News stories related to religious freedom appear nearly every day. Several hundred stories are reported in the course of a year. This page will highlight events related to the work of the Center or otherwise of general interest. More complete coverage of religious freedom stories can be found on the Religion Clause Blog.
Michigan Rejects Intelligent Design In Science Classes
The Associated Press reported on October 10, 2006, that the Michigan State Board of Education unanimously adopted new curriculum guidelines that support the teaching of evolution and exclude the teaching of intelligent design in science classes. The theory could be taught in other courses. Michigan Citizens For Science issued a statement praising the fair procedures used by the Board of Education in considering the issue.
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Supreme Court Declines to Hear Case Challenging School's Unit On Islam
On Monday, October 2, 2006, the U.S. Supreme Court announced it would not consider the case of Elkund v. Byron Union School District. The case involved a challenge by school parents to a world history unit titled "The Roots of Islam and the Empire" that had students reading pages from the Koran and studying Islam's Five Pillars of Faith. The study unit included role playing activities designed to acquaint students with Islam. The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals had earlier ruled that the unit did not create Establishment Clause problems. (Story reported by the Associated Press)
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Ninth Circuit Court Opinion
Polygamy Ban Being Challenged In 10th Circuit Case
The Associated Press yesterday (September 25, 2006), in a widely disseminated article, discusses the briefs that have been filed in a U.S. 10th Circuit Court of Appeals case that is challenging the constitutionality of Utah's ban on polygamy. Challengers argue that they have a deeply held religious belief that plural marriage is ordained of God and is to be encouraged and practiced. They say that the polygamy ban unconstitutionally targets one religion.
Muslims Say Attacks, Harrassment Up 29 Percent Last Year
(RNS) A woman in Freeport, Ill., hits a Muslim woman for wearing a head scarf; a Texas man firebombs a mosque in El Paso, and a Quran is stuffed in university library toilet in Stockton, Calif.
Those were just three of the 1,972 acts of violence, harassment and discrimination committed against Muslims in America in 2005, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which on Monday, September 18, 2006, released "The Struggle for Equality," a report examining Muslim civil rights in America.
The 2005 figure represents a 29.6 percent jump over 2004, when 1,522 cases were reported. The report also found that anti-Muslim "hate crimes" (physical assault) in 2005 rose 8.6 percent from the previous year, increasing to 153 last year from 141 in 2004.
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Text of the CAIR Report, "The Status of Muslim Civil Rights in the United States 2006: The Struggle for Equality"
House Homeland Security Chairman Endorses Religious Profiling
Rep. Peter King, (R-NY), chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Homeland Security Committee, has endorsed religious and ethnic profiling. He would require persons of "Middle Eastern and South Asian" descent to undergo additional security checks, saying "if the threat is coming from a particular group, I can understand why it would make sense to single them out for further questioning." King has said that while not all Muslims are terrorists, all recent terrorists have been Muslim. Legal and law enforcement officials, however, have rejected racial and religious profiling both on constitutional grounds and on grounds of effectiveness. (Story reported by Newsday, August 17, 2006)
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Poll: Four in Ten Americans Admit Prejudice Against Muslims
Almost 40 percent of Americans acknowledge having some prejudice against Muslims, but those with Muslim acquaintances are more likely to show favorable attitudes, a new USA Today/Gallup Poll shows. Thirty-nine percent of Americans asked to "honestly" assess themselves said they have "at least some feelings of prejudice against Muslims" while 59 percent said they did not. (RNS, August 16, 2006)
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Councilman Loses In Attempt To Offer Christian Prayers
A federal district court in Virginia dismissed the claim of Fredericksburg city council member Hashmel Turner that his First Amendment rights were violated when he was not permitted to offer a specifically Christian opening prayer at city council meetings. In its August 14, 2006 ruling, the court found that his opening prayer was government speech, not private speech. Thus, "City Council can restrict what is said on its behalf during the opening prayer without infringing on the speaker’s viewpoint." The court went on to hold that the Establishment Clause prohibits sectarian legislative prayers, and the city's policy of requiring nonsectarian prayer is not an Establishment Clause violation. An appeal is likely. (Story reported in the Richmond Times-Dispatch)
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Court opinion
Evolution Opponents Lose Kansas Board Majority
Kansas voters on Tuesday (August 1, 2006) handed power back to moderates on the State Board of Education, setting the stage for a return of science teaching that broadly accepts the theory of evolution, according to preliminary election results. Two conservatives — including incumbent Connie Morris, a former west Kansas teacher and author who had described evolution as “a nice bedtime story” — appear to have been defeated decisively by two moderates in the Republican primary elections. One moderate incumbent, Janet Waugh from the Kansas City area, held on to her seat in the Democratic primary. The results seem likely to give the moderates a 6-4 edge on the 10-member board when it takes over in January.
