Religion & Law

Jewish Groups Diverge On Joining Church-State Brief

Posted on April 25, 2008
Yesterday's Forward reports that Jewish organizations-- traditionally strong proponents of church-state separation-- are now splitting over how hard to press on Establishment Clause issues. The American Jewish Congress has not joined in a church-state amicus brief (full text) filed with the U...

Bald Eagles Limit Florida Church's Expansion Plans

Posted on April 24, 2008
Tuesday's Lakewood Ranch (FL) Herald reports on an unusual land use problem faced by a Bradenton, Florida Catholic parish. Since 1999, the presence of nesting bald eagles on a 14-acre site that Our Lady of the Angels Catholic Church had acquired for a building has dictated the kind of development the rapidly-growing congregation can pursue...

President Proclaims 2008 National Day of Prayer Amid Call for More Inclusiveness

Posted on April 24, 2008
On Tuesday, President Bush issued a Proclamation (full text) declaring May 1 to be the 2008 National Day of Prayer. Meanwhile, the website Jews on First has begun a campaign for an Inclusive National Day of Prayer, pointing to the fundamentalist Christian focus of the existing National Day of Prayer Task Force...

Appellate Court Rejects Challenge To Religious References By Prosecutor

Posted on April 24, 2008
In State of Connecticut v. Johnson, (App. Ct. CT., April 22, 2008), a Connecticut state appellate court majority opinion rejected a convicted defendant's objections to religious references made by the prosecutor during closing argument at his trial. The references related to the religious piety of the complaining witness and her parents in the sexual assault case...

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San Diego Agrees Church Can Feed the Poor Without a Permit

Posted on April 24, 2008
On Monday, a California federal district court issued an Order of Dismissal (full text) in Pacific Beach United Methodist Church v. City of San Diego, (SD CA, April 21, 2008). The San Diego Union-Tribune reports that the settlement allows plaintiff church to continue feeding the homeless in its building without obtaining a city permit...

Appeal Filed In Case of Wisconisn Pharmacist

Posted on April 24, 2008
On Wednesday, an appeal was filed with the Wisconsin Supreme Court in Noesen v. State of Wisconsin Dept. of Regulation & Licensing, according to a press release on Christian Newswire. In the case, a state appellate court rejected a pharmacist's religious arguments and upheld the state Pharmacy Examining Board?s decision reprimanding him for refusing to fill or transfer a customer's prescription for oral contraceptives...

Recent Articles Of Interest

Posted on April 24, 2008
From SSRN:Natasha Bakht, Family Arbitration Using Sharia Law: Examining Ontario's Arbitration Act and its Impact on Women, (Muslim World Journal of Human Rights, Vol. 1, No. 1, 2007).Jeremy J. Patrick, Not Dead, Just Sleeping: Canada's Prohibition on Blasphemous Libel as a Case Study in Obsolete Legislation, (April 17, 2008)...

Moderate Italian Muslims To Form New Federation

Posted on April 24, 2008
In Italy, representatives of several Muslim groups have announced plans to create a Federation of Italian Islam to promote mosques that teach moderate Islam. Voice of America reported yesterday that the move was announced by outgoing Interior Minister Giuliano Amato who said the Federation, which will be legally recognized, will bring together Muslims who pledge allegiance to the Italian constitution and Italy's Charter of Values of Citizenship and Integration.

Judge Seeks To Accommodate Prayer Sessions Of FLDS Mothers and Children

Posted on April 23, 2008
In San Angelo, Texas, state District Court Judge Barbara Walther has ruled that FLDS women and children being held at the San Angelo Coliseum can meet twice a day for prayers without being monitored by state workers. Yesterday's Salt Lake Tribune reports that despite pleas from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints-- the mainline Mormon church-- for the media to distinguish it from the polygamous FLDS sect, Judge Walther apparently views the relationship between the two groups differently...

Court Says Gideon Bible Distribution To 5th Graders Violated Establishment Clause

Posted on April 23, 2008
In Roe v. Tangipahoa Parish School Board, (ED LA, April 22, 2008), a Louisiana federal district court held that the distribution of Gideon Bibles to 5th grade students at a Louisiana public school violated the Establishment Clause. The court said:Despite the principal's statement that the children did not have to take a Bible, by allowing the Gideons to set up immediately outside the principal?s office, the School Board "created the impression in young, impressionable minds that 'the school endorsed a particular belief: Christianity...

