Religion & Law

USCIRF Hearing On Hate Speech Targeting Religious Groups

Posted on October 22, 2020
Yesterday the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom held a hearing on Combatting Online Hate Speech and Disinformation Targeting Religious Communities.  The USCIRF website has a video of the full hearing and transcripts of witnesses' testimony.

Pope Francis Endorses LGBT Civil Union Laws

Posted on October 22, 2020
Catholic News Agency reported yesterday that in a newly released documentary titled Francesco, Pope Francis called for the passage of civil union laws covering same-sex couples. This is inconsistent with the positions of prior Popes and with the views of the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith...

Colorado Limits On Worship Services Enjoined

Posted on October 21, 2020
In Denver Bible Church v. Azar, (D CO, Oct. 15, 2020), a Colorado federal district court granted a preliminary injunction barring enforcement against two churches of portions of Colorado's COVID-19 restrictions on worship services. The court said in part:Plaintiffs are likely to succeed on the merits of their free exercise claim for a simple reason...

Pennsylvania Supreme Court Hears Arguments In Important Clergy Abuse Case

Posted on October 21, 2020
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports on oral arguments before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court yesterday in an important case on Catholic Church liability for priest sexual abuse occurring many years ago:At issue is the claim by plaintiff Renee Rice of Altoona that the Diocese of Altoona-Johnstown conspired to cover up abuse by priests including that of her own alleged assailant ? the Rev...

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Jail's "God-Pod" Program Violates Establishment Clause

Posted on October 21, 2020
 In Young v. Newton, (ED VA, Oct. 16, 2020), a Virginia federal district court, while rejecting a number of claims by Muslim inmates, held that the Riverside Regional Jail Authority (along with its superintendent and the program chaplain) violated the Establishment Clause when they created the Christian-based Life Learning Program (known as the "God Pod")...

Pastor Was Validly Demoted and Terminated

Posted on October 21, 2020
In Kim v. Kwon, (CA App., Oct. 19, 2020), a California state appellate court affirmed a trial court's decision that plaintiffs are validly elected directors of Irvine Baptist Church and that they validly demoted and then terminated senior associate pastor David Kwon...

Russia Continues To Prosecute For Failure of Religious Groups To Display Full Official Names

Posted on October 20, 2020
 Forum 18 reported yesterday:Religious organisations in Russia continue to be prosecuted for not showing their full official names on literature, online, and most frequently of all, on their buildings ? despite a lack of clear guidance in law on how and where names should be displayed...

More Litigation Developments In Religious Institution Challenges To COVID-19 Restrictions

Posted on October 20, 2020
Suit was filed last week in an Oregon federal district court challenging Oregon's COVID-19 Orders and guidance that grant small public schools, but not small private or religious schools, an exemption from the ban on in-person instruction. The complaint (full text) in Hermiston Christian Center v...

Recent Articles of Interest

Posted on October 19, 2020
 From SSRN:Samuel J. Levine, Hands-Off Religion in the Early Months of COVID-19, (October 1, 2020).Sahar F. Aziz, Legally White, Socially Brown: Racialization of Middle Eastern Americans, (Routledge Handbook on Islam and Race (ed. Zain Abdullah), Forthcoming)...

Native American Band Fails In Attempt To Halt Border Barrier Construction

Posted on October 19, 2020
 In Manzanita Band of the Kumeyaay Nation v. Wolf, (D DC, Oct. 16, 2020), in a suit by a Native American tribe the D.C. federal district court refused to enjoin construction on two barrier projects along the U.S.-Mexico border in California. The court said in part:The Kumeyaay?s principal claim of injury is this: So long as construction at the Projects continues without proper consultation and mitigation measures, it will ?unavoidably damage? cultural and religious sites and artifacts, as well as the natural setting and resources ?on which the sacred nature of such sites depends...

New York's Zip-Code Targeted COVID-19 Limits Are Upheld

Posted on October 17, 2020
In Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, New York v. Cuomo, (ED NY, Oct. 16, 2020), a New York federal district court refused to grant a preliminary injunction to the Diocese in its challenge to New York's COVID-19 cluster action initiative that targets specific zip codes...

Church's Challenge To California COVID-19 Limits Rejected Again

Posted on October 17, 2020
 In South Bay United Pentecostal Church v. Newsom, (SD CA, Oct. 15, 2020), a California federal district court refused to grant a preliminary injunction to a church that challenged California's current COVID-19 restrictions on worship services...

Tennessee 48-Hour Abortion Waiting Period Struck Down

Posted on October 16, 2020
 In Adams & Boyle, P.C. v. Slatery, (MD TN, Oct. 14, 2020), a Tennessee federal district court struck down Tennessee's requirement that women seeking an abortion must receive specified information in person and then wait 48 hours before undergoing the procedure...

Rockland County (NY) Synagogues Sue Over Targeted COVID-19 Order

Posted on October 16, 2020
Another lawsuit challenging New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Oct. 6 Executive Order targeting Covid-19 hot spots was filed on Wednesday by three Hasidic Jewish congregations in Rockland County (NY).  The complaint (full text) in Congregation Yesheos Yakov v...

2nd Circuit Hears Oral Arguments In Vermont School Voucher Case

Posted on October 15, 2020
On Tuesday, the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments (audio of full arguments) in A.M. v. French. In the case,  a Vermont federal district court refused to order the state to allow a student enrolled in a Catholic high school to participate in the Dual Enrollment Program that pays for high schoolers to take college courses...

