Religion & Law

British Court Says Jewish School Can Admit Students On Basis of Religion

Posted on July 04, 2008
In Britain yesterday, a High Court judge upheld the policy of a leading government-funded Jewish school to give preference in admissions to "children who are recognised as being Jewish by the Office of the Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregation of the Commonwealth (OCR)...

State Petitions To Get Medical Treatment For Amish Child

Posted on July 04, 2008
In Watertown, New York, the Department of Social Services has filed a petition in St. Lawrence County Family Court seeking to have a one-year old boy removed from his Amish parents and placed in foster care so he can receive medical treatment for his potentially fatal heart condition...

British Judge Says Sharia As Part of Arbitration Is OK

Posted on July 04, 2008
England's senior judge, Lord Chief Justice Lord Phillips, delivered a controversial speech on Thursday at a mosque in east London. The Mail reports that Phillips supported the possibility of using principles of Islamic Sharia law as part of an alternative dispute mechanism in family, marriage and financial disputes...

Social Conservatives Adopt Declaration of American Values

Posted on July 04, 2008
A group of prominent social conservatives meeting in Denver this week adopted a "Declaration of American Values", whose introductory and concluding language use phrases from the Declaration of Independence. Its ten paragraphs focus on the right to life, marriage and family, parental rights, free exercise of religion, opposition to pornography, rights of private property (while acknowledging stewardship of the environment), right to own firearms, checks and balances so that the judiciary does not usurp power, a strong military and a fair tax system...

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Belgian Court Says Patka Ban Violates Human Rights Convention

Posted on July 04, 2008
On Tuesday, according to Punjab Newsline, a Belgian court ruled that a uniform rule imposed by a public school, KTA Domein Speelhof, infringed the rights of Sikh students in violation of Art. 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The Hasselt Civil Court overturned the school's ban on Sikh boys wearing the Patka, finding that the school's ban on any head wear infringed on the Sikh students' right to practice their religion.

Alaska Court Upholds Tax Exemption For Church-Owned Teacher Housing

Posted on July 04, 2008
In 2006, the Alaska legislature passed HB 334 which, among other things, extended local property tax exemptions to "the residence of an educator in a private religious or parochial school." Today's Anchorage Times reports that in a decision handed down on Thursday, an Alaska Superior Court judge upheld the constitutionality of the law...

2nd Circuit Rejects Capital Defendant's Challenge To Evidence About His Religious Beliefs

Posted on July 03, 2008
In United States v. Fell, (2d Cir., June 27, 2008), the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the challenge by a defendant who had been sentenced to death to the introduction of evidence at penalty stage of his trial regarding his religious beliefs...

LAPD Officer Sues Department Claiming Religious Discrimination

Posted on July 03, 2008
Yesterday's Los Angeles Times reports that L.A. police officer Sgt. Eric Holyfield, who is also a pastor, has filed a religious discrimination lawsuit in state court against the Los Angeles Police Department and Deputy Police Chief Charlie Beck. Holyfield alleges that he was passed up for promotions and raises after he preached a controversial eulogy at the funeral of another police officer, Nathaniel Warthon Jr...

Some Oppose Obama's Limit On Faith-Based Hiring In Funded Programs

Posted on July 03, 2008
Wall of Separation yesterday reported that a number of conservative religious leaders are unhappy with one part of Barack Obama's plans to expand President Bush's faith-based initiative. Obama announced his proposals in a speech in Ohio earlier this week...

Proposed Iranian Law Would Treat Blogs That Promote Apostasy As Capital Offense

Posted on July 03, 2008
Khaleej Times reported yesterday that Iran's Parliament is set to debate a draft bill that would not only continue to punish apostasy and a number of other crimes with death, but would add to the list of capital offenses "establishing weblogs and sites promoting corruption, prostitution and apostasy...

Former Texas Science Curriculum Director Sues Over Agency Policy On Creationism

Posted on July 03, 2008
An interesting lawsuit has been filed by Christina Comer, former science curriculum director of the Texas Education Agency (TEA). Yesterday's Dallas News reports on the suit filed in federal district court in Austin. Comer was forced to resign last year after she forwarded to a number of people an e-mail announcing a presentation by an author who is critical of intelligent design and creationism proponents...

EEOC Sues On Behalf of Sikh Job Applicant

Posted on July 03, 2008
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission last week filed suit against a Texas company on behalf of a Sikh man who the company refused to hire. When Sukhdev Singh Brar, a certified security officer, applied for a position with Champion National Security and was called for an interview, he was told to shave and take off his turban...

Santeria Adherent Fined For Animal Cruelty

Posted on July 03, 2008
App.com reports that in Spring Lake, NJ, Alain Hernandez was assessed fines and restitution fees totalling $900 after pleading guilty yesterday in Municipal Court to a charge of animal cruelty. Hernandez's mother is a Santeria priestess. Another Santero ritually killed a number of animals in a ritual designed to generate wealth...

9th Circuit Says California Law Does Not Ban Anti-Abortion Display Near Schools

Posted on July 03, 2008
The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday held that a California statute prohibiting anyone from disrupting a school or its pupils could not be applied to prohibit an anti-abortion organization from driving a truck around the perimeter of a middle school, displaying enlarged, graphic photos of early-term aborted fetuses...

Court Upholds Ban on 12-Foot High Cross In 4th of July Celebration

Posted on July 02, 2008
Yesterday a Virginia federal district court refused to grant a preliminary injunction against new regulations banning objects taller than 8 feet high at Chesapeake, Virginia's traditional 4th of July celebration in Lakeside Park. the celebration follows a parade...

