Religion & Law

Vermont Candidate Places Anti-Semitic Statements In State Voters' Guide

Posted on October 31, 2008
Vermont law (17 V.S.A. § 2810) directs Vermont's Secretary of State to publish a Statewide Candidate Information Publication that contains photos, biographical sketches and position statements submitted by candidates for statewide and federal office. Today's Rutland Herald reports that the position statement by independent candidate for governor, Cris Ericson, in this year's publication (full text) has raised controversy because of anti-Semitic statements in her rambling essay...

For Halloween, British Government Asked To Pardon 16th to 18th Century Witches

Posted on October 31, 2008
Marking Halloween, Britain's Justice Secretary Jack Straw will be presented with a petition today seeking a symbolic royal pardon for individuals who were punished for witchcraft in Britain between the 16th and 18th centuries. The Witchcraft Act of 1541 made witchcraft a felony punishable by death...

AU Asks IRS To Investigate NC Baptist Convention Speech By Michelle Obama

Posted on October 31, 2008
In yet another of its growing list of complaints filed with the Internal Revenue Service, Americans United yesterday sent a letter (full text) to the IRS asking it to investigate a meeting of the General Baptist State Convention of North Carolina this week at which Michelle Obama spoke...

Las Cruces Lawsuit Ends

Posted on October 30, 2008
Last Friday, the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals denied a request for reconsideration of its decision in Weinbaum v. City of Las Cruces, according to today's Las Cruces Sun-News. The decision handed down last month found no Establishment Clause problem with Las Cruces, New Mexico's using three Latin crosses as a symbol of the city and as part of the logo for the school district...

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Arizona Supreme Court Will Review School Voucher Decision

Posted on October 30, 2008
Phoenix's East Valley Tribune reported yesterday that the Arizona Supreme Court has agreed to grant review in Cain v. Horne, (Case No. CV-08-0189-PR) (text of order). In the case, a state appellate court found that two school voucher programs enacted by the state legislature in 2006 violate the Arizona Constitution by aiding private and sectarian schools...

Israel Supreme Court Permits Museum Construction Over Old Muslim Cemetery

Posted on October 30, 2008
Israel's Supreme Court yesterday ruled that it would not block construction of a Museum of Tolerance on land in Jerusalem, despite objections by Muslims that the proposed building will cover part of an ancient Muslim ceremony. The International Herald Tribune reports that the court approved plans of the U...

Three Algerian Christians Acquitted

Posted on October 30, 2008
BosNewsLife and Compass Direct both yesterday reported on the acquittal in a court in Algeria of three Christians who had been charged with blaspheming Islam and threatening a member of their congregation who re-converted to Islam. The ruling by a court in Ain El-Turck apparently came because of a lack of evidence against Youssef Ourahmane, Rachid Seghir and Hamid Ramdani...

Religion Remains Important In This Year's Political Campaigns

Posted on October 30, 2008
Religion has played an important part in the upcoming elections for many months. As election day draws near, several news stories attest to its continuing role. At a conference titled Religion and Freedom: The United States and Europe, held in Rome on Tuesday, U...

Three Lawsuits of Interest Are Settled

Posted on October 30, 2008
Settlements were announced this week in three unrelated cases-- all involving church-state or religious freedom issues. In Hempstead, New York, National Wholesale Liquidators Inc. agreed to an injunction and assessment of $225,000 in damages in a lawsuit brought by the EEOC charging it with discrimination by one of its store managers...

International Catholic Group Issues Report On Religious Freedom

Posted on October 29, 2008
The Australian-based international Catholic charity, Aid To the Church In Need, last week issued its extensive 2008 Report on Religious Freedom in the World. The 544-page document reports on the state of religious freedom for Christians and for other religious groups in each country in the world...

11th Circuit Upholds County Legislative Prayers With Sectarian References

Posted on October 29, 2008
In Pelphrey v. Cobb County, Georgia, (11th Cir., Oct. 28, 2008), the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, upheld the practice of the Cobb County Commission and the Cobb County Planning Commission to open their meetings with a prayer offered by local clergy or other members of the community, now invited randomly...

RLUIPA Does Not Protect Church Against Watershed Ordinance Restrictions

Posted on October 29, 2008
In Hope in the City, Inc. v. City of Austin, Texas, (WD TX, Oct. 20, 2008), a Texas federal district court held a church that was prevented from paving over additional parts of its property for a parking lot had failed to allege facts showing a substantial burden on its exercise of religion...

NY High Court Upholds Rules On Free Water For Churches

Posted on October 29, 2008
In Matter of Brooklyn Assembly Halls of Jehovah's Witnesses, Inc. v Department of Envtl. Protection of the City of New York, (NY Ct. App., Oct. 28, 2008), New York's high court in a 4-3 decision upheld the New York City Water Board's interpretation of state and local statutes exempting places of public worship from various water and sewer charges...

First Execution by Shariah Court In Somalian Port City Carried Out

Posted on October 29, 2008
In the Somalian port of Kismayo, the first punishment under Shariah law since the Islamist al-Shabaab militia took control of the city in August has been carried out. Bloomberg.com reports that on Monday, 23-year old Aisha Ibrahim Duhulow was executed by stoning after being convicted of committing adultery-- an offense to which she had confessed...

City Sued Over National Day of Prayer Observance

Posted on October 29, 2008
In San Antonio, Texas, on Oct. 24 atheist Patrick Greene filed a federal lawsuit to prevent the city from proclaiming next year's National Day of Prayer from the steps of City Hall. KSAT News reports Greene's argument-- the Day excludes non-Christians, and even some Christian denominations...

