Religion & Law

Ohio Supreme Court Upholds Property Tax Exemption For Episcopal School Property

Posted on May 05, 2008
In Episcopal School of Cincinnati v. Levin, (Ohio Sup. Ct., March 12, 2008), the Ohio Supreme Court held that the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Ohio was entitled to a property tax exemption for the year 2001 for property it acquired to use for a church-affiliated inner-city school so long as on Jan...

Catholic Paper In Malaysia Wins Initial Court Victory

Posted on May 05, 2008
In Malaysia, the Catholic newspaper The Herald has won an initial victory in its challenge to a government claim that it may not use "Allah" as a synonym for God in its Malay-language reporting. Today's International Herald Tribune reports that High Court Judge Lau Bee Lan rejected the prosecutor's claim that the challenge is frivolous...

Recent Scholarly Articles of Interest

Posted on May 05, 2008
From SSRN:Andrew M.M. Koppelman, Phony Originalism and the Establishment Clause, (Northwestern Public Law Research Paper No. 08-15, April 25 2008).Patrick McKinley Brennan, Differentiating Church and State (Without Losing the Church),(Georgetown Journal of Law & Public Policy, Forthcoming)...

State Department Suggesting Diplomats Change Language In Describing Islamic Terrorists

Posted on May 05, 2008
The AP reported last week on a memo titled Words That Work and Words That Don't: A Guide for Counterterrorism Communication that was originally prepared in March by the Extremist Messaging Branch at the National Counter Terrorism Center and was approved for diplomatic use last month by the State Department...

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Israel's Supreme Rabbinical Court Invalidates Conversions Performed By Two Rabbis

Posted on May 04, 2008
In Israel, the tensions between those who want impose strict conversion standards on individuals seeking to become Jews and those who opt for somewhat more liberal standards have again surfaced in a decision of the Supreme Rabbinical Court last week. YNet News and My Obiter Dicta blog report that the Court has ruled all conversions performed since 1999 by Rabbis Chaim Drukman and Chaim Avior are invalid...

Jewish Parents In Plano, TX Say Students Harassed To Take New Testament

Posted on May 04, 2008
The Plano, Texas School District finds its policy of granting all outside groups equal access to unstaffed distribution tables at schools under attack. Saturday's Dallas Morning News reports that parents of some Jewish students at Vines High School say their children were pressured and taunted by other students to pick up a copy of the Gideons' New Testament...

Kentucky 10 Commandments Case Appealed To 6th Circuit

Posted on May 04, 2008
In the latter part of April a notice of appeal to the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals was filed in ACLU of Kentucky v. Grayson County, Kentucky, a case in which a Kentucky federal district court permanently enjoined a display of the Ten Commandments as part of a Foundations of American Law and Government Display in the Grayson County (KY) Courthouse...

Turkish Schools In Pakistan Offer Moderate Islamic Alternative

Posted on May 04, 2008
Today's New York Times carries a front page article titled Turkish Schools Offer Pakistan a Gentler Vision of Islam. It reports on a group of Turkish educators-- offering an alternative to both public schools and madrasas-- who have: an entirely different vision of Islam...

Illinois Man Seeks "In God We Trust" As New Name

Posted on May 04, 2008
Zion, Illinois school bus driver and amateur artist Steve Kreuscher is asking an Illinois court to permit him to legally change his name to "In God" [first name] "We Trust" [last name]. Yesterday's Chicago Daily Herald reports that the 57-year old says: "Those words are an endangered species...

West Virginia High Court Rejects Challenge To Prosecutor's Biblical References

Posted on May 04, 2008
In State of West Virginia v. Keesecker, (WV Sup. Ct. App., April 25, 2008) West Virginia's Supreme Court of Appeals rejected a claim by a defendant who had been convicted on six counts of sexual assault that her convictions should be reversed because the trial judge permitted the prosecutor to refer to biblical theory and examples during closing argument...

Recent Develpments In the FLDS Child Custody Case

Posted on May 04, 2008
Carey Cockerell, the Texas Commissioner of Family and Protective Services, testified before the Texas Senate Committee on Health and Human Services last Wednesday on developments and challenges in the handling of children taken into foster care after the raid of the FLDS ranch in Eldorado, Texas...

Anti-Evolution Film Makers Sued for Copyright Violations

Posted on May 03, 2008
The AP reported last week that producers of the already controversial film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed are now being sued by Yoko Ono who claims that the film violates copyright laws by using portions of John Lennon's song Imagine in the movie. While the production company Premise Media says that it is protected under the fair use defense, Ono's lawsuit says that the way the song is listed in the film's credits inaccurately suggests to viewers that the producers had permission to use it...

Court Says Employer Has Burden Under Title VII To Attempt Accommodation

Posted on May 03, 2008
In EEOC v. Texas Hydraulics, Inc., (ED TN, April 16, 2008), a Tennessee federal district court denied defendant's motion for summary judgment in a Title VII religious discrimination lawsuit. Keith Vogeler, a production employee, would not work from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday for religious reasons...

Iranian Artist In Europe Gets Death Threats From Home

Posted on May 03, 2008
A fatwa urging the killing of Iranian artist Sooreh Hera, who now lives in the Netherlands, has been published in Iranian newspapers, according to Fox News today. The death threats came after the artist attempted to display her photos of gay men titled "Adam & Ewald, Seventh-Day Lovers...

Britain Approves Shariah Compliant Insurance Company

Posted on May 03, 2008
Britain's Financial Services Authority has, for the first time, granted regulatory approval to an independent insurance company that will offer Shariah-compliant home and auto insurance. Financial Advice reported on Friday that Principle Insurance will now be able to offer Britain's 2 million Muslims insurance products that do not compromise their religious beliefs...

