Religion & Law

"Seven Aphorisms" Case Argued In Supreme Court [UPDATED]

Posted on November 12, 2008
The Supreme Court this morning heard oral arguments in Pleasant Grove City, UT v. Summum (Docket No. 07-665), a case in which the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals held that members of the Summum faith are entitled to erect a "Seven Aphorisms" monument in a city park in which a 10 Commandments monument donated by the Fraternal Order of Eagles is already displayed...

Louisiana Street Preachers' Suit Against City Dismissed

Posted on November 11, 2008
In World Wide Street Preachers Fellowship v. Town of Columbia, Louisiana, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 90674 (WD LA, Nov. 7, 2008), a Louisiana federal district court-- in a case on remand from the 5th Circuit-- held that a police officer was not motivated by the content of the speech of a group of demonstrators when he dispersed the group, arrested one of its members and threatened to arrest others...

Indian Court Rejects Ban On Publication of Hindu Book

Posted on November 11, 2008
In India yesterday, the Delhi High Court reversed a lower court decision that had banned the Sarvadeshik Press from publishing of a 135-year old Hindu religious book, Satyarth Prakash, written by social reformer Swami Dayanand Saraswati. IANS reports that the lawsuit challenging the book had alleged that its publication hurt the religious sentiments of Muslims...

Appeal and New Suit Continue Challenge To Sale of FLDS Property

Posted on November 11, 2008
Members of the FLDS Church are attempting in both state and federal court to prevent the sale of Berry Knoll, a large tract of farm land owned by the Church's United Effort Plan Trust. The land was supposed to be a future site of an FLDS temple. The sale is being proposed by the special fiduciary appointed by a Utah state court...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

European Parliament Says Sikh Members Cannot Wear Kirpan In Building

Posted on November 11, 2008
Asian Image reported yesterday that security authorities at the European Parliament in Brussels have decided that the Sikh kirpan (ceremonial dagger) is a security threat, and so have refused to allow Sikh Parliament members to enter the Parliament building wearing their religious daggers...

Israel's High Court Orders Bus Company To Accept Ads of Women Candidates

Posted on November 11, 2008
In Israel, elections for mayor and City Council of Jerusalem are being held today. (Background JTA article.) Yesterday Israel's High Court of Justice, in a suit filed by the Wake Up Jerusalem movement, ruled that the Egged Bus Cooperative cannot refuse to accept election ads that portray women candidate for Council...

University Offers Refund On Tickets To Controversial Plays

Posted on November 10, 2008
At Southeastern Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, a student production of Christopher Durang's, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All for You, offended Wendy Kurka Rust. The campus theater in which the play was performed is one named after Rust-- presumably because she was a major donor to it...

Recent Articles and Book Of Interest

Posted on November 10, 2008
From SSRN:P.G. Monateri, The Prophetic Nature of Equity, (THE CONCEPT OF EQUITY, Daniela Carpi, ed., pp. 69-82, Heidelberg, Winter 2007).Perry Dane, A Holy Secular Institution, (Emory Law Journal, Forthcoming, 2008).Susan J. Stabil, The Challenges of Opening a Dialogue between Catholic and Secular Feminist Legal Theorists, (U of St...

Malaysian Blogger Released, But Appeal Being Considered

Posted on November 10, 2008
In September, Malaysian blogger Raja Petra Kamarudin was arrested by Malaysian authorities under the Internal Security Act on charges that articles he posted threatened public order and security. He was charged with "causing tension among the country's multi-racial and multi-religious society" through postings on the news blog Malaysia Today of articles insulting to Muslims and the Prophet Muhammad and defamatory of Malaysia's leaders Amnesty International reported last Friday that the high court in the state of Selangor said that the arrest was unconstitutional and ordered Kamarudin released, ruling that the country's Home Minister Syed acted beyond his powers in having him arrested...

