Religious Law

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

Illinois Law Firm Fights Ticket for ‘Justice’ Biblical Verse Sign

A lawyer and Illinois state representative has filed new court papers in McHenry County, on the outskirts of the Chicago suburbs, for citing his law firm over a sign that quotes a Biblical verse. The sign over the front doors at Franks Gerkin & McKenna, in Marengo, says “Justice, Justice,…

Sep 22, 2008 10:50 PM CDT

Islamic Court Rulings are Enforceable in the United Kingdom

Islamic law now has legal effect in the United Kingdom, under a 1996 arbitration statute that recognizes the rulings of a network of five Shariah courts. Although there was a huge public outcry earlier this year when the Archbishop of Canterbury said that further recognition of such courts in Great…

Sep 19, 2008 5:55 PM CDT

EEOC Files Suit Over Policy Requiring Tucked-In Dreadlocks

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of four guards at New York’s Grand Central Station who were disciplined for failing to tuck their dreadlocks into their uniform caps. The guards say the employer policy violates Rastafarian beliefs that prohibit them from cutting their hair,…

Sep 18, 2008 1:05 PM CDT

Alleged Knights Templar Heirs Pursue Pope Benedict XVI for $150B

A powerful secret group of wealthy warrior monks active in the Middle Ages had been maligned for centuries, remembered for accusations of heresy and sexual misconduct. But last year the Vatican published long-lost trial documents showing that the Knights Templar actually had been absolved of heresy by Pope Clement V,…

Aug 18, 2008 6:25 PM CDT

Cross on House Brings $80K Tax Break

For George Michael, a cross placed on the side of his $3 million lakefront mansion in suburban Chicago resulted in a tax break of almost $80,000. But now officials in Lake Bluff, where it is located, say he owes $115,000 in fines for failing to get the village’s permission to…

Jul 17, 2008 7:43 PM CDT

Bare-Chested Male Missionaries Get Calendar Creator Excommunicated

Updated: Leaders of the Mormon church excommunicated yesterday the creator of a beefcake calendar that features male missionaries still wearing their traditional black trousers, but not necessarily their traditional white dress shirts. Chad Hardy’s 2008 “Men on a Mission” calendar sold nearly 10,000 copies at $14.99 each, reports the Associated…

Jul 14, 2008 7:41 PM CDT

Housing Law Doesn’t Protect Right to Mezuzah, Appeals Court Rules

A federal appeals court has ruled that the Fair Housing Act does not protect the right of condominium owners to display mezuzot on their doorframes. The Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the federal law requires accommodation for the handicapped but not for religion, the New York Sun…

Jul 11, 2008 11:05 AM CDT

Judge Upholds Order Banning Autistic Boy from Church

A Minnesota judge has upheld a restraining order banning a teenager with autism from his local Catholic church, which contends he is dangerous to other parishioners. “Todd County District Judge Sally Ireland Robertson, in upholding a restraining order, said in her ruling that the parents of 13-year-old Adam Race ‘have…

Jul 1, 2008 6:14 PM CDT

Attorney for Sect Teen Refuses to Testify in Texas Grand Jury Hearing

A Texas grand jury apparently investigating alleged sexual abuse of girls by a polygamous religious sect reportedly tried to call an attorney for one 16-year-old, Natalie Malonis, to testify yesterday. But Malonis refused, citing attorney-client privilege, which led to an interruption in the San Angelo grand jury hearing as Judge…

Jun 26, 2008 6:06 PM CDT

How Islamic Law Applies in the UK

Although many people don’t realize it, Islamic law is being applied on a daily basis in the United Kingdom. That’s because Muslims who wish to live their lives in compliance with the Shariah code voluntarily turn to local councils of scholars for rulings, usually on marriage and divorce issues, reports…

Jun 21, 2008 12:44 AM CDT

Polygamous Texas Sect Bans Underage Teen Marriages

Updated: As parents Monday began picking up more than 400 children found to have been taken improperly from a Texas ranch run by a polygamous sect of which they are members, the religious group pledged to comply with state law concerning the age at which teenagers may marry. Teens may…

Jun 3, 2008 10:22 PM CDT

Texas Judge Returns 400-Plus FLDS Kids to Their Parents

After a Texas Supreme Court ruling Thursday that officials overstepped its authority by removing some 468 children from their homes at a ranch run by a religious sect that advocates polygamy, a judge signed an order (PDF) today returning custody to their parents. Families from the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus…

Jun 2, 2008 7:58 PM CDT