Religion & Law

Army's "Spiritual Fitness" Assessment Is Criticized As Church-State Violation

Posted on January 06, 2011
Over the last week or so, criticism of the U.S. Army's Comprehensive Soldier Fitness assessment program has been growing from supporters of church-state separation. According to an Army website:Beginning at accession, each recruit will be confidentially assessed using the Global Assessment Tool, a survey that determines the psychological strength of the individual...

9th Circuit: Mt. Soledad Cross Violates Establishment Clause

Posted on January 05, 2011
In Jewish War Veterans v . City of San Diego, (9th Cir., Jan. 4, 2011), the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals held that the Mt. Soledad Memorial featuring a 43-foot high cross conveys a government message of endorsement of religion that violates the Establishment Clause...

Ugandan Court Enjoins Tabloid From Outing Gays

Posted on January 05, 2011
In Jacquelin v. Rolling Stone Ltd., (Uganda H.C., Dec. 30, 2010), a Ugandan trial court awarded monetary damages to three plaintiffs who were among those exposed by the tabloid Rolling Stone as gay. The paper (no connection to the US publication of the same name) called for gays they named to be hanged  because "they are after our kids...

9th Circuit Issues Opinions on Standing, Recusal In Proposition 8 Challenge

Posted on January 05, 2011
Yesterday in Perry v. Schwarzenneger -- the challenge to the constitutionality of California's Proposition 8 that bars same-sex marriage-- the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued two opinions relating to standing of various intervenors. Judge Reinhardt filed a concurrence...

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5th Circuit: Late Filing of Religious Discrimination Claim Rejected

Posted on January 05, 2011
In Harris v. Boyd Tunica Inc., (5th Cir., Dec. 20, 2010), the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals refused to apply the doctrine of equitable tolling to permit a Title VII religious discrimination claim to be filed more than 90 days after plaintiff received a right to sue notice from the EEOC...

Milwaukee Catholic Archdiocese Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Reorgainzation

Posted on January 05, 2011
The Milwaukee (WI) Archdiocese yesterday became the eighth Roman Catholic diocese in the United States to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. The New York Times reports that the filing comes after the collapse of negotiations last month between lawyers for 23 individuals who have sued or are threatening to sue for clergy sexual abuse...

Underlying Tensions Behind Egyptian Church Bombing Discussed

Posted on January 04, 2011
Spero News yesterday, analyzing the New Year's Eve bombing of the Coptic Church of the Saints in Alexandria, Egypt (see prior posting), says that some of the underlying tensions between Muslims and Christians in the country stem from a false story that has been circulating for four years regarding the supposed conversion of two women who were married to Coptic priests...

Proposed Legislation Will Permit Expansion of Shariah-Compliant Banking In Afghanistan

Posted on January 04, 2011
Bloomberg reported yesterday that Afghanistan's central bank is drafting legislation to present to Parliament in September to allow existing non-Islamic banks to convert into fully Shariah-compliant banks and provide for the licensing of new Islamic banks...

Incoming New York Governor Is Asked To Restore Staffing of Kosher Law Enforcement

Posted on January 04, 2011
New York's incoming governor, Andrew Cuomo, is being lobbied  by Jewish leaders, some lawmakers and some businesses to restore cuts made in the Department of Agriculture and Markets budget. The cuts have eliminated all the staff and retain only the director of the Department's Division of Kosher Law Enforcement...

Governor of Pakistan's Punjab Assassinated Over His Support For Christian Woman Convicted of Blasphemy

Posted on January 04, 2011
The Washington Post reports that Salman Taseer, governor of Punjab, Pakistan's largest province, was assassinated today by one of his own security guards who was angered by Taseer's support for a pardon for Aasia Bibi, the Christian woman recently sentenced to death for blasphemy...

In Egypt Christian Anger Grows After Church Bombing

Posted on January 03, 2011
An AP article in today's Washington Post reports that in Egypt, protests by Christians have spread from Alexandria to Cairo in the wake of the bombing on New Year's Eve of a Coptic church in Alexandria. Twenty-one people were killed. (See prior posting...

Israeli Police Arrest Suspects In Two Separate Torah Theft Rings

Posted on January 03, 2011
Over the last two weeks, police in Israel have made arrests in what are apparently two separate criminal rings that have been stealing valuable Torah scrolls from synagogues in Israel.  On Dec. 23, Arutz Sheva reported that two men who are suspected of breaking into 17 synagogues in central and southern Israel and stealing a total of 30 Torahs were arrested...

Recent Articles and Books of Interest

Posted on January 03, 2011
From SSRN:Yuksel Sezgin, How to Integrate Universal Human Rights into Customary and Religious Legal Systems?, (Journal of Legal Pluralism, Vol. 60, 2010).Yuksel Sezgin, The Israeli Millet System: Examining Legal Pluralism through Lenses of Nation-Building and Human Rights, (The Israel Law Review, Vol...

Nevada Supreme Court Dismisses Personhood Amendment Appeal As Moot

Posted on January 02, 2011
In Personhood Nevada v. Bristol, (NV Sup. Ct., Dec. 30, 2010), the Nevada Supreme Court dismissed as moot an appeal from a lower court ruling that held a proposed ballot initiative to be in violations of state law because it embraces more than one subject...

Congressional Hearings Planned On Radicalization of US Mosques

Posted on January 01, 2011
The Forward reported last week that New York Congressman Peter King, who will become chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security when the new Congress convenes, is planning to hold hearings on claimed radicalization of mosques in the United States...

