The Suffolk County (NY) Christian Coalition is distributing "voter guides" to area churches in hopes that they will be included in bulletins ahead of the upcoming congressional primary. Educational, nonpartisan voter guides are allowed to be distributed in churches without jeopardizing tax-exempt status so long as they address a wide range of issues, and are not essentially *wink-wink* endorsements for or against a candidate. There's one serious problem with this  Christian Coalition voter guide though - it only names one candidate. The text reads:

The following candidate has pledged his support for: Safeguarding the biblical definition of marriage, protecting the unborn, Supporting the work of faith-based organizations...

Then goes on to name the one candidate they believe meets those criteria.

Receiving the request to add these guides to his church literature, Pastor Dwight Lee Wolter of the Congregational Church of Patchogue replied in a letter, expressing his concern over the political tactics and the tax exemption that comes with it. Check it out.

In a 2-1 decision I mentioned earlier, a panel of the 7th Circuit ruled unconstitutional the University of Wisconsin's policy of withholding funds from student groups for activities that constitute "worship, proselytizing or religious instruction." The majority opinion written by Judge Easterbrook emphasizes the school's decision to distribute funds as a public forum without regard for the content or viewpoint of the organization or activity being funded. With such an open policy, the court argues, Wisconsin may not deny religious activity, even if its purpose is to avoid violating the separation of church and state.

In a strong dissent, Judge Williams contends that the University must be given the power to determine the purpose and goals of the forums it creates, allowing it to deny expression that does not comport with that purpose.

See the extended entry for key quotes from the majority and dissent.

In a decision that is sure to be controversial, a divided panel of the 7th Circuit yesterday invalidated a University of Wisconsin policy that prohibited student fees from funding religious worship, proselytizing and other acts that might constitute "the practice of religion."

Previously, the Supreme Court has ruled that University funding may not withhold funds from groups expressing a religious viewpoint, but from initial reports this ruling would seem to take that principle further, covering over any distinction between speech with a religious viewpoint and religious worship itself.

I'm reading the decision (pdf) now - more to come, so check back. The AP has a brief report. The Chronicle of Higher Education has more here.

AP reports that the EEOC has filed suit against a prominent meatpacking plant over its treatment of Muslim employees.

Federal officials say Muslim Somali workers were denied prayer time and faced harrassment and termination at two JBS Swift & Co. meatpacking plants in Colorado and Nebraska.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission made the allegations in lawsuits filed late Monday in U.S. District Court in Denver and in Omaha. Both complaints allege the harrassment included Muslim workers being called names and having meat and bones thrown at them by coworkers and managers.

Last year Florida's Santa Rosa School District entered into a consent agreement, pledging to stop promoting religion in public schools, after a claim brought by two students alleged widespread religious coercion by school administrators and teachers. That agreement has been put into question by a new lawsuit arguing that the order goes too far in restricting the actions of school personnel, violating their constitutional rights. But this new bid to overturn the consent decree was put on hold last week when the Judge delayed an injunction ruling to give time for input from the original suit's participants:

[Judge M. Casey] Rodger’s Aug. 20 order on the newest lawsuit also denied the Liberty Counsel’s request for a preliminary injunction that would have allowed the school district to stop enforcing the consent decree until a ruling is made on its constitutionality.

Liberty Counsel founder Mathew Staver doesn’t consider Rodgers’ ruling a setback.

“She (the judge) hasn’t ruled on merits of the injunction,” Staver said. “She’s just giving them (the original plaintiffs) an opportunity to be part of the litigation.”

At issue here is the school district's agreement that teachers will not engage in prayer or other religious activities with students in the school setting. Liberty Counsel challenges the right of a district to enter into such an agreement on behalf of teachers who are not accused of wrongdoing. But the larger principle is very simple. Public school officials are representatives of all the people when acting in their official capacity on school grounds. Teachers certainly don't give up their First Amendment rights when they enter the school, but they don't gain the authority to violate the rights of students either, who are entitled to attend school without being indoctrinated, coerced, or alienated over their religious beliefs, or lack thereof.

Whatever the outcome in this particular challenge, that boundary should be enforced.