Both moderate Republican winners face Democratic opponents in November, but the Democrats are moderates as well, favoring a return to the traditional science standards that prevailed before a conservative majority elected in 2004 passed new rules for teaching science. Those rules, enacted last November, called for classroom critiques of Darwin’s theory. Ms. Waugh, the Democrat, does not face a Republican opponent in the general election.
The changes in the science standards, favored by advocates of intelligent design who believe life is too complex to be have been created by natural events, put Kansas at the vanguard of efforts by religious advocates critical explanations of the origin of life that do not include a creator. But intelligent design was not referenced in the Kansas standards. The curriculum changes, coming after years of see-sawing power struggles between moderates and conservatives, drew widespread ridicule and, critics complained, threatened Kansas’s high standing in national education circles. (Story reported by the New York Times)
Report Says Church-State Lines Not Always Drawn with Faith-Based Groups
An examination of the White House's faith-based initiative has found that some organizations are not separating religious activities from federally funded services. A U.S. General Accountability Office report, released July 18, 2006, said officials at 26 faith-based organizations visited by investigators said they understood that government funds could not pay for religious activities. But reviewers found "four of the 13 FBOS (faith-based organizations) that offered voluntary religious activities -- such as prayer and worship -- did not appear to understand the requirement to separate these activities in time or location from their program services funded with federal funds." George Washington University Law School professor Ira Lupu said the overall report showed no widespread abuse of federal funds but pointed out the need for more monitoring on church-state matters. (RNS)
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GAO Report
Federal Judge Upholds `In God We Trust'; Pledge Case Pending
On June 12, 2006, a federal judge in California ruled against Michael Newdow, a Sacramento doctor and lawyer, who argued that minting the phrase "In God We Trust" on U.S. currency violated constitutional prohibitions against the government promoting religious ideas. Following a 1970 precedent, the court ruled that the words "In God We Trust" are a national motto that "have nothing whatsoever to do with the establishment of religion." Meanwhile Newdow has another important case pending before the Ninth Circuit Federal Court of Appeals -- a challenge to the inclusion of "under God" in the Pledge of Allegiance. In a 2002 ruling, the Court of Appeals found the Pledge's use of "under God" to be unconstitutional. That decision was reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court on the ground that Newdow lacked “standing,” meaning that he was not the proper person to bring the case. The Supreme Court did not address the merits of the claim.
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Court opinion
2002 court opinion overturning pledge
Prison Ministry Program Ruled Unconstitutional
A federal district court in Iowa ruled on June 2, 2006, that a state-financed evangelical Christian prison treatment program operated by InnerChange was “pervasively sectarian” and violated the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause. The case will probably be appealed, and is likely to have important implications for the Bush administration’s faith-based initiative programs. InnerChange is affiliated with Prison Fellowship Ministries, an organization founded by Charles W. Colson, an influential evangelical and close ally of President Bush who went to prison for his role in the Watergate cover-up. In its 140-page opinion, the Court noted that it was not ruling on the ultimate truthfulness of the program’s theological underpinnings. The Court, however, did discuss InnerChange’s evangelical theology, noting how its program differs from others by identifying sin as the root of inmates’ problems. The program also offered special privileges to inmates who accepted its evangelical teachings. The ruling requied InnerChange to return $1.5 million in funding it had received from the State of Iowa. (Story reported in the New York Times.)
Court Opinion
Utah Supreme Court Rules State Ban on Polygamy Constitutional
The Utah Supreme Court upheld the bigamy conviction of Rodney Holm, a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (FLDS). Holm argued that his plural marriage was protected under the Religious Toleration clause of the Utah Constitution and the Free Exercise clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. In its May 16, 2006, decision, the Court rejected the claim under the Utah constitution because the Religious Toleration Clause contains an express exception for polygamy. The Court also ruled that bigamy is not a protected form of religious free exercise under the U.S. Constitution. The FLDS is a polygamist sect that continues to follow the early Mormon doctrine supporting plural marriage. The main branch of the Mormon Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, officially renounced polygamy in 1890. (Story reported in the Salt Lake Tribune.)
