Some interesting law and religion news stories from around the web this week:
- BBC: Satellite images confirm that the oldest Christian monastery in Iraq has been destroyed by the jihadist group Islamic State
- Chinese officials have introduced a new law intended to fight religious extremism.
- According to the report of a human rights group, the main violators of religious freedom in Indonesia are local administrators.
- Religion News Service: A California atheist who once argued against the Pledge of Allegiance before the Supreme Court has launched a federal legal challenge to the phrase “In God We Trust” on American currency.
- The Israeli Knesset is considering a new plan to invest in Israeli Arab towns and villages, with the condition that Israeli Arabs fulfill certain conditions “for the good of the State of Israel.”
- BBC: A £20m fund to teach Muslim women in the UK to speak English will tackle segregation and help them resist the lure of [religious] extremism, David Cameron says.
- Newsweek: The Justice Department has accused two largely polygamous towns along the Arizona-Utah border of discriminating against nonbelievers to pressure them to leave.
- Religion News Service: A federal lawsuit has been filed against American Airlines and two affiliated regional carriers by 3 Muslims and a Sikh who were ejected from a Toronto to New York flight last December because they made the stewardesses and the captain uneasy.
- The Tennessee state legislature is considering a bill proposed by a state representative that would ban the teaching of religion in public schools up to the 10th grade.
- Forbes: A report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) states that lax IRS controls of audit criteria mean the agency is still able to target based on religious and political views.
- New York Times: The Arkansas-Louisiana Conference of Seventh-day Adventists and two church members filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday against an Arkansas city that says the group must obtain a permit to go door-to-door evangelizing and seeking donations.