Law and Religion Headlines
Wednesday, 17 January 2024
Anti-Catholicism spreading in Moscow and Minsk – OpEd
(Paul Goble, Eurasia Review)
Russia: Criminal case for repeat "discreditation"
(Victoria Arnold, Forum 18 News Service)
“Sufficient interest” in faculty petitions
(David Pocklington, Law & Religion UK)
“Gender-critical” views as a protected belief – again: Meade
(Frank Cranmer, Law & Religion UK)
Canada: disclosure of personal religious records: Vabuolas
(Frank Cranmer, Law & Religion UK)
Canada: After days of confusion, Trudeau government says it will abide by ICJ on genocide case against Israel
(Evan Dyer, CBC News)
Almost two-thirds of Americans approve pro-life sidewalk counselors at abortion clinics, poll finds
(Mark A. Kellner, The Washington Times)
Ecuadorian bishops plead for peace, harmony amid rising gang violence
(La Croix International)
Jerusalem: France reaffirms its mandate to protect Christians
(InfoChrétienne)
The rising tide of discrimination in the Western Balkans
(G20 Interfaith Forum Blog)
Bangladeshi Islamists oppose transgender protection law
(Emran Hossain, Union of Catholic Asian News)
India: Modi’s promised Ram temple is set to open and resonate with Hindus ahead of India’s election
(Sheikh Saaliq and Biswajeet Banerjee, Associated Press)
India: In new temple to Lord Ram, the Indian city of Ayodhya hopes to shed a disturbing history
(Richa Karmarkar and Yashraj Sharma, Religion News Service)
Nicaragua expels Catholic Bishop Alvarez, priests amid crackdown
(Reuters)
Religious leaders meet with EU to weigh situation in the Middle East
(Conference of European Churches)
Newest NATO member escalates prosecution of Christians to Supreme Court
(Joy Pullmann, The Federalist)
CA church, preschool again free to serve children as part of food program
(Alliance Defending Freedom)
Supreme Court stays out of fight over transgender student bathroom access
(Lawrence Hurley, NBC News)
Irish Medical Council strips directive banning ‘deliberate killing’ of patients
(Daniel Payne, Catholic News Agency)
Australia: Should Australian parliaments axe the Lord’s Prayer? In Victoria it’s up for debate
(Benita Kolovos, The Guardian)
Turks do not trust country’s religious directorate, cults : study
(Turkish Minute)
Malaysia charges two with ‘wounding religious feelings’ in now-banned film
(Al Jazeera)
Rights groups call for us to designate Nigeria for religious freedom violations
(Timothy Obiezu, Voice of America)
The Brussels-led pathologization of speech
(Frederick Attenborough, The European Conservative)
Religion Watch, Volume 39 No. 2
(Religion Watch, Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion)
Two weeks in review, 1–14 January
(Justina Uriburu, EJIL: Talk! Blog of the European Journal of International Law)
Global Interfaith Monitor No. 19
(Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs, Georgetown University)
Legal Journal Number 4 (19): January (Spanish)
(Observatorio de Libertad Religiosa de América Latina y El Caribe)
Social action of minority religious confessions in Spain (Spanish)
(Sebastián Mora Rosado, Guillermo Fernández Maillo, José Antonio López-Ruiz, Agustín Blanco Martín, Observatorio del pluralismo religioso en España)
Tuesday, 16 January 2024
EVENT, 16 January 2024 (12PM ET): The State of Religious Freedom in America (Washington, DC, USA)
(Os Guiness, Andrea Picciotti-Bayer, Eric Patterson, Montse Alvarado, Religious Freedom Institute)
Monday, 15 January 2024
MLK’s dream for America recalled in celebrations held across the US
(Clemente Lisi, Religion Unplugged)
Law, religion, and decolonization
(Talk About: Law and Religion - Blog of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies)
Religion and law in Ireland’s post-colonial nation-building
(David Kenny and Peter McCarthy, Talk About: Law and Religion - Blog of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies)
The Orthodox Church and Moscow’s colonial policies in Siberia
(Stanislav Panin, Talk About: Law and Religion - Blog of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies)
Spiritual decolonization, national security, and religious freedom: Squaring a triangle in the case of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church
(Andriy Fert and Dmytro Vovk, Talk About: Law and Religion - Blog of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies)
Decolonizing the Indonesian penal code
(Dicky Sofjan, Talk About: Law and Religion - Blog of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies)
Communist law and the protection of religious freedom in Poland
(Piotr Szymaniec, Talk About: Law and Religion - Blog of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies)
Portuguese colonization, Catholic faith, and the relativization of secularism in the jurisprudence of Brazil’s Supreme Court
(Ana Cristina Melo de Pontes Botelho, Talk About: Law and Religion - Blog of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies)
Is homocolonialism a sound argument to advance human rights for LGBTQ+ people?
