Religion & Law

Split 9th Circuit Rejects En Banc Review In Sunrise Rock Cross Case

Posted on May 15, 2008
Yesterday, a 3-judge panel of the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals issued an amended opinion in Buono v. Kempthorne, (9th Cir., May 14, 2008), eliminating one footnote, but otherwise reaffirming its holding finding Establishment Clause problems with Congress' transfer of the Sunrise Rock Cross in the Mojave Preserve war memorial to the VFW...

New York Town Transfers Enforcement of Building Codes Against Amish to State

Posted on May 15, 2008
In the face of possible lawsuits by the Amish community over building code enforcement against them, the town board of Conewango, New York yesterday voted to opt out of code enforcement and turn enforcement over to state authorities. Thus any lawsuits will be filed against the state and not against the town...

Court Concludes Paratrooper Is Entitled To Conscientious Objector Status

Posted on May 15, 2008
In Barnes v. Green, (D AK, May 13, 2008), an Alaska federal magistrate judge concluded that an Army paratrooper's request for conscientious objector status be granted. The court rejected the Army's contention that Michael Barnes was not sincere in his claim that he was a conscientious objector, saying:Much is made of the fact that Barnes did not attend church services in Iraq...

Massachusetts Agrees That Non-Jewish Prisoner Gets Kosher Diet

Posted on May 15, 2008
Yesterday, the U.S. 1st Circuit court of Appeals dismissed as moot the case of Guzzi v. Thompson, (1st Cir., May 14, 2008). A release by the Becket Fund explains that the dismissal comes after Massachusetts prison authorities agreed to allow a prisoner who requested kosher food for religious reasons to have access to it even though the prisoner is not Jewish...

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No Summary Judgment In Colorado Episcopal Church Property Dispute

Posted on May 15, 2008
In Grace Church & St. Stevens v. Bishop and Diocese of Colorado, (CO Dist. Ct., May 13, 2008), a Colorado state trial court judge rejected summary judgment for either side in a counterclaim arising out of a lawsuit over ownership of an historic church building in downtown Colorado Springs...

Website Says Grassley's Investigation of Televangelists Reflects Religious Bias

Posted on May 15, 2008
Yesterday's Des Moines (IA) Register reports that a sophisticated website has been set up to attack the investigation of six "prosperity gospel" televangelists by Sen. Charles Grassley. (See prior posting.) The Believers Stand United website is sponsored by one of the groups under investigation-- Kenneth Copeland Ministries...

California Supreme Court Rejects Gay Marriage Ban, But No Impact On Religious Doctrines

Posted on May 15, 2008
The California Supreme court today in a 4-3 decision ruled that under the California Constitution, same-sex couples have the same right to marry as do opposite-sex couples. In In re Marriage Cases, (CA Sup. Ct., May 15, 2008), the majority emphasized, however that "affording same-sex couples the opportunity to obtain the designation of marriage will not impinge upon the religious freedom of any religious organization, official, or any other person; no religion will be required to change its religious policies or practices with regard to same-sex couples, and no religious officiant will be required to solemnize a marriage in contravention of his or her religious beliefs...

University Fires Human Resources VP For Anti-Gay Statements

Posted on May 15, 2008
Last month, Crystal Dixon, who was Associate Vice President for Human Resources at the University of Toledo, wrote an op-ed in the Toledo (OH) Free Press which read in part: "I take great umbrage at the notion that those choosing the homosexual lifestyle are 'civil rights victims...

Muslim Serviceman May Sue Army Over Its Autopsy of Infant

Posted on May 15, 2008
The AP reported yesterday that a Muslim soldier and his wife, stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, may join a pending lawsuit challenging the military's respect for religious diversity. Pfc. Eli Agee and his wife, Mackenzie, are upset that authorities insisted on performing an autopsy on their infant son who died May 3, likely from sudden infant death syndrome...

New Developments In FLDS Child Custody Cases

Posted on May 15, 2008
Legal developments continue in Texas in the FLDS child custody cases. (See prior posting.) Three FLDS fathers who are in monogamous marriages to women who are of legal age filed habeas corpus petitions in a court in San Antonio seeking return of their children...

