Religion & Law

UCLA Changes Policy To Allow Student Reference To Jesus In Graduation Statement

Posted on June 09, 2009
Once again, the unclear line between student speech and government-endorsed speech at graduation exercises has created a high-profile controversy. Tradition at the UCLA Department of Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology calls for each student to submit a short message ("words of wisdom") that are then read from stage at commencement by a member of the University Administration...

DOJ Sues New Jersey County Over Religious Employment Discrimination

Posted on June 09, 2009
The U.S. Department of Justice announced yesterday that it has filed a Title VII religious discrimination lawsuit against Essex County, New Jersey. The complaint alleges that the county refused to permit corrections officer Yvette Beshier to wear a religiously mandated headscarf during work...

Muslim Military Chaplains Discuss Their Special Roles

Posted on June 09, 2009
Reuters Faith World yesterday carried an interesting account of a conference held Sunday in Paris at which two Muslim chaplains, one from the U.S. Navy and one from the French National Gendarmerie (which is governed by the Defense Ministry), discussed the special problems dealt with by Muslim imams in military chaplaincy roles...

Unpaid Buddhist Monk Says He Is Not "Employed" For Visa Purposes

Posted on June 09, 2009
The Wall Street Journal today reports on an immigration appeal out of Pamona, California raising the question of whether an unpaid Buddhist monk was "employed" by the Wat Buddhapanya Temple in violation of immigration rules. The monk, a citizen of Thailand, entered the U...

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Report Says Israel Tax Official Seizes Catholic Church Funds For Taxes

Posted on June 08, 2009
Asia News this morning reports that in Israel, The Finance Ministry's Chief Tax Collector, Yehezkel Abrahamoff, has notified institutions of the Catholic Church in the country that he has seized their funds to force them to pay taxes he believes are due...

Recent Articles Of Interest

Posted on June 08, 2009
From SSRN:Jeff Redding, Proposition 8 and the Future of American Same-Sex Marriage Activism, (Nexus, Vol. 14, p. 113, 2009).Anne Twomey, The Australian Crowns - Changing the Rules of Succession, (Quadrant, Vol. 53, No. 6, pp. 44-47, 2009).Barry McDonald, Getting Beyond Religion as Science: 'Unstifling' Worldview Formation in American Public Education, (Washington and Lee Law Review, Vol...

Israel's High Court Hears Challenges To Army Alternatives For Religious Students

Posted on June 08, 2009
Jerusalem Post reports that yesterday a 9-judge panel of Israel's High Court of Justice heard arguments challenging the "Tal" law. The law allows Orthodox Jewish students in yeshivot an alternative to the usual required military service. They serve only one year of military service or alternative public service and then enter the work force without being drafted...

New Repressive Religion Law Takes Effect In Azerbaijan

Posted on June 08, 2009
Forum 18 reported last week that in Azerbaijan, a repressive new religion law, along with related amendments to the Criminal Code and Administrative Code came into effect on May 31. All religious organizations are required to re-register by January 1, 2010...

Cert. Denied In Navajo Nation RFRA Case

Posted on June 08, 2009
The U.S. Supreme Court today denied certiorari in Navajo Nation v. Forest Service, (Docket No. 08-846). (Order List.) The 9th Circuit in the case held in an 8-3 en banc decision, that the Religious Freedom Restoration Act does not bar the Forest Service from approving the use of recycled waste water to make artificial snow at Arizona's Snowbowl ski resort, which operates on federal land...

Jewish Group Solicits Questions To Supreme Court Nominee

Posted on June 08, 2009
Reform Judaism's Religious Action Center has put up a web page titles "Ask Judge Sotomayor." It invites site visitors to submit questions they would like to see the Senate Judiciary Committee ask Sotomayor during her confirmation hearings. RAC says it will share questions submitted with Senators.

Federal Suit On California's Textbook Portrayal of Hindus Settled

Posted on June 07, 2009
Last week, a federal district court in California entered an order settling a lawsuit that had been brought by a group of Hindu parents and their supporters challenging the way Hinduism was portrayed in textbooks chosen by the California state Board of Education in 2005-06...

Bosnian Election Restricions Challenged In European Court As Discriminatory

Posted on June 07, 2009
Last week, the European Court of Human Rights heard arguments in the case of Sejdi? and Finci v. Bosnia and Herzegovina challenging provisions in Bosnia's constitution and the election act of 2001. (Court press release.) Haaretz also reports on the case brought by the head of Bosnia's Jewish community and the head of its Roma Council are challenging restrictions that limit candidates for the Presidency and the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly to members of the Bosnian Serb, Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Croat communities...

Swiss Senate Urges Defeat of Ban on Minarets

Posted on June 07, 2009
In Switzerland last Friday, the country's Senate voted 36-3 to recommend that voters defeat an initiative to ban minarets. Swissinfo says most Senators believe the ban would damage the Switzerland's international reputation and the country's trade relations with Muslim countries...

Court Refuses To Dismiss Challenge To Illinois Drivers License Rules

Posted on June 05, 2009
In Baer v. White, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 46412 (ND IL, June 3, 2009), plaintiffs challenged as too narrow the Illinois provisions protecting some religious objectors from furnishing their social security number in order to get a drivers' license. Under Illinois Vehicle Code 6-106 and 92 Illinois Administrative Code §1063...

Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases

Posted on June 05, 2009
In Heleva v. Kramer, (3d Cir., May 22, 2009), the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of appeals rejected a free exercise and RLUIPA claim by an inmate who alleged that for eight months authorities deprived him of two books on spirituality and prayer sent by his sister...

Falun Gong Adherent Charges Chinese Restaurant In New York With Discrimination

Posted on June 05, 2009
Wednesday's Epoch Times reports on an unusual case charging religious discrimination in public accommodations heard by the New York State Division of Human Rights this week. Three adherents of Falun Gong claimed that employees of a Chinese restaurant in Flushing Queens refused to serve them because of their religious beliefs...

Scotish Tribunal Says Minister Is Not "Employee" In Unfair Dismissal Case

Posted on June 05, 2009
In Scotland, an employment tribunal has rejected an unfair dismissal charge brought by Rev. Allan MacDonald against the Free Presbyterian Church. Highland News yesterday reported on the decision in which the tribunal held that MacDonald was not an "employee" of the Church, but rather held office by virtue of his ordination...

Obama Speaks To Middle East Reporters About Religious Pluralism

Posted on June 05, 2009
After his speech in Cairo yesterday, President Obama met with Middle East reporters. JTA has a transcript of the session. While much of the Q&A focused on the Israeli-Palestinian question, one exchange allowed the President to expand on his notion of a religiously pluralistic society: What I tried to communicate in the speech ...

President's Faith-Based Council Holds Its First Official Meeting

Posted on June 05, 2009
Yesterday afternoon, President Obama's Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships held its first official meeting by conference call. Washington Post's On Faith has an account of what transpired. Each of the Task Forces reported on its activities...

Brooklyn Bishop Lobbies Hard Against Statute of Limitations Window

Posted on June 05, 2009
Today's New York Times reports on the aggressive political advocacy by Brooklyn's Bishop Nicholas A. DiMarzio in opposition to a bill proposed in the legislature that would create a one-year window in which anyone could sue for child abuse, no matter how long ago it occurred...

Bahrain Adopts New Family Law For Sunnis; Excludes Shiites

Posted on June 05, 2009
IPS reports today that Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa on May 27 approved a new family law for Sunnis that protects the rights of women in Shariah courts. The new law sets out specific guidelines for courts to apply to marriage and divorce, alimony, child custody and inheritance cases...

Maryland AG Says Court Security Can Require Temporary Removal of Face Coverings

Posted on June 05, 2009
A Maryland Attorney General's ruling handed down last week says that deputy sheriffs assigned to court security may require a person to temporarily remove a face covering, or veil or for identification or security purposes, even if the item is worn for religious purposes...

Obama's Speech To Muslim World Includes Focus On Religious Freedom

Posted on June 04, 2009
This morning, President Barack Obama delivered a major address to the Muslim world from Cairo, Egypt. (Full text of speech.) In his broad-ranging speech, he said that "Islam has always been a part of America's story," pointing out that the first nation to recognize the U...

9th Circuit Says San Francisco's Criticism of Catholics Did Not Violate Establishment Clause

Posted on June 04, 2009
In Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights v. City and County of San Francisco, (9the Cir., June 3, 2009), the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected an Establishment Clause challenge to a strongly worded resolution passed by San Francisco's Board of Supervisors criticizing a directive from Catholic Cardinal William Levada instructing Catholic social service agencies to not place children in need of adoption with same-sex couples...

Mediation Settles Epicopal Church Dispute In Colorado Springs

Posted on June 04, 2009
The Colorado Springs (CO) Gazette reports that a lengthy mediation session yesterday settled litigation over ownership of Colorado Springs Grace Church & St. Stephen's. A decision handed down in March awarded the $17 million church building to the Episcopal Church USA rather than the break-away group that affiliated with the more conservative Convocation of Anglicans in North America...

NH Governor Signs Same-Sex Marriage Bill After New Religious Protections Added

Posted on June 04, 2009
Yesterday the New Hampshire House and Senate enacted changes to the same-sex marriage bill that the legislature had already passed, going along with demands of Gov. John Lynch for further protections for religious institutions as a condition of his signing the law...

Court Says It Can Order Father To Pay Religious School Tuition

Posted on June 04, 2009
In Jordan v. Rea, (AZ Ct. App., May 28, 2009), an Arizona appellate court held, in a dispute between divorced parents over where their two children would go to school, that the best-interests standard applies and that a court may not rule out a private religious school simply because it is a private religious school...

Audit of 2008 Anti-Semitic Incidents Released

Posted on June 04, 2009
The Anti-Defamation League this week issued its 2008 Audit of Anti-Semitic Incidents and a press release summarizing the Report's findings. The 2008 findings show a total of 1,352 anti-Semitic incidents, including 37 physical assaults. This is a 7% decline in total incidents from the year before...

Clergyman Convicted of Violating Noise Law Through Playing Church Bells

Posted on June 04, 2009
In Municipal Court in Phoenix, Arizona yesterday, a local clergyman, Bishop Rick Painter of Christ the King Cathedral, was found guilty on two counts of violating the city's noise ordinance because of the hourly ringing of electronic church bells. An Alliance Defense Fund release says that the bells normally ring each hour from 8 a...

Sikh High Schooler Sues NY Department of Education For Failing To Protect Him

Posted on June 04, 2009
A press release yesterday from the Sikh Coalition reports that a former Queens, New York high school student has filed a federal lawsuit against New York City's Department of Education charging that it failed to protect him against bias-based harassment and attacks from other students...

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