Religion & Law

Cert. Denied In Case On Religious Candy Canes In School

Posted on December 09, 2008
Yesterday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in Curry v. Hensinger, (Docket No. 08-190) (Order List.) In the case, the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals concluded that a Saginaw, Michigan school had legitimate pedagogical reasons for barring a fifth-grader from selling candy canes with religious material attached as part of a classroom project to learn about marketing...

Another Appeal To 5th Circuit Filed In World Wide Street Preachers Case

Posted on December 09, 2008
According to the Monroe (LA) News Star, an appeal to the 5th Circuit has been filed in World Wide Street Preachers Fellowship v. Town of Columbia, Louisiana. The Fellowship is seeking reversal of a determination by a Louisiana federal district court that the town of Columbia should be dismissed as a defendant because the court found no widespread municipal practice of infringing speech rights...

Raelians Threaten To Sue Las Vegas Police For Airport Discrimination

Posted on December 09, 2008
Ricky Roehr, a bishop in the Raelian Movement and its North American Continental Guide, says that the movement will file suit against the Las Vegas (NV) police and the Las Vegas airport authority for religious discrimination and abuse of power. A press release from the Raelians says that they were forced to leave the Las Vegas McCarran International Airport on Saturday afternoon under threat of arrest as they awaited the arrival of their spiritual leader, Rael...

2nd Circuit Hears Arguments In Vermont License Plate Case

Posted on December 09, 2008
The U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday heard oral arguments in Byrne v. Rutledge, a case in which a Vermont federal district court upheld Vermont's policy of refusing to place religious messages of any kind on "vanity" license plates. (See prior posting...

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ABC Interview With Bush Includes Extensive Discussion of Religious Views

Posted on December 09, 2008
Last night, ABC's Nightline aired a wide-ranging interview with President George W. Bush. An article and published excerpts of the interview on ABC's website report that among the topics discussed were Bush's religious beliefs. Bush said he is not a literalist when it comes to reading the Bible...

Title VII's Religious Organization Exclusion Held Non-Jurisdictional

Posted on December 08, 2008
Smith v. Angel Food Ministries, Inc., 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 98280 (MD GA, Dec. 4 2008) is a religious discrimination decision that will be of interest to experts in the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. Angel Food Ministries (AFM) is an organization that partners with churches to help distribute food to the poor...

Religious Worker Visa Rules Have Been Amended

Posted on December 08, 2008
The Department of Homeland Security has recently amended its regulations implementing the Citizenship and Immigration Services' Religious Worker program. (73 Red. Reg. 72275 (Nov. 26, 2008)). The long-pending regulations were adopted after Public Law 110-391, signed by the President on Oct...

India's Supreme Court Says Marriage By Christian Under Hindu Marriage Act Is Void

Posted on December 08, 2008
In Raj v. Pavani, (India Sup. Ct., Dec. 4, 2008), the Supreme Court of India held that a marriage entered into and registered under the Hindu Marriage Act is void where the husband was actually a Roman Catholic and misrepresented at the time of the marriage that he was Hindu...

Recent Articles and Book of Interest

Posted on December 08, 2008
From SmartCILP:Donald R. Davis, Jr., Before Virtue: Halakhah, Dharmasa, and What Law Can Create, 71 Law & Contemporary Problems 99-108 (2008). Laura Dudley Jenkins, Legal Limits on Religious Conversion in India, 71 Law & Contemporary Problems 109-127 (2008)...

Group Calls for Removal of Texas State Board of Education Member

Posted on December 08, 2008
The Texas Freedom Network is calling for the removal of Cynthia Dunbar from the Texas State Board of Education. Saturday's Ft. Wort Star-Telegram reports that the call came after Dunbar published a new book titled One Nation Under God. In it she claims that the public school system is unconstitutional and tyrannical, because public schools undermine the scriptural authority of families to direct their children's education...

President Bush Gives Half-Hour Interview To Saudi TV Network

Posted on December 08, 2008
Yesterday, President Bush gave a 30-minute interview (full text) to Middle East Broadcasting Center reporter Nadia Bilbassy-Charters. MBC is a Saudi-run television network broadcasting from the UAE. Here an excerpt from the interview:Q: Sir, some people say that the war on terror is a war on Islam...

Vietnam Court Gives Suspended Sentence To Catholic Demonstrators

Posted on December 08, 2008
In Vietnam today, eight Catholics were tried for disturbing public order and damaging property during a series of prayer vigils last year. The vigils were protesting the government's asserted ownership of Church property and the proposed sale of the property near Thai Ha Church to developers...

Texas County Denies Televangelist Tax Exemption Because of Secrecy on Salaries

Posted on December 07, 2008
Ft. Worth (TX) televangelist Kenneth Copeland, who has been resisting Congressional requests for financial information from his prosperity gospel organization (see prior posting), now finds that this lack of transparency has created state tax problems...

Recent Prisoner an Institutional Free Exercise Cases

Posted on December 07, 2008
In Desimone v. Bartow, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 97271 (MD GA, Oct. 27, 2008), a Georgia federal district court refused a request to appoint counsel in a pro se case in which plaintiff, confined in a mental health Department of Corrections facility, alleged that his free exercise rights were violated by authorities denying him the ability to write in a language he refers to as "Atlantean...

California Housing Discrimination Case Settled

Posted on December 07, 2008
Lookout News reported on Friday that a settlement has been reached in a complex group of lawsuits in Santa Monica, California growing out of charges that a group known as Or Khaim Hashalom (OKH) was evicting tenants from a rent-controlled apartment building because of their race, religion and national origin in order to build luxury condominiums for Jewish persons from the Middle East...

