Religion & Law

New Hampshire Senate Passes Same-Sex Marriage Bill Different From House Version

Posted on April 30, 2009
Yesterday, the New Hampshire Senate passed by a vote of 13-11 a bill authorizing same-sex marriage in the state. The House also approved a same-sex marriage bill last month, but differences between the Senate and House versions mean that the bill must now go back to the House for its approval...

Court Enjoins Use of RLDS Name By Break Away Church

Posted on April 29, 2009
In Community of Christ Copyright Corp. v. Devon Park Restoration Branch of Jesus Christ's Church, (WD MO, April 23, 2009), a Missouri federal district court granted a preliminary injunction to prevent a break-away church from using the name, initials or signage designs of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS)...

Michigan Civil Rights Commission Opposes Proposed Rule On Niqabs In Court

Posted on April 29, 2009
According to the Detroit Free Press, the Michigan Civil Rights Commission voted on Monday to oppose an amendment to the Rules of Evidence proposed by the Michigan Supreme Court that would give judges "reasonable control over the appearance of parties and witnesses so as to (1) ensure that the demeanor of such persons may be observed and assessed by the fact-finder, and (2) to ensure the accurate identification of such persons...

Court Says Former Episcopal Congregation Loses Trust In Break-Off

Posted on April 29, 2009
Diocese of Central New York v. Rector, Church Wardens, & Vestrymen of Church of Good Shepherd, (NY Sup. Ct., April 22, 2009), is another installment in the litigation involving property ownership after Church of Good Shepherd in Binghamton (NY) broke away from the Episcopal Church USA and affiliated with the more conservative Anglican Church of Kenya...

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Israeli Official Suggests Different Name For "Swine Flu"

Posted on April 29, 2009
Now that two cases of swine flu have been diagnosed in Israel in men who recently visited Mexico, the country's Deputy Health Minister Yakov Litzman is suggesting that the disease be called "Mexican flu" because of Jewish and Muslim sensitivities over pork products...

Court Says District Council Wrongly Took Local Church's Property

Posted on April 29, 2009
In Iglesia Evangelica Latina, Inc. v. Southern Pacific Latin American District of the Assemblies of God, (CA App., April 27, 2009), a California appellate court held that a district council of the Assemblies of God Church improperly assumed corporate control of a local church and had no authority to take title to the local church's real estate...

Irish Justice Minister Proposes Blasphemy Law

Posted on April 29, 2009
Irish Times reports today that the country's Minister of Justice plans to introduce an amendment to a pending Defamation Bill to create a new crime of blasphemous libel. The proposed legislation would prohibit publishing or uttering matter "that is grossly abusive or insulting in relation to matters held sacred by any religion, thereby causing outrage among a substantial number of the adherents of that religion; and he or she intends, by the publication of the matter concerned, to cause such outrage...

Court Finds Land Used By Religious Order Is Entitled To Tax Exemption

Posted on April 29, 2009
In Matter of Legion of Christ, Inc. v Town of Mount Pleasant, (NY Sup. Ct., March 25, 2009), a New York trial court ordered the town of Mount Pleasant to grant a tax exemption to Legion of Christ, Inc. for a parcel of real estate it owned. The town argued that Legion of Christ was not using the real estate exclusively for carrying out its own religious purposes but, instead, was leasing the land to several other groups...

Mary Ann Glendon Turns Down Notre Dame's Laetare Medal

Posted on April 28, 2009
Harvard Law Professor (and former U.S. ambassador to the Vatican) Mary Ann Glendon has told Notre Dame University President Rev. John Jenkins that she has decided to turn down the prestigious Laetare Medal that she was to have been awarded at the upcoming graduation at which President Barack Obama will speak...

Florida City Pays Chabad Damges and Attorneys Fees After Losing Zoning Case

Posted on April 28, 2009
Last August, a federal jury awarded Chabad of Nova $325,750 in damages on its RLUIPA claim after a federal district court ruled in favor of Chabad on most of its challenges to a Cooper City (FL)'s zoning restrictions imposed on houses of worship. (See prior posting...

