has rejected a Catholic anti-abortion activist's claim that his he should be excused from filing Canadian income tax returns or paying income taxes because a portion of tax revenues are used to fund abortions...

Driver Refuses To Operate Bus Carrying Atheist Ad

Posted on August 20, 2009
Now that the Des Moines, Iowa Area Regional Transit Authority has finally decided to allow an atheist group to run its ads on twenty local buses (see prior posting), transit officials face a different issue. Bus driver Angela Shiel refuses to drive a bus which carries the ad...

Muslim Charity's Rights Violated In Freezing of Assets

Posted on August 20, 2009
On Tuesday, an Ohio federal district court in a 100-page opinion in KindHearts for Charitable Humanitarian Development, Inc. v. Geithner, (ND OH, Aug. 18, 2009) held that the federal Office of Foreign Assets Control violated the due process rights of a Muslim charity when in 2006 it froze its assets without providing notice of the reasons or an opportunity for a hearing...

Louisiana Parish School Board Expands Invocation Invitee List

Posted on August 20, 2009
Apparently in a move to strengthen its hand in a pending lawsuit, the Tangipahoa (LA) Parish School Board made a change in its invocation policy. The Advocate reports that at Tuesday's Board meeting, members unanimously agreed that the list of clergy who will be invited to offer prayers can be expanded to include ministers, imams and rabbis from houses of worship outside Tangipahoa Parish attended by Tangipahoa residents...

Advocacy Groups Caution Illinois On Grants To Religious Organizations

Posted on August 20, 2009
Americans United and the Anti Defamation League in a joint letter (full text) to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity cautions the state about proceeding with $40 million in grants to 97 religious institutions without instituting proper safeguards...

Settlement Reached In New Haven Street Preacher Case

Posted on August 20, 2009
A consent judgment (full text) was entered Monday in Connecticut federal district court in Morrell v. City of New Haven, (D CT, Aug. 17, 2009). Under terms of the order, New Haven, Connecticut police agree not to apply Connecticut's disorderly conduct statute (Conn...

Obama On Conference Calls With Faith Groups On Health Care

Posted on August 20, 2009
President Obama yesterday participated in two faith-based conference calls urging support for health care reform. The Washington Post reports that first Obama spoke with Jewish leaders on a call organized by the Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism...

New Venezuela Education Law Eliminates Religious Education In Schools

Posted on August 19, 2009
Last week Venezuela's National Assembly passed a controversial new Education Law that impacts the teaching of religion in schools. According to a Catholic News Service report yesterday: "One clause of the new law, which covers all levels of education and both public and private institutions, requires education to have a 'lay character ? in all circumstances' and leaves religious education to families...

Oklahoma Court's Ruling Apparently Invalidates Medical Providers Conscience Provisions

Posted on August 19, 2009
In 2008, the Oklahoma legislature enacted the Freedom of Conscience Act, SB 1878 (full text Word doc). The bill not only contains very broad conscience protections for medical personnel who object to participating in a variety of procedures, but it also requires medical providers, before performing an abortion, to conduct an ultrasound and describe and display in detail the ultrasound image to the woman seeking the abortion...

Egypt's Mubarak Visits White House; Advocates Want Obama To Raise Human Rights Issues

Posted on August 19, 2009
Yesterday, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak visited the White House. Ahead of the visit, groups such as U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (text of letter) and the Institute on Religion and Public Policy (text of letter) urged the President to raise questions of religious freedom with Mubarak...

Sex Offender Challenging NC Law Barring Church Attendance Near Child-Care

Posted on August 19, 2009
Yesterday's Charlotte (NC) Observer reports that James Nichols, a sex offender who has completed his prison sentence, has enlisted the ACLU to help him challenge a North Carolina law barring registered sex offenders from being within 300 feet of a school, playground, day care or children's museum...

Group Opens San Francisco Office, Calling Area Hostile To Religious Liberty

Posted on August 19, 2009
The Pacific Justice Institute has opened a new office in Oakland, California to serve the San Francisco Bay area. Yesterday's San Franciso Business Times interviewed Kevin Snider who will head the office. Snider said: "The San Francisco region is without a doubt one of the most hostile places in the country toward religious liberties and values...

US Catholic Bishiops Unveil Health Care Reform Website; Oppose Abortion Coverage

Posted on August 18, 2009
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has created a new website on Health Care Reform. Zenit yesterday reported that the site includes letters from bishops to Congress, videos, statistics, FAQ's , and links to legislators. While the bishops view health care as a basic right, they raise concerns that it not become a vehicle for promoting abortion rights or reversing the present ban on federal funding of abortions...

Sri Lanka Proposes Ban On Religious-Themed Political Parties

Posted on August 18, 2009
In Sri Lanka, in the wake of the government's victory in May in its 25-year civil war with the Tamil Tigers, President Mahinda Rajapaksa has proposed changes in the country's Parliamentary Elections Act. Aiming at small and regional political parties, he has proposed a ban on political parties whose names signify an ethnic or religious group...

Salvation Army Drug Treatment Employee Is Not State Actor

Posted on August 18, 2009
In Cain v. Caruso, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 70009 (ED MI, Aug. 11, 2009), a Michigan federal district court adopted the recommendations of a magistrate judge in lawsuit filed by a parolee who failed to complete his drug treatment program that was a condition of his parole...

Tensions Increase This Summer In Catskills Between Hasidim and Locals

Posted on August 18, 2009
Last week the Forward carried an article detailing tensions in Sullivan County, in New York's Catskill Mountains, between local residents and the Skver Hasidim, a Orthodox Jewish sect currently based in New Square, New York. In 2006, the Skvers bought the 450-acre former Homowack property which they initially operated as a summer resort for their members and operated this summer as a girls' camp...

Pagan Group's Right To Use Park For Ceremony Is Questioned

Posted on August 18, 2009
KERO News yesterday reported on a confrontation of sorts that occurred in a Bakersfield, California park last week when a group of pagans chose the park to use for their harvest ritual. Ravens Folk Kindred, a group of Odinists, apparently frightened neighbors as they raised their tattooed arms into the air...

Appeal Filed In Challenge To Texas Agency's Neutrality on Creationism

Posted on August 18, 2009
Earlier this Spring, an appeal was filed with the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in Comer v. Scott. In the case the district court had rejected an Establishment Clause challenge to a policy of the Texas Education Agency (TEA) that required its Director of Science to remain publicly neutral regarding the teaching of creationism...

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