Law and Religion Headlines

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Wednesday, 16 June 2021

Street preacher lacks standing to challenge COVID restrictions
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)

College seeks injunction pending appeal to 8th Circuit in suit against HUD's transgender policy on student housing
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)

MO college asks appeals court to halt Biden order that opens dorms, showers to opposite sex
(Alliance Defending Freedom)

Michigan Governor bans use of state funds for conversion therapy
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)

Whitmer bans government funds for conversion therapy on minors, calls for practice to be outlawed in Michigan
(Malachi Barrett, M Live)

Christian candidates to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights should not face discrimination
(ADF International)

Open letter to the Sovereign States of the Organization of American States (PDF)
(multiple signatories)

Iran expels Italian nun who served 26 years at leprosarium
(Union of Catholic Asian News)

50th Anniversary of COPIC (PDF)
(Conference of European Churches)

Conference of European Churches president congratulates COPIC on 50th anniversary and signing of climate memo
(Conference of European Churches)

Edinburgh Council apologises for the cancellation of a church conference
(Evangelical Focus Europe)

Vietnam: Religious leaders call for prayer, fairness over church-linked COVID outbreak
(CSW: Everyone Free to Believe)

Spanish High Court defends Christian television: opinions about homosexuality are not hate speech
(Evangelical Focus Europe)

More Singapore residents identifying as having no religion: census
(Yahoo News)

20% of Singapore residents have no religion, an increase from the last population census
(Cheryl Lin, CNA)

5 things to watch for as Catholic bishops conference debates Communion ban
(Jack Jenkins, Religion News Service)

Southern Baptist Convention elects Ed Litton as president in victory for moderate forces
(Ian Lovett, The Wall Street Journal)

Archdiocese of Los Angeles issues new guidelines to fully reopen parishes
(Alejandra Molina, Religion News Service)

Weekly Highlight #160: COVID-19: Exploring Faith Dimensions: Masks and secularism; vaccine rates; nationalism and COVID-19
(Berkley Center, Joint Learning Initiative, WFDD)

‘Am I the worst thing a person can be?’: Witches fight media bias
(Heather Greene, Religion News Service)

Florida to require daily moment of silence in schools for students to 'reflect, pray as they see fit'
(Emily Wood, The Christian Post)

A call for religious reform
(Justin L. Wejak, Union of Catholic Asian News)

China: Freedom of religion or belief: Special bimonthly newsletter (01-15.06.2021)
(Human Rights Without Frontiers International)

Churches become refuges for fleeing civilians in Myanmar
(Union of Catholic Asian News)

China: UN human rights experts alarmed by ‘organ harvesting’ allegations
(UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights)

China offers glimpse of Tibetan life without the Dalai Lama
(Sam McNeil, Religion News Service)

Netanyahu Is Out, Islamic Party Is In – OpEd
(Rabbi Allen S. Maller, Eurasia Review Opinion)

Perspective: Why this lesbian is for religious liberty
(Meg Mott, Deseret News Faith)

Texas Supreme Court: First Amendment bars clergyman’s million-dollar suit against Catholic Church
(Becket: Press Release)

EU urged to press Laos over human rights violations
(Union of Catholic Asian News)

More than 450,000 people apply to perform Hajj during first 24 hours of registration
(Deema Al-Khudair, Arab News)

Women can register for Hajj without male guardian
(Mohammed Al-Kinani, Arab News)

Ministry reopens 7 Saudi mosques after sanitization
(Arab News)

Saudi decision to allow 60,000 vaccinated residents on Hajj and bar foreigners welcomed
(Arab News)

Green church movement in France holds first assembly on World Environment Day
(World Council of Churches)

WEBINAR SERIES, 20-22 July 2021: 8th Summer School On Human Rights: Ensuring Security of Worship Places & Religious Communities
(Conference of European Churches)

South Carolina city bans conversion therapy for minors
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)

Baker violated public accommodation law in refusing to sell gender transition cake
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)

Jack Phillips to appeal CO court’s decision punishing him for not designing cake celebrating gender transition
(Alliance Defending Freedom)

Challenge to "sanctuary city for unborn" dismissed on standing and abstention grounds
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)

Rome tribunal backs Vatican in case against Italian broker
(Nicole Winfield, Associated Press)

UN envoy regrets failure to mediate a Yemen cease-fire
(Edith M. Lederer, Associated Press)

Saudi man accused of participating in rebellion executed
(Aya Batrawy, Associated Press)

Critics say Argentinian blacklist of pro-lifers uses Dirty War tactics
(Inés San Martín, Crux: Taking the Catholic Pulse)

As fighting continues in Myanmar, thousands take refuge in churches
(Catholic News Service)

White evangelicals are more likely to support death penalty than atheists, study finds
(Jeff Parrott, Deseret News)

Religious freedom: A diversity of thought and experience
(Meg Mott, Jacqueline Cooke-Rivers, and Jonathan Rauch, Deseret News)

The right (and wrong) way for pastors to help the country heal
(Kelsey Dallas, Deseret News)

America is in crisis. Many Christians are making it worse
(Kelsey Dallas, Deseret News)

President Pedro Castillo has radical plans for Peru
(Camilo Toledo, Jan D. Walter, Deutsche Welle)

Ukraine honors 2 tiny sects with Jewish roots as ‘indigenous peoples,’ and Putin is furious
(Cnaan Liphshiz, Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

