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Religion & Law

Religion Clause

Current legal, political and scholarly developments relating to free exercise of religion and separation of church and state.
By Howard M. Friedman

Post Frequency: 19.9/day

Last Entry: November 05, 2020 at 07:00:00

Clinton and Obama Participate In Compassion Forum

Posted on April 14, 2008
Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama each answered extensive questions last night at the "Compassion Forum" held at Messiah College in Grantham, Pa. In separate segments of the Forum, broadcast live on CNN, each candidate was asked about personal religious beliefs and about a wide range of issues of interest to religious voters...

Hawaii Court Permits Suit By Church Members To Proceed

Posted on April 14, 2008
In Baldonado v. Way of Salvation Church , (HI Inter. Ct. App., April 10, 2008), an Hawaii appellate court refused to apply the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine to a lawsuit by members of a congregational church. It held that civil courts can apply Hawaii's non-profit corporation law to claims of misuse of church assets and improper expulsion of plaintiffs as members...

Recent Articles and Books of Interest

Posted on April 14, 2008
From SSRN:Rashida Manjoo, The Recognition of Muslim Personal Laws in South Africa: Implications of Women's Human Rights, (July 2007).Alexander Benard, The Advantage to Islam of Mosque-State Separation: What the American Founders Can Teach, (Policy Review, Vol...

California City Will Vote to Change Motto To "In God We Trust"

Posted on April 14, 2008
While California held its presidential primary in February, it will have a primary election for other offices on June 3. (Background). Voters in the city of Porterville will vote on whether to change the city's official motto from "100 Years of the Good Life" to "In God We Trust"...

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Wisconsin Village To Sell Religious Display To Private Group

Posted on April 14, 2008
Holmen, Wisconsin's Village Board seems to have found an response to a citizen's church-state complaint. A display of a cross and a star has been on Star Hill since 1960 when the city and the Lions Club shared the cost of construction. Five years ago the village bought Star Hill land, including the display, for a water reservoir...

Frankenmuth, Michigan In Church-State Controversy

Posted on April 13, 2008
Another city, this time Frankenmuth, Michigan, finds itself in the midst of a church-state battle. After city resident Lloyd C. Clarke argued that they violate the Establishment Clause, Frankenmuth removed two 1-foot tall crosses from its Main Street bridge...

Faith-Based Prison Programs Are Controversial In Israel Too

Posted on April 13, 2008
Controversial faith-based prisoner rehabilitation programs apparently are not limited to the United States. Today's Haaretz reports on the large sums funneled by the government of Israel to religious revivalist groups that work to convince Israeli prisoners to adopt an observant Orthodox Jewish lifestyle...

Numerous Second Thoughts and Concerns About FLDS Raid Are Aired

Posted on April 13, 2008
A number of questions are being raised in the wake of the massive raid of an FLDS ranch in Eldorado, Texas. (See prior posting.) Yesterday's New York Times said that the raid is complicating matters for law enforcement officials in Utah and Arizona who had begun to reach out to FLDS groups in their states and to win the confidence of girls who were taken as under-age wives...

Malasian PM Wants Mandatory Family Notification of Conversion

Posted on April 13, 2008
Attempting to deal with the increasing number of conflicts over burial rights when a person who supposedly converted to Islam dies, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi on Thursday proposed new legislation that would require any person converting to Islam to notify his or her family in writing...

Community College Faces Suit Over Philosophy Prof's Requirement

Posted on April 13, 2008
According to World Net Daily on Friday, the American Center for Law and Justice is threatening a lawsuit against New York's Suffolk County Community College. In a demand letter, the ACLJ claims that a philosophy professor at the college requires students to acknowledge the possibility that God does not exist in order to participate in his course...

"Winning The Peace" Course Prepares Cadets For Iraq-Afghan Deployments

Posted on April 13, 2008
Yesterday's Lower Hudson Journal News reports on the course titled "Winning the Peace" that West Point Army cadets have been taking for the past four years. Aimed at cadets likely to be deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, the course is designed to teach them about different religions and cultures and to train them for community outreach and policing...

Law and Religion Conference Transcripts Available Online

Posted on April 13, 2008
Emory University's Center for the Study of Law and Religion has made available online the full transcripts of 27 speakers at last October's conference titled "The Next 25 Years of Law and Religion". Video webcasts of ten of the presentations are also available...

German Court Says Beret Banned For Teachers, Just Like Headscarves

Posted on April 13, 2008
According to an AP story last week, a court in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia has ruled that a Muslim teacher is barred from wearing a beret in class, just as she is barred from wearing a headscarf. A regional law prohibits teachers from making religious statements that might infringe on state neutrality toward students and parents.

NJ Judge Orders Halt To Jewish Services In Renovated Condo

Posted on April 12, 2008
In Toms River, New Jersey, according to APP, a state Superior Court judge on Friday ordered at least a temporary halt to to Orthodox Jewish prayer gatherings at a home that is part of a local condominium development. A Country Place filed suit in February against condo owner Anna Kahan, alleging that she violated the condo association rules by renovating without permission and using her unit for non-residential purposes...

Norway Will End Evangelical Lutheran Church As State Religion

Posted on April 12, 2008
In Norway, in a compromise announced Thursday, the 7 political parties in the Stortinget (national parliament) have agreed to change the country's Constitution to eliminate the provision in Article 2 that reads: "The Evangelical-Lutheran religion shall remain the official religion of the State...

