Religion & Law

California Law Protects Closed Church From Landmarking

Posted on May 22, 2009
In California-Nevada Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church v. City and County of San Francisco, (CA Dist. 1 App., May 20, 2009), a California state appellate court held that the San Francisco Board of Supervisors exceeded its jurisdiction in adopting a resolution beginning the procedure to designate First St...

Court Refuses To Decide RLUIPA Claim On Ripeness Grounds

Posted on May 22, 2009
Congregation Etz Chaim v. City of Los Angeles, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 42345 (CD CA, May 5, 2009), is the latest decision in a dispute that began in 1996 over whether the city of Los Angeles would issue a conditional use permit to members of a synagogue to allow them to conduct religious services at a house in Los Angeles...

Republicans Delay Committee Vote On 7th Circuit Nominee Over His Establishment Clause Decisions

Posted on May 22, 2009
At the request of Republican members of the Committee, the Senate Judiciary Committee postponed a vote that was to have taken place yesterday on the nomination of Indiana district judge David Hamilton to serve on the U.S. Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals...

Final Defendant Settles In Sex Abuse Case Against Seattle Archdiocese

Posted on May 22, 2009
Yesterday's Tacoma (WA) News Tribune reports that the second of two plaintiffs in a priest sex abuse case brought against the Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle has agreed to settle for $700,000 following his testimony at trial. The Archdiocese gave plaintiff a short deadline to accept, after jurors raised some questions about the testimony...

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Pending British Equality Bill Creates Only Narrow Exemption For Religious Objections

Posted on May 22, 2009
As previously reported, in April Britain's new Equality Bill was introduced into the House of Commons. The Explanatory Notes published by the Equalities Office devoted several pages to the exemption from the provisions on sexual orientation discrimination for organized religious groups...

Senate Passes Resolution Remembering M.S. St. Louis Anniversary

Posted on May 22, 2009
This week the U.S. Senate passed S. Res. 111, "recognizing June 6, 2009, as the 70th anniversary of the tragic date when the M.S. St. Louis, a ship carrying Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany, returned to Europe after its passengers were refused admittance to the United States...

Liberty University Revokes Recognition of College Democrats

Posted on May 22, 2009
The Washington Post today reports that Liberty University, the conservative Christian school located in Lynchburg, Virginia, has withdrawn recognition of Liberty University College Democrats as a student organization. The move comes as the University adopts a new policy governing student organizations...

Does "WWJD" Violate Fair Debt Collection Practices Act?

Posted on May 21, 2009
The federal Fair Debt Collection Practices Act prohibits debt collectors from engaging in "conduct the natural consequence of which is to harass, oppress, or abuse any person" (15 USC 1692d) or using "unfair or unconscionable means "(15 USC 1692f) in collecting amounts owed by consumers...

French Government Agency Combatting Cults Releases Report

Posted on May 21, 2009
On Tuesday, the French government agency Mission interministérielle de vigilance et de lutte contre les dérives sectaires, (MIVILUDES), i.e. "Interministerial Mission for Monitoring and Combating Cultic Deviances," released its 2008 annual report (full text in French)...

Priest's Conviction on Child Molestation Charges Upheld

Posted on May 21, 2009
In State of Wisconsin v. McGuire, (WI Dist. II Ct. App., May 20, 2009), a Wisconsin state appellate court upheld the 7-year prison term imposed on a former, once-prominent Jesuit priest who was convicted of molesting two teenage boys in the late 1960's...

Same-Sex Marriage Not Yet A Done Deal In New Hampshire

Posted on May 21, 2009
As previously reported, New Hampshire Governor John Lynch told the legislature that he would sign the same-sex marriage bill it had passed only if it made changes to grant stronger protections to religious institutions. According to yesterday's Concord Union Leader, the state Senate on Wednesday agreed to the governor's requested changes by a vote of 14-10...

4 Men Arrested In New York Charged With Plot To Bomb Synagogues

Posted on May 21, 2009
According to today's New York Times, four upstate New York men were arrested last night, charged with plotting to bomb two synagogues in the Bronx (as well as shoot down planes at Stewart Air National Guard base in Newburgh, NY). The criminal complaint (full text) filed against them charges them with conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction and conspiracy to acquire and use anti-aircraft missiles...

Elementary Teacher Sues Charging Religious Discrimination and Harassment

Posted on May 21, 2009
In Bakersfield, California, Bruce Neal, who has taught for 20 years in the Edison School District, has filed a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging that that former Orangewood Elementary School Principal Mark Holmes engaged in religious discrimination and harassment against him from 1999 to 2008...

Permit Requirement For Church's Use As Homeless Shelter Upheld

Posted on May 21, 2009
In Westgate Tabernacle, Inc. v. Palm Beach County, (FL 4th Dist. Ct. App., May 20, 2009), a Florida state appellate court upheld Palm Beach County's application of its zoning rules to Westgate Tabernacle's use of its church building as a homeless shelter...

Ireland's Massive Report On Clergy Sex Abuse Released

Posted on May 21, 2009
Yesterday Ireland's Commission to Inquire Into Child Abuse released its mammoth 2,600-page report on child abuse at Catholic institutions in Ireland from 1936 to the present. The 30-page Executive Summary and the text of the full report are both available online, as are transcripts of testimony that the Commission took in 2004 and 2005...