Recent Prisoner Free Excercise Cases

Posted on November 10, 2008
In High v. Baca, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 77385 (D NV, Oct. 1, 2008), a Nevada federal district court adopted a federal magistrate's recommendation (2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 88077 (Feb. 6, 2008)) not to dismiss plaintiff's claim that his free exercise rights were violated when officials served him breakfast during Ramadan before sunrise, instead of before dawn...

Sikh Defendant Will Not Be Allowed To Wear Turban At Trial

Posted on November 10, 2008
Today's Stockton (CA) Record reports that a San Joaquin (CA) County Superior Court Judge has ruled that a defendant in a murder case who is a Sikh will not be allowed to wear his turban during trial. Judge Charlotte Orcutt ruled that there is too much risk that 56-year-old Gurparkash Khalsa could hide a weapon or noose in the 18 to 24 feet of fabric...

Tonight Is 70th Anniversary of Kristallnacht

Posted on November 09, 2008
Tonight is the 70th anniversary of Kristallnacht, a Nazi Germany pogrom that killed 92 Jews. Over 25,000 Jews were arrested and many were sent to concentration camps. Jewish businesses were vandalized and more than 200 synagogues were destroyed. The event is often seen as the beginning of the Holocaust...

California School Board Says "No" To Display of "Under God" Motto

Posted on November 09, 2008
The trustees of Antelope Valley Union High School District in California last Wednesday defeated, by a vote of 3-2, a proposal to place the motto "one nation under God" on the wall of their board room. Yesterday's Contra Costa Times reports that board proponent Al Beattie said the line from the Pledge of Allegiance does not unconstitutionally promote religion...

Rhode Island Auto Dealers Split Over Repeal of Sunday Closing Law

Posted on November 09, 2008
Yesterday's Providence (RI) Journal carries an article over the split among car dealers in Rhode Island over whether the state's ban on Sunday car sales should be repealed. Thirteen other states have similar laws. The Journal reports: "Rhode Island's 60 dealers have split into cultural camps: those who would jump at Sunday work even in a boom, versus those who'll never work on Sundays, even in the current bust...

Saudi Arabia Attempts To Deprogram Arrested Islamic Militants

Posted on November 09, 2008
Today's New York Times Magazine carries an article titled Deprogramming Jihadists. It describes the post-prison rehabilitation program used by Saudi Arabia to deprogram Islamic extremists. According to the article: "Most prisoners complete the program within two months...

Federal Suit To Be Filed On Behalf of Amish Over NY Building Codes

Posted on November 09, 2008
Several towns in northern New York have brought suits to enforce their building code requirements against members of a conservative Amish sect. (See prior postings 1, 2, 3 .) While state courts have rejected their free exercise defenses, WNYF News reported Friday that the Becket fund is planning to file a federal lawsuit against the Town of Morristown on behalf of nearly a dozen Amish men facing code violation charges there...

Louisiana City's Festival Creates Church-State Issue

Posted on November 09, 2008
Thibodeauxville, Louisiana's annual music and food festival has become the latest focus in the battle over the proper division between church and state. The flyer promoting the festival says it will include "all-day Christian music and dance." A citizen's complaint over this led the ACLU to write the mayor seeking an end to future city participation in events that highlight the Christian faith...

California Same-Sex Marriage Backers Protest Against Mormon Church

Posted on November 09, 2008
Angry that California's Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage passed, on Thursday some 2000 protesters demonstrated outside the Mormon Temple in Los Angeles. The Mormon Church was particularly active in campaigning for passage of the ballot measure...

7th Circuit Says Illinois May Reject "Choose Life" License Plates

Posted on November 08, 2008
In Choose Life Illinois, Inc. v. White, (7th Cir., Nov. 7, 2008), the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the refusal of the state Secretary of State to issue a special "Choose Life" license plate after proponents obtained the requisite number of signatures requesting it...

Cert. Filed In Exorcism Case

Posted on November 08, 2008
A petition for certiorari was filed last Monday with the U.S. Supreme Court in Pleasant Glade Assembly of God v. Schubert, (Docket No. 08-592). In the case, the Texas Supreme Court, in a 6-3 decision, rejected the lawsuit by brought by then 17-year old Laura Schubert alleging false imprisonment and assault by the pastor, youth minister and several members of an Assembly of Gods Church...