(Dmytro Vovk, Talk About: Law and Religion - Blog of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies)
A proclamation on Religious Freedom Day, 2024
(The White House)
Atheists still have concerns about denial of care rule
(American Atheists)
US pastors struggle with post-pandemic burnout. Survey shows half considered quitting since 2020
(Peter Smith, Religion News Service)
In Iowa and beyond, evangelical Christian voters follow their party more than their faith
(Bob Smietana, Religion News Service)
Judge dismisses Notre Dame professor’s defamation lawsuit against student newspaper
(Associated Press)
Around the Web - 15 January 2024
(Law and Religion Forum, St. John's Law School Center for Law & Religion)
Russian Orthodox priest faces expulsion for refusing to pray for war victory
(Mark Trevelyan, Reuters)
UK government says the lslamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir is antisemitic and moves to ban it
(Associated Press)
Street preacher arrested in Glasgow wins substantial damages from police
(Christian Today)
Nicaraguan Bishop Rolando Álvarez and 18 priests arrive in Rome from prison, guests of Vatican
(Associated Press)
Articles of interest - 15 January 2024
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)
Court supervision of church election invalidated by Mississippi Supreme Court
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)
China: Guidelines instruct religions how to implement the new Patriotic Education Law
(Hu Zimo, Anglican Ink)
Japan proposes guidelines that would artificially multiply the “victims” of “cults”
(Massimo Introvigne, Bitter Winter)
Examination of Witnesses Rt Hon Baroness Hayman and Rt Hon Baroness D’Souza
(Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee, House of Commons)
Protest in Georgian capital amid anger over 'desecration' of Stalin icon
(Felix Light, Reuters)
Prosecutor appeals Bible-tweet case to Finnish Supreme Court
(ADF International)
A.D. v Malta: The continuous application of a defective asylum system
(Felix Peerboom, Strasbourg Observers)
Friday, 12 January 2024
Canada: B.C. Jehovah's Witnesses lose court battle over disclosing records on 2 ex-members
(Bethany Lindsay, CBC News)
An overlooked and undercounted group of Arab American and Muslim voters may have outsized impact on 2024 presidential election
(Youssef Chouhoud, The Conversation)
Canada: Charges against Canadians who defended religious freedom stayed
(Justice Centre for Constitutional Freedoms)
Man stabs imam after shouting anti-Israel slogan at İstanbul mosque
(Turkish Minute)
HHS releases revised health-worker religious conscience rule
(Ian Lopez, Bloomberg Law)
A spiritual leader in Nepal known as ‘Buddha Boy’ arrested on charges of rape and kidnapping
(Binaj Gurubacharya, Associated Press)
Taiwan: Why temples are a top campaign stop in Taiwan’s election
(Jordyn Haime, Al Jazeera)
Afghanistan: Islamic State group claims responsibility for a minibus explosion in Afghan capital that killed 5
(Associated Press)
Afghanistan: UN concerned over Taliban arrests of Afghan women and girls for alleged Islamic headscarf violations
(Associated Press)
First meeting of After School Satan Club at Tennessee elementary school draws protesters
(Associated Press)
Florida welcomes students fleeing campus antisemitism, with little evidence that there’s demand
(Mike Schneider, Associated Press)
Church may move ahead with RFRA challenge to limits on its use of ayahuasca
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)
Iraq: Church destroyed by ISIS in Iraq completely restored 10 years later
(Diego Lopez Marina, Catholic News Agency)
