Religion Clause: Religion & Law

Home -> Law Blog Directory -> Religion & Law Blogs

OR PHONE (866) 635-1838 for Bankruptcy Help, (866) 635-6190 for Divorce,
(866) 635-2689 for Personal Injury or (866) 635-9402 for Criminal Defense

Find a Local Lawyer

Bankruptcy (866) 635-1838
Divorce (866) 635-6190
Personal Injury (866) 635-2689
Criminal Defense (866) 635-9402

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

Suit Seeks To Have Ex-Gays Protected By DC Human Rights Act

Posted on October 15, 2008
The group Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays & Gays (PFOX) announced yesterday that it had filed a lawsuit in the D.C. Superior Court seeking to require the Washington D.C. Office of Human Rights to include former homosexuals as a group that is protected by the D...

Edmond Oklahoma Raises Concerns With Proposed Expenditure For Statue of Jesus

Posted on October 15, 2008
According to the AP, the Edmond Oklahoma Visual Arts Commission has approved spending $3900 in public funds to help pay for a bronze statue of Jesus to be placed downtown for Christmas. The statue, titled "Come Unto Me" (photo), will be put up in front of the Sacred Heart Catholic Gifts shop...

State Senator's Suit Against God Dismissed For Lack of Service

Posted on October 15, 2008
Last year, Nebraska state senator Ernie Chambers filed a lawsuit in a Douglas County, Nebraska state court naming God as defendant and seeking an injunction against God to end His causing, death destruction and terror through various natural disasters...

Cert. Filed In Coach's Attempt to Pray With His Team

Posted on October 15, 2008
According to My Central Jersey.com, on Monday, a petition for certiorari was filed with the U.S. Supreme Court in Borden v. School District of the Township of East Brusnwick. In the case, the 3rd Circuit last April upheld a school district rule that prevented high school football coach Marcus Borden from joining with his team in its pre-meal grace and taking a knee during a prayer in the locker-room by team members...

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

Army Base Jewish Lay Leader Criticized For Reaction To Anti-Semitic Incident

Posted on October 15, 2008
As previously reported, at Ft. Benning, Georgia, Army Private Michael Handman was subjected to anti-Semitic taunts and forced by his drill sergeants to remove his kippah (head covering). Subsequently Handman was assaulted by a fellow-soldier, though investigators concluded that this attack was not motivated by anti-Semitism...

Indian Government Claims Ram's Bridge Not Essential To Hindu Beliefs

Posted on October 15, 2008
For some time there has been a case pending in India's Supreme Court challenging the government?s plans to dredge a shipping canal between India and Sri Lanka in order to reduce sailing time between India?s coasts by 30 hours. However, the channel goes through limestone shoals known as Adam?s Bridge or Ram's Bridge that Hindus believe were built by the God King Rama...

Suit Claims College Students Disciplined for Praying

Posted on October 13, 2008
The Pacific Justice Institute announced last week that it had filed a federal lawsuit against the College of Alameda, part of the California state system. The lawsuit claims that two students, Kandy Kyriacou and Ojoma Omaga, received disciplinary letters threatening to suspend them for "disruptive or insulting behavior, willful disobedience ...

Opposition To Westhampton Beach NY Eruv Continues From Community

Posted on October 13, 2008
The battle over whether the Westhampton Beach (NY) Village Board should approve a synagogue's construction of an eruv (symbolic religious enclosure) around part of the village continues. (See prior posting.) The Southampton Press reports that yesterday more than 100 people attended a meeting sponsored by a group known as Jewish People Opposed to the Eruv (JPOE)...

Recent Articles and Books of Interest

Posted on October 13, 2008
From SSRN:Paul Horwitz, Religion and American Politics: Three Views of the Cathedral ,(October 2, 2008).George P. Smith, Biotechnology, Religion, Modern Science and Law: Shaping or Testing the New Modernity? The Curse of Itching Ears, (CUA Columbus School of Law Legal Studies Research Paper No...