Samoan Council of Churches Wants To Limit Entry of New Religions To Country

Posted on December 07, 2008
In the South Pacific Ocean nation of Samoa, Congregational Church minister Oka Fau'olo, who is head of the Samoa Council of Churches, says the Council has asked the country's Prime Minister to consider limiting the constitutionally protected freedom of religion in the country...

Nebraska High Court Rejects Free Exercise Challenge To Newborn Screening Law

Posted on December 06, 2008
In In re Interest of Joel Anaya, (NE Sup. Ct., Dec. 5, 2008), the Nebraska Supreme Court held that the religious freedom clause of the Nebraska Constitution (Art. I, Sec. 4) should be interpreted identically to the federal Free Exercise clause in determining whether a neutral law of general applicability is constitutional...

Palestinian Infighting Prevents Gazans From Making Hajj

Posted on December 06, 2008
Some 3000 Palestinians seeking to make Hajj this year find themselves caught in rivalry between Hamas that controls the Gaza Strip and the government of President Mahmoud Abbas that controls the West Bank. According to an AP report yesterday, both rivals submitted a list of Gazans seeking Hajj permits to Saudi authorities...

9th Circuit Defines Religious Workers For Visa Purposes

Posted on December 06, 2008
In Love Korean Church v. Chertoff, (9th Cir., Dec. 5, 2008), the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals interpreted the provisions of 8 USC 1153(b)(4) that provide up to 5000 permanent resident visas per year for religious workers other than ministers. Implementing regulations (8 CFR 204...

Many React To Anti-Religion Sign In State Capitol Display

Posted on December 06, 2008
As reported on Tuesday, the Freedom From Religion Foundation created a stir in Olympia, Washington when it took advantage of the state Capitol's open forum policy permitting any group to put up a display during the holiday season. FFRF put up a sign extolling the virtues of non-belief...

7th Circuit En Banc Upholds Damages Against Muslim Groups For Financing Hamas

Posted on December 06, 2008
In Boim v. Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, (7 Cir., Dec. 3, 2008), in a 7-3 en banc decision, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals held the American Muslim Society and the Quranic Literacy Society liable under 18 USC 2333. The statute, as interpreted by the court, permits the award of treble damages against those who donate funds to a terrorist group...

Brookings Report Advises Obama On Continuation of Faith-Based Initiative

Posted on December 06, 2008
The Brookings Institution yesterday released a 58-page paper titled Serving People in Need, Safeguarding Religious Freedom: Recommendations for the New Administration on Partnerships with Faith-Based Organizations. Written by Brookings fellow E.J. Dionne, Jr...

Irish Broadcasting Commission Rejects Christmas Ads From Catholic Bishops

Posted on December 05, 2008
The Broadcasting Commission of Ireland (BCI) General Advertising Code, Sec. 9, as well as Section 10(e) of Ireland's Radio and Television Act of 1988 and Section 65 of the Broadcasting Act 2001, ban the broadcast in Ireland of ads "directed towards a religious end...

NY Appellate Court: Civil Courts Can Require Inspection of Church Records

Posted on December 05, 2008
In Tae Hwa Yoon v New York Hahn Wolee Church, Inc., (NY App. Div., Nov. 25, 2008), a New York state appellate court reversed the dismissal of one claim in a lawsuit against a Yonkers (NY) church, its pastor and several of its trustees. Plaintiff, a member and former trustee of the church, alleged that defendants had diverted or misappropriated church funds...

Saudi Ministry Prepares For Hajj Pilgrims

Posted on December 05, 2008
The Hajj takes place in Saudi Arabia this year from Dec. 7 to 11. Only pilgrims with Hajj permits may participate. The Saudi Gazette today reports on arrangements that have been made by the Saudi Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Daw'a, and Guidance to handle the thousands who will take part...

Tourist Council Treads Carefully In Funding for Christian Music Festival

Posted on December 05, 2008
A column in today's St. Petersburg (FL) Times discusses the state and federal constitutional issues that presented themselves last month as the Hernando County Tourist Development Council decided what kind of support it would give to the Brooksville Ministerial Association's annual summer Freedom Fest Christian music festival...

European Court of Human Rights Upholds French Limit on Head Scarves In Schools

Posted on December 05, 2008
In Dogru v. France, (ECHR, Dec. 4, 2008) [in English, Word.doc] and Kervanci v. France, (ECHR, Dec. 4, 2008) [in French, Word.doc], the European Court of Human Rights upheld French restrictions on Muslim girls wearing Islamic head scarves in their physical education classes...

In Nicaragua, Sandinistas Use Religion To Keep Political Support

Posted on December 05, 2008
This week's Nica Times (published in Costa Rica) reports on events in Nicaragua as politicians used religion for political purposes before and after recent Nicaraguan municipal elections. Before the Nov. 9 elections, Sandinista President Daniel Ortega sought out evangelical Christian leaders, giving them land, quoting the Bible, dedicating a Bible Plaza in downtown Managua, and declaring a National Day to Honor the Bible...

Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II Dies

Posted on December 05, 2008
The International Herald Tribune reports that Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II died today in Moscow at age 79. Heading the Church since 1990, Alexy presided over a restoration of the influence of the Orthodox Church in Russia. He maintained close ties with the Russian government and also often spoke out on moral issues...

Times Ad Condemns Violence Against LDS Church For Its Prop 8 Support

Posted on December 05, 2008
A full-page ad titled "No Mob Veto" (full text) ran in today's New York Times. The ad condemns the "violence and intimidation" being directed at the Mormon Church by reason of its support of California's Proposition 8 that banned same-sex marriage. (See prior posting...

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