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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

Obama's Choice For White House Faith-Based Office Reported

Posted on January 29, 2009
The New York Times reported yesterday that Barack Obama intends to appoint Joshua DuBois as head of his Council for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. CFBNP is the successor to the Bush administration's Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives...

Insurgents Declare Islamic Law In Somalian City

Posted on January 29, 2009
BBC News reported Tuesday that in Somalia, Al-Shabab militants have declared Sharia (Islamic) law in Baidoa a day after they seized control of the city. Baidoa has been the seat of Somalia's Transitional Federal Government. The Islamist advance came as Ethiopian troops pulled out, two years after intervening to stop the Islamist militants...

Pennsylvania Good News Club Flyer Case Settled

Posted on January 29, 2009
On Tuesday, Alliance Defense Fund announced the settlement of a lawsuit challenging a Pennsylvania school district's policies that have prevented the Good News Club from sending flyers home with students promoting after-school religious meetings. (See prior posting...

Views of New Russian Patriarch Explored

Posted on January 29, 2009
Media articles are beginning to report on the views of the newly-elected Russian Orthodox Church's Patriarch Kirill who will be formally installed Sunday. (See prior posting.) Voice of America points out that Kirill was formerly head of the Church's foreign relations department...

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Saudis Arrest Blogger Who Is Christian Human Rights Advocate

Posted on January 29, 2009
Compass Direct News yesterday reported on the January 13 arrest in Saudi Arabia of blogger Hamoud Bin Saleh who had written extensively on his blog about Saudi violations of human rights and about his reasons for converting from Islam to Christianity...

Grand Jury Could Charge Mail or Wire Fraud In L.A. Clergy Sex Abuse Cover-Up

Posted on January 29, 2009
The Los Angeles Times reported today that the U.S. Attorney's Office in Los Angeles has begun a grand jury investigation into the responses by Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, and possibly other top Catholic Church officials, to reports of sexual abuse by priests...

Stimulus Bill Includes Funds for Faith-Based Initiative

Posted on January 28, 2009
Among the many items in the proposed economic stimulus bill, HR 1, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, is a provision for funding of $100 million for grants to faith-based organization through the Compassion Capital Fund [at pg. 141 of bill]...

California Court Holds Lutheran High School Not Covered By Unruh Act

Posted on January 28, 2009
In Doe v. California Lutheran High School Association, (Cal. App., Jan. 26, 2009), a California state appellate court held that a private religious high school is not a "business enterprise" and therefore is not subject to the Unruh Civil Rights Act. The case involves a sexual orientation discrimination claim brought by two students who were expelled from California Lutheran High School in Wildomar (CA) because of their homosexual relationship...

11th Circuit Denies En Banc Review In Pledge Recital Case

Posted on January 28, 2009
On Monday, the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, over one dissent, refused to grant en banc review in Frazier v. Alexandre, (11th Cir., Jan. 26, 2009). In the case, a 3-judge panel upheld the constitutionality of a Florida statute requiring schools to excuse a student from reciting the Pledge of Allegiance upon written request of the student's parent, regardless of the student's desires...

Orthodox Jewish Group's Public Policy Staffer Has Obama Connections

Posted on January 28, 2009
A JTA article yesterday profiles Nathan Diament, Director of the Institute for Public Affairs of the Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, and Diament's connections to President Barack Obama. Diament was a Harvard Law School classmate of Obama, and they regularly played basketball together as law students...

Good News Club Sues Georgia School District For Equal Access

Posted on January 28, 2009
Liberty Counsel announced yesterday that it has filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Good News Clubs against the Cobb County, Georgia School District. The lawsuit charges that the school district has engaged in illegal viewpoint discrimination by imposing higher fees for the organization to use school facilities after school than is charged to secular groups...

Rubashkin Released On Bail

Posted on January 28, 2009
Yesterday's Des Moines (IA) Register reports that federal Chief District Judge Linda Reade has ruled that Agriprocessors Inc. meatpacking executive Sholom Rubashkin may be released on $500,000 bail. She held that reasonable precautions are available to assure that Rubashkin will appear for trial in September...

Indonesian Clerics Issue Rulings On Elections

Posted on January 28, 2009
In Indonesia last weekend, the Indonesian Council of Ulema issued two controversial fatwas on political participation. The first was aimed at reversing low voter turnout in previous elections, according to an article in the Jakarta Globe. It held that it violates Islamic law for Muslims to abstain from voting in political elections-- so long as there is a qualified Muslim candidate for whom they can cast their ballot...

Court Refuses Preliminary Injunction In Shoshone's Bid To Stop Gold Mine

Posted on January 27, 2009
AP reports that yesterday a Nevada federal district court judge refused to issue a preliminary injunction to prevent Barrick Gold Corp. from beginning to dig a 2,000-foot deep open pit mine on Nevada's Mount Tenabo. Apparently delivering his opinion in South Fork Band Council of Western Shoshone of Nevada v...

Elections Conflict With Pilgrimage For Iraqi Shi'ites

Posted on January 27, 2009
Reuters reports today on the choice bwetween voting and religious observance facing many Shi'ite Muslims in southern Iraq. Elections for local provincial councils will be held on January 31. This is in the midst of the traditional pilgrimage to the holy city of Kerbala that marks Arbain, or 40 days of mourning for the Prophet Mohammad's grandson Imam Hussein...

