Religion & Law

Sikh Sues Disney Over Firing

Posted on June 15, 2008
Friday's Orlando (FL) Business Journal reports that Sukhbir Channa, a Sikh, has filed suit in state court against Walt Disney World alleging he was discriminated against because of his turban, beard and long hair required by his religious beliefs. Originally hired as a seasonal college musician, Channa says he was fired because he did not have the "Disney look"...

Bush Visits Pope In Vatican

Posted on June 15, 2008
During his trip to Europe, on Friday President George W. Bush met with Pope Benedict XVI in the Vatican. Catholic News Service reports that in a break with normal protocol in order to express the Pope's thanks for the hospitality he was shown in the U...

New Poll on Religion and Public Life

Posted on June 13, 2008
Earlier this week, the Henry Institute at Calvin College released its 2008 National Survey on Religion and Public Life (link to full survey results). The survey breaks out subgroups of Protestants and Catholics, as well as other faith traditions and looks both at political affiliation and attitudes toward free trade, environmental regulation, posting of the 10 Commandments, abortion, gay rights, the Iraq war, clergy endorsement of candidates and likely vote in the Presidential elections...

Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases

Posted on June 13, 2008
In Mitchell v. Department of Corrections, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 44752 (SD FL, Jun 6, 2008), a Florida federal district judge adopted a magistrate's recommendation to transfer venue to the Northern District of Florida in a prisoner's case that, among other things, alleged free exercise and RLUIPA violations...

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Florida Ballot Measures on Vouchers, Blaine Amendment Challenged In Lawsuit

Posted on June 13, 2008
In Leon County, Florida today, a group of individuals and organizations, including the Florida Education Association and Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed suit alleging that Florida's Taxation and Budget Commission exceeded its authority in placing two constitutional amendments on the November ballot...

Ontario Parliament Keeps Lord's Prayer, But Adds Others As Well

Posted on June 13, 2008
In the Canada, members of Ontario's Legislative Assembly yesterday reached a compromise over Premier Dalton McGuinty's proposal that its sessions no longer open with a reading of the Lord's Prayer. (See prior posting.) Under the arrangement approved unanimously, the Lord's Prayer will stay, but it will be followed by a second prayer...

Cub Scout In Scotland Objects To Oath To Queen Because of Anti-Catholic Rules

Posted on June 13, 2008
In Scotland, the mother of an 8-year old is threatening to go to the European Court of Human Rights to challenge the requirement by the Cub Scouts that her son recite a promise that includes doing his duty to the Queen. Matthew McVeigh's mother says that she wants the wording changed because Britain's 1701 Act of Settlement discriminates against Catholics, not allowing them to take the throne...

Jewish Pick For Air Force Chief of Staff Inherits Proselytization Issues

Posted on June 13, 2008
The Forward yesterday profiles Air Force General Norton Schwartz who earlier this week was chosen by Defense Secretary Robert Gates to be the new Air Force Chief of Staff. The appointment is subject to Senate confirmation. Schwartz, who is Jewish, will inherit issues at the Air Force Academy relating to Christian proselytizing of students and failure to accommodate needs of non-Christian cadets.

Seventh Day Adventist Church Scores Partial Trademark Win

Posted on June 13, 2008
General Conference Corporation of Seventh Day Adventists v. McGill, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 45526 (WD TN, June 11, 2008) is a trademark infringement and unfair competition lawsuit brought by the Seventh Day Adventist Church against a break away pastor of a 3-member church he currently calls "A Creation Seventh Day & Adventist Church"...

Amish Sentenced To Jail Over Waste Disposal Violations

Posted on June 13, 2008
Two Swartzentruber Amish farmers who refuse to comply with state code requirements for disposal of waste from their community school outhouses and who say obtaining a permit for the outhouses would violate their religious beliefs have also refused the options of paying a fine or performing community service...

Judge Ready To Rule Against Tangipahoa Parish In Graduation Prayer Case

Posted on June 12, 2008
The Advocate reports today that in a pending case against Tangipahoa Parish School Board challenging a teacher-led prayer at the 2007 PM High School graduation, a Louisiana federal district judge says he has a draft opinion that will rule in favor of the ACLU's challenge...

Judge In FLDS Case Guarded; Joint State Efforts Discussed

Posted on June 12, 2008
The Deseret News reported yesterday that Texas police are guarding the home of Judge Barbara Walther, the trial court judge who recently ordered removal of over 450 children from the FLDS ranch in Eldorado, Texas. They were especially on the lookout for 16 FLDS members who Utah police see as a threat...

9th Circuit Again Certifies Issues To California High Court In Boy Scout Case

Posted on June 12, 2008
The complex journey through the courts continues in a challenge to the City of San Diego's leasing, at nominal rentals, to the Boy Scouts city property on which the Scouts operate a campground and aquatic center. The challenge turns on the scout's exclusion of atheists, agnostics, and homosexuals as members or volunteers and its requirement that members affirm a belief in God...

South Carolina AG Says Bill On Display of Historical Documents Is Constitutional

Posted on June 12, 2008
The AP reported yesterday that South Carolina Attorney General Henry McMaster has issued an opinion that H3159 awaiting the governor's signature is constitutional. The bill permits schools and local governments to post a Foundations of American Law and Government display comprised of 12 documents, including the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer...

Gambian President Threatens Gays With Punishment Under Islamic Principles

Posted on June 12, 2008
In Gambia, according to a Human Rights Watch release issued Tuesday, President Yahya Jammeh has threatened to expel or kill any gays or lesbians who do not immediately leave the country, saying: "We are in a Muslim dominated country and I will not and shall never accept such individuals [homosexuals] in this country...

