Category: religion
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The UK 3 – British Christians 1
Lorenzo Zucca King’s College London British Christians are becoming increasingly more vocal about the presence of their faith in the workplace. Four of them brought cases all the way to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in Strasbourg (based on Article 9 and Article 14 of the European Convention of Human Rights) to claim…
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Japan update: Kimigayo lawsuits fail again
The Tokyo District Court rejected an attempt by Tokyo schoolteachers to nullify the punishments they received for refusing to participate in ceremonies involving the national anthem. This is consistent with the earlier Suphttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifrme Court decisions we noted here as well a more recent decision by the Supreme Court in July that rejected similar appeals from…
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Supreme Court of Japan rejects national anthem claims
In a series of cases over this past month, each of the three benches of Japan’s Supreme Court ruled that it is constitutional for school principals to order teachers to stand and sing the national anthem (the Kimigayo) at school ceremonies.
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New developments in Japanese religion case
As noted in January, the Japanese Supreme Court held that Sunagawa city’s allowing the free use of its land by the Sorachi-buto shrine violated two provisions of the Japanese Constitution: Art. 20(1) (“No religious organization shall receive any privileges from the State, nor exercise any political authority.”)
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Weiler on the UK Supreme Court
The first issue of the Jewish Review of Books has just published an excellent critique by Joseph Weiler of the UK Supreme Court’s decision in the Jewish Free School Case (see our earlier posts here and here). The case held that the admissions criteria of the Jewish state-supported school, denying admission to a child whose…
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“Allah” and “God” in Malaysia
On New Year’s eve, the Malaysian High Court reportedly ruled that the Catholic Church may lawfully use the term “Allah” to refer to “God.” The judgment is not yet available on the High Court’s website but useful reports are available at the Jurist, on the BBC, and in Time Magazine.
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UKSC rules on Jewish school admission criteria
As the New York Times and other media outlets report, on Wednesday, Dec. 16 the newly established UKSC released its landmark ruling in a case involving apparently discriminatory admission criteria by a Jewish school in North London. According to the traditional Orthodox Judaism definition, a person may be recognized as Jewish only if his or…
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The Church and Constitutional Fidelity
Nearly a month ago, the Wall Street Journal carried an interesting story on the role of the Catholic Church in the Honduran constitutional crisis. The Church, as it turns out, supported the coup (a highly contested word in this context, I know) for which they received a fair amount of criticism from Zelayistas.
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The European Court of Human Rights says no to crucifixes in Italian classrooms
Short version of Lautsi v. Italy: an Italian mother of Finnish origin has two children in school. The classrooms in which her children are instructed have crucifixes prominently displayed. She unsuccessfully petitions the government to have them removed before seeking relief from the European Court of Human Rights.