Some interesting law and religion news stories from around the web this week:
- A Moscow official is expected to cancel the driving license issued to a Pastafarian who used a photo featuring himself wearing a pasta strainer on his head and to discipline whomever issued the license.
- A county board of elections in upstate New York ended its fight to disqualify the votes of Hasidic residents of the village of Bloomingburg, and the Hasidic residents dropped their lawsuit.
- A California atheist filed a suit in Ohio claiming that having “In God We Trust” on U.S. currency violates the separation of church and state.
- A San Francisco judge ruled that ordering a Catholic hospital in California to perform a tubal ligation sterilization procedure would violate its religious freedom and was therefore impermissible.
- Evangelicals and Muslims in Kenya condemned the government’s plans to regulate religious organizations, which they claim is religious persecution.
- A suit was filed in a California federal court requiring the state to invalidate a death certificate issued two years ago when a 13-year old was declared brain dead. She was subsequently moved to New Jersey, where a religious exemption allowed her to continue receiving care and where she allegedly showed signs of brain function.
- A Nevada federal judge granted a preliminary injunction ordering the state treasurer to stop implementing Nevada’s new school choice program pending further court deliberations.
- Read the full order here.
- A non-profit focused on Christian persecution released its 2016 Watch List of the 50 most dangerous countries in which to be a Christian. The report lists North Korea as the first of 35 countries where Islamic extremism “has risen to a level akin to ethnic cleansing.”
- See the full list here.
- Gambia’s government says it lifted a directive that all female government staff must cover their hair during office hours, which had passed after the president declared the country an Islamic republic in December.
- ISIL has claimed responsibility for coordinated bomb and gun attacks in Indonesia’s capital that killed at least 7. The group said it “targeted a gathering from the crusader alliance.”