Religion & Law

HHS Will Propose Repeal of Recent Health Care Conscience Regulations

Posted on February 28, 2009

State Department Releases Annual Country Reports on Human Rights

Posted on February 27, 2009

Senate Votes To Ban Reimposition of Fairness Doctrine On Broadcasters

Posted on February 27, 2009

Illinois Moment of Silence Decision Will Be Appealed

Posted on February 27, 2009

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Group Criticizes German Laws On Teachers Wearing Religious Garb

Posted on February 27, 2009

Arkansas Senate Committee Defeats Attempt To Allow Guns In Churches

Posted on February 27, 2009

Nonprofits Oppose Obama Budget Plan Limiting Some Charitable Deductions

Posted on February 27, 2009

James Dobson Steps Down As Chairman of Focus on the Family

Posted on February 27, 2009

9th Circuit: Treating Montana Church As Political Committee Violates Speech Rights

Posted on February 26, 2009
In Canyon Ferry Road Baptist Church of East Helena, Inc. v. Unsworth, (9th Cir., Feb. 25, 2009), the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals held unconstitutional the application of Montana's campaign finance laws to a Church that engaged in limited activities in support of a 2004 constitutional initiative banning same-sex marriage...

Native Americans Need Amendment To Move Smudging Ceremony Back To Illinois

Posted on February 26, 2009
The Smoke Free Illinois Act that became effective January 1, 2008 broadly bans smoking in any building open to and used by the public. Smoking includes not just cigarettes and pipes, but also "carrying ... any kind of lighted ... weed, herbs, or any other lighted smoking equipment...

Former AG Says Irish Charities Bill Mass Card Provision Is Unconstitutional

Posted on February 26, 2009
In Ireland, Sec. 99 of the Charities Bill 2007 bans the sale of any Mass card except pursuant to an arrangement with a bishop of the Church or a provincial of a religious order. The bill was recently passed by both Houses of Ireland's Oireachtas and earlier this week was sent to President Mary McAleese for her signature...

Reactions To Summum Opinion Vary Widely

Posted on February 26, 2009
Reactions by religious groups to yesterday's Supreme Court decision in the Summum case are varied. Some groups, like Liberty Counsel, applauded the decision, saying: "This case means that the government will not be forced to include a display devoted to atheism every time it displays a Nativity scene...

Developments On Anti-Semitism In Europe

Posted on February 26, 2009
This week brought two developments regarding anti-Semitism in Europe. According to JTA, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown became the first world leader to sign the London Declaration on Combating Anti-Semitism. The document was adopted last week by representatives of 40 countries at the first London Conference on Antisemitism...

Presidential Events Around the Country Are Being Opened by Vetted Prayers

Posted on February 25, 2009
In a little-noticed development, President Barack Obama's town halls and speaking events around the country are being opened with invocations from invited clergy. Yesterday's U.S. News & World Report says that in an unprecedented move, the White House is not only asking clergy who are recommended by local politicians to deliver opening prayers, but is requiring vetting of the text with the White House Office of Public Liaison before it is delivered...

Wiccan Prison Chaplain Loses Equal Protection and Retaliation Claims

Posted on February 25, 2009
In McCollum v. California, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13580 (ND CA, Feb. 23, 2009), a volunteer Wiccan prison chaplain claimed that the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation has not given him the same access to prisoners and facilities as it gives to chaplains of other faiths, and that it retaliated against him because of his complaints about the treatment of Wiccans in California prisons...

Rights Group Charges Continued Religious Infringements At Guantanamo

Posted on February 25, 2009
The Center for Constitutional Rights on Monday released a report titled Conditions of Confinement at Guantanamo: Still in Violation of the Law. The report focuses on conditions during January and February of 2009, saying in part:The men detained at Guantánamo continue to suffer from religious humiliation and the inability to engage in religious practices...

Israeli Court Says Religious Ritual Is Not True Sale of Land for Civil Purposes

Posted on February 25, 2009
In Israel last week, the Petach Tikva District Court handed down an interesting decision intertwining civil and religious property law. The case grew out of a lease of land last year, which was the Sabbatical year in Israel. According to Jewish religious law, observant Jews are to allow their land to lie fallow during that year...

Suit Challenges Refusal of College To Rent Space To Chuch

Posted on February 25, 2009
Alliance Defense Fund has announced that a federal lawsuit was filed Monday against Broome Community College in Binghampton, NY. The College has refused to continue renting space in one of its buildings to North Pointe Church for weekly religious meetings...

Supreme Court Says Utah City Is Not Required To Place Summum Monument In Park

Posted on February 25, 2009
The U.S. Supreme Court today handed down its decision in the major religion case on this term's docket. In Pleasant Grove City, Utah v. Summum, (Sup. Ct., Feb. 25, 2009), the Court ruled unanimously that a Utah city can refuse to allow a religious group, Summum, to put up a monument containing its "Seven Aphorisms" in a public park, even though a 10 Commandments monument and other monuments are already there...

