Religious Law

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

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