Law and Religion Headlines

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Monday, 30 December 2024

The Muslim Council of Britain calls for Jenrick to be sacked
(Muslim Council of Britain)

Afghanistan: Taliban’s pursuit of ‘Islamic vision’ eroding freedoms in Afghanistan: Security Council
(Vibhu Mishra, United Nations)

Syria’s dwindling Jewish community can visit one of the world’s oldest synagogues again
(Bassem Mroue, Associated Press)

Syria's Alawite community: Once feared, now living in fear?
(Cathrin Schaer, Deutsche Welle)

Social Cohesion: National gatherings explore paths toward societal harmony
(Bahá’í World News Service)

Fides study shows 13 missionaries killed in 2024
(Francesca Merlo, Vatican News)

Catholic priest in Belarus sentenced to 11 years as crackdown on dissent continues
(Yuras Karmanau, Associated Press)

Peyote sacred to Native Americans threatened by psychedelic renaissance and development
(Deepa Bharath and Jessie Wardarski, Associated Press)

Court denies preliminary injunction against moratorium delaying building of mosque
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)

Articles of interest - 30 December 2024
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)

The top 10 religion stories of 2024: What's old is news again
(Religion News Service)

India: Catholic bishops in India reject criticism of Modi’s Christmas visit to headquarters
(Nirmala Carvalho, Crux: Taking the Catholic Pulse)

Using menorah from Argentina’s Milei, Volodymyr Zelensky lights Hanukkah candles with Ukrainian rabbis
(Philissa Cramer, Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

Jordan condemns incursions by Israeli settlers into Al Aqsa Mosque
(Jordan Times)

Summary of Week One at the Faith Pavilion at COP29
(JoAnne Wadsworth, G20 Interfaith Forum Blog)

Iran: Religious issues and persecution – Monthly Digest December
(Human Rights Without Frontiers International)

Made in Japan: No FoRB for the Family Federation. 2. Revamping the Debunked Notion of “Cult”
(Marco Respinti, Bitter Winter: A magazine on religious liberty and human rights)

Made in Japan: No FoRB for the Family Federation. 3. Dissolving a Group Is Dissolving Freedom
(Marco Respinti, Bitter Winter: A magazine on religious liberty and human rights)

Prominent atheists ditch Freedom From Religion Foundation as org doubles down on censorship, 'extreme gender activism'
(Jarryd Jager, Western Standard)

Faith-based institutions often provide more academic freedom, not less, scholars on Heterodox Academy panel say
(Jacob Hess, Deseret News)

A solution to charter school religious First Amendment problems
(Peter Greene, Forbes)

Pakistan President signs law to regulate religious schools
(Fidel Rahmati, Khaama)

Pakistan: Amendment ordinance issued shortly after act on Madrasa registration: The law prohibits madrassas from teaching or publishing material that promotes militancy, sectarianism, or hatred.
(The Express Tribune)

Tajikistan clamps down on fortune telling, faith healing amid difficult times
(Farangis Najibullah, Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty)

Patriarch Daniil: "There is only one Orthodox Church"
(Lyubomir Gigov, Bulgarian News Agency)

Government opposes registration of Old Calendar Orthodox Church of Bulgaria
(Radio Bulgaria)

Religious landscape of new Congress features noticeable partisan differences
(Nick Eskow and Paul V. Fontelo, Roll Call)

Nonnatus with a name: A step forward in dignity and religious freedom (Spanish)
(Fishel Szlajen, Infobae)

Religious leaders celebrated the recognition of unborn children in the civil registry of the city of Buenos Aires (Spanish)
(Fishel Szlajen, Infobae)

As world cheers the restored Notre-Dame, other French churches decay
(Dale Berning Sawa, The Art Newspaper)

Sunday, 29 December 2024

CALL FOR PROPOSALS, new deadline 29 December 2024: Eighth Annual Conference: Religion and Socio-Cultural Transformation: European Perspectives and Beyond (Vienna, Austria)
(The European Academy of Religion)