Court Refuses To Enjoin Contribution Reporting Requirement For California Prop 8

Posted on February 24, 2009
In ProtectMarriage.com v. Bowen, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13059 (ED CA, Jan. 30, 2009), a California federal district court refused to grant a preliminary injunction to excuse the required Jan. 31 filing of semi-annual contribution reports by groups that supported Proposition 8, the contentious anti-gay marriage amendment that passed in California in last November's election...

Virginia Senate Committee Rejects Bill To Allow Sectarian Prayer by Police Chaplains

Posted on February 24, 2009
Yesterday a Virginia state Senate committee rejected a House-passed bill that would have specifically permitted volunteer State Police chaplains to deliver sectarian prayers at departmental ceremonies. HB 2314 was a reaction to a directive issued last September by the State Police Superintendent ordering the State Police department's 17 volunteer chaplains to deliver only non-denominational prayers at government sponsored events...

Consultant Says Rubashkin Indictments Influenced By Jewish Stereotypes

Posted on February 24, 2009
The Des Moines (IA) Register reports on Monday's federal district court hearing on motions challenging the 97-count indictment of Sholom Rubashkin, a former executive of kosher meat producer, Agriprocessors, Inc. (See prior posting.) Rubashkin, a Hasidic Jew, was indicted last year on charges of immigration fraud, bank fraud and failure to pay cattle producers...

Cert. Denied In Two Cases Involving Religious Exercise Issues

Posted on February 24, 2009
Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in Morrison v. Board of Education of Boyd County, (Docket No. 08-701) (Order List.) In the case, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals had denied a Christian high school student and his parents standing to challenge a school's now-abandoned speech code and related anti-harassment training...

Environmental Requirements Delay O.K. of Hillel Building On California Campus

Posted on February 24, 2009
At the University of California, San Diego, Hillel (the Foundation for Jewish Campus Life), has been attempting for 5 years to get approval to build a new Jewish student center near campus. As reported in yesterday's UCSD Guardian, a California appellate court has agreed with an environmental group that the proposed building may have substantial environmental effects so that an environmental impact statement relating to traffic and parking, biological resources and aesthetics and community character is required...

RLUIPA Lawsuit By Church Over Approval of Concert Site Is Settled

Posted on February 24, 2009
Yesterday's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports on the settlement of a RLUIPA lawsuit brought by the Church of Universal Love and Music against Fayette County, Pennsylvania. The church was seeking rezoning or a special exception so it could continue to use property in an agricultural area for religious concerts...

Options for IRS In Future Investigation of Living Word Christian Center Are Complex

Posted on February 24, 2009
BNA's Feb. 20 Daily Report for Executives [subscription required] discusses the options available to the Internal Revenue Service after the Minnesota federal district court decision last month in United States v. Living Word Christian Center. (See prior posting...

Timothy Dolan Named Archbishop of New York

Posted on February 23, 2009
Pope Benedict XVI today appointed 59-year old Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan to be the new Archbishop of New York. AP reports that Dolan, who succeeds retiring Cardinal Edward Egan, is a defender of Catholic orthodoxy. Dolan has a doctorate in Church History form the Catholic University of America and for seven years was rector of the North American College in Rome...

Lawsuit Charges Scientology Is Responsible For Man's Suicide

Posted on February 23, 2009
Saturday's St. Petersburg (FL) Times reported on a new lawsuit filed in federal district court in Tampa (FL) against the Church of Scientology and against three individuals. The wrongful death lawsuit seeks damages for the death of Kyle Brennan who committed suicide while visiting his father, a Scientologist who lives in Clearwater (FL)...

City Homeless Shelter Now Operated By Church With Required Prayer

Posted on February 23, 2009
In Hammond, Indiana, a new arrangement between the city and First Baptist Church of Hammond raises interesting church-state issues. Yesterday's Munster (IN) Times reports that when the city-owned Calumet Area Warming Shelter was about to close, the city negotiated an arrangement with First Baptist Church for the church to operate the homeless shelter at church expense while the city retains ownership of the building...

Recent Articles and Book of Interest

Posted on February 23, 2009
From SSRN:Andrew F. March, Marriage, Equality and Subsidizing Families in Liberal Public Justification: Is There a Right to Polygamy?, (February, 20 2009). Ali Khan, Speech Diversity under Islamic Law, (February 11, 2009).Andrew F. March, Are Secularism and Neutrality Attractive to Religious Minorities?, (Islamic Discussions of Western Secularism in the 'Jurisprudence of Muslim Minorities' (Fiqh Al-Aqalliyyat) Discourse, February, 18 2009)...

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