An EU ruling on kosher slaughter tells rabbis how to go about their business
(Cnaan Liphshiz, Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

What a Title IX lawsuit might mean for religious universities
(William Trollinger and Susan L Trollinger, The Conversation)

Azerbaijan: 8 new Strasbourg judgments, 9 judgments awaited - list
(Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service)

Azerbaijan: A Strasbourg Court judgment alone "is not enough for justice"
(Felix Corley, Forum 18 News Service)

New database of judgments in England & Wales to start in April 2022
(Frank Cranmer, Law & Religion UK)

Religious circumcision in the courts again: P
(Frank Cranmer, Law & Religion UK)

Weddings, wakes and face masks
(David Pocklington, Law & Religion UK)

Recognition of paganism (or not) in Lithuania: Romuva
(Frank Cranmer, Law & Religion UK)

Don’t believe the hype about the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops meeting
(Ed. Condon, The Pillar)

Abbott signs religious freedom law prohibiting government from closing places of worship
(Houston Keene, Fox News)

How COVID and shadow docket exploded SCOTUS' scope of religious freedom
(Brendan Pierson, Reuters)

Faith still shapes morals and values even after people are ‘done’ with religion
(Philip Schwadel, Sam Hardy, Religion News Service)

The theological and the political in Christianity, socialism, and modernity
(Gary Dorrien, Canopy Forum on the Interactions of Law & Religion)

Border work: Review of “At Home and Abroad: The Politics of American Religion”
(Brent Nongbri, Canopy Forum on the Interactions of Law & Religion)

New book: At Home and Abroad: The Politics of American Religion
(Elizabeth Shakman Hurd and Winnifred Fallers Sullivan, Columbia University Press)

Southern Baptists’ new leader: long career as bridge builder
(David Crary, Associated Press)

Sex abuse survivors call for system-wide audit of Southern Baptist Convention
(Yonat Shimron, Religion News Service)

Who is Ed Litton, the new Southern Baptist Convention president?
(Bob Smietana, Religion News Service)

Tuesday, 15 June 2021

WEBINAR, 15 June 2021 (10AM EDT): Faith-Based Health Justice in Times of Global Trauma and Transformation
(Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs, Georgetown University)

Monday, 14 June 2021

BOOK LAUNCH, 14 June 2021 (4PM in London): Why Religious Freedom Matters for Democracy
(University College London)

LECTURE SERIES, 14 June 2021, (6:30PM GMT+2): COVID-19 and the exercise of religious freedom
(Adelaide Madera, Universität Trier)

The war on compensation: troubling signs for civilian casualties in the Gaza strip
(Haim Abraham, EJIL: Talk! Blog of the European Journal of International Law)

Matan Kahana wants to fix Israel's divisions over religion, state
(Jeremy Sharon, Jerusalem Post)

Zahid Quraishi confirmed as first Muslim federal judge
(Joseph Hammond, Religion News Service)

‘Our Lord isn’t woke.’ Southern Baptists clash over their future
(Ian Lovett, The Wall Street Journal)

Saudi women allowed to live alone without permission from male guardian
(Khitam Al Amir, Gulf News)

Defamation or protected religious speech? Disgraced Catholic deacon asks Supreme Court to decide
(Mark A. Kellner, Washington Times)

Flemish government ‘cleaning up’ Islamic communities (PDF)
(Human Rights Without Frontiers International)

Photos of the Week: Belgium hunger strike; SBC tension
(Kit Doyle, Religion News Service)

Deacon's defamation suit against diocese dismissed under ecclesiastical abstention doctrine
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)

Wisconsin covid order closing schools violated free exercise rights
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)

Articles of interest - 14 June 2021
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)

Cert. denied in Unification Church leadership dispute
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)

Terror charges laid against accused in Canada Muslim attack
(Associated Press)

That ‘moral squint’ and Canada summer jobs
(Barry W. Bussey, Canadian Centre for Christian Charities)

Bishops call for a renewed transatlantic partnership ahead of the EU-US Summit
(Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE))

VIRTUAL EVENT, 30 June 2021 (11.00-12.45 CEST): Targeting vulnerable religious communities through sexual violence and exploitation of women
(COMECE & Aid to the Church in Need (Brussels Office))

Fla. governor signs bill requiring moment for school prayer
(Bobby Caina Calvan, Associated Press)

Mormons and NAACP seek to advance work with new initiatives
(Brady McCombs, Associated Press)

Egypt court upholds death sentences for 12 over 2013 sit-in
(Associated Press)

US Catholic bishops meet amid divisions on Communion policy
(David Crary, Associated Press)

Jewish group appeals after losing Chabad House lawsuit
(Associated Press)

Islamist party makes early victory claim in Algeria election
(Associated Press)

Pope demands food aid reach starving people of Tigray
(Associated Press)

Torah ark desecrated inside Frankfurt Airport prayer room
(Associated Press)

Venezuelan cardinal says country needs ‘peaceful, negotiated’ solution to political crisis
(Inés San Martín, Crux: Taking the Catholic Pulse)

Catholic leaders in Brazil object to plan to replace prison chaplains with radio stations
(Eduardo Campos Lima, Crux: Taking the Catholic Pulse)

Argentina bishops’ pastoral team rebukes president on country’s origins
(David Agren, Crux: Taking the Catholic Pulse)

Eritrean Catholic bishops angry over government’s latest school seizures
(Fredrick Nzwili, Crux: Taking the Catholic Pulse)

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