Religion & Law

Indian Authorities Waive Autopsies On Chabad House Victims

Posted on November 30, 2008
India Express reports today on efforts to have the bodies of those brutally killed in the Chabad center in Mumbai returned to Israel for burial without autopsies being performed. Jewish law generally prohibits autopsies. The Israeli Consulate sent a request to Mumbai's Police Commissioner and to the Home Minister to hand over the bodies without autopsy so they can be buried according to Jewish law...

Muslim-Christian Clashes In Nigerian City Following State Elections

Posted on November 29, 2008
BBC News today reports that in the Nigerian city of Jos, hundreds of people have been killed in clashes between Muslims and Christians. Jos is the capital of the state of Plateau. The violence followed state elections in which the Christian-backed People's Democratic Party won over the Muslim-backed All Nigeria People's Party...

Nativity Scene To Go Up Without Opposition In Illinois Capitol Building

Posted on November 29, 2008
A press release issued yesterday by the Springfield Nativity Scene Committee (SNSC) reports that a privately funded Nativity Scene will be displayed starting next week until after Christmas in the East Hall of the Illinois state Capitol Building. The unveiling ceremony will include a prayer and Christmas carols...

Louisiana Parish Repeals Fortune Telling Ban After Court Holds It Invalid

Posted on November 29, 2008
Last month in Gryphon's Nest Gifts, Inc. v. Parish of Livingston, (MD LA, Oct. 7, 2008), a Louisiana federal district court held unconstitutional an ordinance enacted by the Parish of Livingston that bans soothsaying, fortune telling, palm reading, clairvoyance, crystal ball gazing, mind reading, card reading "and the like" for a fee...

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Court In Kashmir Says Hajj Travel Is Protected Fundamental Right

Posted on November 29, 2008
In Indian Kashmir, a High Court judge has ruled that the State Hajj Committee wrongly denied travel documents to ten individuals attempting to make the Hajj pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia this year. According to a report published yesterday by Greater Kashmir, a pilgrim pass was denied to 40 individuals, but only ten sued...

Tribal Lawsuit Raises Unusual Religious Liberty Question

Posted on November 29, 2008
In Havasupai Tribe v. Arizona Board of Regents, (AZ Ct. App., Nov. 28, 2008), an Arizona state appellate court decided a procedural issue in a case that raises a fascinating religious liberty question. The procedural issue was whether plaintiffs adequately complied with the notice of claims requirement in Arizona law that applies to suits filed against public entities or public employees...

Kentucky's Homeland Security Law Requires Acknowledgement of God

Posted on November 28, 2008
Today's Lexington Herald-Leader reports on a little-noticed provision in Kentucky's law enacted in 2006 to create the state Office of Homeland Security. KY Code 39G.010 requires that the agency's executive director is to "publicize the findings of the General Assembly stressing the dependence on Almighty God as being vital to the security of the Commonwealth by including [specified findings] ...

Canadian Marriage Commissioner Sues Province Over Same-Sex Marriage Mandate

Posted on November 28, 2008
In Canada last May, the Saskatchewan Human Rights Tribunal held that government marriage commissioner Orville Nichols may not discriminate against same-sex couples in performing civil marriages. (See prior posting.) Not only is Nichols appealing the Tribunal's adverse decision but, according to the Regina Leader-Post, he also filed a separate suit last Monday against the government seeking to force a change in the rules that he says infringe his free exercise of religion...

Kazakhstan's Parliament Passes Controversial Amendment To Religion Law

Posted on November 28, 2008
Kazakhstan's Parliament on Wednesday gave final approval to restrictive amendments to the country's Religion Law. The bill would also amend the Code of Administrative Offenses and certain other laws. The controversial bill now goes to President Nursultan Nazarbaev who must decide whether or not to sign it into law...

