Reuters reports. “Islamist militant group Boko Haram … claimed responsibility.” UPDATE: The Washington Post reports 39 deaths; I’ve updated the post title accordingly. Here’s more from the Washington Post: Boko Haram has carried out increasingly sophisticated and bloody attacks in its campaign to implement strict Shariah law across Nigeria, a multiethnic nation of more than […]
Archive | Religious Freedom
Security Guard’s Right to Wear a Religious Headscarf
The EEOC reported a couple of weeks ago: A Philadelphia-area security company will pay $50,000 and furnish significant equitable relief to settle a federal religious discrimination lawsuit, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced today. The EEOC charged that Imperial Security, Inc. failed to accommodate the religious beliefs of Julie Holloway-Russell, who is Muslim, and […]
The Hard (and Hypothetical) Police Officer / Establishment Clause Question
I have no sympathy for police officers who simply disapprove of Islam and therefore don’t want to go to Law Enforcement Appreciation Day events at mosques. Here, though, is the hard question: Say that law enforcement wants to send an agent to infiltrate a religious group — assume there is ample reason to justify such […]
Police Captain Who Refused Order to Go to a Mosque for a “Law Enforcement Appreciation Day”
From Fields v. City of Tulsa (N.D. Okla. Nov. 29, 2011): This suit arises out of a dispute between Officer Fields and the Tulsa Police Department. Fields was instructed to have officers under his command attend a “Law Enforcement Appreciation Day” being hosted by the Islamic Society of Tulsa at a local mosque. Officer Fields […]
Religious Fundamentalists Attack Alleged Heretics and Heretics’ Backers
The allegations are in this FBI affidavit; here is the summary, from Prof. Howard Friedman (Religion Clause): The Cleveland Plain Dealer reports that authorities [Wednesday] arrested Samuel Mullet, Sr., the Bishop of a break-away Amish group, known as the Bergholz clan, as well as three of his sons and three other followers, on charges of […]
Trial Court Upholds Canada’s Anti-Polygamy Law (Except as to Prosecution of 12-to-17-Year-Old Spouses)
Note that the law criminalizes polygamy, rather than just refusing to recognize polygamous marriages. Here’s the summary from Prof. Howard Friedman (Religion Clause): In Canada, [a British Columbia trial court] today upheld most of Canada’s anti-polygamy law (Sec. 293 of Criminal Code of Canada) against challenges to it brought under the Canadian Charter of Rights […]
The Safety Sticker of the Beast
Here’s what is alleged in the Complaint in Hyatt v. Berry Plastics Corp. (N.D. Ga. filed Nov. 8, 2011) — recall that these are just the plaintiff’s allegations: 1. Hyatt’s employer kept a safety calendar that marked the number of consecutive days that the workplace was accident-free. Employees were required “to write the number off […]
$75,000 Settlement for Muslim Teacher Denied 19 Days’ Unpaid Leave for Hajj (Pilgrimage to Mecca)
A Justice Department press release, issued yesterday, reports: The Department of Justice announced today that it has entered into a consent decree with the Board of Education of Berkeley School District 87 in Berkeley, Ill. that, if approved by the court, will resolve a religious accommodations lawsuit filed in December 2010. In its lawsuit, the […]
Oral Argument in the Hosanna-Tabor Religious Freedom Case
Yesterday, the Supreme Court held oral arguments in Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC, a key religious freedom case that Eugene Volokh blogged about here. SCOTUSblog has a round-up of coverage of the argument. I found this exchange particularly telling, as the federal government did itself no favors by taking the extreme position […]
Muslims, Quakers, and Nothing New Under the Sun
Amina Farah Ali, on trial in federal court for “allegedly funneling money to a terrorist group in Somali” (AP), has been found in contempt of court for refusing to stand for the judge and jury. The judge sentenced her to fifty days in jail: “The Court hereby finds that on this day, October 3, 2011, […]
The Court’s Upcoming Religious Freedom vs. Antidiscrimination Law Case
Wednesday, the Court will be hearing Hosanna-Tabor Evangelical Lutheran Church and School v. EEOC, an important religious freedom case. Federal and state antidiscrimination laws ban discrimination in employment based on race, ethnicity, religion, sex, age, disability, and other characteristics (some of which vary from state to state), such as sexual orientation and marital status. But […]
Pakistan Court Temporarily Blocks Facebook on the Grounds That It “Spread[s] Religious Hatred”
So reports Pakistan Today: The Lahore High Court Justice Sh Azmat Saeed on Monday ordered ministry of information and technology to block access to all websites in Pakistan especially American social networking website “Facebook”, spreading religious hatred on internet and to submit a compliance report by October 6. The judge, however, made it clear that […]
Religious Objections to Men’s Hearing Women Sing
See here for a report on a controversy involving such objections. Thanks to Prof. Howard Friedman (Religion Clause) for the pointer.
“It Is a Sin to Inform on” a Coreligionist
The L.A. Times reports on a religious leader’s refusal to testify against coreligionists, based on his interpretation of religious law. The courts seem unlikely to give the leader a religious exemption from the duty to testify, though. (For a related scenario, including a citation to the only case I know of — outside the context […]
Greece Abandons Sharia Law Resolution of Muslim Family Law Disputes
I came across a story about this (thanks to InstaPundit for the pointer), and I asked Prof. Robin Fretwell Wilson (Washington & Lee) for her thoughts, since she has written on this Greek practice. (Note that the old Greek regime didn’t just enforce religious arbitration agreements entered by the parties. Rather, it specifically routed Muslim […]