Law and Religion Headlines
Thursday, 27 March 2014
Ecclesiastical abstention doctrine leads to dismissal of suit over church's board
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)
NYC Transit Authority must pay $187,000+ in plaintiffs' attorneys fees in religious discrimination suit
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)
Faith, truth and sex abuse: Cultures of cover-up
(B.C., The Economist [Erasmus: Religion and public policy])
Obamacare and religious freedom: The Hobby Lobby hubbub
(The Economist)
1 church diocese sues another over accused priest
(Associated Press, The Washington Post)
SCOTUS blog Thursday round-up
(Amy Howe, SCOTUSsblog)
Status of Michigan same-sex marriages
(Lyle Denniston, SCOTUSblog)
Muslim-American demographics reveal a diverse group that rejects categorization
(Huff Post Politics)
Pending deal with Women of the Wall would annul regulations banning non-Orthodox practice at Kotel
(Jeremy Sharon, The Jerusalem Post)
Survey claims weakening ‘Zionism’ among Israeli youth
(The Times of Israel)
Pope Francis hosts President Obama for ‘cordial’ talks
(Eric J. Lyman, Religious News Service)
Obama tells Pope Francis he is a 'great admirer'
(Jim Kuhnhenin and Nicole Winfield, Associated Press via Yahoo! News)
Ga. Catholic groups win fight over contraception
(Kate Brumback, The Chippewa Herald)
Brooklyn Orthodox Jewish tourist attacked in possible ‘knockout game’ variation
(Thomas Tracy, Daily News)
Holy self-worth: Studies find religion promotes healthy body image for young women
(David Briggs, The Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA))
Al Qaeda-linked Islamists capture Syrian Christian village
(Morgan Lee, The Christian Post)
Syria rebels advance in Latakia, establish first coastal toe-hold; fears among religious minorities
(Ariel Zirulnick, Security Watch)
War of words between Ukrainian and Russian Jews heats up
(Sam Sokol, The Jerusalem Post)
Ukrainian Jews slam Putin in full-page ad in New York Times
(JTA)
Wednesday, 26 March 2014
Will Scotus let religious freedom trump gender equity?
(Mark Silk, RNS Blog: Spiritual Politics)
Obama Admin lawyer was surprised Hobby Lobby case had anything to do with abortion
(Matthew Clark, LifeNews)
Ecumenical Patriarch says no to Hagia Sophia as a mosque, yes to Christian worship
(NAT da Polis, AsiaNews.it)
ICOMOS Turkey - Briefing on the Hagia Sophia Museum
(Order of St. Andrew the Apostle)
Vandalism at a Sacred Site in Constantinople
(Nicholas Manginas, Orthodox Christian Network)
Same-sex parenting: Scholarly “consensus” isn’t always valid
(Walter R. Schumm, MercatorNet)
Baroness Warsi chairs first Religious Freedom Advisory Group
(Christian Today - UK)
Oklahoma told it can't shield suppliers of execution drugs
(Erik Eckholm, The New York Times)
Court weighs delay of strict limits to drug-induced abortions in Arizona
(Fernanda Santos, The New York Times)
African clergy join fight to save elephants and rhinos from poaching
(Fredrick Nzwili, Religion News Service)
Chief Russian rabbi slams Ukrainian Jews for criticizing Putin
(The Global Jewish News Source)
"Do Syrians want to fight until victory of do they want a ceasefire?"
(James McMichael, Syria Comment - Joshua Landis)
Religion, strategy and the Tsars: When history bites back
(B.C., The Economist [Erasmus: Religion and public policy])
Liberal group breaks with Berlin’s main Jewish body
(JTA)
German man to return Nazi-looted art
(Melissa Eddy, The New York Times)
Jimmy Carter says Pope Francis promised ‘women should have a greater role’
(Michelle Boorstein, Washington Post)
Philippines prepares for historic peace deal
(Ted Regencia, Al Jazeera)
Calls for Obama on Saudi Arabia visit to raise rights issues
(Eurasia Review)
Orthodox church vandalised in Istanbul
(NAT da Polis, AsiaNews.it)
Bin Laden son-in-law convicted at NYC terror trial
(John Bacon, USA Today)
The first Chinese rabbi in 200 years
(Michael Freund, The Jerusalem Post: Fundamentally Freund)
The Council of Europe’s draft document on sects: one Quaker’s perspective
(Frank Cranmer, Law & Religion UK)
The Attack on Western Religions by Western Law: Re-Framing Pluralism, Liberalism and Diversity
(Iain T. Benson, SSRN - International Journal for Religious Freedom Vol 6:1/2 2013, 111–125)
Does the RCA hold too much sway over Orthodox conversion?
