Religion & Law

1990's Actions By Castro Helped Revive Cuban Jewish Community

Posted on May 11, 2008
Cox News Service reports today that in Cuba, actions taken by Fidel Castro in the 1990's have encouraged revival of Cuba's Jewish community. Most of the island's Jews fled in the 1950's, and the community was once down to about 800. It has now grown to 1500...

Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Litigation

Posted on May 11, 2008
In Massingill v. Livingston, (5th Cir., May 8, 2008), the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a trial court's rejection of free exercise and RLUIPA claims by a prisoner who was a member of the Israyl Identity faith. Plaintiff had challenged the prison's grooming requirements, wanted to be kept separate from prisoners of other races, and wanted his Saturday meals delivered on Friday...

Oregon Supreme Court Clarifies Standard For Religious Discrimination

Posted on May 09, 2008
In Nakashima v. Oregon State Board of Education, (OR Sup. Ct., May 8, 2008), the Oregon Supreme Court clarified the test that is to be used in determining whether a public school program is "fair in form but discriminatory in operation" so that it violates Oregon's anti-discrimination statutes...

10th Circuit Upholds Bald Eagle Protection Against RFRA Challenge

Posted on May 09, 2008
In United States v. Friday, (10th Cir., May 8, 2008), the U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a challenge under the Religious Freedom Restoration Act to the government's enforcement of the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act ("Eagle Act"). The case involved the prosecution of Winslow Friday, a member of the Northern Arapaho Tribe, for killing a bald eagle so he could use it in his tribe's Sun Dance...

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Two Schools Want Exemption From Quebec's Religious Culture Course

Posted on May 09, 2008
As previously reported, Quebec's Education Department is requiring, starting next fall, all public and private religious schools to offer a new course in Ethics and Religious Culture. Yesterday's Montreal Gazette reported that two schools have asked for an exemption from the requirement...

Feds Appoint Prosecutor To Focus On Polygamy Issues

Posted on May 09, 2008
Today's Salt Lake Tribune reports that the U.S. Justice Department has appointed a senior, career prosecutor to work with Utah, Arizona and Nevada to combat polygamy related crimes. This disclosure came in letters that Nevada Sen. Harry Reid sent this week to the attorneys general of Utah and Arizona...

Next Steps In FLDS Custody Proceedings Described

Posted on May 09, 2008
Yesterday's Ft. Worth Star-Telegram reports on what to expect at the next round of hearings, scheduled to begin May 19, in the cases of 464 children taken into state custody from the FLDS compound in Eldorado, Texas. In simultaneous hearings in 5 San Angelo courtrooms, children will be grouped by family so that siblings will have hearings together...

Faith Group Sues Over California Limits On Its Use of Park To Feed Homeless

Posted on May 09, 2008
In Orange County, California, an interfaith religious group, Welcome INN (Interfaith Needs Network), has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the state's limits on public assemblies and demonstrations in state parks. According to a press release by the ACLU, when the group attempted to set up supplies in a Doheny State Park picnic area in order to offer a meal to the homeless, a park ranger told them to disperse, citing California Administrative Code, Title 14, Sec...

Group Seeking To Set Up Test Case On Tax Code Non-Profit Limits

Posted on May 09, 2008
Today's Wall Street Journal reports that Alliance Defense Fund is attempting to create a constitutional test case to challenge the tax code limits on church involvement in political campaigns. It is seeking 40 to 50 houses of worship to take part in a protest on Sept...

Malaysian Sharia Court Agrees To Cancel Woman's Prior Conversion To Islam

Posted on May 08, 2008
AFP today describes as "rare" a decision handed down in Malaysia by Penang Sharia Court judge Othman Ibrahim. He permitted a Buddhist woman who had converted to Islam to reconvert to Buddhism. Islamic courts usually do not permit renunciations of Islam, but here the court said that Siti Fatimah only converted in order to be able to marry a Muslim man...

Christian Student Group Sues to Challenge University Speech Code

Posted on May 08, 2008
On Wednesday, a student group, the Christian Fellowship, filed suit in federal court against Pennsylvania's Shippensburg University challenging university rules that plaintiff claims chills free speech and infringes its free exercise of religion. The complaint (full text) in Christian Fellowship of Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania v...

Evangelical Manifesto Released Urging A "Civil Public Square"

Posted on May 08, 2008
Yesterday in a Washington, DC press conference, over 70 religious leaders endorsed a document titled An Evangelical Manifesto (full text, summary). Here is a small part of what it had to say about the place of Evangelicals in public life:[W]e repudiate two equal and opposite errors into which many Christians have fallen...

Religious Monuments Case Delays Army Memorial To Plane Crash Victims

Posted on May 08, 2008
June 14 is the 65th anniversary of the World War II "Bakers Creek" plane crash in Australia that killed 40 U.S. troops. Families of the soldiers, veterans' organizations, and others have contributed money for a monument to the soldiers that they want the Army to place at Ft...

McCain Speaks Out On International Religious Freedom

Posted on May 08, 2008
Yesterday, Republican presidential candidate John McCain spoke at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan on "his vision for defending the freedom and dignity of the world's vulnerable." In his speech (full text) he had this to say about religious freedom:There is no right more fundamental to a free society than the free practice of religion...

San Angelo Mayor Writes of Logistical Challenges After FLDS Ranch Raid

Posted on May 08, 2008
Scripps Howard News Service yesterday carried a piece by J.W. Lown, the 31-year old mayor of San Angelo, Texas, the town located some 45 miles north of the FLDS Ranch that was raided by authorities last month. Lown gives a candid account of how he dealt with the demands placed on his city for space to house the over 400 children taken into state custody along with many of their mothers...

