Religion & Law

Citation of Meat Packer Raises Issue of Feds Judging Religious Rules

Posted on September 06, 2008
Yesterday?s Chicago Tribune reports that the U.S. Department of Agriculture cited Agriprocessors' Postville, Iowa meat packing plant for violations of the Humane Methods of Livestock Slaughter Act within days of PETA filing a complaint along with an undercover video it had taken of the firm?s kosher slaughter methods...

ACLU Seeks Attorneys Fees In 10 Commandments Case

Posted on September 06, 2008
Friday?s Lexington (KY) Herald-Leader reports that the American Civil Liberties Union of Kentucky this week filed a petition in federal court seeking from the losing defendants attorneys fees of $390,588 and expenses of $8,133 for the ACLU?s successful challenge to 10 Commandments displays in McCreary and Pulaski counties...

Mumps Outbreak Traced To Christian Group Opposing Inoculation

Posted on September 06, 2008
The Vancouver Sun reported last week that an outbreak of mumps that began in Chilliwak, British Columbia in February originated in a group of Dutch Reformed Christians who believe that people should put their faith in God to protect them, and not in modern medical techniques or inoculations...

Palin Gets Mixed Reactions In Jewish Community

Posted on September 05, 2008
Columnists and reporters are indicating mixed reactions from the Jewish community on Sarah Palin's pick as the Republican vice-presidential nominee. Steven Waldman writing on Wednesday at BeliefNet says that Sarah Palin's pick "may end up scaring some Jews...

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Satmar Leadership Dispute Again Ruled Non-Justiciable

Posted on September 05, 2008
For six years, two factions within the Orthodox Jewish Chasidic Satmar community have, through three separate lawsuits, been attempting to get New York courts to decide which of the two sons of the late Grand Rebbe Moses Teitelbaum has inherited his leadership role...

BC Human Rights Tribunal Dismisses FLDS Couple's Discrimination Complaint

Posted on September 05, 2008
Canadian Press on Wednesday reported on a decision handed down last month by the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal in Palmer v. British Columbia Teachers' Federation, (BCHRT, Aug. 15, 2008). The Tribunal dismissed a complaint by a polygamous couple who are members of the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints who alleged the Teachers' Federation discriminated against them on the basis of religion and marital status when it sent a letter to the Premier, issued a press release and circulated a petition urging the provincial government to act against alleged sexual exploitation in the FLDS community in the town of Bountiful and alleged discriminatory teaching in the community's independent schools...

Islamic Debit Card To Be Offered Across Russia

Posted on September 05, 2008
Yesterday's Moscow News reports that Express Bank will offer a new Islamic debit card across Russia, despite opposition from some Central Bank officials. The card, which has already been introduced in the predominantly Muslim region of Dages­tan, are Shariah-compliant...

European Commission Clears Italy's Census of Roma Over Discrimiination Claims

Posted on September 05, 2008
The European Commission has approved Italy's census of Roma gypsies in Italian camps, including fingerprinting of minors who cannot be identified in any other way. The London Times reported yesterday that the EC concluded the Italian government was conducting the census as part of its drive against street crime and was not not seeking ''data based on ethnic origin or religion...

Latest Mt. Soledad Decision To Be Appealed

Posted on September 05, 2008
Citizen Link reports that the ACLU has decided to appeal the latest decision rejecting a challenge to the Mt. Soledad Cross. It will appeal to the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals the July decision in Trunk v. City of San Diego (see prior posting) that rejected an Establishment Clause challenge to Congress' acquisition of the veterans' memorial and its preservation of the cross as part of it...

Orthodox Archbishop and McCain's Pastor Offer Prayer At Convention Thursday

Posted on September 05, 2008
On the last day of the Republican National Convention (full schedule) the invocation was offered by His Eminence Archbishop Demetrios. He is archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Church in America and also delivered an invocation at the Democratic convention...

Challenge To Court Use for Bible Study Survives Motion To Dismiss

Posted on September 04, 2008
In Barlow v. Superior Court of California, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 66668 (SD CA, Aug. 28, 2008), several court employees in San Diego sued to challenge the denial of their request to use an open jury room or court room for their weekly lunch-time Bible study meeting...

Private Prosecution Filed In London Over Offensive Jesus Statue

Posted on September 04, 2008
Ekklesia yesterday reported that in Britain, London resident Emily Mapfuwa, backed by the Christian Legal Centre, has filed a private prosecution against the Baltic Centre for Contemporary Art. The lawsuit alleges that the Centre committed an "act of a lewd and a disgusting nature and outraged public decency contrary to Common Law" by displaying artist Terence Koh's statue of Jesus with an erect penis...

Court Says Bible Club Should Be Given Equal Access In California School

Posted on September 04, 2008
Yesterday's Orange County Register reports that a California federal court has issued a temporary injunction requiring the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District to permit five students at Esperanza High School to form a proposed Bible club. School officials said that only curriculum-related clubs are permitted, but the court found that the school had permitted two clubs that are not curriculum based, and therefore needs to give the Bible club equal access...

Ghana Churches Call Week of Prayer and Fasting For Fair and Peaceful Elections

Posted on September 04, 2008
National elections are scheduled in Ghana for December 7. The country's president, John Agyekum Kufuor, has urged a National Week of Prayer and Fasting to strengthen relations and tolerance among different denominations, as well as to enhance the relationship between state and church...

More On Convention Prayers

Posted on September 04, 2008
The invocation on Wednesday at the Republican National Convention (full schedule) was given by Jesuit Father Edward Reese. Catholic News Service reports that Reese is president of Brophy College Preparatory School in Phoenix, from which the McCains' two sons graduated...