FBI Salt Lake City releases PSAs in foreign languages to encourage hate crime reporting
(Federal Bureau of Investigation)
Belarus: Repressive new Religion Law imposes compulsory re-registration
(Felix Corley and Olga Glace, Forum 18 News Service)
Vietnam: US requested to remove Vietnam from Special Watch List on religious freedom
(Voice of Vietnam)
Việt Nam committed to guarantee human rights, religious freedom: Foreign ministry
(Việt Nam News)
Tajikistan, Turkmenistan again designated as religious freedom violators, granted waivers
(Catherine Putz, The Diplomat)
Harvard is sued by Jewish students over 'rampant' antisemitism on campus
(Jonathan Stempel, Reuters)
House of Lords Maiden Speech: Rt Rev. Bishop Philip Mounstephen (on FORB and persecution)
(YouTube Video, Worth Watching)
Lord Alton’s response to The Bishop of Winchester’s Maiden Speech – 11th January 2024.
(Lord David Alton)
Gender-critical social worker wins tribunal against Westminster council
(Victoria Cook, BBC News)
Pledge of Allegiance in schools: Do students have to stand?
(Freedom Forum)
India: Thousands of Indian teachers set to lose jobs as Muslim school funding ends
(Saurabh Sharma and Krishna N. Das, Reuters)
How to maneuver around acknowledging the right to access abortion: Some thoughts on the ECtHR’s judgment in M.L. v Poland
(Sissy Katsoni, EJIL: Talk! Blog of the European Journal of International Law)
China bars Tibetan kids from private classes, religious activities
(Union of Catholic Asian News)
Egypt’s Al Azhar supports South Africa’s legal case against Israel before ICJ
(Egypt State Information Service)
As International Court of Justice hearings commence, WCC calls on “all responsible members of the international community to respect and implement the ICJ rulings”
(World Council of Churches)
ECHR/Spain: Hearing on blood transfusion administered to a Jehovah’s Witness against her will
(Human Rights Without Frontiers International)
Church without God: How secular congregations fill a need for some nonreligious Americans
(Jacqui Frost, The Conversation)
30 years of LGBTQ+ history in Russia: from decriminalisation in 1993 to ‘extremist’ status in 2023
(Sergey Katsuba, The Conversation)
Jewish students sue Harvard over 'rampant' anti-semitism
(Sam Cabral, BBC News)
Georgian Orthodox Church calls for Stalin religious icon to be changed
(Ido Vock, BBC News)
Bangalore: How polarisation is dividing India's Silicon Valley
(Soutik Biswas, BBC News)
World report 2024: Our annual review of human rights around the globe
(Human Rights Watch)
Africa’s Catholic hierarchy refuses same-sex blessings, says such unions are contrary to God’s will
(Nicole Winfield, BBC News)
New Jersey police seek killer of a Muslim leader outside Newark mosque
(Mike Catalini, Associated Press)
Looking for home around the world: The Uyghur diaspora and its needs
(Elise Anderson, Freedom House)
Anti-racists slam blackface use in Spain's Epiphany parades
(David Latona, Joan Faus and Eva Manez, Reuters)
Thursday, 11 January 2024
VIRTUAL EVENT, 11 January 2024 (11AM ET): Corporate Religious Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (REDI) Index
(Religious Freedom & Business Foundation)
Wednesday, 10 January 2024
HHS adopts rules implementing conscience protections in federal law
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)
Religious freedom organization wants the Wilkes County Board of Commissioners to repeal a Christian Heritage proclamation
(John Hinton, Winston-Salem Journal)
Pope Francis prays for an end to religious persecution
(Joseph Tulloch, Vatican News)
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