6th Circuit Says Church Autonomy Doctrine Does Not Bar Defamation Case

Posted on June 12, 2008
In Ogle v. Hocker, (6th Cir., May 29, 2008), the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals held that the church autonomy doctrine does not bar the court from adjudicating defamation and intentional infliction of emotional distress claims brought by Troy Ogle, an ordained Church of God bishop, against Rick Hocker, also a COG bishop...

Report Calls For Understanding Church of England's Role In Welfare System

Posted on June 12, 2008
In Britain earlier this week, the Von Hugel Institute issued a report that had been commissioned by Rt Rev Stephen Lowe, the Church of England's Bishop for Urban Life and Faith. The report, titled Moral, But No Compass Government, Church and the Future of Welfare, calls for increased understanding of the Church of England's role in delivery of welfare services...

Minnesota Pastor Challenges IRS Limits On Church Political Involvement

Posted on June 12, 2008
In Warroad, Minnesota, pastor Gus Booth, a delegate to the Republican National Convention, is openly challenging IRS restrictions on church involvement in political campaigns. In May, Booth delivered a sermon telling his congregation not to vote for either Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama because of their positions on abortion...

Muslim Speaker In Maryland School Creates Concern

Posted on June 11, 2008
In Frederick County, Maryland, student members of the Urbana High School's Middle Eastern Studies Group have invited Imam Yahya Hendi to speak at a meeting of the organization today. Hendi is the Muslim chaplain at Georgetown University. He is also the imam of the Islamic Society of Frederick and is active in interfaith activities...

Recent Scholarly Articles and New Book of Interest

Posted on June 11, 2008
From SSRN:Richard W. Garnett, Do Churches Matter? Towards an Institutional Understanding of the Religion Clauses (May 9, 2008, Villanova Law Review, Forthcoming).From SmartCILP:John M. Breen, John Paul II, the Structures of Sin and the Limits of Law, 52 St...

Canadian Court Dismsses Employer's Appeal In Religious Discrimination Case

Posted on June 11, 2008
In Syncrude Canada Ltd. v. Alberta (Human Rights and Citizenship Commission), 2008 ABCA 217 (June 10, 2008), the Alberta Court of Appeal dismissed an appeal by an employer in a religious discrimination case. Electrician Devinder Wadhwa, a Sikh, originally filed a complaint with the Human Rights Commission against Syncrude Canada after it insisted that Wadhwa shave his beard in order to be able to wear a standard protective mask...

Are Drawings On Fence Religious Symbols or Graffiti?

Posted on June 11, 2008
A pagan couple in Des Moines, Iowa are appealing an order by the neighborhood inspections division that is demanding they remove graffiti from their fence. Homeowner Ryle MacPebbles however says the drawings are pagan religious symbols he placed on the fence to protect their home and ward off evil energy...

French Court Denies Damages To Muslim Couple Who Barred Male Intern From Delivery Room

Posted on June 11, 2008
Al Arabiya reports today that a French appellate court in Lyon has ruled that a French Muslim couple are not entitled to damages from a hospital in their suit over neurological injuries suffered by their son during birth. The court said that the injuries are due to conduct of the child's father during the delivery...

Indonesia Stops Short of Dissolving Ahmadiyah Sect

Posted on June 10, 2008
On Monday, according to AFP, Indonesia's government issued a joint ministerial decree ordering the Ahmadiyah sect to "stop spreading interpretations and activities which deviate from the principal teachings of Islam" such as "the spreading of the belief that there is another prophet with his own teachings after Prophet Mohammed...

Michigan Township Will Vote On Tax To Buy Property Surrounding Cross

Posted on June 10, 2008
Lost in the furor over Michigan's Presidential primary is the fact that the state has a primary for state and local offices scheduled for August 5. Voters in Cross Village Township will also be casting their ballots on an unusual tax measure. The Harbor Springs (MI) Harbor Light reported two weeks ago on the proposed ...

9th Circuit Certifies Public Forum Question To Califonia Supreme Court

Posted on June 10, 2008
In a case that has been winding its way through federal courts for eleven years, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has assured no early final resolution by certifying a question of state law to the California Supreme Court. In International Society for Krishna Consciousness of California, Inc...

Newark Schools Settle Case Agreeing Not To Hold Graduations In Church Buildings

Posted on June 10, 2008
Yesterday's Newark (NJ) Star-Ledger reports that the ACLU has settled a lawsuit it filed against the Newark Public Schools on behalf of a Muslim student who was unable to attend his own high school graduation. Honor student Bilal Shareef's religious beliefs precluded him from entering a building containing religious icons such as a cross...

Canadian Panel Orders Pastor To Stop Publishing Anti-Gay Remarks

Posted on June 10, 2008
Life Site News today reports that a panel of the Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commission has issued its Decision on Remedy in the case of pastor Stephen Boissoin who had previously been found by the Commission to have incited hatred against homosexuals through a letter of his that was published in the Red Deer Advocate...

Obama Looks To Religious Voters For Support

Posted on June 10, 2008
The media are filled with stories on Barack Obama?s attempt to attract religious voters in the November election. CBN News reports that today Obama met with some 30 religious leaders in Chicago, including evangelicals, mainline Protestants and Catholics...

PUBLICATION SCHEDULE: RELIGION CLAUSE IS ON A SHORT BREAK. LOOK FOR THE NEXT NEW POSTINGS LATE TUESDAY NIGHT.

Posted on June 08, 2008

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