EXCERPT: President Obama yesterday carried out what has become an annual tradition of declaring January 16 “Religious Freedom Day.” Citing Virginia’s 1786 “Statute for Religious Freedom,” in which Tomas Jefferson wrote that “all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion,” the president said that although the…
Category: Legal Issues
A Tennessee mosque, a good American story (First Amendment Center)
EXCERPT: By Charles C. Haynes, Director of the Religious Freedom Education Project December 31, 2010 — The No. 1 religion story of 2010 was the emotional, often ugly debate over plans for an Islamic center two blocks from ground zero in Manhattan, according to Religion Newswriters Association members – and just about everyone else making…
In Defense of Separation
In the past few months there has been a renewed debate about the principles surrounding the first amendment, and especially about what scholars call the religion clauses – “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” Prior to the midterm elections in November, Christine O’Donnell asserted that…
Religious Liberty 2010 – A Year in Review
By Jason Hines – 2010 has been an interesting year in the area of church-state relations, both at home and abroad. While we cannot cover every event of magnitude that took place this year in this forum, we will touch on some of the more important events have taken place over the last 365 days….
CalChamber Sounds Alarm on Employer Impact of Proposition 19
“This initiative would change the way employers are required to do business in our state,” said Allan Zaremberg, President and CEO of the California Chamber of Commerce. “Essentially any employer would be required to offer marijuana users extra protections above those provided to other employees. If Proposition 19 becomes law, our state’s workers will face increased exposure to injuries and our employers will face increased exposure to liability. Proposition 19 is bad for employers and their employees.”
Colorado School’s Rosary Rule Disputed (KKTV)
EXCERPT: COLORADO SPRINGS — An announcement made by a Colorado Springs middle school, stipulating how students can wear rosaries, has the ACLU speaking out against the decision. The group says religious liberty does not stop at the entrance to a public school. [District spokesperson Elaine] Naleski says some students were offended at how others were…
Druidry to be classed as religion in Britain (BBC)
EXCERPT: UNITED KINGDOM — Druidry is to become the first pagan practice to be given official recognition as a religion [in Britain]. The Charity Commission has accepted that druids’ worship of natural spirits could be seen as religious activity. The Druid Network’s charitable status entitles it to tax breaks, but the organisation says it does…
9th Circuit: World Vision Can Continue Faith-Based Hiring
On August 23, 2010, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that World Vision is a religious organization and is therefore exempt from Title VII prohibitions on religious discrimination. Three former employees Silvia Spencer, Ted Youngberg, and Vicki Hulse had had filed suit against the well-known humanitarian organization in 2007, claiming they had been victims…
An Analysis of the Results of the Federal Prop 8 Same-Sex Marriage Trial
In short, Judge Walker ruled based on the evidence presented, as any trial judge should, and regardless of his own personal sexual orientation or biases, Prop 8 supporters simply did not make a viable case for themselves. Sloganeering may have won the election but did not win a trial where real evidence was required. Prop 8 supporters may later look at the ruling and claim it was wrongly decided but as this essay points out, the reality is that they did a poor job presenting their evidence and only put two witnesses on the stand, both of whom had previously written statements that contradicted their testimony in favor of Prop 8. When both of these witnesses were neutralized, Prop 8 advocates had nothing left with which to prove their case and any effort by any judge to add in facts to uphold Prop 8 would have been the very definition of judicial activism.
So Much For Religious Liberty (Forbes)
By Richard Epstein EXCERPT: What’s sauce for the goose is sauce for the gander. One glaring weaknesses of the modern law on religious freedom is that it turns a blind eye toward neutral rules with a disparate impact on members of minority groups. That is why Justice Scalia was wrong in Employment Division, Department of Human…