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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

Civil Court May Decide Scope of Authority of Archdiocese Agent

Posted on December 04, 2008
In Favalora v. Sidaway, (FL Ct. App., Dec. 3, 2008), a Florida state appellate court rejected a First Amendment religious autonomy challenge to civil court jurisdiction in a suit against the Catholic Archdiocese of Miami. In the case, plaintiff alleged that the Archdiocese fraudulently induced him to settle a claim by promising reforms which it never planned to implement...

Complaint In Suit Challenging Kentucky Homeland Security Law Now Available

Posted on December 04, 2008
As reported previously, the American Atheists and ten individuals are suing to challenge provisions in Kentucky statutes creating the state's Office of Homeland Security. The statute requires the agency to stress dependence on God as a necessary part of homeland security, and requires it to install a plaque with specified language to that effect...

Roundtable Releases 2008 Report: Legal Developments In Faith-Based Initiative

Posted on December 04, 2008
On Tuesday, the Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy announced the release of The State of the Law-- 2008, a report on legal developments affecting government partnerships with faith-based organizations. This is the seventh, and last, of the reports on the Bush Administration's Faith-Based and Community Initiative that have been written annually by Law Professors Ira C...

In Britain, Queen Announces Proposal To Create Single Equality Commission

Posted on December 04, 2008
In Britain yesterday, the Queen's speech to Parliament (full text) announced that the government would introduce legislation to create a single commission for equality and human rights. The proposal will consolidate nine existing anti-discrimination laws into one Equality Bill...

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North American Conservative Anglicans Create New Church Province

Posted on December 04, 2008
Over the last several years, courts in the United States and Canada have faced numerous lawsuits involving congregations and dioceses that have broken away from the Episcopal Church or the Anglican Church of Canada. The break-away congregations are more conservative and take issue with the parent Churches' policies on issues such as same-sex marriage, ordination of women and ordination of gay clergy...

Egyptian Freed Pending Appeal in Case on Religion in Identity Documents

Posted on December 04, 2008
Compass Direct News reported yesterday on a case in Egypt involving forgery charges against a woman for falsely failing to list herself as a Muslim on her official identification papers, including her marriage certificate. Bahia El-Sisi says that she is a Christian...

Maldives Blocks Access To Christian Website

Posted on December 04, 2008
In the Maldives, the restrictive Protection of Religious Unity Act prohibits dissemination of information on non-Muslim religions. (Forum 18 background.) According to Minivan News today, the Maldives Ministry of Islamic Affairs this week blocked access to a website, Sidahitun...

Los Angeles Jews for Jesus Leafleting Case Settled

Posted on December 04, 2008
Alliance Defense Fund announced yesterday the settlement of a challenge to leafleting restrictions imposed by the City of Los Angeles (CA) on a Jews for Jesus group. Last year, a California federal district court issued a preliminary injunction ordering police to protect Jews for Jesus members who planned to hand out literature outside an Israel Independence Day Festival, so long as they remained at a prescribed distance...

RLUIPA Protects New York Church's Catering Activities From Adverse Zoning Action

Posted on December 03, 2008
In Third Church of Christ, Scientist v. City of New York, (SDNY, Dec. 2, 2008), a New York federal district court, applying the "equal terms provision" of RLUIPA, enjoined the city from revoking previously granted approval for a church to use its building for catering activities...

Capitol Visitor Center Opens With Objection To Lack of Religious References

Posted on December 03, 2008
Yesterday, the $621 million U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, over-budget and behind schedule, opened to the public. (Washington Post.) South Carolina Republican Senator Jame DeMint almost delayed the opening further, according to the McClatchy Newspapers yesterday...

Fired Human Resources VP Who Disputed Gay Rights Sues University

Posted on December 03, 2008
The Toledo Blade reports that on Monday a federal lawsuit was filed against the University of Toledo by its former Associate Vice-President for Human Resources, Crystal Dixon. Dixon was fired after she wrote a column for a local newspaper arguing that gays and lesbians are not "civil rights victims...

Orthodox Church Wants Russia To Outlaw Satanism and Church Desecration

Posted on December 03, 2008
Concerned with Satanist symbols, swastikas and inverted stars being scratched on church walls, a Russian Orthodox Church official has called on Russia to adopt a statutory ban on Satanism. Interfax reported yesterday that Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin, deputy chairman of the Moscow Patriarchate Department for External Church Relations, also wants a law banning desecration of religious shrines...

Court Says No Free Exercise Problem In Homicide Charges Against Parents

Posted on December 03, 2008
In Wausau, Wisconsin, a trial court judge ruled Monday that Dale and Leilani Neumann's free exercise and due process rights are not violated by prosecuting them for reckless homicide. AP reports that the parents are charged with praying for the recovery of their 11-year old daughter instead of getting her medical assistance as required by law...

Australian Court Is Asked To Order Police Investigation of Religious Group

Posted on December 03, 2008
In Australia, three women, former members of the Christian Exclusive Brethren movement, have petitioned the Federal Court seeking to have it issue a writ of mandamus to force government authorities to investigate the religious group. The Age (Melbourne) today reports that the petitioners, three sisters, say they are on the run from the sect that they accuse of trafficking, debt bondage and cultural genocide...

Massachusetts High Court Lets Rastafarian Go To Trial Against Jiffy Lube

Posted on December 03, 2008
In Brown v. F.L. Roberts & Co., Inc., (MA Sup. Jud. Ct., Dec. 2, 2008), the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court rejected defendant's motion for summary judgment and ordered to trial a case in which a Rastafarian sought an exemption from an employer's grooming policy...

