Religion & Law

Obama Expands Availability of Foreign Aid Grants For Family Planning

Posted on January 24, 2009
In a move that was widely expected, President Barack Obama has increased the availability of federal funding for voluntary family planning programs in foreign countries by reversing a Bush administration policy. A Presidential Memorandum issued Friday (full text) explained that the Foreign Assistance Act contains a narrow ban on nongovernmental organizations using federal grant funds to encourage or coerce abortions or to pay for abortion as a method of family planning...

University of Florida changes Rules On Recognizing Student Religious Groups

Posted on January 24, 2009
In a press release yesterday, Liberty Counsel reported that the University of Florida has changed its policy on the recognition of student religious groups. The University has added the following language to its rules: A student organization whose primary purpose is religious will not be denied registration as a Registered Student Organization on the ground that it limits membership or leadership positions to students who share the religious beliefs of the organization...

EEOC Lawsuit On Behalf of Sikh Is Settled

Posted on January 24, 2009
A press release from United Sikhs reports that a religious discrimination lawsuit brought by the EEOC on behalf of Sukhdev Singh Brar was settled earlier this week. Brar was denied employment with Texas based Champion National Security because of his religiously-mandated long hair and turban...

Court Rejects Challenge By Hasidic Jews To NY Housing Authority Rules

Posted on January 23, 2009
In Ungar v. New York City Housing Authority, 2009 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3578 (SD NY, Jan. 14, 2009), a New York federal district court rejected challenges by a group of Hasidic Jews to the of the New York City Housing Authority's Tenant Selection Assignment Plan as it operates to allocate access to public housing units in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn...

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Court Upholds Native American School Child's Hair Length Claim

Posted on January 23, 2009
In A.A. v. Needville Independent School District, (SD TX, Jan. 20, 2009), a Texas federal district court granted a permanent injunction preventing Needville (TX) Elementary School officials from enforcing the school district's hair style policy against a 5-year old whose family taught him to wear his hair in two long braids in the tradition of Native American religions...

Orthodox Rabbi Criticized For Participating In National Prayer Service

Posted on January 23, 2009
One of the participants in Wednesday's National Prayer Service at the National Cathedral was Orthodox Rabbi Haskel Lookstein of New York's Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun. JTA reports that the Rabbinical Council of America (RCA), the main Modern Orthodox rabbinical association, says that Lookstein violated its rules by his participation...

Amish Man Held In Contempt Over Sewage Regulations

Posted on January 23, 2009
Yesterday's Johnstown (PA) Tribune-Democrat reported that a Cambria County, Pennsylvania judge has held a member of the conservative Swartzentruber Amish sect in contempt. Andy Swartzentruber has refused on religious grounds to bring outhouses at an Amish school into compliance with municipal sewage rules...

March for Life Held Yesterday; Obama Supports Choice

Posted on January 23, 2009
Yesterday tens of thousands of anti-abortion proponents took part in the annual March for Life on the National Mall in Washington, DC. The event was held on the 36th anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade. Catholic News Service reports that an all-night vigil was launched with a mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception...

Court Orders Russian Government To Protect Religious Documents

Posted on January 23, 2009
Last year, The Orthodox Jewish Chabad-Lubavitch movement sued Russia to recover two historic collections of Jewish religious books and manuscripts. (See prior posting.) The case is still being litigated, but it appears that about a dozen pages of rare religious manuscripts from the collection under the control of the Russian State Military Archives have turned up in Israel...

Planned Defenses In Canadian Polygamy Case Disclosed

Posted on January 23, 2009
As previously reported, Canadian authorities in British Columbia have brought polygamy charges against two rival religious leaders in the town of Bountiful, home to polygamous religious communities, including the FLDS. Yesterday an AFP story outlined the defenses that attorneys say they will raise in the high-profile case...

Texas State Board Begins Hearings on Science Curriculum Standards

Posted on January 23, 2009
On Wednesday, according to the New York Times, the Texas State Board of Education began contentious hearings on revising of the state's science curriculum standards. (See prior posting.) At issue is whether the Board will accept a panel recommendation to drop language calling for students to analyze the "strength and weaknesses" of scientific theories and to replace it with language that is seen by scientists as less likely to undercut the teaching of evolution...

ACLU Sues Minnesota Identity Charter School

Posted on January 22, 2009
ACLU of Minnesota announced yesterday that it has filed a federal lawsuit against Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TIZA), a publicly-funded cultural identity charter school operating in the Twin Cities area. The complaint in ACLU of Minnesota v. Tarek Ibn Aiyad Academy, (D MN, filed 1/21/2009) alleges that the funding and operation of TIZA violates the Establishment Clause of the U...

9th Circuit Upholds Restaurant's Win In Title VII Case

Posted on January 22, 2009
In EEOC v. Serrano's Mexican Restaurant, LLC, (9th Cir., Jan. 5, 2009), the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld an Arizona federal district court jury's determination that a restaurant chain had reasonably accommodated a fired manager's religious beliefs...

Dutch Court Orders Prosecution of Wilders For Hate Speech

Posted on January 22, 2009
In the Netherlands, the Amsterdam Appeals Court has reversed a decision by the public prosecutor's office and ordered the prosecution of parliament member Geert Wilders for inciting hatred and discrimination against Muslims and insulting Muslim worshippers...

Court Permanently Enjoins Illinois Moment of Silence Law

Posted on January 22, 2009
In Sherman v. Township High School District 214, (ND IL, Jan. 21, 2009), an Illinois federal district court enjoined enforcement of the Illinois statute that provides each school day must begin with a brief period of silence for prayer or reflection. The court concluded that the statute violates the Establishment Clause, saying:The plain language of the Statute ...