Israel High Court Gives Citizenship To Messianics-- Does Not Recognize Them As Jews

Posted on April 23, 2008
Yesterday's Jerusalem Post reports on a ruling handed down last week by Israel's High Court of Justice which is apparently being misreported in some Christian media. In the case, the High Court agreed to remove a pending petition without making a ruling after the petitioners, twelve Messianic Jews, and the Interior Ministry agreed that the Messianics would be granted automatic citizenship under the Law of Return, as amended...

India's Supreme Court Rejects Bid For Pilgrimage Funding For Non-Muslims

Posted on April 23, 2008
India's Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a petition seeking to have it order the government to fund pilgrims of Hindu, Jain and Buddhist faiths to visit places of worship in China, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal to the same extent as the government funds Muslim Haj pilgrims...

8th Circuit Hears Arguments In Sacramental Marijuana Case

Posted on April 23, 2008
Last Friday, the U.S. 8th Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in Olsen v. Mukasey. A recording of the full oral argument is available online. The Rutherford Institute, which is assisting Olsen in his appeal, describes the case. At issue is whether marijuana use by Carl Olsen, a member of the Ethiopian Zion Coptic Church (EZCC), is protected by the Religious Freedom Restoration Act...

Afghanistan Orders TV Networks To End Indian Soap Operas

Posted on April 23, 2008
According to yesterday's New York Times, Afghanistan's Minister for Information and Culture has ordered television networks to stop broadcasting five popular Indian soap operas. In consultation with the Council of Clerics, the government decided that the soaps are inconsistent with Afghan religion and culture...

Court Dismisses Claim Against US Over Local School Practices

Posted on April 23, 2008
Not surprisingly, a Connecticut federal district court has dismissed a somewhat incoherent lawsuit brought by a pro se plaintiff against the United States and the U.S. Supreme Court. In Edwards v. United States, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 32449 (D CT, April 21, 2008), plaintiff alleged that the United States infringed free expression and free exercise provisions by preventing volunteers and teachers from expressing Judaeo-Christian religious beliefs and sharing biblical teachings in the nation's public schools, while permitting presentation of "unsafe" and "destructive" beliefs of other cultures in the schools...

Recent Prisoner Free Excercise Cases

Posted on April 23, 2008
In Henderson v. Bettus, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 31091 (MD FL, March 31, 2008), a Florida federal district court permitted a Muslim inmate to move ahead with his claim that his free exercise rights were violated when he was refused access to his cell to pray at the proper time during Ramadan and was denied his available bag lunch at the designated time to break his religious fast...

Court Rejects Challenge To "In God We Trust" License Plates

Posted on April 22, 2008
A Marion, Indiana state court judge last week dismissed a lawsuit filed by the ACLU seeking to require the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles to treat the "In God We Trust" license plates it issues as "special group recognition" plates that carry an additional $15 administrative fee...

Cert. Denied In 1964 Civil Rights Act Religious Exemption Case

Posted on April 22, 2008
Yesterday the U.S. Supreme court denied certiorari in LeBoon v. Lancaster Jewish Community Center, (Case No. 97-943) (Order list.) In the case, the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, had held that the Lancaster, Pennsylvania Jewish Community Center was entitled to the religious institutions exemption in the 1964 Civil Rights Act even though it was not under the control of a synagogue...

Court Refuses To Overrule Diocese Decision to Close Church

Posted on April 22, 2008
According to an article in last Friday's Toledo Blade, a Seneca County, Ohio trial court judge has refused to overrule the decision of the Diocese of Toledo made two years ago to close the former St. James Catholic Church in rural Seneca County. Judge Michael Kelbley wrote: "The decision of Bishop Leonard Blair to close a parish in the present case was the sort of purely ecclesiastical decision that may not be reviewed by this or any court...