Here's a bit more information on the meeting yesterday between religious leaders - including the Baptist Joint Committee's Brent Walker - and Justice Department officials urging vigilance in the face of rising anti-Islamic sentiment.

Representatives from the Interfaith Alliance, Muslim Advocates, and the Religious Action Center of Reformed Judaism were also part of the contingent that called on Attorney General Eric Holder to "take specific actions...as soon as possible to protect and preserve religious freedoms and the rights of all Americans, including millions of Muslims, to live and practice their faith freely, without fear of violence or intimidation":

Make a Public Statement...condemning hate crimes and other forms of harassment and discrimination targeting the Muslim and other faith communities...

Lead a Coordinated Federal Response...to defuse tensions where incidents have already occurred and in areas where incitement activities are expected to take place...

Utilize recently-passed federal Hate Crimes Law... to help (state and local jurisdictions) to more effectively investigate and prosecute hate crimes...

Create a Civil Rights Division Hotline for Reporting Hate Crimes...for the receipt, referral and tracking of all civil rights complaints.

Those are just thumbnail sketches of the actions being requested of the DOJ. Read the entire press release, with more detail, here (pdf).

As something of an update to my last night's rant - this from the credit-where-credit-is-due file - I'm glad to see that Southern Baptist leaders including Richard Land and Frank Page are issuing strong condemnations of the vandalism at the Murfreesboro, TN mosque site, and strong support for the right of Muslims to build there.

Richard Land, president of the Southern Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, said he was sickened and revolted by news of the suspected arson at the mosque site. He called it un-American.

“It time for this nonsense to end,” Land said this afternoon.

Land believes Muslims in Murfreesboro followed the law in getting approval for their house of worship. He called on all Tennesseans to back the right of local Muslims to worship without interference and for opposition to the mosque to end.

“The First Amendment guarantees people the right to worship where they live,” he said. “I am calling for all people of faith and good will to stand up for the rights of our Muslim fellow citizens.”

Land took some criticism - perhaps rightly so - for his opposition to the proposed Islamic Center near ground zero, but he's right here, and pulling no punches. Good for him. The right of all Americans to worship as they see fit, without fear of intimidation, should be uncontroversial and non-partisan. 

ABP's Rob Marus reports on a meeting this afternoon at the Department of Justice in which religious leaders including the Baptist Joint Committee's Brent Walker met with law enforcement officials to discuss the recent rise in anti-Muslim violence and rhetoric.

Baptist and other religious-liberty leaders met with Department of Justice officials to urge them to act quickly, according to a press advisory about the meeting, “to protect and preserve religious freedoms and the rights of all Americans, including millions of Muslims, to live and practice their faith freely, without fear of violence or intimidation.”

The leaders -- including Brent Walker, executive director of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, and Welton Gaddy, a Baptist minister who serves as president of the Interfaith Alliance -- are asking Attorney General Eric Holder to lead a coordinated response to the rise in anti-Muslim sentiment.

If the American people can't or won't speak with one voice in condemnation of acts of intimidation and violence against a religious group, then just how committed to freedom are we? The last few weeks have been truly disappointing for the widespread, high-profile voices of fear and intolerance. We have certainly seen acts of domestic terror against houses of worship in the past - from church burnings to synagogue vandalism. Those cowardly offenses though have come from extreme fringe groups of hate, widely condemned, virtually alone in their destructive viewpoints. 

Recent acts - including arson and gunfire at the site of a Tennessee mosque construction site, and the stabbing of a NY City cab driver merely for confessing his Muslim faith - have seemed to emerge from a religious bias with disturbingly strong popular support today, riding a wave of powerful media outlets questioning all of Islam, and  prominent national figures banging the drumbeat of hostility toward a religion they distrust and paint as somehow less than American, even while it is practiced peacefully by millions of our fellow citizens.

Those voices foment all of the dangerous divisions that led our country to enact strong legal protections for people of all faiths in the first place. Our law enforcement leaders must have the will to preserve and enforce those principles when necessary. And our religious leaders should demonstrate the strength to stand up for the religious liberty  - indeed, the freedom to worship without intimidation - of Muslim-Americans in the face of these threats. If we don't speak up for them, who will speak up for us when we need it? Kudos to Brent Walker, Welton Gaddy and the others who joined in this effort.