Italian Authorities React To Muslim Prayer In Front Of Catholic Sites

Posted on January 22, 2009
ANSA reported yesterday that Italian authorities are drafting new regulations to prevent a repeat of incidents earlier this month in which large groups of Muslims conducted prayer services in front of Catholic holy places in Milan, Bologna and Rome. The incidents occurred when Muslim prayer time arrived in the middle of protest marches against Israel's military operations in Gaza...

Arkansas Court Upholds Removal of 18 Children From Alamo Ministries

Posted on January 22, 2009
The Arkansas Democrat Gazette reports that on Tuesday a Miller County (AR) state trial court upheld the removal of 18 children from the Tony Alamo Christian Ministries. The children were determined to be at risk because the ministry approves beating children as punishment for misbehavior and it allows underage marriages...

Spain's Supreme Court Upholds Privacy Award Against Church

Posted on January 22, 2009
Catholic News Agency yesterday reported on a decision handed down earlier this week by Spain's Supreme Court upholding an award of back pay and reinstatement entered against the Catholic Diocese of Canarias. The Diocese is located in Spain's Canary Islands...

White House Website Transformed Within Minutes of Transition

Posted on January 21, 2009
Church Executive and WorldNet Daily reported yesterday that within minutes of Barack Obama taking the oath of office, a completely revamped White House website replaced the old one. The new website contains the lengthy policy agenda of the Obama administration...

French University Offers Master's Program In Islamic Finance

Posted on January 21, 2009
In France, Strasbourg University's School of Management has begun to offer a degree in Islamic finance. Zawya reports today that 36 students from Europe and North Africa are enrolled in the 11-month master's level program that will help meet the demand of regulatory authorities and financial institutions for experts in Shariah-compliant investments.

Virginia Man Sues Employer For Failing To Accommodate His Sunday Observance

Posted on January 21, 2009
The Charlottesville Daily Progress reports today that Jeffery King, a Baptist pastor who also worked at a Charlottesville, Virginia pharmacy services facilty of Cardinal Health, Inc., has filed a Title VII religious discrimination lawsuit against his former employer in federal district court...

National Prayer Service This Morning-- Live Feed Available

Posted on January 21, 2009
As part of Inauguration week events, a National Prayer Service is being held this morning at the National Cathedral in Washington, DC. Here is the list of approximately 20 clergy from a wide variety of faith traditions as released last week by the Presidential Inaugural Committee...

Obama Begins Inauguration Day By Attending Prayer Service

Posted on January 20, 2009
Barack Obama begins today with an Inauguration Day tradition begun by Franklin Roosevelt. He will attend a prayer service at the 200-year old St. John's Episcopal Church, across Lafayette Square from the White House. According to the AP, Dallas megachurch pastor T...

Nebraska Episcopal Diocese Sues Break Away Parish

Posted on January 20, 2009
Another break-away Episcopal congregation is in litigation with its former diocese. This time it is the Episcopal Diocese of Nebraska suing Omaha's 125-member St. Barnabas parish which in 2007 voted to affiliate with the more conservative Anglican Church in America...

TV Snafu Complicates Obama's Politics of Clergy Selection

Posted on January 20, 2009
The Atlantic reported yesterday that the politics of inaugural prayer has gotten more complicated for the Obama inaugural committee. After supporters of gay and lesbian rights complained vociferously about the choice of Pastor Rick Warren to deliver the benediction at today's inaugural ceremony, Obama planners invited openly gay Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson to deliver the opening prayer at yesterday's pre-inaugural concert at the Lincoln Memorial...

British Poll Says Religion More Divisive Than Race

Posted on January 20, 2009
In Britain, a new poll by the Government's Equalities and Human Rights Commission shows that 60% of respondents believe that religion is more divisive than race in British society. London's Daily Mail reports today on the poll on racial and religious tolerance...

Catholic Group Uses Obama's Story In Anti-Abortion Ad To Be Shown In Chicago; Humanists Use Obama In Secularism Ad

Posted on January 20, 2009
Zenit yesterday reported on a 30-second anti-abortion video (YouTube clip) titled "Imagine the Potential!" produced by CatholicVote.com (a project of Fidelis Center for Law and Policy). The video, to be aired during today's presidential Inauguration on Black Entertainment Television in Chicago:begins with ultrasound image of an unborn baby...

Israeli Rabbinical Court Questions Years-Old Conversion of Famous Rabbi's Son

Posted on January 20, 2009
Yesterday's Jerusalem Post reports that in Israel, an ombudsman has opened an investigation into the behavior of a Rabbinical Court judge who retroactively called into question the conversion to Judaism of Yossi Fackenheim, son of the famous Canadian academic and Reform Rabbi, Emil Fackenheim...

Inaugural Prayers and Speech Are Contrasts In Civic Religion

Posted on January 20, 2009
Pastor Rick Warren's invocation, Barack Obama's speech and Rev. Joseph Lowery's benediction at today's inauguration ceremony were fascinating contrasts in the tradition of denominational inclusiveness and civic religion. Prior to the inauguration, there was much speculation on whether Warren's invocation would be explicitly Christian...

Likely Civil Rights Division Head Disclosed

Posted on January 19, 2009
Legal Times reported Friday that the likely nominee to head the Department of Justice Civil Rights Division in the Obama administration is Thomas Saenz, counsel to Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. The likely nominee, a Yale Law School graduate, worked at the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund prior to joining Mayor Villaraigosa's administration...

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