Friday, 27 December 2024

Massachusetts: Ban on religious vaccine exemptions advances
(Christian M. Wade, CNHI News)

Protecting religious liberty in 2025 requires all of us to work together
(Don Byrd, BJC Online)

Judd Birdsall on religious literacy and national security
(James Diddams, Juicy Ecumenism, Institute on Religion and Democracy)

Courts develop hardship test for worker religious accommodations
(Khorri Atkinson, Bloomberg Law)

100K Utah high schoolers go to seminary. The legality was settled decades ago
(Martha Harris, KUER)

Wednesday, 25 December 2024

EVENT SERIES, February - December 2024: Faith, Democracy, and Our Common Future: Shaping A Path Forward
(Parliament of the World's Religions)

Monday, 23 December 2024

Biden commutes sentences of 37 on federal death row, three remain
(Jack Jenkins and Yonat Shimron, Religion News Service)

Tree of Life murderer is one of 3 death row inmates exempted from Biden’s commutation order
(Ron Kampeas, Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

U.S. Bishops’ President on the commutations of federal death row sentences
(United States Conference of Catholic Bishops)

King's Christmas message to come from former hospital chapel
(Sean Coughlan, BBC)

Balancing faith, family, and medical ethics: Fatima’s case
(Frank Cranmer, Law & Religion UK)

Law and religion roundup – 22nd December
(Frank Cranmer, Law & Religion UK)

Family left 'in tears' after Sikh man's beard cut
(Simran Sohal, BBC News)

In a dangerous world, the UK must stand firm on religious freedom
(Miles Windsor, CapX)

UK House of Lords raises concerns over systematic erasure of Tibet’s true historical status
(Central Tibetan Administration)

FoRB Podcast: Justice and accountability for the Yazidi genocide ten years on
(Merilin Kiviorg, Dmytro Vovk, and Jocelyn Getgen Kestenbaum, Talk About: Law and Religion - Blog of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies)

Quebec premier proposes public prayer ban, citing secularism concerns in Canada
(Merve Aydogan, Merve Aydogan)

US Supreme Court rejects school gender-identity policy challenge
(Andrew Chung, Reuters)

Faith leaders in Peru unite to honor a decade of religious freedom and family advocacy
(Church Newsroom)

For feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe, activist devotees adorn Mary with Palestinian symbols
(Alejandra Molina, Religion News Service)

CAIR expresses concern over proposed law restricting religious freedom in Kyrgyzstan
(Ismail Allison, Council on American-Islamic Relations)

Ninth Circuit rules for Muslim Americans illegally surveilled by FBI
(ACLU of Southern California)

Can an HOA tell you to take your religious holiday decorations down? What Georgia law says
(Chelsea Madden, Georgia Public Broadcasting)

Cannot deny slaughterhouse permit in Mandsaur by saying it is a religious city: Madhya Pradesh HC
(Ratna Singh, Bar and Bench)

President Ilham Aliyev: The Christian community holds a distinctive place in modern Azerbaijani society
(The Azerbaijan State News Agency)

Azerbaijan National Academy of Science: Religious legislation needs to be improved
(Azerbaycan24)

India: MP High Court: Denying slaughterhouse permit citing religious grounds is “wholly unacceptable”
(Atul Krishna, The New Indian)

India: The politics behind India's beef bans
(Shakeel Sobhan, Deutsche Welle)

Hindu nationalism poses a threat to democracy (and to Muslims) in both India and the US
(Yasmine Flodin-Ali, Religon Dispatches)

India: Christian persecution on the rise in India: report
(Bijay Kumar Minj, Union of Catholic Asian News)

Historic mosque in India's Sambhal faces ownership dispute amid religious tensions
(Samaa)

Aleksandr Serebryakov convicted for second time and given five-year prison sentence
(Jehovah's Witnesses)

Russia: Fined for citing Vatican, Scottish Episcopal texts
(Victoria Arnold, Forum 18 News Service)

Vladimir Putin accuses ‘ethnic Jews’ of tearing apart the Russian Orthodox Church
(Ben Sales, Jewish Telegraphic Agency)