Navajos Plan Meeting With Obama Administration On Pending Snowbowl Case

Posted on April 28, 2009
The Gallup (NM) Independent reported yesterday that the Navajo Nation Council has approved its attorneys meeting with the Obama administration to try to work out a settlement in Navajo Nation v. United States Forest Service. The Navajo Nation hopes that the meeting can be held before My 8 when the Solicitor General's brief in opposition to granting certiorari is due to be filed with the U...

White House Religious Liaison Appointed

Posted on April 28, 2009
The Adventist News Network today reports on the appointment of Paul Monteiro to serve as religious liaison in the White House Office of Public Liaison. Monteiro's duties include scheduling events and meetings with representatives from various organizations and denominations...

Wyoming High Court Finds Free Exercise Claim Improperly Raised In Workers Comp Proceeding

Posted on April 28, 2009
In re Workers Compensation Claim for Howard W. Williams, (WY Sup. Ct., April 21, 2009), involved a claim for workers' compensation death benefits by the wife of a an employee who had refused for religious reasons to allow blood products to be used in treating his injuries from a work-related auto accident...

Alaska High Court Rules On Constitutionality of Required TB Test

Posted on April 28, 2009
In Huffman v. State of Alaska, (AK Sup. Ct., April 3, 2009), the Alaska Supreme Court rejected a claim by parents of elementary school children that their religious liberty rights were violated by the state requirement that their children receive a PPD skin test for tuberculosis in order to enroll in school...

Controversial Religious Themed License Plates Being Considered In Florida

Posted on April 27, 2009
Saturday's St. Petersburg Times reports on the controversial debate and vote in Florida's legislature over adding two specialty plates with religious themes to the more than 100 license plates already available in the state. According to a report by the ADL, on Friday the Florida Senate added amendments providing for:The "I Believe" plate which prominently displays a cross over a stained glass window, and directs annual license fees to Faith In Teach[ing], Inc...

CAIR Calls For Florida GOP Leader To Step Down Over Sponsorship of Anti-Islam Event

Posted on April 27, 2009
The Florida Security Council, a private group dedicated to educating the public about the dangers of radical Islam, is sponsoring a "Free Speech Summit" tonight featuring controversial Dutch politician Geert Wilders and his anti-Islamic video Fitna. (See prior posting...

Berlin Rejects Referendum For Optional Religion Classes In Schools

Posted on April 27, 2009
In Germany's capital of Berlin, voters yesterday rejected a referendum that would have given school children an option to take a religion course in place of the mandatory ethics classes that are now offered. Supporters hoped such classes would prevent the rise of Muslim radicalism...

Recent Articles and Book of Interest

Posted on April 27, 2009
From SSRN:Seth Barrett Tillman, Blushing Our Way Past Historical Fact And Fiction: A Response to Professor Geoffrey R. Stone's Melville B. Nimmer Memorial Lecture and Essay, (Jan. 27, 2009).Paolo G. Carozza & Daniel Philpott, The Catholic Church, Human Rights and Democracy: Convergence and Conflict with the Modern State, (in The Cross, the Crescent and the Ballot Box: Catholic and Islamic Dialogue on the Rule of Law and International Democracy Promotion, Peter Schraeder, ed...

National Mock Trial Championship Refuses Religious Accommodation For Jewish School

Posted on April 27, 2009
According to a posting yesterday on the blog Teaneck Progress , the National High School Mock Trial Championship is refusing to accommodate Maimonides High School of Brookline Massachusetts by rescheduling the school's rounds so they do not take place on the Jewish Sabbath...

