Religion & Law

Canadian Judge Upholds Undercover Officer's Disguise As Religious Advisor

Posted on March 02, 2008
Canada's National Post yesterday carried a long article about a police sting operation in which an undercover agent disguised himself as a religious spiritual advisor in order to obtain an incriminating confession from a suspect. The article claims this is the first case of its kind in the Western world...

Recent Prisoner Free Exercise Cases

Posted on March 02, 2008
In Pressley v. Beard, (3d Cir., Feb. 26, 2008), the U.S. 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed a district court decision rejecting plaintiff prisoner's claim that his free exercise rights were violated when prison officials confiscated his hard-bound Koran, prayer rug, and kufi...

Wife of Russia's Likely Next President Presses Religious Ties

Posted on March 01, 2008
In the U.S. presidential elections, the religious views of the candidates have often assumed importance. In Russia, according to Sunday's London Telegraph, the religious views of the leading presidential candidate's wife are important. Svetlana Medvedev, wife of Dmitry Medvedev who is likely to be elected to succeed Vladimir Putinin the country's elections on Sunday, is credited with drawing her husband into the Orthodox Church...

California College Says Quaker Teacher May Not Sign Amended Loyalty Oath

Posted on March 01, 2008
California requires teachers to sign an oath swearing or affirming that they will support and defend the federal and state constitutions against all enemies, foreign and domestic. The San Francisco Chronicle reported on Friday that California State University East Bay has fired a graduate student who was employed part-time to teach remedial math because she would not sign the oath without modifying it to reflect her pacifist Quaker views...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

High School Suspends Students For Wearing Crucifxes; Seen As Gang Symbol

Posted on March 01, 2008
The AP reported on Friday that an Albany, Oregon high school suspended two teenagers for refusing to remove crucifixes that they say were gifts from their mothers. Apparently high schools in this part of Oregon have been dealing with crucifixes and rosaries as gang symbols...

ACLU Sues Louisiana School Board Challenging ADF's Model Prayer Policy

Posted on March 01, 2008
The ACLU of Louisiana announced yesterday that for the seventh time it has filed a lawsuit against Tangipahoa Parish School Board and its members, this time challenging the Board's policy on opening school board meetings with prayer. The federal court complaint (full text) challenges under the Establishment Clause the Board's policy which invites clergy in local congregations, on a first-come first-served basis, to lead an opening prayer before the formal opening of the Board meeting...

Columnist Urges Stronger Obama Reaction To Claims He Is Muslim

Posted on March 01, 2008
Naomi Klein, writing in today's Guardian, criticizes Barack Obama for an insufficient response to campaign tactics that suggest he is a Muslim. In an op-ed titled It's No Slur To Be Called a Muslim, she says:What is disturbing about the campaign's response is that it leaves unchallenged the disgraceful and racist premise behind the entire "Muslim smear": that being Muslim is de facto a source of shame...

Gay Pride Protesters Convicted of Disorderly Conduct

Posted on March 01, 2008
A City Judge in Elmira, New York has rejected First Amendment defenses and found four anti-gay demonstrators guilty of disorderly conduct. Each was fined $95 and assessed $100 in court costs. Today's Elmira Star-Gazette reports that the charges grew out of protests at a Gay Pride Festival...

EEOC Sues Nursing Home On Behalf of Sikh Woman Ordered To Remove Kirpan

Posted on March 01, 2008
The Sacramento Bee reports that last Thursday the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission filed a federal lawsuit against a Sacramento nursing home for refusing to accommodate the religious beliefs of a Sikh employee. The nursing home, owned by ManorCare Health Services, insisted that Baljit Kaur Bhandal remove her kirpan while at work, or lose her job...

Canadian Court Refuses To Order Breakaway Churches To Host Loyalists

Posted on March 01, 2008
In February, eleven Canadian Anglican parishes voted to separate from the Anglican Church of Canada and join together instead in the Anglican Network in Canada. The breakaway congregations object to the ACC's liberalizing positions on issues such as homosexuality...

7th Circuit Upholds Dismissal of FLSA Claim On Basis of Ministerial Exception

Posted on February 29, 2008
In Schleicher v. Salvation Army, (7th Cir., Feb. 28, 2008), the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals, in an opinion by Judge Posner, applied the "ministerial exception" doctrine to dismiss a suit brought under the Fair Labor Standards Act by two ordained Salvation Army ministers...

Kosovo's Albanian Minority Argues Draft Constitution Infringes Their Religious Rights

Posted on February 29, 2008
An analysis published yesterday by the New Kosova Report argues that the recently released Draft Constitution of the Republic of Kosovo denies freedom of religion and belief to Kosovo's Albanian minority. While Article 58 provides that "the Republic of Kosovo shall promote the preservation of the cultural and religious heritage of all communities," the report argues that "any Albanian wishing to worship as Orthodox will be forced to define themself as Serb...

Colorado Catholic Conference Does Not Support Personhood Amendment

Posted on February 29, 2008
This November, Colorado voters will cast ballots on a proposed Human Life Amendment to the Colorado Constitution. (Background.) Yesterday's Denver Post reported that the state's Catholic Conference believes that Colorado For Equal Rights, the sponsor of the Amendment, has misrepresented the views of the state's Catholic bishops regarding the Amendment...

Arkansas Supreme Court Hears Arguments In Buddhist Temple Election Dispute

Posted on February 29, 2008
The Arkansas Supreme Court on Thursday heard oral arguments in a case challenging an election of board members at a Buddhist Temple in Fort Smith (AK). The Northwest Arkansas Morning News reports on the appeal of a state circuit court's decision ordering an election and deciding who was a voting member of Wat Buddha Samakitham...