Court opinion
Appeals Court Says N.Y. Church Can Allow Homeless to Sleep on Steps
A federal Court of Appeals ruling on April 27, 2006, allowed a prominent New York church to continue offering shelter on its steps to New York's homeless population. In 2001, the City told Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church it could no longer allow homeless people to sleep on its property as it had for the past two years, saying the outdoor site constituted an illegal shelter. The church, however, argued that providing services to the homeless was a religious activity protected under the First Amendment’s Free Exercise clause. The church called the ruling "a strong defense of religious freedom" that reflects "an important part of the ancient Christian tradition of offering hospitality to the poor and to strangers." (RNS)
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Interfaith Alliance Calls for Shutdown of Faith-Based Office
Interfaith leaders have called for President Bush to close the White House Office of Faith-based and Community Initiatives following the resignation of the office's director, Jim Towey, on April 18, 2006. "The so-called faith-based initiative was a bad idea as a campaign promise in 1999 and it's even a worse idea today after we have seen the bureaucratic and political realities growing out of this initiative," said the Rev. C. Welton Gaddy, president of the Interfaith Alliance, on April 26. "The faith-based initiative turns houses of worship who receive its funds into contract employees of the federal government." Opponents question the connections the office may foster between church and state, charging that it has sapped some religious groups' ability to speak out against the government. (RNS)
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Bush Adds Faith-Based Center to Homeland Security Department
In a March 7, 2006, executive order, President Bush called for a center on faith-based and community initiatives to be opened within the Department of Homeland Security. A February report had found that while faith-based and other nongovernmental organizations provided "essential support" to hurricane victims, they "were not adequately integrated into the response effort.” The new office, the 11th faith-based agency center Bush has created by executive order, will be staffed primarily by individuals in the Federal Emergency Management Agency. (RNS)
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Text of the Executive Order
Prayer Before Virginia Senate Invokes Response
The clerk of the Virginia Senate, Susan Clarke Schaar, asked Rabbi Michael Panitz of Norfolk, to omit a portion of a prayer he had planned to give before the Senate on March 4, 2006. Clergy of various faiths are regularly invited to give invocations before sessions of the Virginia General Assembly, and many city councils and other local legislative bodies follow a similar practice. Guidelines for such prayers call for inclusive, nonsectarian language. The objectionable portion of the prayer referred to Hamas (though not by name), the Palestinian group that won the parliamentary elections in January, as “the party of blood-stained hands.” Schaar said that legislative invocations are “not an opportunity to preach, argue or testify,” but are “supposed to be nonsectarian, general, not bringing forth misunderstanding or embarrassment.” Panitz expressed surprise at the request, but agreed, noting that “the clerk is correct to call for prayers that are not controversial.” While legislative prayer would seem to violate the constitutional ban on establishment of religion, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld the practice in a 1983 case, noting that the tradition was rooted in the earliest meetings of the nation’s Congress. In a 2004 case, the Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Richmond reaffirmed the nonsectarian requirement and invalidated prayers given at a town council meeting in South Carolina that specifically referred to Jesus Christ. (Story reported in The Virginian-Pilot, March 11, 2006.)
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Rabbi Panitz's original prayer
NCCJ prayer guidelines
U.S. Supreme Court opinion
Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals opinion
Supreme Court Allows Sect to Use Hallucinogenic Tea, Upholds RFRA
The U.S. Supreme Court on February 21, 2006, ruled unanimously that a small New Mexico sect could use a hallucinogenic tea in religious rituals. Chief Justice John Roberts, in his first religious freedom case, said that under the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), the group’s right to religious expression and practice superseded federal drug control laws. The Court's ruling served as a strong endorsement of the RFRA, which requires the government to show a "compelling interest" before it can limit religious freedom. (RNS)
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Supreme Court opinion
Intelligent Design Ruled Unconstitutional
In a case likely to have far-reaching implications, a federal judge dealt a setback to the teaching of intelligent design (ID) in public schools by ruling that a Pennsylvania school district's policy – which required that ninth-grade students hear a statement that evolution is "not a fact" and that intelligent design is an alternative theory – was unconstitutional. The December 20, 2005, opinion concluded that ID is not a science, but rather a variant of creationism, a religious theory, and as a result the board’s policy violated the First Amendment's Establishment Clause. Proponents of ID claim the universe is so complex it must have been created by an intelligent, higher being. Critics say ID is unscientific and represents a barely veiled attempt to bring religion into public schools. (RNS)
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Court opinion
Intelligent Design Gains Momentum, Raises Eyebrows on Campuses
The nationwide debate over intelligent design, which had been centered on public school science classes, is now spilling over onto university campuses. At nearly 30 public and private universities, students have started clubs aimed at promoting intelligent design. The clubs are sponsored by the Intelligent Design and Evolution Awareness Center (IDEA), a small, nonprofit organization whose advisory board includes fellows of Seattle’s Discovery Institute, the driving force behind the ID movement. Victor Hutchison, professor emeritus of zoology at the University of Oklahoma, who attended some IDEA club meetings on his campus, said the clubs fit into Discovery's larger plan "to attack evolution and replace it with their religious viewpoint of creationism" and eventually "establish a theocracy." (RNS)
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