Preachers' Suit Against Mississippi City Settled

Posted on May 14, 2008
The Alliance Defense fund announced Monday that a settlement has been reached in Wallace v. City of Wiggins, a federal lawsuit against the city of Wiggins, Mississippi and various of its officials on behalf of two Christian preachers who were threatened with arrest for carrying signs and engaging in religious speech on a public sidewalk using a microphone and amplification system...

Muslim Woman's Suit Against Judge Dismissed On Procedural Grounds

Posted on May 14, 2008
In Detroit, Michigan on Monday, a federal district judge invoked unusual procedural grounds to dismiss a free exercise claim brought by a Muslim woman against a Michigan small claims court judge. Small Claims Judge Paul Paruk last October dismissed Ginnnah Muhammad's suit against a car rental company when Muhammad refused to remove her niqab (full face veil) before she testified...

Indian Supreme Court Rejects Challenge To French Action Against Sikhs

Posted on May 14, 2008
India's Supreme Court has dismissed for lack of jurisdiction a claim brought by a Sikh organization, Singh Legal Foundation, challenging France's law that prohibits Sikhs from wearing turbans or other religious symbols in public places in France. Apparently the suit is directed at the French ban on religious symbols in public schools...

Court Dismisses Free Exercise Challenge To Civil Commitment After Marijuana Charge

Posted on May 14, 2008
In Simmons v. Seal, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 38355 (ND CA, April 24, 2008), plaintiff brought a federal civil rights action challenging his commitment to Napa State Hospital after he was arrested for marijuana possession and found incompetent to stand trial...

Texas Welfare Workers Criticized For Treatment of FLDS Children

Posted on May 14, 2008
Yesterday's Salt Lake Tribune says that mental health professionals who were employed to care for the FLDS women and children after the April raid on their Eldorado, Texas ranch are critical of Texas Child Protective Services. Statements given by staff members to the board of Hill Country Community Mental Health and Mental Retardation Center say that the treatment of the women and children, and the conditions under which they were held, were harsh and unnecessary...

9th Circuit Upholds School Dress Policy Against Speech and Religion Challenges

Posted on May 13, 2008
In Jacobs v. Clark County School District, (9th Cir., May 12, 2008), the U.S. 9the Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, rejected a challenge to a Nevada school district's school uniform policy that precluded plaintiffs from wearing T-shirts with printed messages on them...

Virginia County Will Offer Bible In History Course

Posted on May 13, 2008
Earlier this month, the Craig County, Virginia, School Board approved an elective high school course titled "The Bible in History and Literature." OurValley.org reports on the discussion of the proposal at the May 6 board meeting. Several students attending the meeting supported it, even though in 2005 a similar class was dropped for lack of student interest...

Cert Denied In O'Hare Expansion Challenge By Church

Posted on May 13, 2008
Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court denied certiorari in St. John's United Church v. Chicago, IL, (Docket No. 07-1127) (Order List). In the case, the 7th Circuit had rejected a challenge to Chicago's use of eminent domain to take a church cemetery as part of the city's expansion of O'Hare Airport...

Group Charges SFO Targets Sikhs For Turban Searches

Posted on May 13, 2008
The Sikh Coalition says that San Francisco's International Airport is profiling Sikhs for searches. According to yesterday's Contra Costa Times, the group charges that since a Transportation Safety Authority policy change last October (see prior posting), screeners in San Francisco are now routinely searching tubans of Sikh travelers...

Archbishop Tells Kansas Governor Not To Take Communion

Posted on May 12, 2008
Last Friday's Kansas City Star reports that Archbishop Joseph F. Naumann of the Archdiocese of Kansas City has told Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius that she should stop taking communion until she repudiates her support for abortion rights. In a column in The Leaven, the official newspaper of the Kansas City Diocese, Naumann indicated that his latest concern was the governor's April 21 veto of the Comprehensive Abortion Reform Act passed by the Kansas legislature...