Forced Conversions To Hinduism Reported In India's Orissa State

Posted on October 13, 2008
Today's New York Times carries a front-page story on the continuing religious tension and violence in the Kandhamal district of India's Orissa state. Old tribal rivalries underlie the violence. The Kandhas, who are largely Hindu, accuse the Panas, who have embraced Christianity, of cheating to obtain quotas for government jobs, while the Panas say the Kandhas are just resentful of the Panas' success at educating themselves...

PUBLICATION SCHEDULE: THE NEXT

Posted on October 13, 2008
PUBLICATION SCHEDULE: THE NEXT NEW POSTINGS ON RELIGION CLAUSE WILL APPEAR WEDNESDAY EVENING. PLEASE STOP BACK THEN.

Tax Lien Sale For Synagogue's Back Taxes Will Be Tomorrow On Sukkot

Posted on October 13, 2008
In Ocean Township, New Jersey tomorrow-- which is the Jewish holiday of Sukkot-- a tax sale will be held at town hall to auction off liens on properties that are delinquent in their taxes. Included will be a tax lien on the the Synagogue of Oakhurst Community Center...

British Ministry Report Promotes Faith-Based Partnerships In Corrections

Posted on October 13, 2008
Today Britain's Ministry of Justice released a report titled Working With the Third Sector to Reduce Reoffending: Securing Effective Partnerships 2008-2011. Here is an excerpt: 3.3 Faith-based organisations make up a substantial part of the third sector, with a long history of working with offenders in prisons, through the gate, and in the community...

Texas Coroner Wants Exemption From State Religious Freedom Restoration Act

Posted on October 12, 2008
Yesterday's Houston Chronicle reported that the Harris County, Texas Medical Examiner's Office is considering asking the state legislature to enact legislation to exempt the coroner's office from Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Last year, a Texas court invoked the law to bar an autopsy of an Orthodox Jewish man who committed suicide after battling depression...

Virginia School District Moves To Less Controversial Bible Curriculum

Posted on October 12, 2008
According to yesterday's Roanoke Times, the Craig County, Virginia, School Board last week voted 5-0 to drop a course called "The Bible in History and Literature" that uses the controversial curriculum developed by the National Council on Bible Curriculum in Public Schools...

Court Rejects Use Permit For Hindu Temple Because of Deed Restrictions

Posted on October 12, 2008
Yesterday's Arizona Republic reports that a recent Maricopa County Superior Court decision invalidated a use permit that the Chandler City (AZ) Planning and Zoning Commission, as well as City Council, had approved for construction of a Hindu Temple. Neighbors challenging the proposed construction relied on "residential only" deed restrictions on the land owned by the non-profit Hindu group that wished to build a brightly colored worship center.

Minnesota Supreme Court Challenger Focuses On Religion As Basis of Government

Posted on October 12, 2008
The Minnesota Independent last week reported on the campaign of Tim Tingelstad for a seat on the Minnesota Supreme Court. Challenging incumbent Justice Paul Anderson, Tingelstad's website is filled with appeals to restore religion as the foundation of government...

Christians In Iraq Flee Violence In Mosul

Posted on October 12, 2008
CNN reported yesterday that in the Iraqi city of Mosul, 900 Christian families have fled after a series of threats and 13 killings by Muslim extremists who have warned Christians to convert to Islam or face possible death. The violence follows demonstrations two weeks ago by Christians seeking greater representation on provincial councils in elections scheduled for January...

Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases

Posted on October 12, 2008
In Mells v. Civigenics, Inc., (5th Cir., Oct. 3, 2008), the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed as frivolous an inmate's free exercise claim, agreeing with the district court that plaintiff had failed to exhaust his administrative remedies.In Mitchell v...

EEOC Sues Company On Behalf of Driver Fired For Not Working Sundays

Posted on October 11, 2008
Yesterday's Charlottesville (VA) Daily Progress reported that the the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission late last month filed a Title VII religious discrimination lawsuit against Cardinal Health Inc. The suit charges that the company failed to accommodate the religious needs of a driver who for religious reasons refused to work on Sundays...

