Some interesting law & religion stories from around the web this week:

• Turkey’s non-Muslim communities have mainly expressed disappointment at the government’s democratization package announced on Monday. Some have said that it “seeks to alleviate international reaction, and it is not a solid step toward real democratization.”
• As part of the Turkish democratization package, the land of the Mor Gabriel Monastery will be returned to the Syriac Christian community. Mor Gabriel, the oldest functioning Christian monastery in the world, had been seized by the government after the Syriacs were accused of practicing “anti-Turkish activities” and of illegally occupying land which belongs to the neighboring villages in a high court ruling. The package, however, lacked any development about the reopening of the Halki Greek seminary on Istanbul’s Heyebeliada Island, which has been an ongoing point of debate for years.
• And, according to the democratization package, the headscarf ban will be removed for public servants in public institutions, except for judges, prosecutors, police officers and members of the army.
• The Israeli Supreme Court refused to allow residents to identify themselves as “Israelis” in the national registry. The court said allowing a secular Israeli identity “would have far-reaching consequences for the country’s Jewish character.”
• Nearly 200 Muslim inmates in British prisons are suing under Article 9 of the European Convention of Human Rights, claiming their human rights were breached after being served halal food contaminated with pork.
• Human rights groups are accusing the government in Myanmar of tolerating, or even abetting, what they describe as ethnic cleansing directed against Muslims
• A public university in Alabama has opened a new residence hall that caters to students who want a residential experience infused with religion. The residence hall at Troy University is part of a new trend constitutional scholars and others say is pushing the boundaries of how much a public university can back religion.
• New Jersey governor Chris Christie says he will appeal a judge’s ruling that the state must allow same-sex couples to get married.
• The Armenian Apostolic Church convened the first full bishops’ synod in the homeland in centuries. The synod discussed, among other things, the church’s rules for canonizing saints.
• The Catholic Church will canonize John Paul II and John XXIII in April.