Religion & Law

FLDS Mother Seeks Damages Against Texas For Legal Action After Ranch Raid

Posted on October 03, 2008
In the continuing litigation stemming from Texas Child Protective Services' (CPS) raid last April on an FLDS Ranch compound, one mother has taken the offensive in attempting to get the case against her, and efforts to remove her child, dismissed. Yesterday's Deseret News reports that Naomi Johnson has filed a motion alleging that the abuse charges against her were frivolous, and that the state is continuing the case merely as an effort to save face and minimize its liability...

Amish Farmer's Fine For Refusing To Comply With Waste Disposal Rules Upheld

Posted on October 03, 2008
In Ebensburg, Pennsylvania, a state court judge affirmed the earlier conviction of Amish farmer Andy Swartzentruber who refused on religious grounds to install holding tanks and contract with a certified sewage hauler for disposal of waste from two out houses on his property used by Amish school students...

ADL Reports Increase In Anti-Semitic Internet Postings During Financial Crisis

Posted on October 03, 2008
The Anti-Defamation League reported yesterday that as the financial crisis grows in the U.S., there has been a dramatic increase in the number of anti-Semitic statements posted on Internet discussion sites relating to finance and the economy. Many of the messages charging Jewish control of government and finance surfaced in message board comments relating to the collapse of Lehman Brothers...

Parents Charged With Homicide For Relying On Faith Healing

Posted on October 03, 2008
In Clackamas County, Oregon, in the second case of its kind in the county this year (see prior posting), parents have been arrested for negligent homicide for failing to seek medical treatment for their son. KTVB News reports that Jeffrey and Marci Beagley voluntarily surrendered themselves yesterday and posted bond in connection with charges growing out of the death of 16-year Neal Beagley from complications from a urinary tract infection...

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Arkansas Court of Appeals Says Mother's Religion Was Not Factor In Custody Award

Posted on October 03, 2008
In Hicks v. Cook, (AR Ct. App., Oct. 1, 2008), Andrea Hicks, mother of a 2-year old child, appealed a trial court's shifting of custody to child's father, arguing that the trial judge impermissibly based his decision on his perception of Hicks religious beliefs...

NY School's Plan For Yoga Creates Church-State Controversy

Posted on October 03, 2008
In Massena, New York, to the surprise of the Massena Board of Education, a church-state controversy has broken out over plans to introduce yoga in the classroom as a technique to relieve stress before exams. Newsday reported yesterday that the Board has agreed to delay its decision on adopting the program and has invited two teachers who have developed the proposal to demonstrate the relaxation techniques at this month's Board meeting...

2009 Religious Freedom Moot Court Announced

Posted on October 03, 2008
George Washington University Law School has announced that it will host the 2009 National Religious Freedom Moot Court on Feb. 6-7. According to organizers, this year's problem will deal with the applicability of the "ministerial exception" in state civil rights claims alleging employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Prosperity Gospel May Have Helped Create Sub-Prime Mortgage Victims

Posted on October 03, 2008
On Wednesday, banks received details from the FHA on implementing the new "Hope for Homeowners" program. The program will allow some over-extended borrowers to refinance into more affordable mortgages. (CNN Money). It may be that one group of religious believers will be particularly interested...

Author Suggests Church-State Questions For Tonight's Vice-Presidential Debate

Posted on October 02, 2008
Author Susan Jacoby, writing at Newsweek's On Faith, sets out her suggestions for the questions on church-state issues that should be asked of Joe Biden and Sarah Palin at tonight's vice-presidential debate. She suggests seven specific questions, with an emphasis on how the candidates view-- both broadly and narrowly-- church-state separation issues.

Army Confirms Anti-Semitic Incident During Solider's Basic Training

Posted on October 02, 2008
The Public Record reported Tuesday that Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss received confirmation from the Pentagon of an anti-Semitic incident suffered by Army Private Michael Handman during basic training at Ft. Benning, GA. Handman was subjected to anti-Jewish epithets and forced by his drill sergeants to remove his yarmulke (head covering) during dinner...

