Some interesting law and religion news stories from around the web this week:
- The California governor, a former Catholic seminarian, signs a “right-to-die” law.
- A nonprofit group filed a lawsuit claiming that the predominantly Hasidic village of Kiryas Joel, New York violated the Establishment Clause by moving to annex land from the town of Monroe.
- The Sixth Circuit ruled that a Christian organization that runs group foster homes in Kentucky can challenge a settlement between the state and taxpayers that allows its religious activities to be monitored by the ACLU. The settled suit claimed that the state violated the Establishment Clause by paying the Christian organization to care for foster children.
- A Colorado federal district court held that the White supremacist Creativity Movement may qualify as a “religion” for purposes of the First Amendment and RFRA.
- A federal judge found that the MTA improperly determined that subway advertisements promoting a documentary about American Muslim comedians were political in nature. The MTA had found that the ads violated its ban on political advertisement.
- Secularist activists praise the removal of a monument bearing the Ten Commandments from the Oklahoma Capitol grounds after the monument was found unconstitutional.
- The Canadian Federal Court of Appeals ruled in favor of a Muslim woman who sought to take the citizenship oath with her face veiled.
- Some Alabama judges have stopped issuing all marriage licenses since the Supreme Court ruled on same-sex marriage, relying on a 1961 law providing that licenses “may” (not “shall”) be issued by judges.
- At Pope Francis’s synod on families, a Canadian archbishop advocated that the church consider allowing women to serve as deacons.
- A would-be speaker at the International Law and Religion Symposium at Brigham Young University canceled after learning of the Mormon university’s policy concerning Mormon students who change or lose their faith, saying it denied religious freedom.
- Dozens of Southern and Midwestern law enforcement agencies have used personal funds to add “In God We Trust” bumper stickers to squad cars, angering critics who claim the bumper sticker violates “the separation of church and state.”
- An Indiana high school is being sued by the Freedom From Religion Foundation and the ACLU over a live Nativity scene that has been part of the school’s Christmas Spectacular celebration for decades.