Special issue: Materiality of Interreligious Encounters
(Cambridge Interfaith Programme)

"They imprison less, but more severely." Repressions against Jehovah's Witnesses: 2024 Overview
(JW Russia)

Is genocide being performed against Ahmadis in Pakistan?
(Marco Respinti, Bitter Winter: A magazine on religious liberty and human rights)

At 88, Pope Francis dances the tango with the global Catholic Church amid its culture wars
(David M. Lantigua, The Conversation)

Key IRF-related positions
(U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom)

USCIRF welcomes Senator Schumer’s appointment of Ariela Dubler to U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom
(U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom)

Religion Watch, ‘Volume 40 No. 1’
(Baylor Institute for Studies of Religion)

UN General Assembly to close impunity gap for crimes against humanity
(Ewelina U. Ochab, Forbes)

European Islamophobia Report 2023

EPRID welcomes the European Parliament Intergroup on Freedom of Religion or Belief
(International Association for the Defence of Religious Liberty (AIDLR))

A bill to establish a National Day of Prayer in Ukraine was submitted to Parliament
(Institute for Religious Freedom, Ukraine)

Uzbekistan: The contribution of the Bahá’ís to society (podcast)
(Bahá’í World News Service)

Iran: BIC New York: Rising support at UN General Assembly resolution criticizing Iran for persecution of Bahá’ís
(Bahá’í World News Service)

UN publishes new death toll for massacre of older people and Vodou religious leaders in Haiti
(Associated Press)

Articles of interest - 23 December 2024
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)

Speaker Johnson, Chair Foxx, committee chairs release investigative report following House-wide effort to combat antisemitism
(Committee on Education & the Workforce, U.S. House of Representatives)

Yeshiva denied preliminary injunction against zoning enforcement
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)

Ecclesiastical abstention doctrine requires dismissal of pastor's allegations of sham investigation to oust him
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)

Injunction halts New Jersey constitutional provision barring taxpayer funding for building or repairing houses of worship
(Don Byrd, Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty)

Protecting religious liberty in 2025 requires all of us to work together
(Don Byrd, Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty)

Trump nominates CatholicVote president and culture warrior as Holy See ambassador
(Aleja Hertzler-McCain and Jack Jenkins, Religion News Service)

Trump's cabinet selections represent an unusual slice of American religious life
(Jack Jenkins, Religion News Service)

Masked discrimination against Vodou and other African diaspora religions
(Danielle Boaz, Canopy Forum on the Interactions of Law & Religion)

Philippines: Activists file second impeachment complaint against embattled Philippine Vice President Duterte
(Jim Gomez, Associated Press)

Egypt makes steps to improve relations with Jews and Christians
(Impact-se, Human Rights Without Frontiers International)

Syria: Will the West miss a secular Syria?
(Jonathan Tepperman, Foreign Policy)

Muslim World League chief meets Pope Francis in Vatican City
(Arab News)

Singapore: Six months’ jail for man who posted anti-Islam content online using another person’s identity
(Shaffiq Alkhatib, The Straits Times)

Houston-area state Reps push for nativity scene on Capitol grounds
(Andrew Schneider, Houston Public Media)

UN Security Council adopts resolution ensuring humanitarian aid amid Daesh/ISIS sanctions
(Merv Aydogan, Anadolu Agency)

Legal Journal Number 3 (20): December (Spanish)
(Observatorio de Libertad Religiosa de América Latina y El Caribe)

Supreme Court will hear Catholic charitable group's plea to be free from Wisconsin unemployment tax
(Mark Sherman, ABC News)

Friday, 20 December 2024

U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights reaches agreement to resolve harassment based on shared ancestry in the School District of Philadelphia
(U.S. Department of Education)

Magdeburg: 2 dead, dozens injured in Christmas market attack
(Deutsche Welle)

The Normative Structure of Multicultural Secularism
(Simon Thompson and Tariq Modood, Oxford Journal of Law and Religion)

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