Louisiana School Has Seniors Vote On Graduation Prayer

Posted on May 12, 2008
Sunday's Shreveport Times reports that for the second year in a row, Ouachita Parish High School has had its graduating seniors vote on whether or not they wish to include a prayer as part of their graduation ceremony. By a nearly unanimous vote, the seniors opted for prayer...

Algerian Court Fines Christian Convert For Carrying Unauthorized Religious Books

Posted on May 12, 2008
Compass Direct News reports that last Tuesday a court in Djilfa, Algeria imposed a fine of 300 Euros and a one year suspended prison sentence on a 33-year-old Muslim convert to Christianity who was charged with printing, storing and distributing illegal religious material...

Texas Bigamy Prosecution Wll Test Strengthened Law

Posted on May 12, 2008
For the first time since the Texas prohibition on bigamy (Penal Code, title 6, Sec. 25.01) was strengthened by the legislature in 2005, a prosecution is about to take place. Sunday's Dallas Morning News reports that in February, 73-year old House of Yahweh prophet Yisrayl "Buffalo Bill" Hawkins was indicted on four counts of promoting bigamy...

Recent Articles and Book of Interest

Posted on May 12, 2008
From SSRN:Donald R. Davis, Maxims & Precedent in Classical Hindu Law, (Indologica Taurinensia, Vol. 33, pp. 33-55, 2007).Eric G. Andersen, Protecting Religious Liberty Through the Establishment Clause: The Case of the United Effort Plan Trust Litigation, (U Iowa Legal Studies Research Paper No...

Frankenmuth Resident Gives Up On Challenge To Cross On City Shield

Posted on May 12, 2008
Frankenmuth, Michigan resident Lloyd Clark says he is giving up his effort to require the city to remove a Lutheran cross that appears on the city shield. (See prior posting.) According to NBC25 News, Clark made his decision after family and friends told him they were embarrassed by his efforts...

Sri Lankan Buddhists Protest Discriminatory Electric Rates For Temples

Posted on May 12, 2008
In Sri Lanka, Buddhist clergy are calling the country's new electric rates religious discrimination. Colombo's Sunday Times reprints a statement from Ven. Galaboda Gnanissara Thera, head of Colombo?s Gangaramaya Temple who says that the Ceylon Electricity Board has adopted a new rate schedule "that is aimed at a closure of all charitable institutions and places of worship...

Korean Court Rejcts Damage Claim By Expelled High Schooler

Posted on May 11, 2008
In Korea, the Seoul High Court has reversed a trial court's award of damages to a student who, in 2004, was expelled from his Christian high school after he refused to attend required chapel services. Friday's Korea Times reports that Kang We-suck announced his refusal to attend chapel at Daegwang High School though an announcement over the school's loudspeakers and at a one-person rally in front of the school...

Romney Addresses Importance of Religious Freedom To Non-Believers

Posted on May 11, 2008
On Friday, former presidential candidate Gov. Mitt Romney and his wife Ann were awarded the Becket Fund's Canterbury Medal for "Courage in the Defense of Religious Liberty." (Press release). In his acceptance speech (full transcript), Romney reflected on his now-famous speech about religious liberty and his religious beliefs delivered last December during his unsuccessful campaign for the Republican presidential nomination...

Court says RLUIPA Applies To Zoning Limits On 12-Step Program

Posted on May 11, 2008
Friday's Prescott (AZ) Daily Courier reports on an unusual RLUIPA decision by an Arizona Superior Court judge in Yavapai County. The case involves attempts by an AA 12-step program, known as Safe Harbor, to operate out of a neighborhood location in north Prescott...

FLDS Advocate Asks Bush To Intercede

Posted on May 11, 2008
Willie Jessop, head of a group called Mothers and Children of YFZ, has written a letter dated May 10 (full text) to President George W. Bush. The letter has been posted on the "Captive FLDS Children" website. The letter begins: We appeal to you, as President of the United States of America and Leader of the Free World, to intercede in behalf of an American community which has been invaded and devastated by an armed militant force...

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