Maryland High Court Refuses To Grant Comity To Pakistani Talaq Divorce

Posted on May 07, 2008
In Aleem v. Aleem, (Ct. App. Md., May 6, 2008), the Maryland Court of Appeals (the state's highest court) refused to recognize a talaq divorce obtained under the laws of Pakistan (Mulsim Family Laws Ordinance 1961) by a husband who, with his wife, resided in Maryland...

Montreal Cabbie Files Human Rights Complaint Over Religious Items

Posted on May 07, 2008
Today's Montreal Gazette reports that Montreal cabbie Arieh Perecowicz has filed a complaint with the Quebec Human Rights Commission challenging a Montreal Taxi Bureau bylaw that bans any "object or inscription that is not required for the taxi to be in service...

Israel Bible Quiz Finalist Is A Messianic, Stirring Intense Controversy

Posted on May 07, 2008
In Israel, the state-run International Bible Quiz, sponsored jointly by the army and the Education Ministry, is a highlight of each Independence Day celebration. Jewish Agency representatives in 30 countries organize regional competitions to select teenagers who will take part in the final rounds...

Tennessee AG OK's Bible Park Financing Under State, But Not Federal, Law

Posted on May 07, 2008
Tennessee's Attorney General, Robert Cooper, issued an opinion yesterday ruling that Tennessee law permits the use of public funds to support the development of Bible Park USA, but left open the question of whether public funding for the theme park would violate the Establishment Clause of the federal constitution...

Canadian Court Says Diocese and Congregations Must Share Properties

Posted on May 07, 2008
In Canada, a number of parishes, upset over issues such as same-sex unions, have voted to break away from the Anglican Church of Canada. Yesterday's Toronto Globe and Mail reports on an Ontario Superior Court ruling issued on Monday holding that three break-away parishes and the diocese must share possession of church properties until the court makes a final ruling on who is entitled to ownership...

China Objects To USCIRF's Report

Posted on May 07, 2008
China yesterday strongly criticized the annual report issued earlier this week by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. The report lists China as one of the eleven most oppressive "countries of particular concern". According to Xinhua, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang yesterday said:[T]he Chinese government protects its citizens' freedom of religious belief according to the laws and Chinese citizens ...

Kansas High Court Upholds Citizen Grand Jury Law Used By Abortion Foes

Posted on May 07, 2008
Yesterday in Tiller v. Corrigan, (KA Sup. Ct., May 6, 2008), the Kansas Supreme Court upheld provisions of K.S.A. 22-3001 providing for citizens to petition for the empanelling of a grand jury. The court held that the provisions are not unconstitutional on their face...

Ohio School Is Divided Over Support Of Science Teacher

Posted on May 07, 2008
Yesterday's Mt. Vernon (OH) News reports on the peer pressure at Mt. Vernon Middle School for students to support controversial science teacher John Freshwater. As reported previously, Freshwater is defying a directive that he remove a Bible that he keeps on his desk in view of his students...

West Virginia Town Moves From Lord's Prayer To Moment of Silence

Posted on May 06, 2008
The Charles Town, West Virginia City Council on Monday night voted 7-1 to open its meetings with a moment of silence instead of the Lord's Prayer which it had recited for decades before city council meetings. The move came after a Jewish resident of the city raised questions about use of the Lord's Prayer...

US Rights Agency Hears Witnesses On Religious Discrimination In Prisons

Posted on May 06, 2008
The U.S. Civil Rights Commission has recently posted online the full transcript of its Feb. 8 Briefing on Religious Discrimination In Prisons. The first panel focused on Free Exercise of Inmates' Religious Rights vs. Prison Security. Speakers were: Chaplain Joseph Pryor (Federal Bureau of Prisons); Steven T...

Paper Reports On Clergy Clash In Break-Away Episcopal Church

Posted on May 06, 2008
While numerous reports have chronicled the progress of litigation between the Episcopal Church and break-away congregations wishing to affiliate with more conservative Anglican convocations, Saturday's Hartford Courant furnishes a different perspective...

Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases

Posted on May 06, 2008
In Terrero v. United States, (11th Cir., April 29, 2008), the U.S. 11th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected claims by a Jewish prisoner that his rights under the 1st Amendment and RFRA were violated when federal prison officials failed to provide him with the means to celebrate the festival of Sukkot, failed to provide him with challah bread instead of matzah crackers, and failed to contract with a rabbi to provide religious services...

Israel Funds Construction of Reform Synagogue For First Time

Posted on May 06, 2008
The Jerusalem Post reports on yesterday's scheduled ground breaking for the first Reform synagogue funded by the Israeli government. Until now, only Orthodox synagogues could receive state funds. The Conservative and Reform Jewish movements are not officially recognized by Israel's rabbinate...

Liberty Counsel Launching Campaign To Support Graduation Prayer

Posted on May 06, 2008
Liberty Counsel today announced the launch of its annual "Friend or Foe" Graduation Prayer Campaign. It says that its goal is to "ensure that prayer and religious viewpoints are not suppressed during graduation ceremonies." It has again made available online its "Legal Memorandum on Graduation Prayers in Public Schools"...

Indian, Pakistani Muftis Argue Over Muslim Compliance With Indian Law

Posted on May 06, 2008
Wednesday's Pakistan Daily Times reports on competing declarations by Muslim clerics on the propriety of Muslims in India slaughtering cows and eating beef. Mufti Habibur Rehman, head of India?s large Darul Uloom Deoband madrassa, told a resident of the Indian town of Muzaffarnagar that while eating beef is legal under Islamic law, it is prohibited by Indian law because of the beliefs of the predomninant Hindu population...

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