Religious Law

Non-Muslims Turn to Shariah Courts in UK to Resolve Civil Disputes

Shariah courts in the United Kingdom aren’t just being used by Muslims. A small but growing number of non-Muslims also are turning to the religious tribunals to resolve commercial disputes and other civil matters. The tribunals, which apply Islamic law based on the Koran, can offer a swifter resolution than…

Jul 21, 2009 5:22 PM CDT

Courtroom Judge Has Power to Ban Muslim Veil, Top Michigan Court Decides

A divided Michigan Supreme Court has approved a much-awaited rule of evidence revision that delineates the power of a courtroom judge to determine witness attire. Rejecting an American Civil Liberties Union argument that the revised Michigan Rule of Evidence 611 should contain an exception for religious dress, the court voted…

Jun 17, 2009 7:04 PM CDT

Michigan Supreme Court Mulls Rule on Witness Attire

Michigan’s highest court is weighing whether to adopt a guideline that would give lower court judges wide discretion when it comes to controlling witness attire. But civil rights advocates are pressing the court to include an exception for religious dress. Consideration of the new court rule was prompted by a…

May 11, 2009 4:44 PM CDT

Kindergartener Wins Court Battle Over Long Hair

A kindergartener in Texas may continue to wear his hair long, a federal judge has ruled, apparently finding that the school district’s policy of requiring the child to conceal his braids and isolating him in special classes when he didn’t do so violated his constitutional rights. The father of five-year-old…

Jan 22, 2009 10:42 PM CST

Will U.K. Parliament End Royal Ban on Marrying a Catholic?

There are, undoubtedly, advantages to being the king or queen of England. But one disadvantage is that those who so desire can’t marry a Catholic and retain the British throne. Under a 308-year-old United Kingdom law, the monarch not only must be Protestant but can’t be married to a Catholic…

Jan 21, 2009 5:12 PM CST

Scissors, Boxcutters Are OK; Religious Knife Is Not, Lawsuit Says IRS Ruled

A Texas woman filed an employment discrimination lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service in federal court this week, contending that the tax agency had refused to allow her to carry with her to work a small knife required by her religion. According to her lawyer, “the IRS banned the kirpan…

Jan 8, 2009 9:22 PM CST

Jailed Evangelist Wants Religious References Edited From Docs

A lawyer representing evangelist Tony Alamo has asked a federal court to remove religious references from a civil suit, arguing that the court has no business weighing in on theological issues. Alamo’s lawyer, John Hall of Little Rock, pointed to claims that Alamo engaged in practices to intimidate church members…

Dec 24, 2008 1:59 PM CST

Report Says 1 in 4 Pubescent Girls Abused at Yearning for Zion’s Texas Ranch

In a report today that appears likely to ignite further controversy over a fringe religious group that advocates polygamy, Texas Child Protective Services says more than one in four pubescent girls at the Yearning for Zion ranch near Eldorado had been sexually abused by being involved in an underage marriage…

Dec 23, 2008 7:20 PM CST

Taliban is, Increasingly, a Source of ‘Justice’ in Afghanistan

Although Afghanistan officially has government courts to settle civil disputes and rule on criminal matters, there is another option that citizens, in some cases, are pursuing in order to get swift–and, some say, fair–resolution of their claims. Rather than pay a bribe to a government judge, they would rather have…

Dec 16, 2008 7:55 PM CST

Appeals Court Allows Vatican Suit for Alleged Abuse Cover-Up

A federal appeals court has held that the Vatican may be liable for a policy that could have led to a cover-up of child sexual abuse by clergy in the United States. The ruling by the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is the first to hold that the…

Nov 25, 2008 5:21 PM CST

Amish Families to Sue N.Y. Town Over Building Code Enforcement Issues

Contending that their First Amendment right to religious freedom is being abridged by too-zealous enforcement of a New York municipality’s building codes, a group of Amish families plans to file a federal suit against Morristown. “Lori H. Windham, an attorney for the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty of Washington, D.C.,…

Nov 10, 2008 7:58 PM CST

Afghan Journo Gets 20 Yrs Instead of Death for Blasphemy

A 24-year-old student who was prosecuted and initially sentenced to death for circulating an article about women’s rights under Islam is now facing 20 years in jail. An appeals court in Afghanistan reduced Parwez Kambakhsh’s sentence in a case that critics say is emblematic of the country’s shift to a…

Oct 21, 2008 7:55 PM CDT

U of Utah Gets $2.5M US Grant to Promote Independent Iraq Judiciary

The law school at the University of Utah has been awarded a $2.5 million one-year grant from the U.S. State Department to help forge an independent judiciary in Iraq, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. “We can’t reform the Iraqi system, but we can inform the reformers of the system. We’re…

Oct 9, 2008 11:54 PM CDT

Sunday Sermons Test IRS Rule, as Pastors Preach Politics

Gearing up for a First Amendment battle, several pastors in Orange County, Calif., joined dozens of others across the nation yesterday in preaching politics. A conservative legal group in Arizona, the Alliance Defense Fund, says it plans to support those who used the pulpit Sunday to recommend candidates in the…

Sep 29, 2008 6:04 PM CDT

As Tattoos Enter Mainstream, Courts Uphold Employers’ Right to Ban Them

Tattoos and body piercing are gaining increasing acceptance, but employers have a right to ban their workers from sporting them. In case after case, courts have found no legal right to such self-expression, the New York Times reports. The decisions come despite the new popularity of body art such as…

Sep 25, 2008 1:13 PM CDT