Cuba Signs International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

Posted on February 29, 2008
The AP reports that yesterday Cuba signed two important international human rights treaties-- the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The Civil and Political Rights document protects the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

Air Force Academy Invites New Speakers After Controversial Anti-Muslim Forum

Posted on February 29, 2008
Earlier this month, three controversial speakers (known as the "3-X Terrorists") appeared at the U.S. Air Force Academy at a forum on "Dismantling Terrorism" organized by the school's political science department. As described by Inter Press Service: "To supporters, the 3-X represent 'moderate' voices; they are self-professed Muslim extremists who converted to evangelical Christianity and are now exposing Islam for what it really is...

Suit Challenges Christian Prayers At NY Town Board Meetings

Posted on February 29, 2008
Americans United announced yesterday that it has filed suit in a New York federal district court against the town of Greece, N.Y., and its supervisor, John Auberger. The suit, filed on behalf of two local residents, challenges on Establishment clause grounds the Town Board's practice of opening its meetings with prayers that have overwhelmingly been overtly Christian in content...

Competing Bible Study Groups In California Capitol

Posted on February 28, 2008
Yesterday's Sacramento Bee carries a story about rather nasty competition between two separate Bible study groups for California lawmakers. At the center of the controversy is former UCLA basketball player Ralph Drollinger who now, as an evangelical chaplain for Capitol Ministries, teaches a Legislators' Bible Study...

Bush Appoints Envoy To Organization of the Islamic Conference

Posted on February 28, 2008
President Bush announced yesterday that he is appointing businessman Sada Cumber as Presidential Envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference. Bush said that Cumber's mission "is to explain to the Islamic world that America is a friend -- is a friend of freedom, is a friend of peace, that we value religion -- that, matter of fact, we value it to the point where we believe that anybody should be able to worship the way they see fit, and we respect that...

Arizona House Panel Approves Bill To Protect Student Religious Expression

Posted on February 28, 2008
On Wednesday, the Arizona House Education Committee narrowly approved, and sent on to the full House of Representatives, HB 2713, a bill that would prohibit public schools from discriminating against students on the basis of their religious belief or expression...

Suit Claims Headscarf Amendments To Turkish Constitution Are Impermissible

Posted on February 28, 2008
An interesting Constitutional challenge was filed in Turkey's Constitutional Court on Tuesday, according to Today's Zaman. Article 4 of Turkey's Constitution makes the document's first three articles unamendable. 112 opposition deputies signed a nearly 50-page petition claiming that recent Constitutional amendments lifting the country's ban on wearing of headscarves at universities are inconsistent with unamendable Article 2...

Suit Challenging Georgia City's Demonstration Ordinance Settled

Posted on February 28, 2008
Yesterday, a Georgia federal district court approved a settlement in Baumann v. City of Cumming, Georgia, (ND GA, Feb. 27, 2008), a suit brought by Frederic Baumann who was arrested for handing out Christian gospel tracts in front of the Cumming Fairgrounds...

Advocacy Group Criticizes Use Of Religion In Presidential Primaries

Posted on February 28, 2008
The Interfaith Alliance yesterday released its list of the top ten incidents involving the misuse of religion for political purposes in the 2007-08 Presidential primaries. It has also posted a video of its picks titled "Top Ten Moments In the Race for Pastor-In-Chief"...

IRS Opens Investigation of Obama Speech To United Church of Christ Meeting

Posted on February 27, 2008
The Internal Revenue Service has opened an investigation into Barack Obama's June 2007 speech (full text) to the United Church of Christ's General Synod. (See prior related posting.) In a news article posted online by the UCC yesterday, the Church said that it had taken "great care to ensure that Senator Obama's appearance before the 50th anniversary General Synod met appropriate legal and moral standards...

USCIRF Urges Liberalization Of Religious Freedom By Cuba

Posted on February 27, 2008
Today's Christian Post reports that the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has issued a statement (full text) urging the new Cuban government of Raul Castro to change past policies and grant greater religious freedom and other human rights to Cuba's citizens...

Refusal Of Athlete's Acommodation Request Ultimately Benefits Player

Posted on February 27, 2008
Today's Palm Beach Post reports on a case with an unusual twist in which a high school athlete sought to obtain accommodation of her religious beliefs in the scheduling of state tournament competitions. Orthodox Jewish girl's basketball player, Bassie Orzechowitz, unsuccessfully petitioned the Florida High School Athletic Association to move its Queen of the Hill three-point competition a few hours later so she could compete after sundown on Saturday...

Argentine Nominee For Ambassador To Vatican Withdraws

Posted on February 27, 2008
Alberto Iribarne, recently named by Argentina as its ambassador to the Holy See, has decided not to accept the post after objections from the Vatican. CNA reported yesterday that the appointment created problems because the Vatican, in accepting an ambassador, insists that if the individual is Catholic, he or she must not be "in a state of canonical irregularity"...

FLDS Warren Jeffs To Be Arraigned In Arizona Today

Posted on February 27, 2008
Warren Jeffs, former leader of the polygamous FLDS Church, will be arraigned in Arizona today on charges growing out of his activities in arranging the marriages of two teenage girls to older men. Jeffs has already been convicted in Utah of being an accomplice to rape in a case involving one of the same marriages that are issue in the Arizona prosecution...

Delaware Religion In School Case Settled

Posted on February 27, 2008
Jews on First reported yesterday that a settlement has been reached in Dobrich v. Indian River School District, a long-running lawsuit by two Jewish families against a school district in southeast Delaware. (Text of the Feb. 21 order approving settlement...

Televangelists Continue To React To Sen. Grassley's Investigation

Posted on February 27, 2008
This week saw two developments in the attempts by Senator Chuck Grassley to probe the financial affairs of six "prosperity gospel" ministries. (See prior posting.) Benny Hinn of World Healing Center Church became the third minister to respond to Grassley's inquiries...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.