Cuba Improves Relations With Vatican As Castro Attends Beatification Mass

Posted on December 03, 2008
NBC News reported yesterday that Cuba's government has taken an important step toward improving relations with the Catholic Church. Last week end, Cuban President Raul Castro sat in the front row at a 3-hour mass beatifying Cuban Friar Jose Olallo Valdes...

Religion Clause Nominated As One of "100 Best" By ABA For Second Year

Posted on December 02, 2008
I am pleased to announce that Religion Clause has been nominated by the editors of the ABA Journal as one of the 100 best legal blogs for 2008. (ABA press release.) Religion Clause is one of only 50 blawgs that have been nominated to the list of the "100 best" two years in a row...

Limitation on Church Attendance Does Not Violate Parolee's Free Exercise Rights

Posted on December 02, 2008
In Burchett v. Bromps, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 96920 (ED WA, Nov. 20, 2008), a Washington federal district court rejected a free exercise challenge to the conditions of his community release brought by a pedophile sex offender. Donald Burchett, whose offense was committed at a church, was required to obtain permission of his parole officer in order to go within three blocks of a church...

Anti-Religion Sign Is Next To Creche In Capitol Under Open Forum Rules

Posted on December 02, 2008
Last October, the Alliance Defense Fund settled a suit it had brought against Washington state on behalf of private citizen Ron Wesselius who wished to put up a Nativity Scene in the state Capitol building next to a menorah and holiday tree that were previously approved...

Marijuana Conviction Upheld; Religious Freedom Defense Rejected

Posted on December 02, 2008
In People v. Rubin, (CA Ct. App., Dec. 1, 2008), a California state appellate court upheld a defendant's conviction for selling marijuana and possessing it for sale. The court rejected his argument that the Free Exercise clause of the state and federal constitutions protected his activity...

Zimbabwe Court Protects Apostolic Sect From Local Chief

Posted on December 02, 2008
In Zimbabwe, a High Court judge has ruled in favor of the Friday Apostles Johane Masowe Ye Chishanu sect in their lawsuit against Chief Clement Nembire in Mt. Darwin. The background is found in an article from last month in Zimbabwe's Herald. Nembire claimed that the sect, led by Madzibaba Reuben Tapedza, keeps its children out of schools, denies them hospital treatment, and marries off underage children...

Wyoming Prisons Will Accommodate Muslim Prisoner Meal Times

Posted on December 02, 2008
The Jackson Hole (WY) Star Tribune reported last month that the Wyoming Department of Corrections has adopted a new policy to accommodate the religious needs of Muslim inmates. The new policy was agreed to in order to settle a lawsuit filed by the ACLU on behalf of two prisoners...

Mumbai Muslim Cemetery Refuses To Bury Terrorists; Police Seeking Alternatives

Posted on December 02, 2008
In India, at least one Muslim cemetery is refusing to bury the bodies of the slain Mumbai terrorists. The London Times reports that the Jama Masjid Trust said it will not bury the men in its Badakabrastan graveyard because they could not be true followers of Islam...

President Bush Talks About Faith In His Life

Posted on December 01, 2008
On Friday, the White House posted on its website excerpts from the interview of President Bush and First Lady Laura Bush by Doro Bush Koch for StoryCorps. Here is one exchange:Q What role does faith play in your day-to-day life?THE PRESIDENT: I've been in the Bible every day since I've been the President, and I have been affected by people's prayers a lot...

Pope To Visit Israel In May To Ease Catholic-Jewish Tensions

Posted on December 01, 2008
Haaretz reported last week that Pope Benedict XVI will visit Israel and the Palestinian Territories in May. The visit is designed to reduce some of the tension of recent weeks over the timing by the Vatican in moving toward the canonization of Pope Pius XII...

Recent Articles and Book of Interest

Posted on December 01, 2008
From SSRN:Frederick Mark Gedicks, Indeterminacy and the Establishment Clause, (Constitutional Commentary, 2009).FromSmartCILP:Mark DeForrest, The Use and Scope of Extrinsic Evidence in Evaluating Establishment Clause Cases in Light of the Lemon Test's Secular Purpose Requirement, 20 Regent University Law Review 201-255 (2007-2008)...

Religious Coalition Presses For New Policies On Mortgage Foreclosures

Posted on December 01, 2008
Saturday's Washington Post reports that a coalition of 1000 religious congregations, operating under the label PICO National Network, is attempting to change national economic policies in a way that prevents mortgage foreclosures. The group, which recently held a "prayer rally" outside of the Treasury Building, wants a requirement that every bank receiving federal bailout money must agree to a uniform set of loan-modification procedures...

Infringing Confession's Confidentiality OK Under Australia's Free Exercise Clause

Posted on November 30, 2008
In SDW v Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, (NSW Sup. Ct., Nov. 27, 2008),the Supreme Court of the Australian state of New South Wales held that the statute of limitations had run on a claim by a woman who contended that the Mormon Church breached a duty of care it owed to her...

Assault Charge To Be Retried Under Parent Discipline Defense

Posted on November 30, 2008
In State of Washington v. McHenry, (WA Ct, App., Nov. 25, 2008), a Washington state appellate court reversed and remanded for retrial a defendant's conviction for assaulting his daughter with a knife. The court upheld his conviction on other counts of assault against the daughter...

Recently Available Prisoner Free Exercise Cases

Posted on November 30, 2008
In Holloway v. Bizzaro, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 94861 (SD FL, June 27, 2008), a Florida federal magistrate judge recommended dismissal of an inmate's damage claim. Plaintiff claimed that denial of pork-free meals violated of his religious rights. Under the Prison Litigation Reform Act, however, plaintiff can recover compensatory damages only if he suffered a physical injury...

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