Netherlands Will Extend Proposed Burka Ban To Higher Education

Posted on November 28, 2008
In the Netherlands, Education Minister Ronald Plasterk has told Parliament that a planned law to ban wearing of the burka and niqab in elementary and secondary schools (see prior posting) will be extended to institutions of higher education as well. These are garments that cover the body and the face which are worn by Muslim women...

Former Maldives President Suing For Defamation Over Comments On His Religious Beliefs

Posted on November 28, 2008
Miadhu News today reports from the Maldives on the ongoing civil defamation lawsuit brought by former Maldives President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom against Adhaalath Party. Gayoom says that Sheikh Husain Rasheed has publicly defamed him on several occasions by saying that he was a not a Muslim...

President's Thanksgiving Proclamation and Thoughts On It

Posted on November 27, 2008
Last week, President Bush issued the Thanksgiving Day 2008 Proclamation, declaring today to be a National Day of Thanksgiving. The Proclamation begins:Thanksgiving is a time for families and friends to gather together and express gratitude for all that we have been given, the freedoms we enjoy, and the loved ones who enrich our lives...

Obama, Thanksgiving, and Church

Posted on November 27, 2008
ABC News reports that President-elect Barack Obama, along with his wife Michelle and their two daughters, spent an hour on the day before Thanksgiving handing out bags of food to the needy at Chicago's St. Columbanus Catholic Church. This is Obama's third year of volunteering before Thanksgiving at a local food bank...

Florida Trial Court Overturns Gay Adoption Ban; Rejects Religious Objections

Posted on November 27, 2008
In In re Adoption of John Doe and James Doe, (Miami-Dade FL Cir. Ct., Nov. 25, 2008), a Florida state trial court held that a Florida statute barring "any person [who] is a homosexual" from adopting children (FL Stat. 63.042(3)) violates "equal protection rights guaranteed by Article I, § 2 of the Florida Constitution without satisfying a rational basis...

Brooklyn Chabad Rabbi and Wife Among Hostages Held In Mumbai

Posted on November 27, 2008
One of the ten sites attacked by terrorists in Mumbai (India) yesterday and today is Nariman House which houses Mumbai's Chabad Lubavitch headquarters. (Scotsman). BBC News reports that Chabad's main emissary in the city, Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg, is being held hostage in the building which is now surrounded by police...

Indiana Rescinds Rule Barring Vanity Plates Mentioning God

Posted on November 27, 2008
The Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles has decided to rescind a rule that took effect earlier this month banning the issue of vanity license plates that refer to race, religion, deity, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation or political party or affiliation...

City Sued For Encouraging Removal of Billboard Promoting Atheism

Posted on November 27, 2008
The Freedom from Religion Foundation (FFRF) filed suit in a California federal district court yesterday against the city of Rancho Cucamonga (CA). The complaint (full text) alleges that the city violated the Establishment Clause and free speech guaranties when its actions led a sign company to remove a billboard ad that had been paid for by FFRF...

2nd Circuit Says Village Is Bound By Its Zoning Case Settlement

Posted on November 27, 2008
In Congregation Mischknois Lavier Yakov, Inc. v. Board of Trustees for the Village of Airmont, New York, (2d Cir., Nov. 26, 2008), the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals rejected an attempt by the the village of Airmont (NY) to back out of a 2005 zoning settlement it had agreed to, and which had been embodied in a federal district court order...

Malaysia's Anti-Yoga Fatwa Raises Controversy Over Jurisdiction

Posted on November 27, 2008
A controversial ruling issued last week by Malaysia's National Fatwa Council is now creating a jurisdictional controversy in the country. Yesterday's Red Orbit and today's Malaysian Insider report on developments. The focus is a ruling telling Muslims to stop practicing yoga, out of fear that it could lead them to deviate from Islamic teachings...

6th Circuit Denies Summary Judgment In Establishment Challenge To School Outsourcing

Posted on November 26, 2008
Tennessee Code 49-6-3402 requires local boards of education to create alternative schools for students in grades 7-12 who have been suspended of expelled. Tennessee's Jefferson County School Board, for budgetary reasons, eliminated its separate alternative school program and instead contracted with Kingswood Academy to provide alternative services for public school students...