Amy Coney Barrett's Views On 1st Amendment Religion Issues Examined

Posted on October 15, 2020
Tuesday was Day 2 of the hearings on Amy Coney Barrett's nomination for the U.S. Supreme Court. Don Byrd at BJC has posted video clips of the exchanges between Barrett and members of the Senate Judiciary Committee on church-state and religious liberty issues...

6th Circuit Hears Arguments On Kentucky COVID Orders Applicable To Churches

Posted on October 14, 2020
Yesterday, the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in Maryville Baptist Church v. Beshear and Roberts v. Beshear. (Audio of oral arguments.) At issue are the constitutionality of Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear's orders limiting mass gatherings, including church services...

Pretextual Religious Reasons For Firing Not Protected By Religious Autonomy Doctrine

Posted on October 14, 2020
In Garrick v. Moody Bible Institute, (ND IL, Oct. 13, 2020), an Illinois federal district court allowed a former Instructor of Communications at Moody Bible Institute (MBI) to move ahead with her Title VII disparate treatment and retaliation claims, but not her hostile work environment claim...

Cert. Filed In Church's Challenge To Illinois COVID-19 Orders

Posted on October 14, 2020
 A petition for certiorari (full text) was filed today with the U.S. Supreme Court in Romanian Pentecostal Church v. Pritzker, (cert. filed 10/14/2020).  In the case, the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a church's challenge to Illinois Governor J...

Facebook Will Ban Holocaust Denial

Posted on October 13, 2020
Yesterday Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that Facebook is updating its hate speech policy to ban Holocaust denial on its platform. He said in part:[W]ith rising anti-Semitism, we're expanding our policy to prohibit any content that denies or distorts the Holocaust...

Student Senate President Who Was Removed For His Religious Views Gets Limited Relief

Posted on October 13, 2020
In Denton v. Thrasher, (ND FL, Oct. 8, 2020), a Florida federal district court held that Florida State University's Student Senate acted unconstitutionally when it removed Jack Denton as Student Senate president. (He remained a member of the Senate...

Amy Coney Barrett's Scholarly Writings

Posted on October 13, 2020
Hearings began yesterday on the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the United States Supreme Court.  Here is a transcript of her opening statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee.  Before becoming a federal judge, Barrett wrote widely on issues of constitutional interpretation and the Supreme Court...

Recent Articles of Interest

Posted on October 12, 2020
 From SSRN:Stephanie H. Barclay, An Economic Approach to Religious Exemptions, (Florida Law Review, Forthcoming).Haider Ala Hamoudi, Engagements and Entanglements: The Contemporary Waqf and the Fragility of Shi'i Quietism, (Journal of Law and Religion, Vol...

DC Restrictions On Outdoor Church Services Violate RFRA

Posted on October 12, 2020
 In Capitol Hill Baptist Church v. Bowser, (D DC, Oct. 9, 2020), a D.C. federal district court issued a preliminary injunction allowing plaintiff church to hold outdoor services, with masks and appropriate social distancing, beyond the 100-person maximum set out in the D...

Abuse Victims Win Fist Round In Santa Fe Archdiocese Reorganization Proceedings

Posted on October 11, 2020
 In In re Roman Catholic Church of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, (NM Bankr., Oct. 9, 2020), a New Mexico federal bankruptcy court granted an unsecured creditors committee-- apparently representing primarily clergy sex abuse victims-- derivative standing to pursue claims that some $150 million in assets actually belong to the Archdiocese, not to individual parishes...

Hypothetical Religious Objections On LGBTQ Issues Cannot Disqualify Foster Parents

Posted on October 11, 2020
In Blais v. Hunter, (ED WA, Oct. 8, 2020), a Washington federal district court held that the Washington Department of Children, Youth and Families cannot use its policy to protect LGBTQ+ foster children as the sole determining factor in rejecting a foster family that expresses sincere religious beliefs that would preclude them from supporting gender transition in hypothetical future situation...

Supreme Court Sends Case On Medical Abortion Access Back To District Court

Posted on October 09, 2020
In Food and Drug Administration v. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, (Sup. Ct., Oct. 8, 2020), the U.S. Supreme Court decided to hold in abeyance pending further District Court review the FDA's motion to stay an injunction that had been issued against it...

Another Religious Challenge To California's COVID-19 Orders

Posted on October 09, 2020
 In a suit filed late last month, a Catholic priest has challenged California Governor Gavin Newsom's COVID-19 emergency orders.  the 77-page complaint (full text) in Burfitt v. Newsom, (CA Super. Ct., filed 9/29/2020) charges that the Governor's orders violate various provisions of the California state constitution, including free exercise, equal protection, liberty of speech and equal protection...

Church Says Eminent Domain Proceeding Violates It Religious Freedom Rights

Posted on October 09, 2020
 In Duncanville, Texas, the city has filed a condemnation petition seeking to take land owned by the Canaan Baptist Church in order to build a new fire station.  The property, which currently has no buildings on it, was acquired by the church in 2002 with plans to eventually build church buildings on it...

Catholic and Jewish Organizations Sue New York Governor Over New COVID-19 Restrictions

Posted on October 09, 2020
On Tuesday of this week, New York's Governor Andrew Cuomo announced new restrictions in spots in which clusters of COVD-19 cases have broken out. Areas include parts of Brooklyn and Queens and parts of Broome, Orange and Rockland Counties. The restrictions target mass gatherings and houses of worship, as well as businesses and schools...

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