Court Dismisses Religious Group's Challenge To Support Order

Posted on May 20, 2009
In Christ's Household of Faith v. Ramsey County, (D MN, May 18, 2009), a Minnesota federal district court dismissed a number of federal challenges to a state court's order that a religious group, Christ's Household of Faith, as a "payor of funds" send child support and spousal maintenance payments (including arrearages) to the Ramsey County (MN) Department of Community Services to Patricia Rooney who had been awarded the amounts in her divorce proceeding...

Iran's Guardians Council Approves 4 Presidential Candidates

Posted on May 20, 2009
In Iran, the country's 12-member Guardians Council has selected the 4 candidates who will run in the Presidential election next month. According to a report today from AFP, a total of 475 Iranians (including 42 women) had registered as possible candidates...

Teen and Mother Fail To Appear At Hearing On Cancer Treatment For Boy

Posted on May 20, 2009
Thirteen-year old Daniel Hauser and his mother Colleen Hauser failed to appear at their scheduled court hearing in New Ulm, Minnesota yesterday. They apparently have gone into hiding rather than comply with a court order to take steps toward obtaining chemotherapy for Daniel's Hodgkin's lymphoma...

NY Town Charges Zoning Violations In Cow and Chicken Slaughter

Posted on May 20, 2009
Lower Hudson Journal News reports on motions that were granted in the Ramapo, New York town court yesterday in two cases pitting zoning authorities against some of the town's Orthodox Jewish population. In one case, the judge granted owners of a yeshiva more time to answer charges that they violated zoning regulations when they slaughtered a cow in the school's back yard...

Court Dissmisses Some Discrimination Claims Brought By Muslim Researchers

Posted on May 20, 2009
In Ridha v. Texas A&M University System, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 41290 (SD TX, May 15, 2009), a Texas federal district court dismissed some, but not all, of the claims brought by husband and wife medical researchers against various defendants alleging discrimination on the basis of race, national origin and religion...

Taliban Terrorize Peshwar, Pakistan In Drive Against Un-Islamic Activities

Posted on May 20, 2009
Today's Wall Street Journal reports from Peshawar, Pakistan on a terror campaign by the Taliban on businesses they consider "un-Islamic." They have already used car bombs to destroy an Internet cafe, women's clothing stalls, and have threatened a video store...

Federal Lawsuit By Jews for Jesus Seeks To Enjoing Park Permit Regulations

Posted on May 19, 2009
Following a state court ruling earlier this year dismissing criminal charges against "Jews for Jesus" missionary Susan Mendelson who was arrested for violating park rules in distributing literature in Burns Park in the Town of Oyster Bay, New York (see prior posting), a federal court lawsuit seeking to enjoin further enforcement of the Town's permit regulations has been filed...

Oklahoma Governor Signs 10 Commandments Bill

Posted on May 19, 2009
The Tulsa World reports that Oklahoma Governor Brad Henry on Monday signed House Bill 1330 [Word .doc] that authorizes placement of a Ten Commandments monument on the State Capitol grounds. The new law may well invite litigation. Anticipating that, the drafters specified that the Oklahoma monument-- which will be paid for by private funds-- should have the same text as the monument on the Texas State Capitol grounds that was upheld against an Establishment Clause attack in a 2005 U...

Indian Christians Applaud Results of Parliamentary Elections

Posted on May 19, 2009
Last weekend's Parliamentary elections in India resulted in the Indian National Congress, leading a secular alliance, winning the largest number of seats. (Wall Street Journal analysis). (Official results.) According to UCAN, Christian groups are elated...

Reports On Two Priest Sexual Abuse Cases

Posted on May 19, 2009
The Seattle Times reported yesterday that a settlement has been agreed to in mid-trial by one of two plaintiffs suing the Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle over sexual abuse by a priest in 1976. The offending priest, Patrick O'Donnell, was transferred from Spokane to Seattle without Spokane Bishop Bernard Topel telling Seattle Church officials that O'Donnell was a repeat pedophile...

Laid-Off Church and Synagogue Employees Find No Unemployment Benefits

Posted on May 19, 2009
UPI today, in a report from Richmond, Virginia, says that many people recently laid off their jobs by churches and synagogues are surprised to find that they are not entitled to state unemployment benefits. Under Virginia law, churches are exempt from paying unemployment taxes...

Israel's High Court Orders Equal Funding For Non-Orthodox Conversion Classes

Posted on May 19, 2009
Jerusalem Post reports that Israel's High Court of Justice today handed down a landmark ruling requiring the government to fund Reform and Conservative institutions that offer classes to prepare individuals for conversion to Judaism, on an equal basis with Orthodox bodies...

Conference Discusses Legal Issues In Sharia-Compliant Financing

Posted on May 19, 2009
Reuters reports on a conference of Islamic scholars held yesterday in Bahrain to discuss legal issues raised by Sharia-compliant financing arrangements. Western business partners generally want contractual provisions that stipulate British law will govern commercial contracts-- and any arbitration proceedings to settle contractual disputes...

Magazine Discloses Rumsfeld Embellished Top Secret Reports To Bush With Bible Quotes

Posted on May 18, 2009
GQ yesterday published a long article critical of former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld. One of the things it disclosed for the first time was Rumsfeld's practice of often placing Biblical verses on the cover sheet of the top secret Worldwide Intelligence Update delivered daily to President George W...

Catholic High School Sues San Diego Under RLUIPA

Posted on May 18, 2009
Yesterday's San Diego Union Tribune reports that a California Catholic girl's high school, Academy of Our Lady of Peace, has filed a RLUIPA lawsuit in federal court. It challenges the the refusal by San Diego's City Council to permit it to demolish three homes near campus in order to construct a new classroom building and parking structure...

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