Appeal Filed In Photographer's Sexual Orientation Discrimination Case

Posted on July 02, 2008
Yesterday Alliance Defense Fund announced that an appeal was filed in a New Mexico state court seeking reversal of a controversial April decision by the state's Human Rights Commission. The Commission concluded that a photography company had violated state public accommodation anti-discrimination laws by refusing to photograph a lesbian commitment ceremony...

Florida RFRA Challenge To Park Feeding Ordinance Dismissed

Posted on July 02, 2008
In First Vagabonds Church of God v. City of Orlando, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 49314 (MD FL, June 26, 2008), a Florida federal district court rejected a challenge under Florida's Religious Freedom Restoration Act (FRFRA) to Orlando's Large Group Feeding Ordinance...

Florida's School Zone Safety Law Held Vague In Suit By Gideons Member

Posted on July 02, 2008
In Gray v. Kohl, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 49482 (SD FL, June 18, 2008), a Florida federal district court held that Florida's School Safety Zone statute is unconstitutionally vague insofar as it precludes anyone "who does not have legitimate business" to be within 500 feet of a school during school hours, or to loiter near campus...

Church Required To Identify Some Members In RLUIPA Interrogatories

Posted on July 02, 2008
Christ Covenant Church v. Town of Southwest Ranches, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 49483 (SD FL, June 29, 2008) poses an interesting issue of a church's right to protect its membership list. Christ Covenant church filed a RLUIPA challenge to the denial of its zoning request...

Court Rejects Ministerial Exception Defense In Firing of Pregnant Teacher

Posted on July 02, 2008
In Redhead v. Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 49416 (ED NY, June 27, 2008), a New York federal district court, applying the 2nd Circuit's recent "ministerial exception" decision in Rweyemamu v. Cote, refused to grant defendant's motion for summary judgment in a Title VII pregnancy discrimination case...

NY High Court Rejects Attempt To Require Election At Hindu Temple

Posted on July 02, 2008
New York's high court yesterday rejected claims by dissident members of a Hindu Temple who wanted the court to remove the organization's old trustees, appoint a receiver and order new elections. In Matter of Venigalla v Nori, (NY Ct. App., July 1, 2008), the court held that Art...

Australian State Imposes Rules For World Youth Day Conduct

Posted on July 01, 2008
Later this month, the 6-day long World Youth Day festival will take place in Sydney, Australia. Pope Benedict XVI will be in the country and will lead mass and conduct prayer meetings at the event. Today's International Herald Tribune reports that a regulation promulgated recently by New South Wales gives police and emergency services workers power to order anyone to stop behavior that "causes annoyance or inconvenience to participants in a World Youth Day event...

Report Supports British Faith Schools

Posted on July 01, 2008
The Centre for Policy Studies, a British think tank, issued a controversial report (full text) this week titled: In Bad Faith: The New Betrayal of Faith Schools. The report's author, Christina Odone, concludes in her 41-page report: Faith schools have been wrongly attacked for the wrong reasons...

Dutch Will Not Prosecute Wilders For Anti-Muslim Film and Statements

Posted on July 01, 2008
The Dutch Public Prosecution Service issued a statement yesterday (full text) saying that right-wing politician Geert Wilders will not be prosecuted for a letter he wrote to a national newspaper urging that the Quran be banned in the Netherlands (see prior posting), nor will he be charged in connection with his anti-Muslim film, Fitna (see prior posting)...

Epsicopal Bishop Urges Separation of Civil and Religious Marriage

Posted on July 01, 2008
The bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California is urging that the state begin to follow the pattern of some European countries and separate civil marriage from religious marriage. Today's Sacramento Bee reports that under the proposal, every couple would first marry civilly, and then, if the couple wished, the marriage would be blessed by the church...

Texas Sheriff Apologizes For Staff's Religiously Insensitive E-Mails

Posted on July 01, 2008
For the second time this month, Harris County, Texas, Sheriff Tommy Thomas apologized for e-mails sent by his staff. Yesterday's Houston Chronicle reported that Thomas appeared personally before the Islamic Society of Greater Houston to apologize for e-mails forwarded by Chief Deputy Mike Smith that offended Muslims...

Obama To Support Expansion of Faith-Based Initiative

Posted on July 01, 2008
An advance text of remarks by Barack Obama to be delivered today in Zanesville, Ohio indicates that Obama will support expansion of President Bush's faith-based initiative. According to the AP: "Obama proposes to elevate the program to a 'moral center' of his administration, by renaming it the Office of Community and Faith-Based Partnerships, and changing training from occasional huge conferences to empowering larger religious charities to mentor smaller ones in their communities...

Russian Musem Officials Being Prosecuted For Religiously Offensive Art Show

Posted on July 01, 2008
In Moscow, the director and the curator of the Andrei Sakharov Museum and Community Center have been charged with inciting religious hatred because of its "Forbidden Art" exhibition held last year. France24 reports that vandals destroyed some of the art, claiming it is offensive to Orthodox Christians, but they were not prosecuted...

Legal Peyote For Ceremonial Purposes Is Becoming Hard To Find

Posted on June 30, 2008
Yesterday's Brownsville (TX) Herald reports that peyote, used in ceremonies by members of certain Native American religions, is becoming more difficult to obtain. A special exception in federal drug laws-- 42 USC 1992a-- permits Native Americans to use the otherwise banned hallucinogen for traditional religious ceremonial purposes...

President's Radio Address Focuses On Faith-Based Initiative

Posted on June 30, 2008
President Bush's weekly radio address on Saturday (full text) focused on last week's White House conference on faith-based and community initiatives. The President said in part:Putting hope in people's hearts is the mission of our Nation's faith-based and community groups, so my Administration decided to treat them as trusted partners...

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