Some interesting law and religion news stories from around the web this week:
- Europe’s Muslims are feeling the heat of a fierce backlash following last week’s terror attack against French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo.
- Condemnation of the new edition of Charlie Hebdo, which again depicted the prophet Muhammad, was swift and often fierce in many Muslim-majority nations
- A disciplinary hearing has been scheduled for a Mormon well-known for running a website that provides a forum for church members questioning their faith.
- An Orthodox Jewish rabbi pleaded guilty on Wednesday to participating in a scheme to kidnap Jewish men and force them to grant divorces to their unhappy wives, who cannot secure a divorce without a religious document called a “get,” which is given by the husband.
- Thirty-two officials in China have been punished over alleged bribe-taking, nepotism or other wrongdoing in selecting people for over-subscribed Muslim pilgrimages to the holy city of Mecca, which are only permitted with state approval.
- Ireland is facing renewed claims for an end to its own blasphemy laws after last week’s attack on Charlie Hebdo.
- Justices’ remarks suggest that a small church in a Phoenix suburb may prevail in its Supreme Court dispute over a local ordinance that puts limits on roadside signs that direct people to Sunday services.
- For further discussion of this case, see this post.
- A federal judge has cut the damages awarded to an Indiana teacher who was fired by a Roman Catholic diocese for trying to get pregnant through in vitro fertilization, a procedure which is contrary to Catholic teaching, from $1.9 million to just under $544,000.
- Four Christian churches in New Delhi, India, have been targets of vandalism ranging from shattered glass to arson.
- The government of Tanzania banned witch doctors due to ritual killings of albino people for their body parts, which the witch doctors used to make “magic potions” that the locals believe bring good luck and wealth. Reactions from religious leaders have been mixed.