June 27, 2019 - LAW AND RELIGION FORUM

Posted on June 27, 2019 by Anthony Nania

Around the Web

Here are some important law-and-religion news stories from around the web:

The Ninth Circuit denied an en banc rehearing of Biel v. St. James School; the 2-1 circuit court panel held that a 5th-grade teacher at a Catholic school is not a minister under the ministerial exception doctrine. Nine judges dissented from the denial.
- The Los Angeles Times reports further about the nine dissenting judges, who argued in their dissent that the Ninth Circuit has defied precedent and narrowed the ministerial exception, turning “a blind eye to religious liberties.”
On Tuesday, the U.S. House Education and Labor Committee held a hearing regarding the “Do No Harm” Act, which is a bill designed to prevent the Religious Freedom Restoration Act from being used to override civil rights protections.
- Some legal experts believe Hobby Lobby harmed religious freedom’s reputation, turning a right thought nearly universally to be a “human right” into something that many Americans desire to limit. Of course, other legal experts disagree.
A Christian grade school in Maryland filed suit after state officials revoked the school’s ability to participate in low-income scholarship programs because of the school’s Christian beliefs about marriage and sexuality.
The U.S. State Department released the 2018 Report on International Religious Freedom that covers the status of religious freedom, reporting on U.S. government policies that affect religious belief and religious freedom both positively and negatively.
The Supreme Court requested the Solicitor General to file a brief in Archdiocese of San Juan v. Feliciano, which poses the question of whether courts in Puerto Rico can access the assets of Catholic entities to satisfy pension obligations for the organizations’ employees.
The D.C. district court dismissed a lawsuit brought by former members of an Ethiopian Orthodox church alleging that a group of current church members violated RICO to take control; the district court stated the First Amendment prevents hearing the claim, stating “whether someone may worship at a church is plainly a matter of ecclesiastical cognizance.”
An online church based in Seattle has sued Tennessee, claiming the state’s law barring online-ordained ministers from officiating weddings violates the First Amendment by limiting the church’s ministers from freely exercising religion.
After strengthening a ban on LGBTQ clergy members and same-sex marriages, the United Methodist Church, which is the largest mainline U.S. protestant denomination, approaches closer to a formal split within the church; one potential solution is to turn to legislatures or to allow different sects of the church to split off.

Posted on June 27, 2019June 23, 2019 by Marc O. DeGirolami

The Ninth Crusade Ends

A very interesting looking new book concerning the Siege of Acre and the semi-official end of the Crusades: The Accursed Tower: The Fall of Acre and the End of the Crusades (Basic Books), by Roger Crowley.

“The 1291 siege of Acre was the Alamo of the Christian Crusades — the final bloody battle for the Holy Land. After a desperate six weeks, the beleaguered citadel surrendered to the Mamluks, bringing an end to Christendom’s two-hundred year adventure in the Middle East.

In The Accursed Tower, Roger Crowley delivers a lively narrative of the lead-up to the siege and a vivid, blow-by-blow account of the climactic battle. Drawing on extant Arabic sources as well as untranslated Latin documents, he argues that Acre is notable for technical advances in military planning and siege warfare, and extraordinary for its individual heroism and savage slaughter. A gripping depiction of the crusader era told through its dramatic last moments, The Accursed Tower offers an essential new view on a crucial turning point in world history.”

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