Webcasting of Sermons Increases IRS Scrutiny of Political Endorsements

Posted on September 03, 2008
Today's New York Times reports that the increasing presence of webcast sermons on church websites or on YouTube has made it easier for the IRS or watchdog groups to locate improper poltical endorsements by clergy. Several cases have come to the attention of the IRS this year after a sermon was webcast online...

New Director Named For White House Faith-Based Office

Posted on September 03, 2008
Blog from the Capital reports that Jedd Medefind, Deputy Director of the White House Office of Faith Based and Community Initiatives, will succeed outgoing director, Jay Hein, who recently resigned for personal family reasons. The new head of OFBCI earlier directed the faith-based office at the Department of Labor...

Retired Military Offer Prayers At Tuesday's Republican Convention

Posted on September 03, 2008
The invocation and benediction at the Republican National Convention on Tuesday (full schedule) were both offered by retired military personnel. The invocation was by Rev. Dr. Robert G. Certain, Chaplain Col., U.S. Air Force (ret.). Rev. Certain (biography) is a former Vietnam POW and author of his autobiography, Unchained Eagle...

Florida High Court Orders 2 Amendments On Church-State Off November Ballot

Posted on September 03, 2008
Only hours after oral argument on Wednesday morning, the Florida Supreme Court issued an order in Ford v. Browning, (FL Sup. Ct., Sept. 3, 2008) enjoining state officials from placing two constitutional amendments on the ballot. Amendment 7 would have deleted Florida's ban on use of public funds to aid any religious institution and would have provided that no one could be barred from participating in any public program because of religion...

Britain's Charity Commission Issues Draft on Humanist Charities

Posted on September 03, 2008
Under Britain's Charities Act 2006, to qualify as a charity, a group must have charitable purposes that are for the "public benefit". (Background). In February, the Charity Commission issued for comment a supplementary guidance document titled Public Benefit and the Advancement of Religion...

Court Upholds School's Holiday Music Policy

Posted on September 03, 2008
In Stratechuk v. Board of Education, South Orange Maplewood School District, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 66383 (D NJ, Aug. 29, 2008), a New Jersey federal district court upheld a school board's holiday music policy that barred inclusion of religious holiday music in school holiday concerts...

Italian Court Awards Damages To Woman Injured By Loud Church Bells

Posted on September 02, 2008
An Italian court has ordered the Madonna del Carmine parish near Genoa to pay a retired teacher damages of 60,000 Euros for the moral and physical damage caused to her over a 23-year period by the loud bells at the Church of Santo Stefano. M&C today reports that in the lawsuit, originally filed in 2003, the court also ordered the church to reduce the decibel level of its bells.

US, Europe Mount Opposition To Defamation of Religion Call At UN

Posted on September 02, 2008
Today's Washington Times reports that the U.S., European governments and religious rights organizations are making a new push to prevent the United Nations General Assembly this fall from adopting a renewal of the "Combating Defamation of Religion" resolution that is sponsored each year by the Organization of the Islamic Conference...

Buddhism Losing Out To Chistianity In South Korea

Posted on September 02, 2008
Today's Asia Sentinel says that protests by Buddhists in South Korea that the administration of President Lee Myung-bak is biased against them (see prior posting) are actually symptoms of deeper concerns about the rising influence of Christians in Korean society and government...

Survey Says Majority Wants Churches Out Of Politics

Posted on September 02, 2008
Last week (Aug. 21), the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life released a new report titled More Americans Question Religion?s Role in Politics. It reports on the results of a survey conducted in early August. Here are some excerpts from the report's Overview:A new survey finds a narrow majority of the public saying that churches and other houses of worship should keep out of political matters and not express their views on day-to-day social and political matters...

Greek Pagan Group Is Battling Plans For New Parthenon Museum

Posted on September 02, 2008
CNN yesterday reported on recent activities by a pagan group in Greece known as Ellinais. According to a 2007 AP article, the group wants to revive worship of twelve ancient Greek gods. It has won a court battle to be recognized as an official religion...

Nigerian Coroner's Law Will Be Amended After Rising Muslim Opposition

Posted on September 02, 2008
In Nigeria, the Lagos State Executive Council yesterday sent the Coroner's Law back to the State House of Assembly for modifications after widespread protests that it prevents Muslims from promptly burying their dead as required by Islamic law. This Day reports that Governor Babatunde Fashola, bowing to increasing pressure over the law that was enacted last year, said that some people are exploiting concerns over the new law as a way of creating opposition to the government.

Catholics In Vietnam Demonstrate Over Land Rights

Posted on September 02, 2008
BBC News reports today on the two weeks of protests that have taken place in the Vietnam capital of Hanoi by Catholics who say the government took land belonging to the Thai Ha Parish and unlawfully gave it to a state-owned garment company that has now been privatized...

British Museum Covers Paragraph Explaining Darwin

Posted on September 01, 2008
In Britain's Northampton, the Abington Park Museum operated by the Northampton Borough Council is in the midst of a controversy over a display on Darwin and fossils. The Northampton Chronicle & Echo reported last week that the museum was instructed to cover up one paragraph of an explanatory sign after a complaint by a religious fundamentalist...

Recent Scholarly Articles of Interest

Posted on September 01, 2008
From SSRN:Caitlin E. Borgmann, The Meaning of "Life": Belief and Reason in the Abortion Debate (August 30, 2008).Anthony D'Amato, Contested Morality: Judge Posner on Infanticide, Slavery, Suttee, Female Genital Mutilation, and the Holocaust , Northwestern Public Law Research Paper No...

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