Parliament Expands Churches In Which Anglican Couples May Be Married

Posted on October 02, 2008
In Britain, Parliament enacts changes to rules governing the Church of England, once they have been approved by the General Synod of the Church of England. (Fact Sheet on Church of England Measures). Yesterday's Christian Post reports that Parliament's new Church of England Marriage Measure 2008 has just gone into effect...

Suit Challenges College's Rules On Access For Speakers

Posted on October 02, 2008
The Alliance Defense Fund this week reported on a lawsuit it has filed challenging speech restrictions at a California community college. In Dozier v. Members of the Board of Governors, Yuba College District, (ED CA filed 9,29/2008), (full text of complaint), a college student challenged campus rules and permit requirements that limited his ability to preach and hand out gospel tracts in outdoor areas of the campus...

Justice Department Sues DC Transit Authority For Religious Discrimination

Posted on October 02, 2008
Washington Business Journal reported yesterday that the Department of Justice has filed a Title VII religious discrimination lawsuit against Washington DC's Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. Suing on behalf of Gloria Jones, a member of the Apostolic Pentecostal faith, the complaint alleges that WMATA violated its obligation to accommodate religious beliefs when it refused to hire Jones because her religious views require her to wear long skirts...

Episcopal Church Settles With 2 Break-Away Virginia Congregations

Posted on October 02, 2008
The Episcopal Church and the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia have settled with two of eleven break-away congregations that they sued after the congregations joined the more conservative the Convocation of Anglicans in North America. Yesterday's Anglican Journal reports that the settlement is with Potomac Falls Church in Potomac Falls, and Christ the Redeemer Church in Chantilly, neither of which held real property...

Sarkozy Defends Ban On Sikh Turbans At Summit With India's Prime Minister

Posted on October 02, 2008
Tuesday's issue of New Europe reports that French President Nicolas Sarkozy was placed in an awkward position at the press conference concluding the European Union/India Summit in Marseille. Standing next to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, a Sikh who was wearing a light blue turban, Sarkozy was asked by a reporter about a French law that prohibits Sikh civil servants from wearing turbans at work, and Sikh public school students from wearing them in school...

Israeli Religious Papers Have Issues on Covering Likely New Prime Minister

Posted on October 01, 2008
The New York Daily News reported last week on an unusual issue of press coverage created by Israel?s Haredi (ultra orthodox Jewish) newspapers. The newspapers never publish photos of women, citing concerns relating to religious modesty. The rule will continue to be applied to Tzipi Livni who has been chosen to become the country?s new prime minister, if she can put a coalition together...

Follow-Up On ADF's Pulpit Freedom Sunday

Posted on October 01, 2008
Alliance Defense Fund has published the names of 33 churches and their pastors who participated in Pulpit Freedom Sunday last weekend. The ADF press release said "Pastors participating in Pulpit Freedom Sunday preached from their pulpits Sept. 28 about the moral qualifications of candidates seeking political office...

Virginia Buddhists File RLUIPA Suit Over Zoning Denial

Posted on September 29, 2008
Last month, the Virginia Beach (VA) city council refused to renew a temporary use permit that would have allowed the Buddhist Education Center of America Inc. to continue to hold Sunday services in a monk's home. The Virginian Pilot reports that last Thursday, Buddhist monks and their followers filed a lawsuit in federal court alleging that the permit denial violates RLUIPA and their First Amendment free exercise rights...

Spa Owner Says 1st Amendment Protects "Laying On of Hands"

Posted on September 29, 2008
In July, a civil jury in Tuscon, Arizona found against John LaVoie in a civil forfeiture proceeding charging him with prostitution related offenses. Today's Arizona Star reports that LaVoie, who operates the Angel's Heaven Relaxation Spa, says he is pastor of the Church of Liberty...