Discriminatory County Softball League Rules Changed

Posted on April 11, 2008
The Caroline County, Virginia Board of Supervisors on Tuesday said the county recreation department will change its rules governing participation in the county's softball league. Wednesday's Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that the move came after a complaint by Rich Lieberman, a Jewish resident of the county, who was told he could not sign up to play because he does not attend a church in the county...

House Resolution Welcomes Pope Benedict To U.S.

Posted on April 11, 2008
The U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday passed H. Res. 838, welcoming Pope Benedict XVI on his first apostolic visit to the United States which begins next Tuesday. The resolution sets out many highlights of the Pope's life and religious career...

Refusal To Photograph Lesbian Commitment Ceremony Held Discriminatory

Posted on April 11, 2008
In Willock v. Elane Photography, LLC, (NM Hum. Rts. Comm., April 9, 2008), the New Mexico Human Rights Commission held that a photography company violated the New Mexico Human Rights Act prohibition on sexual orientation discrimination when one of its husband and wife owners refused to to photograph a same-sex commitment ceremony...

Another Affidavit Released In FLDS Search; Federal Agents Apparently Also Involved

Posted on April 11, 2008
More information has come out on the much-publicized raid of the FLDS Compound in Eldorado, Texas. (See prior posting.) The full text of the affidavit of a Texas Ranger that was filed to request a search warrant for the Temple on the FLDS premises has been released...

9th Circuit Says Bald Eagle Protection Does Not Violate RFRA

Posted on April 11, 2008
In United States v. Vasquez-Ramos, (9th Cir., April 10, 2008), the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals refused to dismiss criminal charges under the Bald and Golden Eagle Protection Act (BGEPA) and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act (MBTA) against two defendants who claimed their prosecution violates the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA)...

7th Circuit Hears Arguments In Anti-Gay T-Shirt Case

Posted on April 11, 2008
Last Friday the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in Nuxoll v. Indian Prairie School District, (Case No. 08-1050). In the case, an Illinois federal district court held that "school officials may prohibit a public high school student from displaying negative statements about a category of persons, including homosexuals, that are inconsistent with the school's educational goal of promoting tolerance...

Taking Church by Eminent Domain Does Not Violate Florida's RFRA

Posted on April 11, 2008
In Christian Romany Church Ministries v. Broward County, (FL Ct. App., April 9, 2008), a Florida state appellate court held that Broward County did not violate the Florida Religious Freedom Restoration Act when it took a church's property through eminent domain...

Scalia's Speech Criticizes Court's Approach To 1st Amendment Religion Cases

Posted on April 11, 2008
In a speech at the University of Virginia Law School this week, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia took issue with the way in which a majority of the Supreme Court articulates its Establishment Clause doctrines. Yesterday's Hampton Roads (VA) Daily Press reports that in receiving the the Thomas Jefferson Medal in Law, Scalia said that Jefferson never intended to banish religion from government...

In Unusual Reversal, 6th Circuit Finds No Standing In High School Speech Code Case

Posted on April 10, 2008
Yesterday in Morrison v. Board of Education of Boyd County, (6th Cir., April 9, 2008), a 3-judge panel reversed itelf, issuing an amended opinion in a case it originally decided last October. (See prior posting.) In an unusual move, the panel decided to reconsider its prior ruling after defendants petitioned for an en banc rehearing...

Ohio Episcopal Diocese Sues Break-Away Churches Over Title To Church Property

Posted on April 10, 2008
In another of the many battles between the Episcopal Church and break-away congregations, the Episcopal Diocese of Ohio has filed suit in Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court seeking a ruling that the parent Episcopal Church holds title to the properties of 5 dissident parishes...

Russia Plans To Draft Priests Into Military

Posted on April 10, 2008
The Russian News and Information Agency reports today that Russian Orthodox Church officials are concerned about a new law that came into effect this year which cancelled draft deferments for clergymen, seminary students, conscientious objectors and certain others...

Delaware Prison Says No Bible Reading On The Job

Posted on April 10, 2008
Yesterday's Wilmington (DE) News Journal reports that a kitchen manager at the state's Webb Correctional Facility says his supervisor ordered him to remove the Bible he keeps on his desk and not to bring it back. Elizabeth Neal, acting warden at Webb, said the issue is employees' reading while on duty-- whether it is the Bible or anything else...

Interior Ministry Releases New Study of Muslims In Germany

Posted on April 10, 2008
Germany's Federal Ministry of the Interior has released a new study titled Muslime in Deutschland (Muslims In Germany). The English language summary of the 509 page study concludes: [T]he great significance of religion for all Muslims in Germany is striking, as well as the high percentage of those who confess their religion in theory and practice...

Clergyman Debates Australian Justice Over Homosexuality

Posted on April 09, 2008
Today's Sydney Morning Herald reports on an unusual public exchange of recriminations between Reverend Richard Lane of Sydney's St. Stephen's Church and Australia High Court Justice Michael Kirby. In an ABC Radio interview last year, Kirby said that the Anglican and Catholic archbishops had made it difficult for people to adopt a more tolerant attitude toward gays...

Oklahoma Religious Freedom Act Trumps Tort Claims Act

Posted on April 09, 2008
In Shrum v. City of Coweta, 2008 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 27930 (ED OK, March 28, 2008), an Oklahoma federal district court held that the Oklahoma Religious Freedom Act authorizes a religious discrimination claim against Coweta, Oklahoma's police chief in his indivdual capacity...

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