Agence France Press reports: Mohammad Shafi, 45, [an imam at a local mosque,] and his son Mohammad Aslam, 20, were arrested in April last year for removing a poster outside their grocery shop advertising an Islamic event in a nearby village which allegedly contained Koranic verses [and were sentenced to life in prison on Monday]…. […]
Archive | Religious Freedom
Egyptian Muslims Attend Coptic Christmas Mass, Hoping to Deter Violent Attacks by Muslim Extremists
So reports Ahram Online: [T]housands of Muslims showed up at Coptic Christmas eve mass services in churches around the country and at candle light vigils held outside. From the well-known to the unknown, Muslims had offered their bodies as “human shields” for last night’s mass …. “We either live together, or we die together,” was […]
Support in Pakistan for Murderer of the Pakistani Governor Who Had Opposed Blasphemy Punishment
I noted Tuesday, quoting the Washington Post that Salman Tasser, governor of Pakistan’s Punjab province, “was assassinated … allegedly by one of his own security guards [who told the police] he was angered by Taseer’s recent public endorsement of a pardon for a Christian woman sentenced to death for blasphemy. Prof. Howard Friedman (Religion Clause) […]
Pakistani Governor Assassinated By Own Security Guard, Allegedly Because of Governor’s Opposition to Blasphemy Punishment
The Washington Post reports: The governor of Pakistan’s largest province was assassinated Tuesday at a genteel market in the nation’s capital — allegedly by one of his own security guards …. Interior Minister Rehman Malik said one of the governor’s guards surrendered to police after the shooting and told them he was angered by Taseer’s […]
21 People Killed and 70 Injured Yesterday in Bombing of Church in Egypt
The BBC reports: President Hosni Mubarak has urged Egypt’s Muslims and Christians to stand united against terrorism after a bombing outside a church in Alexandria…. US President Barack Obama condemned “this barbaric and heinous act” and said those behind it had to be brought to justice…. This is the second consecutive Christmas that will be […]
Bank Ordered to Take Down Religious Displays [UPDATE: The Order Has Now Been Revoked]
By Eugene Volokh on December 17, 2010 4:07 pm in "Hate Speech", Freedom of Speech, Religion and the Law, Religious Freedom
KOCO-TV reports, A small-town bank in Oklahoma said the Federal Reserve won’t let it keep religious signs and symbols on display. Federal Reserve examiners [who came for a regularly scheduled inspection visit] deemed a Bible verse of the day, crosses on the teller’s counter and buttons that say “Merry Christmas, God With Us.” … inappropriate. […]
Jonathan Rauch on Gay Rights and the Rights of Opponents of Homosexuality
A very interesting and thoughtful article, in The Advocate, from a leading supporter of same-sex marriage rights. Here’s an excerpt: [Gay rights opponents] have developed a narrative that goes like this: Gay rights advocates don’t just want legal equality. They want to brand anyone who disagrees with them, on marriage or anything else, as the […]
UN General Assembly Committee Passes New Version of Resolution Urging Nations to Forbid Defamation of Religion
By Ilya Somin on November 24, 2010 1:19 am in International Human Rights Law, International Law, Religion, Religion and the Law, Religious Freedom
The United Nations General Assembly Third Committee recently passed another resolution urging nations to ban defamation of religion [HT: Elizabeth Cassidy of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, which criticized the resolution here]: A U.N. General Assembly committee once again voted to condemn the “vilification of religion” on Tuesday, but support narrowed for a […]
U.S. Department of Justice Pushes N.J. County to Allow Muslim Corrections Officer to Wear Headscarf
From the Justice Department press release, issued last Friday: The department’s complaint alleges that Essex County refused to permit Yvette Beshier to wear a khimar (religiously-mandated headscarf) while working as a corrections officer…. Title VII prohibits discrimination in employment on the basis of race, color, sex, national origin and religion. The act’s religious discrimination provisions […]
Death Sentence for Blasphemy in Pakistan
By Eugene Volokh on November 12, 2010 3:07 pm in Blasphemy, Freedom of Speech, Religion and the Law, Religious Freedom
The Herald-Sun (Australia) reports: A Pakistani court has sentenced to death a Christian mother-of-five for blasphemy …. Pakistan has yet to execute anyone for blasphemy, but the case spotlights the Muslim country’s controversial laws on the subject … Asia’s case dates back to June 2009 when she was asked to fetch water while out working […]
Antidiscrimination Laws and Religious Organizations
Prof. Doug Laycock — one of the leading Religion Clauses scholars in the nation — and the Becket Fund have just filed an excellent petition for certiorari asking the Court to review EEOC v. Hosanna-Tabor (6th Cir. 2010). The issue is well described in the petition itself: This Court has long recognized the right of […]
Rosary ban likely illegal, say Volokh and Kopel
By David Kopel on October 26, 2010 1:45 am in First Amendment, Religion and the Law, Religious Freedom
Mann Middle School in Colorado Springs has banned students from wearing rosaries as visible necklaces. School officials have offered two different rationales: some gang members wear rosaries as gang symbols; some Catholics are offended by the wearing of rosaries on the neck. A Colorado Springs Gazette editorial on the controversy quotes Eugene Volokh and David […]
The Individualistic American Law of Religious Exemptions
Say that someone demands a religious accommodation, under one of the state or federal religious exemption regimes (whether under an employment statute such as Title VII, a Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a state constitutional religious freedom provision, or what have you). And say that most of his coreligionists don’t share this belief, or that the […]
Does Trucking Company Have a Legal Duty to Accommodate Muslim Employee’s Religious Objections to Transporting Alcohol or Tobacco?
That’s the argument made in Reddy v. Schneider National, Inc. (E.D. Pa. filed Oct. 15, 2010). Vasant Reddy says that he has “a sincerely held religious belief that he cannot consume, possess, or transport alcohol or tobacco,” and that he informed Schneider National of this. He also says that “less than 5% of the loads […]
Orthodox Jewish Arbitrations, Islamic Arbitrations, and Discrimination Against Witnesses Based on Sex or Religion
I’ve at times blogged about the propriety of letting people agree to Islamic binding arbitration (by private Islamic arbitration panels) of their disputes, just as they can agree to Christian or Jewish arbitration, and just as they can agree to secular arbitration. (See, for instance, this post.) This agreement could take place either before a […]