Developments In Two Army Religious Discrimination Matters

Posted on October 11, 2008
There have been developments in two arenas involving alleged religious discrimination in the U.S. Army. According to the AP, Attorneys for Pfc. Jeremy Hall filed a motion Friday in federal court in Kansas to dismiss Hall's suit against the military. The suit charged Hall was prevented from holding a meeting of atheist soldiers when he was deployed in Iraq...

Federal Court Rejects 1st Amendment Challenge To CA Gay Marriage Holding

Posted on October 11, 2008
In Wooten v. California, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 79078 (ED CA, Oct. 3, 2008), a California federal district court rejected claims by a pro se plaintiff that the California Supreme Court violated the federal Constitution's Free Exercise and Establishment clauses when it legalized same-sex marriage in the state...

Attorney Cited For Skipping Court On Yom Kippur; Contempt Charges Then Dropped

Posted on October 11, 2008
CBS2Chicago reports that yesterday Jewish attorney Moria Bernstein faced a contempt citation issued by County Judge Veronica Mathein. Bernsten told the judge she could not appear at an emergency hearing on a divorce property settlement scheduled Thursday because Bernstein was observing Yom Kippur...

Class Has Preliminary Succes In Suit On Religious Worker Visa Procedures

Posted on October 11, 2008
Ruiz-Diaz v. United States, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 79217 (WD WA, Aug. 21, 2008), is a class action brought on behalf of foreigners in the United States who are seeking a Religious Worker visas. It challenges a government regulation (8 CFR 245.2) that precludes those individuals from filing for Adjustment of Status before their Religious Worker application is adjudicated...

Appeal Filed In School Graduation Speech Case

Posted on October 11, 2008
An appeal to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals has been filed in Corder v. Lewis Palmer School District No. 38. Yesterday's Colorado Springs (CO) Gazette reports on the filing in the case in which a high school valedictorian was required to apologize for including unauthorized religious material in her 30-second portion of a joint graduation speech...

Court Upholds Divorce Decree Limit On Promoting Different Faith To Children

Posted on October 10, 2008
When Joel and Lisa Rownak divorced in 2005, Joel was awarded custody of the couple's minor children. The divorce decree contained a provision, originally proposed by Joel and agreed to by Lisa, that "the minor children be raised in the Protestant faith...

Suit Challenges Freezing of Assets of Muslim Charity

Posted on October 10, 2008
Yesterday, the ACLU of Ohio announced it has filed suit in an Ohio federal district court on behalf of a Muslim charity, KindHearts for Charitable Humanitarian Development, Inc. The charity was founded in 2002 (after the government shut down a number of Muslim charities) with the purpose of providing humanitarian aid in the U...

Two Decsions In France On Rights of Muslim Women To Wear Religious Garb

Posted on October 10, 2008
USA Today reported yesterday on two decisions in France balancing French secularism with the right of Muslim women to wear religious garb. The French anti-discrimination agency, HALDE, ruled on Sept. 15 that women wearing the burqa and niqab-- full body and face covering-- could be excluded from state-sponsored French language classes for immigrants...

Cert Denied In Parents' Complaints About School Books

Posted on October 10, 2008
Last Monday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in Parker v. Hurley (No. 07-1368). (Order List.) In the case, the 1st Circuit had rejected free exercise and parental privacy challenges by two sets of parents who complained that they were not given an opportunity to exempt their elementary school children from exposure to books that offended their religious beliefs...

6th Circuit Holds Administrative Finality Needed Before Suing Under RLUIPA

Posted on October 10, 2008
In Grace Community Church v. Lenox Township, (6th Cir., Oct. 10, 2008), the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals held that before a property owner may file suit under RLUIPA to challenge a zoning decision, the property owner must have obtained a final, definitive position from zoning authorities...

Previous | Next

Related Law Bulletins

California's Proposed Student Civil Rights Act Gives Broad Definition to "Religion"
On Tuesday, the California Senate Judiciary Committee approved by ...

Fish on "Religion Without Truth"
Here's a (relatively) recent Stanley Fish Think Again column, call...