Election Under Way For New Russian Orthodox Patriarch

Posted on January 27, 2009
Voice of America reported yesterday on the selection process that is underway for a new Patriarch for the Russian Orthodox Church after the death in December of Patriarch Alexei II. (See prior posting.) On Sunday, Church leaders selected three candidates...

Proposed Nigerian Law Would Criminalize Clergy Performing Same-Sex Marriages

Posted on January 27, 2009
A press release yesterday from Amnesty International on behalf of several human rights groups expresses strong opposition to proposed legislation in Nigeria that would impose criminal penalties-- up to 3 years in prison-- on same-sex couples who marry...

Suit Challenging Yuba Community College's Speech Rules Settled

Posted on January 27, 2009
Alliance Defense Fund yesterday announced a the filing of a consent order (full text) in Dozier v. Members of the Board of Governors, Yuba College District, (ED CA, Jan. 26, 2009). In the case, a college student challenged campus rules and permit requirements that limited his ability to preach and hand out gospel tracts in outdoor areas of the campus of California's Yuba Community College...

Taliban Enforce Rigid Islamic Law In Pakistan's Swat Valley

Posted on January 27, 2009
A column in yesterday's Middle East Times criticizes recent moves by Taliban to enforce rigid Wahhabi Islamic rule in Pakistan's Swat Valley. Apparently the power of the Pakistani government now extends only to a small area of Swat, while the Taliban has created its own administration, judicial system and charitable fund in most of the area...

Today Is UN's Holocaust Commemoration; Jewish Leaders Might Stage Walk-Out

Posted on January 27, 2009
Today is the date that the United Nations has designated as International Day of Commemoration in memory of the victims of the Holocaust. A number of events are scheduled by the U.N. around the commemoration. (UN press release.) A U.N. ceremony that begins at 10 a...

Irish Government Negotiating With Catholic Church Over Sex Abuse Reporting

Posted on January 26, 2009
Ireland's Independent reports today that the government is in talks with the country's Catholic bishops to create a legal framework that will permit the country's Health Service Executive to learn the full extent of child sexual abuse by priests. A government commission is already investigating the extent of abuse in the diocese of Dublin, and earlier this month a full inquiry was ordered into the situation in the diocese of Cloyne (in Cork)...

New Chair of US Helsinki Commission Appointed; OSCE Envoy Criticizes Kyrgyz Religion Law

Posted on January 26, 2009
U.S. Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD) has been appointed Chairman of the Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe (U.S. Helsinki Commission) for the next two years. Cardin has been a member of the Commission since 1993. A press release from Sen...

Recent Articles of Interest and New Book

Posted on January 26, 2009
From SSRN:Thom Brooks, The Problem with Polygamy , (January 22, 2009).Christopher Serkin & Nelson Tebbe, Condemning Religion: The Political Economy of RLUIPA, (Brooklyn Law School, Legal Studies Paper No. 127, Jan. 16, 2009).Daniel R. Suhr, Lessons for Law School Deans Regarding Catholics in Political Life, (December 31, 2008)...

New Bolivian Constitution Approved By Voters; Catholicism Disestablished

Posted on January 26, 2009
According to the New York Times, by a 56.8% majority yesterday voters in Bolivia approved the country's new Constitution. Unlike the old Constitution that gave special recognition to the Roman Catholic Church, Catholicism is not specifically mentioned in the new document...

5 Christians Charged With Blasphemy Are Released By Pakistan Court

Posted on January 26, 2009
Bos News Life reported yesterday that the release of five Christians charged with insulting Islam has been negotiated in Pakistan. Under the arrangement, a Punjab court ordered the five released, and Islamic clergy will issue a fatwa declaring them innocent of blasphemy...

Pope Revokes 4 Excommunications-- Including A Holocaust Denier

Posted on January 25, 2009
In a controversial move yesterday, Pope Benedict XVI revoked the 1988 excommunication of four right-wing bishops who had been appointed to their positions in consecrations that were not approved by the Vatican. Today's New York Times reports on the move that attempts to normalize the Vatican's relationship with the Society of St...

Good Friday Time Off At Wisconsin Tech Colleges Challenged

Posted on January 25, 2009
The Freedom From Religion Foundation charges that Wisconsin's Moraine Park Technical College (MPTC)-- and all but one of the other state technical colleges-- is violating a 1996 court order that found a state law mandating public facilities observe Good Friday to be unconstitutional...

Vatican Launches Its Own YouTube Channel

Posted on January 25, 2009
UPI reports that the Vatican has launched its own YouTube channel. Pope Benedict XVI announced the new channel on Friday, which was World Communications Day. The channel will carry film clips of the Pope's speeches and activities. The clips will be in Italian, with translations into English, German and Spanish.

Sri Lanka Commission Urges Steps To Prevent Unethical Conversions of Buddhists

Posted on January 24, 2009
In Sri Lanka, the Commission on Unethical Conversions, headed by former High Court judge Kalubowilage Sarath Gunatilake and comprised of a number of former government officials, has released a report recommending several steps to protect against unethical conversions of Buddhists to other faiths...

State Lawsuit Challenges Ban on Sacramental Cannabis

Posted on January 24, 2009
Today's Lewiston, Maine Sun Journal reports on a lawsuit filed in in Oxford County (ME) Superior Court last week by Norman Hutchinson who claims that his free exercise rights are violated by prohibiting him from using cannabis. Hutchinson is a member of the Religion of Jesus Church whose 12 tenets mandate the use of the substance...

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