Here are some important law-and-religion news stories from around the web:
- Follow up from last Monday’s AtW: Civil liberties groups are seeking leave to appeal the Quebec Superior Court decision that declined to temporarily suspend parts of the province’s new secularism law, which bars public school teachers, police officers, and other government workers from wearing religious symbols while working.
- All South Dakota public schools will display “In God We Trust” in the coming school year after a new law took effect this month, requiring the state’s 149 districts to paint, stencil, or prominently feature the national motto.
- The Animal Protection and Rescue League filed a lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court (CA), seeking to enjoin the Hebrew Discovery Center from further engaging in Kapparot, a religious ritual that involves slitting chickens’ throats.
- A judge in Hilo (HI) denied protestors’ request to halt the construction of a giant telescope at the summit of Mauna Kea, a site considered sacred by many Native Hawaiians.
- A court granted the Nigerian government’s request to ban the Shi’ite group Islamic Movement of Nigeria on the ground that the group is a terrorist organization.
- A Canadian Federal Court judge ordered the country’s chief electoral officer to reconsider whether the upcoming October election needs to be rescheduled because it falls on the same date as the Jewish holiday Shemini Atzeret.