(Uriel Heilman, JTA)
UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion to study situation in Kazakhstan
(Interfax-Religion)
State Responses to Minority Religions
(David Kirkham, Ashgate Inform Series on Minority Religions and Spiritual Movements)
A look at Mideast judicial systems
(Navi Pillay, Associated Press, The Big Story)
Freedom of religion as a human right: The Council of Europe’s upcoming (April 7) vote on establishing “sect observatories”
(Donald A. Westbrook, World Religion News)
Divestment resolution passes again at Loyola, falls at Michigan
(JTA)
Australian Jewish leaders decry proposed changes to hate laws
(JTA)
They call me Matajudios ("Kill Jesus")
(Diego Melamed, JTA Telegraph)
Urgent call to end violence against Bangladeshi minorities
(World Council of Churches)
Evaluating faith-based prisons: a new study
(Sasha Volokh, The Volokh Conspiracy via The Washington Post)
Myanmar census could inflame ethnic tensions
(Aye Aye Win, Associated Press, The Big Story)
India: Islamic school shuts doors on all politicians till poll
(Pervez Iqbal Siddiqui, The Times of India)
British government bans burning of fetuses to heat hospitals
(Simon Caldwell, Catholic News Service)
No maternity rights for commissioning mother in surrogacy case
(Rosalind English, UK Human Rights Blog)
Missouri executes killer of teenage girl
(Carey Gillam, Reuters)
APRODEV invites EU to adopt long-term strategy to reconnect Gaza to West Bank
(World Council of Churches)
Another guilty plea in violent extortion scheme forcing gets
(JTA)
Pope Francis removes Bishop Tebartz-van Elst
(from the Vatican website, Pray Tell)
In Lev Tahor case, an insular sect puts on a public face
(Erika Tucker, Global News)
China's deadly Lightning
(Ruth Moon, Christianity Today)
Jewish teacher attacked and marked with swastika in Paris
(The Huffington Post)
When SCOTUS rules, watch for unintended consequences
(Cathy Lynn Grossman, Religion News Service)
Hobby Lobby case: 9 justices to watch
(Josh Gerstein, Politico)
Justice Kennedy thinks Hobby Lobby ia an abortion case — That’s bad news for birth control
(Ian Millhiser, Think Progress)
What’s at stake in Hobby Lobby: Religious freedom in the dock
(John Stonestreet - BreakPoint, Christian Headlines)
From the Hobby Lobby oral argument: Should legislation passed by unanimous vote be invalidated or narrowly construed?
(Will Baude, The Volokh Conspiracy via The Washington Post)
Hobby Lobby vs Sandra Fluke’s birth control pill
(Michael Schaus, Townhall.com Finance)
“God does not regard the fetus as a soul”: Conservative evangelicals and abortion
(Jamelle Bouie, Slate)
Birth control, business, and religious beliefs: In Plain English
(Amy Howe, SCOTUSblog)
After Hobby Lobby, a nonprofit legal challenge to the contraception requirement
(David Masci, Pew Research Center: Fact-tank)
Liberals ignoring plight of Middle Eastern Christians, says liberal-organized panel
(Michael Gryboski, The Christian Post)
Russia: St Petersburg church liquidated, Rostov and Chelyabinsk drug and alcohol rehabilitation targeted
(Victoria Arnold, Forum 18 News Service)
The right plan to save Jews?
(The Jewish Daily Forward)
Pakistan lawmaker battles to raise punishment for child marriage
(Eissa Saeed, Reuters)
‘Isle be back!’ Siberian mayor seeks return of ‘Holy island’ from USA
(RT)
Yakutsk mayor urges to return an island near Alaska to the Russian Church
(Interfax-Religion)
Church schism in Ukraine will come to naught, if deprived of political support, the Russian Church official believes
(Interfax-Religion)
98 churches, 1900 mosques destroyed in Syria – Syrian Ambassador
(Interfax-Religion)
A Haggadah for the Digital Age
(Jane L. Levere, The New York Times)
Court hears appeal by son of scholar on Dead Sea Scrolls
(John Leland, The New York Times)
365-year-old Hindu script Ramayana “reunited" and digitized by British Library and Mumbai Museum
(Alison Lesley, World Religion News)
Abraham and Sodom: another take
(Sasha Volokh, The Volokh Conspiracy via The Washington Post)
Austria: Muslims outnumber Catholics in Vienna schools
(Soeren Kern, Gatestone Institute)
When a pope meets a U.S. president: 2014
(USCC Blog)
Tuesday, 25 March 2014
'Innocence of Muslims' actress demands Google be sanctioned
(Eriq Gardner, Hollywood Reporter)
Are corporations people?
(Deena Zuru, CNN)
As Jobbik popularity grows, Hungary’s governing party increases its nationalist rhetoric
(Cnaan Liphshiz, JTA)
Gets caught plagiarizing: FECRIS Member and Member of Russian Ministry of Justice Expert Council on Religious Studies
(Vladimir Morozov, Forum for Religious Freedom Europe)
Justices seem open to religious claims by companies
(Adam Liptak, The New York Times)
Op-Ed: The real threat to Ukraine’s Jewish community
(Mark B. Levin, JTA)
Religious leaders stand united for peace in Cyprus
(Meneske Tokyay, Southeast European Times)
Supreme Court appears split in contraception case, with Kennedy in middle
(Warren Richey, The Christian Science Monitor)
U.S. scrambles as prisoner release, Jewish state issue threaten to sink talks
(Ron Kampeas, JTA)
UN passes resolution calling Crimean referendum invalid
(Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)
Weekly report on human rights violation in Iran
(Majzooban Noor)
Witness: The price of mass surveillance
(Amy Braunschweiger, Human Rights Watch)
5 surprising moments between Popes and Presidents
(Wolf Blitzer and Sean Kennedy, CNN Opinion)
Email Subscription
The International Center for Law and Religion Studies maintains a Law and Religion Headlines service covering news about freedom of religion or belief internationally. All interested may subscribe to this service, free of charge, using the link below.
Subscribe