Some interesting law and religion news stories from around the web this week:
- City officials of Coeur D’Alene, Idaho, have told two ordained ministers that, according to the city’s non-discrimination statute, they are required to perform same-sex wedding ceremonies or face jail time.
- A District Court judge in Puerto Rico has upheld Puerto Rico’s ban on same-sex marriage. Since the Supreme Court’s ruling in United States v. Windsor, only one other federal trial judge has upheld such a ban.
- Mark Silk of Religious News Service discusses the polls regarding the religious vote in the upcoming midterm elections.
- Leaders of St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, the only church to be destroyed during the 9/11 attacks, broke ground on a new church that will overlook the 9/11 memorial. The church is slated to open in 2016.
- The Mayor of Houston has altered the language of the subpoenas sent to local pastors who led opposition to Houston’s Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) earlier this year. The subpoenas now do not explicitly mention “sermons,” though the Mayor admits that sermons may continue to come within the compass of the subpoenas.
- The Austrian government is seeking to revise Austria’s “Islam Law,” which governs the legal status of Austria’s Muslim community. The proposed change would regulate the training and hiring of Muslim clerics, prohibit the foreign funding of mosques, and establish an official German-language version of the Koran, among other changes.
- The French government has stated that it will circulate guidelines for cultural institutions on France’s law against wearing full veils in public places. The decision to circulate guidelines follows an incident in which a woman wearing a niqab at the Paris National Opera was asked to remove it or leave.
- On Monday, during a Consistory of Cardinals convention, Pope Francis expanded the convention’s agenda to discuss the plight of Middle East Christians. Pope Francis described the notion of a Mideast region devoid of Christians as literally unthinkable.
- In an address to members of the International Association of Criminal Law, Pope Francis called on all men and women of good will to fight for the abolition of the death penalty in “all of its forms,” including life sentences.
- The gunman shot dead during an attack on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Canada, on Wednesday has been confirmed as a recent convert to Islam. The shooting is the second attack on Canadian soldiers in three days; the first attack was described by Prime Minister Stephen Harper as the work of “an ISIL-inspired terrorist.”