USCIRF Issues Its 2008 Report on International Religious Freedom

Posted on May 02, 2008
Today the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom announced release of its 2008 Annual Report (full text) recommending eleven countries be designated as "countries of particular concern"-- those that are are most restrictive of religious freedom...

New Appeal Filed By FLDS Mothers In Attempt To Regain Custody of Children

Posted on May 02, 2008
On Wednesday, attorneys for 38 mothers of children taken from the FLDS Ranch in Eldorado, Texas filed an an Amended Petition for Writ of Mandamus (full text) with a Texas state appellate court seeking return of their children. The case is captioned In re Sara Steed, et...

6th Circuit Rejects Amish Challenge to Septic Tank Requirements

Posted on May 02, 2008
In Beechy v. Central Michigan District Health Department, (6th Cir., April 23, 2008), the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals rather summarily affirmed a district court decision rejecting free exercise and RLUIPA claims by Amish defendants who objected to septic tank size requirements...

Indian Tribe Faction Asserts Religious Rights To Support Land Takeover

Posted on May 02, 2008
In Wisconsin, a Lac Du Flambeau tribal court is being asked to grant a restraining order and an injunction to prevent law enforcement officials from removing members of the Ginew faction of the tribe from a piece of tribal land they have taken over in protest against financial activities of the Tribal Council...

Court Finds Church-State Problems With University Training Manual

Posted on May 02, 2008
In Sklar v. Clough, (ND GA, April 29, 2008), a Georgia federal district court found substantial problems with material included in a training manual used in Georgia Institute of Technology's "Safe Space" program. Safe Space is designed to create a supportive environment on campus for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender students...

Suit Challenging Limits On School Art Projects Settled

Posted on May 02, 2008
Yesterday's Wausau (WI) Daily Herald reports that the parties have agreed in principle to a settlement in A.P. v. Tomah Area School District, a case in which a Tomah High School student challenged a school policy that prohibits art class projects from depicting "violence, blood, sexual connotations, [or] religious beliefs...

9th Circuit Keeps Injunction Against Pharmacy Board Rules In Place

Posted on May 02, 2008
Yesterday in Stormans Inc. v. Selecky, (9th Cir., May 1, 2008), in a 2-1 decision the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals refused to stay a preliminary injunction that the district court had entered barring enforcement of Washington State Pharmacy Board regulations against plaintiff...

Queen's Grandson Keeps Place In Succession As His Fiancee Converts

Posted on May 02, 2008
Britain's Act of Settlement of 1701 requires the monarch to be a member of the Church of England and excludes from the position of king or queen any member of the royal family who has married a Catholic. Agence France-Presse reports today that Queen Elizabeth II's eldest grandson, Peter Mark Andrew Phillips, can remain as eleventh in line for the throne...

Danish Party Opposes Muslim Magistrates Wearing of Head Scarves

Posted on May 01, 2008
According to a story today from Agence France-Presse, Danish authorities last December authorized Muslim magistrates to wear headscarves in their courtrooms. Now that this has been recently disclosed, Denmark's right-wing DPP party is launching a series of newspaper ads opposing the practice...

Today's National Day of Prayer Is Surrounded by Controversy

Posted on May 01, 2008
Today is National Day of Prayer (see prior posting), and controversies surround it. Jews on First reports that its campaign for an "Inclusive National Day of Prayer" has failed. Its website says: "Almost all of the governors ... have issued National Day of Prayer proclamations to the National Day of Prayer Task Force, a group linked to Focus on the Family...

Truck Owner Says Town Is Discriminating Against His Religious Speech

Posted on May 01, 2008
WWNYTV News on Tuesday reported that a contractor in Gouverneur, New York is challenging a citation he received for violating the town's billboard ordinance (full text , see Sec. 17.N.). Dan Burritt has parked a large semi-trailer on his property and put up religious messages on both sides of it...

Attorneys Fees Awarded In RLUIPA Case That Resulted In Nominal Damage Award

Posted on May 01, 2008
In Layman Lessons v. City of Millersville, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 34996 (MD TN, April 29, 2008), a Tennessee federal district court, in a religious land use case, awarded plaintiff Layman Lessons nearly $60,000 in attorneys fees and costs. The court said: "the fact that Layman Lessons originally sought compensatory damages but was ultimately only awarded $ 2...

New Mexico Removes 3 Minors From Cult's Strong City Compound

Posted on May 01, 2008
The AP reported yesterday that New Mexico authorities have removed two girls and a boy-- all under age 18-- from the "Strong City" compound of The Lord Our Righteousness Church near Clayton, NM. The children are currently in state custody. The move took place after allegations of inappropriate contact between the three minors and the church's leader Wayne Bent (also known as Michael Travesser)...

Shi'ites In Saudi Arabia Unhappy With Removal of Court Head

Posted on May 01, 2008
In Saudi Arabia, tensions have erupted between the dominant conservative Sunnis and the minority Shi'ites who live mainly in Qatif and al-Ahsa in the Eastern Province. Yesterday's Khaleej Times reports that the recent removal of Sheikh Mohammed al-Obaidan as head of the Shi'a court in Qatif is seen by Shi'as as an attempt to subordinate their court system to Sunni judicial authorities...

Times Explores Obama-Wright Relationship

Posted on May 01, 2008
This morning's New York Times carries an interesting article on Barack Obama's relationship with his former pastor Jeremiah Wright, and the eventual rift between them. It says: "Theirs was a long and painful falling out, marked by a degree of mutual incomprehension...

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