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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

McCain, Obama To Make First Joint Appearance At Saddleback Church Forum

Posted on July 22, 2008
According to yesterday's Christian Post, the first joint appearance by John McCain and Barack Obama will be on August 16 at Lake Forest, California's Saddleback Church. The occassion is the Saddleback Civil Forum on Leadership and Compassion, sponsored by Faith in Public Life...

Jehovah's Witnesses Allegedly Being Targed By Russian Authorities

Posted on July 22, 2008
The Other Russia reported yesterday that government authorities in a number of Russian regions have increasingly moved against members of the rapidly-expanding Jehovah's Witness faith. In Yekaterinburg, Federal Security Service (FSB) agents seized literature that allegedly incited hatred and promoted the exclusivity of the Jehovah's Witness faith...

Recently Available Prisoner Free Exercise Cases

Posted on July 22, 2008
In Meyer v. Wisconsin Department of Corrections, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 51362 (WD WI, July 3, 2008), a Wisconsin federal distict court permitted an inmate who claimed to be an "hereditary shaman" to proceed on his RLUIPA claim alleging that his religious exercise was substantially burdened when officials refused his request for prayer beads...

Ministerial Exception Held To Apply To Title IX Cases

Posted on July 22, 2008
A decision handed down several months ago by a Pennsylvania federal district court in a long-running sex discrimination case has just become available on Lexis. In Petruska v. Gannon University, the 3rd Circuit in 2006 held that the "ministerial exception" prevented a female chaplain at Gannon University, a diocesan college, from bringing a Title VII employment discrimination claim that she was demoted solely because she was a woman...

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Suit Challenges Illinois Grant To Help Rebuild Historic Church

Posted on July 22, 2008
In Chicago last week, atheist activist Rob Sherman filed a state court lawsuit against Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and other state officials challenging a $1 million state grant to help rebuild Chicago's historic Pilgrim Baptist Church. The church was severely damaged by fire in 2006...

Colorado Church Group Seeking Ballot Measure On Moment of Silence

Posted on July 21, 2008
The Colorado Secretary of State's office last week approved the circulation of an initiative petition calling for schools to provide five minutes for private meditation at the beginning of each school day. According to the Denver Post (July 17), the petition was filed by Bishop Kevin Foreman and his 2-year-old Final Harvest Christian Center in Aurora...

Dobson Says He May Endorse McCain

Posted on July 21, 2008
In remarks scheduled for broadcast on his radio show today, conservative Christian leader James Dobson says he is considering reversing his former position and endorsing Sen. John McCain for president. In a statement given to AP, Dobson said: "Barack Obama contradicts and threatens everything I believe about the institution of the family and what is best for the nation...

Today Is Anniversary of Scopes Trial

Posted on July 21, 2008
Today, according to Wired, is the 83rd anniversary of the end of the famous "Scopes Monkey Trial" in which high school teacher John Scopes was found guilty of violating a Tennessee law against teaching evolution. The Advocate yesterday reviews a new account of the trial written for young adults in free verse form...

Welsh Mayor Wants Town's Ban on "Life of Brian" Lifted

Posted on July 21, 2008
In Britain, Sue Jones-Davies, mayor of the Welsh town of Aberystwyth, wants her town to lift its nearly 30-year old ban on the Monty Python movie, Life of Brian. BBC News reported the story on Saturday. Long before becoming mayor, Jones-Davies was in the movie, playing a revolutionary named Judith Iscariot...

Bhutan's New Constitution Signed-- Deals With Religious Freedom and Heritage

Posted on July 21, 2008
According to Zee News, the country of Bhutan on Friday formally became a democratic constitutional monarchy as King Jigme Khesar Namgyel signed the country's new Constitution (full text). The new Constitution, which calls on the government "to promote those conditions that will enable the pursuit of Gross National Happiness" (Art...

Georgia Church Wins Partial RLUIPA Victory

Posted on July 20, 2008
In a case decided several months ago, but which has just become available, a Georgia federal district court upheld a claim by a church that a 2004 amendment to Marietta, Georgia's zoning ordinance violates the "equal terms provision" of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act...

NYT Magazine Profiles DNC Official In Charge Of Religious Outreach

Posted on July 20, 2008
Today's New York Times Magazine, in a long article titled Can Leah Daughtry Bring Faith to the Party?, profiles Democratic National Committee Chair Howard Dean's chief of staff, Leah Daughtry. Daughtry, who is also a part-time Pentecostal preacher, was placed by Dean in charge of this year's Democratic convention...

Texas Court Upholds Firing of Pastors By Church Elders

Posted on July 20, 2008
Friday's Houston Chronicle reports that a state district court judge has agreed with a special master's findings in a long-running internal dispute at the Korean Christian Church of Houston. The church split last September in a dispute over finances. In November, church elders fired youth pastor Seung Woong Ok...

Messianic Jewish Prisoners Claim Discrimination In Denial of Kosher Meals

Posted on July 20, 2008
At Mansfield, Ohio's Richland Correctional Institution, four Messianic Jews have filed a grievance with the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction complaining that they are denied kosher meals. In his grievance, inmate Ronald Lutz argued that the denial amounts to religious discrimination...

Italian High Court Says Rastafarians Protected In Marijuana Use

Posted on July 20, 2008
Earlier this month, in a ruling that breaks new ground in Europe, Italy's high court-- the Court of Cassation -- reversed the conviction of a Rastafarian for trafficking in marijuana. According to a July 10 report by Reuters, the court ruled that Rastafarians should be given special consideration in determining how much marijuana exceeds requirements for personal use since the drug is considered by Rastafarians to be a sacrament...