San Diego Settles RLUIPA Lawsuit Brought By Church

Posted on April 26, 2009
Yesterday's North County Times reports that a settlement has been reached in a RLUPA lawsuit brought in 2007 against the city of San Diego (CA) by Grace Church of North County, a non-denominational congregation. The Church had applied for a 10-year conditional use permit to occupy space in a Rancho Bernardo industrial park...

Church Sues To Obtain Use of Park For Bible Group Picnics

Posted on April 26, 2009
On Thursday, a Catholic Church in Pensacola, Florida sued city officials to challenge their exclusion from a downtown park of a weekly picnic held by a Bible study group from the Church. The Church members share their food with anyone who happens to be in the park, and then go to the Church nearby for formal Bible study...

Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases

Posted on April 26, 2009
In Seymore v. Joslyn, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 32545 (ND NY, April 14, 2009), a New York federal district judge rejected a prisoner's claim that a corrections officer retaliated against him for being a Muslim by suggesting that plaintiff fantasizes about having a homosexual relationship with a male corrections employee...

School Board Grants Uniform Exemption On Religious Grounds For 2nd Grader

Posted on April 25, 2009
The Irving, Texas school board this week, by a vote of 6-1, reversed the decision of an elementary school principal and granted a mother's request that her 7-year old daughter be allowed to wear her shirt untucked for religious reasons. Thursday's Dallas Morning News reported that Dyker Neyland says her second grader needs to wear her shirt tail out to comply with the Biblical requirement for modest dress found in 1 Timothy 2:9...

Attempt Is Being Made To Re-Create Aryan Nations Headquarters In Idaho

Posted on April 25, 2009
Today's Salt Lake Tribune reports that two men in Cour d'Alene, Idaho are attempting to re-create a headquarters for the white separatist, anti-Semitic group, Aryan Nations, there. Apparently the election of Barack Obama is the catalyst for the new try which so far seems to have little support...

DC Circuit Again Says GITMO Detainees Not Covered By RFRA

Posted on April 25, 2009
In Rasul v. Myers, (DC Cir., April 24, 2009), the DC Circuit Court of Appeals reaffirmed its earlier holding that Guantanamo detainees cannot bring an action under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to challenge alleged religious harassment at GITMO...

Islamic Parties Lose Support In Indonesian Parliamentary Election

Posted on April 25, 2009
According to a front-page article in today's New York Times, in Indonesian parliamentary elections held earlier this month, Islamic parties that focused on religious issues suffered a drop in support. They received 26% of the vote, compared to 38% in 2004...

Group Announces Campaign To Encourage Graduation Prayer

Posted on April 25, 2009
Now that graduation season is upon us, Liberty Counsel this week announced its annual "Friend or Foe" Graduation Prayer Campaign. It says it is "seeking to educate and, if necessary, litigate to ensure that prayer and religious viewpoints are not suppressed during public school graduation ceremonies...

Lawsuit Filed Over Control of Ft. Worth Episcopal Diocese

Posted on April 25, 2009
The controversy between two groups, both claiming to be the Episcopal Diocese of Ft. Worth (TX) (see prior posting), has not surprisingly now found its way into court. The Ft. Worth Star-Telegram reported this week on a lawsuit filed by the reorganized diocese that remains loyal to the Episcopal Church USA against a break-away group that has affiliated with the more conservative Anglican Province of the Southern Cone...

Iowa Recorders Are Told They Must Issue Same-Sex Marriage Licenses

Posted on April 24, 2009
According to yesterday's Gay & Lesbian Times, now that the Iowa Supreme Court has legalized same-sex marriage in the state (see prior posting), Victoria Hutton of the Iowa Department of Public Health has notified all 99 county recorders that they must issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples...

Malaysia Will Bar Conversion of Children Where One Spouse Changes Religion

Posted on April 24, 2009
Islam Online reports that the government of Malaysia yesterday decided that civil marriage laws and other laws should be amended to require that children be raised in the religion that both their parents shared at the time of their marriage. If one spouse converts after the marriage, he or she will not have the right to have the children converted as well...

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