Remaining Claims In "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" Case Settled

Posted on November 08, 2008
Last year, the Supreme Court last year decided Morse v. Frederick, holding that Juneau, Alaska school officials did not violate a student's free speech rights when they confiscated his banner reading "Bong Hits 4 Jesus" displayed at the at the Olympic Torch Relay...

Media Reports On Role of Religious Voters In Obama's Victory

Posted on November 07, 2008
The media yesterday were filled with interesting articles on the role of religious voters in Barack Obama's election victory. The Wall Street Journal reported: "Mr. Obama won among Catholics, 54% to 45%, made gains among regular churchgoers and eroded a bit of the evangelical support that has been a fixture of Republican electoral success for years, exit polls showed...

DC Case Seeks To End Life Support Over Family's Religious Objections

Posted on November 07, 2008
Yesterday's Washington Post reports on a lawsuit filed in D.C. Superior Court by the Children's National Medical Center seeking an order allowing it to end life support for a brain-dead 12-year old boy. Motl Brody's parents however say that their Orthodox Jewish beliefs do not recognize brain death, and that their son's circulatory and respiratory systems are functioning with mechanical assistance...

Green Bay Now Will Permit Combined Religious-Secular Holiday Displays

Posted on November 07, 2008
Green Bay, Wisconsin City Council seems to be having a change of heart over holiday displays at city hall. Yesterday's Appleton (WI) Post-Crescent reports that the proposed policy that would have allowed only secular displays on government property has now been changed...

South African Court Recognizes Hindu Marriages

Posted on November 07, 2008
In South Africa,the Durban High Court issued a ruling yesterday that for the first time recognizes Hindu marriages for purposes of the country's Intestate Succession Law-- the law that governs inheritance when someone does not leave a will. IOL reports that the decision allows Saloshinie Govender to inherit her husband's property as his "spouse" under that law...

NY Appellate Court Rejects Claim Against State By Kosher Food Seller

Posted on November 07, 2008
Commack Self-service Kosher Meats, Inc. v Rudgers, (NY App. Div., Nov. 6, 2008), is a lawsuit brought by a kosher food business that was cited for violating the New York's law (later held unconstitutional) which prohibited the sale of food as kosher if it was not prepared in accordance with Orthodox Jewish requirements...

Islamist Cleric In Britan Says No To Poppies For Remembrance Day

Posted on November 07, 2008
In Britain, it is traditional to wear a red poppy on Remembrance Day (Nov. 11) to show respect for the sacrifices of veterans and civilians during wartime, especially remembering World War I. Britain's Daily Star reports today that some "Muslim strongholds [in Britain] have become no-go zones for poppy sellers...

Kyrgystan's Parliament Passes Restrictive Religion Law

Posted on November 07, 2008
According to Forum 18, Kyrgystan's Parliament has unanimously passed a restrictive religion law. Under the law, in order for a religion to register, it must have 200 members whose identities are confirmed by local administrations. Yesterday's International Herald Tribune reports that the law also bans private religious schools and the dissemination of religious material in public places...

Suit Challenging Illinois Grant To Rebuild Church Remanded To State Court

Posted on November 06, 2008
In Sherman v. Blagojevich, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 89237 (CD IL, Nov. 4, 2008), an Illinois taxpayer sued the governor and other Illinois state officials challenging a state program that authorized the grant of $ 1,000,000 for the reconstruction of the Pilgrim Baptist Church and related buildings that were destroyed in a 2006 fire...

FLDS Asks Federal Court To Stop State Sale Of UEP Land

Posted on November 06, 2008
Yesterday's Deseret News reports that members of the FLDS Church have filed in federal court seeking a temporary restraining order to stop a fiduciary appointed by a Utah state judge from selling land belonging to the FLDS United Effort Plan Trust. At issue is the proposed sale of a large tract of farm land known as Berry Knoll for $3 million...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.