China Imposes Special Rules For Sports Chaplains At Olympics

Posted on July 20, 2008
The Canadian Press reported Friday on the special rules imposed by the government of China on sports chaplains who traditionally accompany athletes to Olympic games. Daily religious services will be available to athletes at next month's Olympics, but they will be run by Chinese religious leaders and seminary students...

Texas Board Gives Final Approval To Bible Course Guidelines

Posted on July 20, 2008
The Abilene (TX) Reporter News and the Dallas Morning News both report that on Friday, the Texas State Board of Education gave final approval to guidelines for elective courses on the impact of the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) and New Testament on the History and Literature of Western Civilization...

Website Tracks Religious Rhetoric In Presidential Campaign

Posted on July 19, 2008
Earlier this month, the Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs launched it Faith 2008 database. The website tracks religious rhetoric in the Presidential campaign by candidate and theme. The site also gives historical and international example of religious rhetoric in politics.

Counsellor Fired For Refusing Client Seeking Advice On Same-Sex Relationship

Posted on July 19, 2008
Alliance Defense Fund announced last Tuesday the filing of a religious discrimination lawsuit on behalf of Marcia Walden, a professional counsellor whose employer was under contract to provide counselling services to employees of the federal Center for Disease Control...

Britain to Sponsor Muslim Scholars For Study On Islam and Western Values

Posted on July 19, 2008
BBC News reported yesterday that the British government will fund creation of a group of scholars, to be hosted by Oxford and Cambridge Universities, who will examine issues relating to Islam's role in Britain and the obligations of Muslims as British citizens...

Village Officials Question Conversion of Expensive Home Into a Family Church

Posted on July 18, 2008
In Lake Bluff, Illinois, George Michael says he has converted his $3 million home into a church and has received a state property tax exemption that saves him some $80,000 per year. According to Wednesday's Chicago Tribune, Michael says he was ordained online and began his Armenian Church so his disabled wife would not have to travel to Sunday services...

3rd Circuit Upholds Arrest of Disruptive Protesters At OutFest

Posted on July 18, 2008
In Startzell v. City of Philadelphia, (3rd Cir., July 15, 2008), the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals rejected claims by a members of a Christian group, Repent America, that their free speech rights were infringed when they were arrested by Philadelphia police for disorderly conduct and refusal to obey police orders at the gay pride OutFest in 2004...

Wisconsin High Court: Diocese Had No Duty To Warn Teacher's Future Employers

Posted on July 18, 2008
Hornback v. Archdiocese of Milwaukee, (WI Sup. Ct., July 16, 2008), was an appeal to the Wisconsin Supreme Court in lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and the Diocese of Madison for their negligent failure to warn later employers of that teacher Gary Kazmarek had a propensity to sexually abuse children...

Challenge To Funding of Religious Social Services Dismissed on Standing Grounds

Posted on July 18, 2008
In Freedom From Religion Foundation, Inc. v. Olson, (D ND, July 16, 2008), a North Dakota federal district court dismissed on standing grounds an Establishment Clause challenge to the use of state and county social service funds to pay for the care of children at the Lutheran-sponsored Dakota Boys and Girls Ranch...

Support Urged For Ban On US Recognition of Foreign Blasphemy Judgments

Posted on July 18, 2008
A Becket Fund release reports on remarks yesterday by its international law director, Angela Wu, to the Congressional Human Rights Caucus conference on "Religious Freedom in a Post-9-11 World". She urged support for HR 6146, introduced in May by Rep. Steve Cohen...

Appeal to 6th Circuit Filed in Kentucky Baptist Homes Case

Posted on July 18, 2008
An appeal has been filed with the 6th Circuit in Pedreira v. Kentucky Baptist Homes, Inc. In the case, the district court dismissed on standing grounds an Establishment Clause challenge to use of state funds to pay for placing children in a faith-based facility...

Christian Proselytization Charged At Ohio's Wright Patterson Air Force Base

Posted on July 17, 2008
This week's Dayton (OH) Jewish Observer carries a story on Christian proselytizing in the military at Fairborn, Ohio's Wright Patterson Air Force Base. Mikey Weinstein, president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, says he has received more than 100 complaints about activities on the base...

Illinois Church Denied Temporary Injunction In RLUIPA "Equal Terms" Case

Posted on July 17, 2008
In River of Life Kingdom Ministries v. Village of Hazel Crest, Illinois, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 53491 (ND IL, July 14, 2008), an Illinois federal district court in an elaborate opinion denied a preliminary injunction to a church that challenged provisions of the Hazel Crest (IL) zoning ordinance...

New Zoning Rules In Florida City Seen As Still Restrictive On Religious Groups

Posted on July 17, 2008
Last January, a Florida federal district court ruled that Cooper City, Florida's zoning laws violated RLUIPA by excluding all houses of worship from commercial areas. (See prior posting.) This week, according to Florida's Sun-Sentinel, the Cooper City Commission amended its zoning rules to treat religious institutions the same as all other forms of community assembly activities...

Saudi King Hosts Interfaith Conference In Spain

Posted on July 17, 2008
An interfaith conference sponsored by Saudi Arabia opened in Madrid, Spain yesterday with an address by Saudi King Abdullah. The conference is aimed primarily at bringing Muslims, Christians and Jews closer together, but representatives of several Eastern religions, including Buddhism and Hinduism, also attended...

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