British Muslim Driver Sues Over Handling Alcohol

Posted on September 29, 2008
Today's London Daily Express reports on a suit filed in an industrial tribunal in the British city of Birmingham by a Muslim fork lift truck driver. Mohammed Ahmed brought suit against the Tesco supermarkets after it turned out that his job required him to handle alcohol-- an action that violates his religious beliefs...

New Articles of Interest This Week Abound

Posted on September 29, 2008
From SSRN (U.S. law):Lloyd H. Mayer, The Pulpit, Politics, RFRA, and Institutional Free Exercise, (Notre Dame Legal Studies Paper No. 08-30, Sept. 2008).Ira C. Lupu & Robert W. Tuttle, Courts, Clergy, and Congregations: Disputes between Religious Institutions and Their Leaders, (Georgetown Journal of Law & Public Policy, 2009)...

PUBLICATION SCHEDULE-- The next new postings on Religion Clause will appear Thursday morning. Please stop back then.

Posted on September 29, 2008
Religion Clause is on a short break until Thursday morning.

Rosh Hashanah Begins Tonight; Bush Sends Greetings; Financial Bailout Vote Impacted

Posted on September 29, 2008
President Bush today issued a message (full text) sending "best wishes for a meaningful Rosh Hashanah" to people of the Jewish faith in the U.S. and around the world. The holiday begins at sundown this evening. He described the holiday as "an opportunity to celebrate the history of the Jewish people and the values that bind us all together...

Four Texas School Board Members Urge Controversial Bible Curriculum

Posted on September 28, 2008
Last summer, the Texas State Board of Education approved only general guidelines for elective courses on the impact of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and New Testament on the History and Literature of Western Civilization. (See prior posting.) So now, according to an AP report yesterday, four individual members of the 15-person Board have sent an e-mail to all school districts encouraging them to adopt one specific approach-- the National Council On Bible Curriculum In Public Schools...

Texas A&M Sued For Discrimination By Two Iraqi Researchers

Posted on September 28, 2008
The Houston Chronicle reported last week that two Iraqi doctors who formerly worked as researchers on in vitro fertilization at Texas A&M University have sued the University, several of its units and former co-workers for religious, racial and national origin discrimination...

U.S. House Calls On Lithuania To Preserve Jewish Cemetery

Posted on September 28, 2008
On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed by a vote of 414-1 and sent to the Senate H. Con. Res. 255. The Resolution expresses strong support for the work of the United States Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad which works to preserve sacred historical sites in Eastern and Central Europe...

Maldives Supreme Court Hears Challenge To President's Religious Beliefs

Posted on September 28, 2008
In the Maldives, the country's Supreme Court is hearing a fascinating challenge to the right of President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom to stand for re-election. Under the Maldives constitution, only Muslims are entitled to citizenship. (See prior posting.) The conservative Adhaalath Party claims that Gayoom is an "infidel" because he has denied Jesus' second coming, the teaching that the Quran will ascend to heaven on judgment day and the doctrine of blood money...

Orlando's Ordinance Restricting Feeding Homeless In Parks Held Unconstitutional

Posted on September 28, 2008
In First Vagabonds Church of God v. City of Orlando, (MD FL, Sept. 26, 2008), a Florida federal district court found that Orlando's Large Group Feeding Ordinance violates the speech rights of an activist group that feeds the poor and infringes the free exercise rights of a church that holds Sunday services, including the sharing of food, in a downtown city park...

Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases

Posted on September 28, 2008
In Reid v. Wiley, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 73372 (D CO, Sept. 24, 2008), a Colorado federal district court rejected a magistrate judge's recommendation that an inmate's free exercise claim be dismissed because he failed to allege what religion he practices...

Malaysia's High Court Upholds State Laws Prohibiting Religious Deviations

Posted on September 27, 2008
Saturday's Borneo Post reports that Malaysia's Federal Court has upheld the constitutionality of the state of Selangor's Syariah law and a similar statute enacted by the state of Terengganu. The laws prohibit a Muslim from disobeying the Sultan as head of the religion of Islam or disobeying fatwas...

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