Court Holds Ministerial Exception Inapplicable To Quaker Directorship Positions

Posted on October 29, 2008
In Leaphart v. American Friends Service Committee, (ED PA, Oct. 22, 2008), plaintiff charged racial discrimination and retaliation under Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act in connection with the refusal by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) to hire and/or interview him for four positions within the organization...

Appeal to 9th Circuit Filed In Arizona Town Sign Ordinance Case

Posted on October 29, 2008
Alliance Defense Fund announced Monday that it is appealing the denial of a preliminary injunction in a sign ordinance case to the 9th Circuit. (Full text of Notice of Appeal.) In Reed v. Town of Gilbert, Arizona, in 2007 an Arizona federal district court entered a stipulated preliminary injunction after the town agreed to change the ordinance that required signs about religious gatherings to be smaller in size, fewer in number, and displayed for less time than similar non-religious signs...

Pope Speaks On Separation of Church and State

Posted on October 29, 2008
On Monday, while receiving the letters of credence from Cristina Castañer-Ponce Enrile, the new ambassador of the Philippines to the Holy See, Pope Benedict XVI spoke about church-state relations. Zenit reports his remarks:The Catholic Church is eager to share the richness of the Gospel's social message...

Court Rejects Challenge To Sikh Temple Election

Posted on October 28, 2008
The Marysville (CA) Appeal Democrat reports that on Monday, a Sutter County (CA) Superior Court judge rejected challenges to an election of 73 directors for a Sikh Temple in Yuba, California. The challenge to the election that was held in September, filed by current temple president Didar Bains, cited irregularities in procedures...

Exclusion of Juror Wearing Dreadlocks Held Impermissible Under Batson

Posted on October 28, 2008
In McCrea v. Gheraibeh, (SC Sup. Ct., Oct. 27, 2008), the South Carolina Supreme Court, in a 3-2 decision, held that counsel in a civil case failed to show that his peremptory striking of an African-American juror because he was wearing dreadlocks was race neutral...

Fordham's Award To Justice Breyer Protested Because of His Abortion Votes

Posted on October 28, 2008
Fordham University Law School's scheduled award tomorrow of the Fordham-Stein Ethics Prize to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer is drawing protests from New York's Cardinal Edward Egan, 1100 Fordham alumni and the Cardinal Newman Society. The AP reported yesterday that the protests stem from the fact that Breyer wrote the majority opinion in Stenberg v...

McCain Campaign In Nevada Handing Out Christian Voter Guides

Posted on October 28, 2008
According to CBN News yesterday, the McCain campaign in Nevada is handing out flyers-- in English and Spanish-- titled "Voter's Guide for Serious Christians" and "Voter's Guide for Serious Catholics". The flyers say they are intended to help voters cast their votes"in an informed manner consistent with Christian moral teaching...

FBI Releases 2007 Hate Crime Statistics

Posted on October 28, 2008
The FBI yesterday released hate crime statistics for 2007. (FBI press release). Today's Washington Post reports on the data, indicating that the 7,624 incidents reflected a 1.3% drop from 2006. However the FBI does not include year-to-year comparisons in its release because the number of law enforcement agencies participating varies each year...

Legal Charges Against Anti-Scientology Group Members

Posted on October 28, 2008
BigNews.biz reports on two recent legal actions against members of Anonymous, an underground anti-Scientology organization. On Oct. 21, in Boston Municipal Court, defendant Gregg Housh admitted to leading a February 10, 2008 disturbance at the Boston Church of Scientology...

Real Estate Agents Increasingly Use Faith Advertising

Posted on October 28, 2008
An article in last Saturday's Washington Post reported on the growing practice among real estate agents to engage in faith advertising-- attempting to appeal to members of a particular religious group. An increasing number of real estate agents are aiming at Christians, either by incorporating Christian symbols in their advertising or joining groups such as the 1600-member Christian Real Estate Network...

Group Urges Changes On 10th Anniversary of International Religious Freedom Act

Posted on October 27, 2008
Today is the 10th anniversary of the passage of the International Religious Freedom Act. In a press release distributed by e-mail, the Institute on Religion and Public Policy uses the occasion to criticize the weakness of the current structures under IRFA and to suggest a number of steps the U...

Florida Church Ordered To Permit Member Inspection of Records

Posted on October 27, 2008
Florida Statutes, Sec. 617.1602 -.1604 permit members of not-for-profit corporations to inspect records of the corporation. According to Florida Today, a Brevard County (FL) circuit judge on Friday ordered Palm Bay, Florida's Zion Christian Church to permit one of its members to inspect elder board minutes and financial records so that she can determine how her tithes are being used...

Israel's High Court Says Saturday Fencing Matches Discriminate Against Athlete

Posted on October 27, 2008
Arutz Sheva reported yesterday on a recent religious discrimination decision by Israel's Supreme Court. The Court has ruled that a decision by Israel's Fencing Association to reschedule a competition from Friday to Saturday constitutes religious discrimination against Yuval Freilich, a young Jewish athlete whose religious observance precludes his participation on the Sabbath...

Recent Articles Of Interest

Posted on October 27, 2008
From SSRN:Paolo Farah, The Influence of Confucianism on the Construction of the Chinese Political and Juridical System, in IDENTITA EUROPEA E POLITICHE MIGRATORIE, Giovanni Bombelli and Bruno Montanari, eds., pp. 193-226, (Vita e Pensiero, pp. 193-226, 2008)...

Teacher's ADA Claim Dismissed Under Ministerial Exception

Posted on October 27, 2008
In EEOC v. Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 85719 (ED MI, Oct. 23, 2008), a Michigan federal district court dismissed a retaliation claim under the Americans with Disabilities Act brought by a "called" teacher holding the title of "commissioned minister" in a Lutheran school...

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