Some interesting law and religion news stories from around the web this week:
- Air France will allow female cabin crew and pilots to opt out of flying routes to Tehran after some staff said they did not want to be forced to cover their hair when in Iran, as required under Iranian law.
- Mississippi’s governor signed a law that allows businesses to refuse service on the basis of religious belief. The law is controversial because of its potential impact on the LGBT community.
- A group of women activists were prevented from entering a temple in western India despite court orders that there could be no gender discrimination at Hindu religious places of worship.
- Boko Haram has used at least 105 captured women and girls in suicide attacks since June 2014.
- Chino Valley Unified School District was ordered to pay over $200,000 in suit alleging that the Board members promoted religion during the Board meetings with the intention of religious proselytizing.
- A pioneering mediation program in Brazil has started training evangelical pastors, Catholic priests, and Protestant ministers to be mediators, to resolve conflicts between families and neighbors and help the judicial system reduce a massive backlog.
- An atheist is suing the town of Shelton, Conn., for refusing to post his anti-religion banner in a public park during the Christmas season alongside the angels it displayed.
- The Army has issued a memo granting a Sikh soldier an accommodation to permit him to wear a beard, turban, and uncut hair in observance of his Sikh faith.
- Tennessee lawmakers passed a bill designating the Holy Bible as the state’s official book, angering critics from both political parties. It remains to be seen if the governor will veto the bill.