DC Circuit Hears Oral Argments In Case On White House Logs of Pastors' Visits

Posted on April 22, 2008
The D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday heard oral arguments in Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security. In the case, a federal district court held that the Secret Service had to release records of visits to the White House and to Vice President Dick Cheney's residence by nine prominent conservative Christian leaders...

Court Refuses To Order Church Election For Pastor

Posted on April 22, 2008
In Worcester, Massachusetts last week, a state trial court judge refused to issue a preliminary injunction requiring the Second Baptist Church to schedule an election on the nomination of Rev. Thurman A. Hargrove as the church's pastor. Earlier this year the court refused to issue a preliminary injunction to prevent the dismissal of the 79-year old Hargrove who had been serving as pastor...

EU Will Not Press Claim Against Ireland's Employment Law Exemptions

Posted on April 22, 2008
According to Sunday's Dublin Independent, the president of the European Union Commission has announced that the EU will not pursue a case against Ireland's religious organizations exemption from its equal opportunity laws. Earlier this year, European Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities, Vladimír ?pidla, had issued "reasoned opinions"-- the second step in the enforcement process-- against 10 EU states, including Ireland, for failing to properly implement the EU's Employment Directive...

New York Episcopal Diocese Sues Break-Away Congregation Over Property

Posted on April 22, 2008
In another of the numerous disputes between the Episcopal Church USA and break-away congregations, last week the Episcopal Diocese of Central New York filed suit against the Church of the Good Shepherd in Binghamton. Episcopal News Service reports that last November, the congregation voted to reaffiliate with the Anglican Church of Kenya...

CRS Issues Report On Churches and Political Campaign Activity

Posted on April 22, 2008
The Congressional Research Service recently released a study titled Churches and Campaign Activity: Analysis Under Tax and Campaign Finance Laws, (April 14, 2008). The 15-page report reviews campaign restrictions imposed on churches by the Internal Revenue Code and the Federal Election Campaign Act, discusses the IRS Political Activity Compliance Initiative and analyzes H...

Politicians Send Passover Greetings

Posted on April 21, 2008
As the Jewish festival of Passover began last week, not only did Jews in the U.S. and around the world receive the traditional well wishes of the U.S. President (full text of President's April 18 Message), but they also received greetings from Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton (full text), Barack Obama (full text) and John McCain (full text)...

FLDS Children Remain In Custody As Legal Issues Swirl Around Them

Posted on April 21, 2008
On Friday, Texas District Judge Barbara L. Walther ruled that the 416 children taken from the compound of the FLDS sect in Eldorado, Texas (see prior posting) would remain in state custody, at least for now. She also ordered DNA paternity testing for all the children...

Indonesia Says It Will Dissolve Deviant Muslim Sect

Posted on April 21, 2008
Last week the government of Indonesia announced it would issue a joint decree to outlaw Ahmadiyah sect. The move followed a recommendation by the Coordinating Board for Monitoring Mystical Beliefs in Society (Bakor Pakem). It said Ahmadiyah had not committed to a declaration it signed in January acknowledging mainstream Islamic teachings and renouncing the sect's "deviant" beliefs...

Freethinkers Sue Fargo Over Refusal To Pemit Monument Near City Hall

Posted on April 21, 2008
In Fargo, North Dakota last Friday, the Red River Freethinkers filed a federal lawsuit alleging that the city of Fargo violated their constitutional rights when it refused to permit the Freethinkers to place their own monument near a 10 Commandments monument that has been on City Hall mall since 1961...

Priest Sexual Abuse Victims Win Court Decision; Meet With Pope

Posted on April 18, 2008
Victims of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy won two rather different kinds of victories this week. In Delaware, a court upheld a the state's Child Victim Act against state and federal constitutional challenges. The 2007 law eliminated the statute of limitations in civil damage actions alleging sexual abuse of a minor, and also created a two-year window during which previously barred suits can be brought...

British Spiritual Healers Object To Coverage By EU Directive

Posted on April 18, 2008
In Britain, the Spiritual Workers' Association is objecting to plans to subject them to European Union's Unfair Commercial Practices Directive. Today's London Telegraph reports that as of May 26, Britain's Fraudulent Mediums Act 1951 will be replaced by the EU directive...

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