Law and religion round-up – 6th May

Law and religion round-up – 6th May

Click here to view full article at www.lawandreligionuk.com Local elections apart, such a quiet week that on Saturday The Sun led with the story that a bloke was buying a suit… …and the newspaper both created and solved the Church Mystery: Grave of woman who died in 2011 mysteriously appears…

Re-use of institutional burial grounds

Click here to view full article at www.lawandreligionuk.com Saved by S5 Disused Burial Grounds Act 1884, or not? Disused burial grounds both old and ancient frequently feature in Midsomer Murders . In real life, however, their reuse is an on-going concern in view of the growing shortage of burial space.…

Jury awards $5.1 million to employees of ‘Onionhead’ devotee

Click here to view full article at www.businessinsurance.com Reprints A jury in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn has awarded $5.1 million to 10 workers who said their health-network employer had forced them to participate in group prayers and other religious activities as part of the “Onionhead” religion, in a case…

Jury Awards $5.1 Million For Workers in EEOC Religious Discrimination Case Against United Health Programs of America, Inc. And Cost Containment Group, Inc.

Jury Awards $5.1 Million For Workers in EEOC Religious Discrimination Case Against United Health Programs of America, Inc. And Cost Containment Group, Inc.

Click here to view full article at www.jdsupra.com Health Network Violated Federal Law by Creating a Hostile Work Environment through Forced Participation in Religious Activities, Jury Found NEW YORK – Following a three-week trial, on April 25, a unanimous Brooklyn federal jury found that United Health Programs of America, Inc,…

Petitions Court to Stop Mandatory Autopsies of Dying Plaintiffs

Click here to view full article at www.businesswire.com SEATTLE–( BUSINESS WIRE )–Seattle law firm Bergman Draper Oslund has filed a petition with the King County Superior Court, asking the Court to amend its standing order requiring autopsies in all asbestos cases where the plaintiff dies during the pendency of the…

FFRF Fights to End Clergy Housing Tax-Break

FFRF Fights to End Clergy Housing Tax-Break

Click here to view full article at www.worldreligionnews.com Alliance Defending Freedom counters the Freedom From Religion Foundation with a petition campaign to save the Ministerial Housing Allowance. Churches and pastors in the Chicago area have appealed a ruling made in 2017 which declared clergy housing tax breaks to be unconstitutional.…

FFRF Fights to End Clergy Housing Tax-Break

FFRF Fights to End Clergy Housing Tax-Break

Click here to view full article at www.worldreligionnews.com Alliance Defending Freedom counters the Freedom From Religion Foundation with a petition campaign to save the Ministerial Housing Allowance. Churches and pastors in the Chicago area have appealed a ruling made in 2017 which declared clergy housing tax breaks to be unconstitutional.…

German Church could face legal challenge after European court ruling

German Church could face legal challenge after European court ruling

Click here to view full article at www.catholicherald.co.uk The European Court of Justice Requirement for Church employees to have a ‘religious affiliation’ could violate anti-discrimination laws Germany’s Catholic Church has said it would review its employment system after top European judges warned it could violate anti-discrimination laws by requiring employees…

German church to review employment practices after European court ruling

German church to review employment practices after European court ruling

Click here to view full article at catholicphilly.com The towers of the European Court of Justice are seen in Luxembourg. Germany’s Catholic Church said it would review its employment system, after top European judges warned it could violate anti-discrimination laws by requiring staffers to be religious. (CNS photo/Francois Lenoir, Reuters)…

Ruse, “Darwinism as Religion”

Here’s one that we missed when it was published in 2016, but that a colleague noticed in reading this recent review : Darwinism as Religion: What Literature Tells Us About Evolution (OUP), by philosopher Michael Ruse. As a general matter, claims by the religious that American law incorporates a scientistic,…

More Rulings In South Carolina Episcopal Church Split

Click here to view full article at religionclause.blogspot.com Earlier this week, a South Carolina federal district court issued another opinion in the long-running battle between competing Episcopal Church factions in South Carolina. While the underlying dispute over which faction owns church property has been litigated in state court, a federal…

Corporate Religious Freedom Examined as LGBT Protections Expand (1)

Click here to view full article at www.bna.com A flurry of recent appellate court decisions have changed the landscape of worker protections under federal workplace discrimination laws. This has raised questions for employers who may look to religious protections to defend their hiring and firing decisions. Title VII of the…

Knowing your rights

Knowing your rights

Click here to view full article at press-herald.com Johnson, Landry hold Freedom Student Summit Partially in response to ongoing litigations against the Webster and Bossier Parish School Boards, Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry and U.S. Representative Mike Johnson published the Student Rights Review in January, a reminder to students of…

Rorabaugh, “Prohibition: A Concise History”

I have often thought that a course on Prohibition and the Law would be very worthwhile. Think of how many things you could cover: the regulatory structure within the background of expanding national legislative and administrative power, the issue of legal moralism (is this the only time in recent American…

Church property again: Christian Baptist Church

Click here to view full article at www.lawandreligionuk.com The issue of expropriated church property has come up again, this time in Poland. Background In Christian Baptist Church in Wrocław v Poland [2018] ECHR (no. 32045/10 , the Church applied to the Governor of Wrocław In May 1996 for a decision…

Suit Over “In Christ” E-Mail Signature Moves Ahead

Click here to view full article at religionclause.blogspot.com In Mial v. Foxhoven , (ND IA, April 4, 2018), an Iowa federal district court refused to dismiss Title VII and state religious discrimination claims brought by Michael Mial who had been fired from his position as a security specialist in the…