Egyptian Church Bombed; Pope Calls For Religious Freedom

Posted on January 01, 2011
Pope Benedict XVI's New Year's message focused on the need for religious freedom around the world, condemning both secularism and fundamentalism. (Zenit.)  Fox News reports that the pope's message was delivered shortly after a New Year's Eve bomb blast at a Coptic Christian church in Alexandria, Egypt killed at least 21...

Happy New Year 2011 To Religion Clause Readers!

Posted on December 31, 2010
Dear Religion Clause Readers:Happy New Year! As we enter 2011, I want to again thank all of you who read Religion Clause-- both long time followers and those who have joined us more recently. And thanks to all of you who send me leads to new developments or who alert me to needed corrections or to your concerns about coverage of particular developments...

Bowing To Pressure, Pakistan Government Says It Will Not Propose Change In Blasphemy Law

Posted on December 31, 2010
In the face of a call by Islamic political parties for a general strike today (see prior posting), Pakistan's Federal Minister for Labor and Religious Affairs told a press conference yesterday that the government would not amend Pakistan's blasphemy law...

Lebanese Official Proposes Ban on Land Sales Between Christians and Mulsims

Posted on December 31, 2010
In Lebanon, Labor Minister Butros Harb, concerned about demographic changes being caused by the sale of Christian-owned land to Muslims, has proposed a new law that would prohibit Christians and Muslims from selling land to each other for a period of 15 years...

Vatican Adopts Anti-Money Laundering and Other International Monetary Rules

Posted on December 31, 2010
The Vatican yesterday took several related steps to come into compliance with the anti-money laundering and anti-terrorism financing norms created by the intergovernmental Financial Action Task Force. The moves, which implement the 2009 Monetary Convention Between the Vatican City State and the European Union, were previewed by a USA Today article on Wednesday...

New York Times Pans Architectural Developments In Mecca

Posted on December 30, 2010
The New York Times carries an article, appearing on the front page of its print edition today, that is highly critical of the architectural design of the many new projects being built in Saudi Arabia in the center of the holy city of Mecca. Here is a sampling of the criticism:It is an architectural absurdity...

Jail Chaplain Settles Her Lawsuit Against Sheriff and County

Posted on December 30, 2010
Tuesday's Brownsville (TX) Herald reports on the settlement of a federal lawsuit brought last year by volunteer jail chaplain Gail Hanson against Cameron County, Texas and Sheriff Omar Lucio after Lucio banned Hanson from the county's jails. Hanson says the ban was imposed because she criticized jail operations and the treatment of female inmates...

AALS Law and Religion Section Publishes 2010 Bibliography

Posted on December 30, 2010
The Association of American Law Schools Section on Law and Religion has issued its December 2010 Newsletter which includes a 23-page bibliography of the year's books, articles and blogs on law and religion.

40% of Americans Believe In Creationism-- Down From Prior Polls

Posted on December 30, 2010
A Gallup poll released earlier this month shows that 40% of Americans believe in creationist theory. They said they agree with the statement: "God created human beings pretty much in their present form at one time in the last 10,000 years or so." This is the lowest percentage that believe this in the history of Gallup's asking this question...

Restaurant's Christmas Promotion Leads To Police Investigation In Maldives

Posted on December 30, 2010
Only Muslims may become citizens of the Maldives. However apparently some number of Christian expatriates live in the country. So the Jade Bistro cafe-- a restaurant that appeals to various nationalities-- was decorated for Christmas and offered a "festive" luncheon over the Christmas period...

Indian Court Interprets Reach of Hindu Marriage Act

Posted on December 30, 2010
In India, the Delhi high court has issued a ruling clarifying the scope of the Hindu Marriage Act.  According to DNA, Justice Kailash Gambhir held that in order for the Act to be applicable to a divorce action, both husband and wife must have been Hindus at the time of the marriage...

Group Challenges Sheriff's Donation of Jail Basketball Hoops To Churches

Posted on December 30, 2010
A letter sent Tuesday by Atheists of Florida is challenging as an Establishment Clause violation the decision of Polk County (FL) sheriff Grady Judd to remove basketball hoops, backboards and poles that are at the county jail and donate them to eight local churches...

5 Arrested Planning Terror Attack On Danish Paper That Published Muhammad Cartoons

Posted on December 29, 2010
Four men were arrested in Denmark and one in Sweden today, suspected of plotting an attack on the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten that in 2005 published the now-famous cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. (See prior posting.) The New York Times reports that the four arrested in Denmark had entered the country from Sweden and were planning within a few days to break into the newspaper and kill as many people as possible.

New Controversy In Israel Over Government Subsidies For Religious Students

Posted on December 29, 2010
The New York Times reported yesterday on the growing debate within Israel over government subsidies for thousands of strictly Orthodox (haredi) students who study full time at religious seminaries.  Rabbi Chaim Amsellem, a member of the Knesset from the religious Shas Party, created a furor last month when urged that full-time state-financed religious study should be reserved for students who are particularly well qualified scholars and likely to become rabbis or religious court judges...

Atheist Will Deliver Invocation At City Council Session In Colorado

Posted on December 29, 2010
In 2008, Grand Junction City, Colorado city council adopted a resolution creating a more inclusive process for choosing those who may offer the invocation at council meetings. Any spiritual organization in the community may place its name in a lottery for selection...

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