Written by Don ByrdA lawsuit brought by the star of the reality television show, “Sister Wives,” challenging Utah’s anti-bigamy received a surprising victory Friday. A federal judge in Utah struck down as unconstitutional a provision in the law that prohibits cohabitation with another person while married. That portion of the state’s anti-bigamy statute, Judge Clark Waddoups said, is being improperly applied to target religious cohabitants in violation of the Free Exercise clause of the US Constitution.
Written by Don ByrdA lawsuit filed by a group of North Carolina public school advocates challenges the state's new school voucher program that allows parents to use taxpayer money to fund private or religious school tuition. The suit argues the scheme violates the state constitution's requirement that school funds be used exclusively for a uniform public school system.
Written by Don ByrdVia Religion Clause, a federal judge in Florida granted a preliminary injunction yesterday ordering the State Department of Corrections to provide kosher meals to all inmates who request one according to sincerely held religious beliefs. In 2007, the state abandoned its kosher meals program and defends its right not to provide such meals. Following a lawsuit filed last year by the United States, however, the state initiated a pilot program to provide kosher meals, but only within strict guidelines designed to certify religious sincerity.
In issuing the injunction, the judge found the lack of a kosher offering likely violates the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), as do the many hurdles to a kosher diet in the state’s current pilot program, including the religious sincerity test that required applying inmates to demonstrate knowledge about their claimed faith.
By Don Byrd
BJC Blogger Don Byrd takes a look at the top church-state stories of 2013
From the November/December Report from the Capital
Written by Don ByrdOne reason among many to oppose government displays that are overtly religious, even during the holidays, is because the appearance of religious endorsement by the government marginalizes those who don’t share in the beliefs. In recent years, those marginalized citizens have adopted a new tactic, akin to: “If you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.” Adherents of minority faiths and proponents of atheism are asking for equal space to spread their own message alongside the rest.
In Florida, that means a “Festivus” pole (from a holiday celebration invented by writers of the TV show Seinfeld), made of empty beer cans, has joined the Nativity Scene and other religious displays at the state capitol in Tallahassee.