Defining Unborn Child as "Person" In Murder Law Upheld

Posted on November 26, 2008
In Eguia v. State of Texas, (TX Ct. App., Nov. 20, 2008), a Texas appellate court upheld appellant's conviction for murdering a woman and her unborn child. The court rejected appellant's constitutional challenge to the Texas statute that defines an unborn child as a "person" for purposes of the capital murder statute...

5th Circuit Remands Invalidation of Disturbing-The-Peace Ordinance

Posted on November 26, 2008
In Netherland v. Eubanks, (5th Cir., Nov. 25 2008), the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals vacated a preliminary injunction that had been issued by a Louisiana federal district court against the City of Zachary, Louisiana. John Netherland, a Christian who was preaching loudly near the Sidelines Grill, was threatened by police with arrest for disturbing the peace if he did not stop...

En Banc Review Sought In 7th Circuit License Plate Case

Posted on November 26, 2008
The Thomas More Society yesterday filed a petition for en banc review of the 7th Circuit's opinion in Choose Life Illinois, Inc. v. White. (See prior posting.) In the case, a 3-judge panel of the federal 7th Circuit held that there was no First Amendment violation when the state of Illinois decided to exclude the subject of abortion from its specialty-plate program...

Australia Seeks Public Comment on Report on Religious Freedom

Posted on November 26, 2008
Christian Today carries an article about the Australian Human Rights Commission discussion paper titled Freedom of Religion and Belief in the 21st Century. The paper, issued in September, is open for comment until January 31, 2009. According to the Commission's website, the project is designed to obtain input from faith communities and others in an effort "to build a more socially cohesive and harmonious society that protects and promotes Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)...

More Developments In Texas Cases Against FLDS Church Members

Posted on November 26, 2008
Yesterday's Deseret News reports on two developments in the ongoing confrontations between the state of Texas and the polygamous Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints church. In a court hearing in San Angelo (TX), a 17-year old girl who had been temporarily held in foster care by the state refused to reveal the whereabouts of her infant...

Two On Obama's Economic Team Have Worked On Religious Liberty Issues

Posted on November 25, 2008
Ahead of his news conference yesterday, President-elect Barack Obama announced his choice for five key economic posts in the federal government. (Wall Street Journal). In a release yesterday, the Orthodox Jewish Union reports that two of these appointees also have made significant contributions in the field of religious liberty...

6th Circuit Allows Some Sex-Abuse Claims Against Vatican To Proceed Under FSIA

Posted on November 25, 2008
In O'Bryan v. Holy See, (6th Cir., Nov. 24, 2008), the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a district court decision dismissing certain claims against the Vatican in a clergy sex-abuse case, but permitting other claims to proceed under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act (FSIA)...

Vietnam Ends Attempt To Control Catholics; Recognizes Mennonites

Posted on November 25, 2008
The press this week reported on two significant developments out of Vietnam. According to Asia News , the government's attempt to follow China's lead and create create a Catholic Church controlled by the Communist Party instead of the Pope has failed...

Holy Land Foundation Leaders Convicted In Their Retrial

Posted on November 25, 2008
Yesterday, according to the New York Times, federal prosecutors in Dallas, Texas obtained convictions against five leaders of a Muslim charity for funneling donations to the terrorist group Hamas. Last October, a mistrial on most charges occurred in the trial of leaders of the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development...

U.N.'s 3rd Committee Approves Resolution on Combatting Defamation of Religions

Posted on November 25, 2008
Yesterday the United Nations General Assembly's Third Committee (which focuses on social humanitarian and cultural issues) adopted a controversial resolution urging countries to combat the defamation of religion. Canwest News Service reports that the resolution passed 85-50, with 42 abstentions...

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