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A court in India has dismissed a petition by a Parsi (Zoroastrian) woman who had married a Hindu man and who wanted a court order that would assure her right to enter Parsi religious places to witness the last rites for her parents when they die.  The Valsad Parsi Anjuman Trust had previously barred another [...]

Postings on Religion Clause will be sporadic over the next few days. I should be back to a regular posting schedule by next Tuesday. Religion Clause

Pakistan Today reports that on Friday a court in the Pakistani city of Kasur imposed a life sentence and a fine equivalent to 00 (US) for blasphemy on Police Station House Officer Manzarul Haq Shah Jahan.  The complaint against Jahan, alleging violation of Sec. 295C of the Pakistan Penal Code, was filed by Muhammad Younis who said [...]

The New York Times reports that long-time head of the Coptic Orthodox Church in Egypt, Pope Shenouda III, died Saturday after a long illness. His death comes at a critical time for the 10 million Coptic Christians in Egypt as their country goes through a political transition in which the formal role of Islam is [...]

In First Korean Church of New York v. Cheltenham Township Zoning Hearing Board, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 25968 (ED PA, Feb. 29, 2012), a Pennsylvania federal district court granted summary judgment to defendants in a lawsuit by First Korean Church that had been prevented by township zoning ordinances from using a 33.8 acre property for a [...]

In the Indian city of Rajkot, a number of Hindu organizations, supported by both the Congress and BJP parties, have launched demonstrations to protest the arrest by local police of 37 people who displayed swords in a procession last week celebrating the Hindu festival of Maha Shivratri (The Night of Shiva). Express India today reports that [...]

Fourteen religious groups– Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu and Sikh– today urged political candidates to avoid inappropriate emphasis on religious belief in the upcoming campaign season. (Press release.) In a document titled Religion in Political Campaigns — An Interfaith Statement of Principles, drafted by the Anti-Defamation League, the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty and the Interfaith Alliance, [...]

In Bendross v. Readon, (FL Aoo., Feb. 15, 2012), a Florida appeals court held that the ecclesiastical abstention doctrine does not apply to prevent a civil court from adjudicating a dispute over the make up of the a church’s board.  Bible Missionary Baptist Church was incorporated as a non-profit corporation under Florida law. Eugene Rice, a member [...]

Now that sex abuse victim claims have all been filed (see prior posting) in the bankruptcy proceedings of the the Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee, the Archdiocese reports that in bankruptcy court proceedings on Feb. 9: The judge ruled that the claimants could no longer bring a negligence claim against the archdiocese.  It also found that the [...]

In Wirtz v. City of South Bend, (7th Cir., Feb. 7, 2012), the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed as untimely and moot an appeal by the city of South Bend, Indiana of two orders by the trial court in litigation over the city’s transfer of property to a Catholic high school for an athletic [...]