"Mormon Student, Justice, ACLU Join Up"

Thu Aug 30 07:11:45 PDT 2007

  Right. This should be an easy case if the government has the facts
right.

  The intuition to protect only mandatory aspects of religion is
enormously widespread, flowing I think partly from a desire to get
rid of these cases, and partly from a fundamental misunderstanding of
religion as involving only compliance with rules. Of course compliance
with rules is often religiously important, and looms larger in some
faiths than in others, but I can't think of any religion that
consists solely of compliance with rules.

  Quoting "Vance R. Koven" <vrkoven at gmail.com>:

> More to the point, I would think, is that neither military nor
community
> service is required, either (well, maybe community service when
part of a
> criminal sentence). Since there are clearly secular exemptions to
the rule,
> it can't be said to be a neutral rule of general application. Smith
> therefore doesn't apply, and Sherbert does, right?
>
> Vance
>
> --
> Vance R. Koven
> Boston, MA USA
> vrkoven at world.std.com
>
> On 8/30/07, Ed Darrell <edarrell at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
>>
>> No, the mission is not required, in the same sense that, if
elected, a
>> cardinal may turn down the papacy, or Mother Teresa can return
from the dead
>> and refuse canonization -- well, maybe not that serious.  Only
someone who
>> is not a member of the church and doesn't have to face years of
questions in
>> elders' quorums, queries from potential spouses' parents, and the
general
>> disapproval of everyone a person knows, would think it's a
voluntary sort of
>> thing that is optional, and no big deal.
>>
>> People are encouraged to breathe, but it's not required . . .
>>
>> Ed Darrell
>> Dallas
>>
>> *Brad Pardee <bp51414 at alltel.net>* wrote:
>>
>> I found this line particularly interesting:
>>
>> "The state's request to dismiss Haws' lawsuit notes that Mormon
missions
>> are
>> encouraged, not required. Haws was 'under no compulsion to choose
between
>> the tenets of his religion and continued receipt of the PROMISE
>> scholarship,' the motion reads."
>>
>> As I've read the posts here over time, it has seemed like the
question is
>> often finding the balance between the free exercise clause and the
>> establishment clause. To my layman's eye, though, it would seem,
though,
>> that in this case, the state is potentially managing to run afoul
of both
>> clauses. It sounds like the student is making a free exercise
claim when
>> he
>> talks about being forced to choose between his religion and his
>> scholarship.
>> However, if the state is making pronouncements that distinguish
between
>> what
>> a religion encourages and what a religion requires, could a case
be made
>> that this qualifies as excessive entanglement?
>>
>> Brad Pardee
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Volokh, Eugene"
>> To: "Law & Religion issues for Law Academics"
>> Sent: Thursday, August 30, 2007 1:28 AM
>> Subject: "Mormon Student, Justice, ACLU Join Up"
>>
>>
>> > Any thoughts on this?
>> >
>> >
>> >
>>
http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2007Aug25/0,4670,ReligionLawsuitScholarship,00.html[1]
>> >
>> > The Justice Department is joining the American Civil Liberties
Union in
>> > backing a student who lost his state-funded merit-based
scholarship
>> > because he left college to serve a two-year church mission.
>> >
>> > The department's Civil Rights Division filed a
friend-of-the-court brief
>> > Friday in U.S. District Court in Charleston on behalf of David
Haws, a
>> > student at West Virginia University.
>> >
>> > Haws, a Mormon, is suing a state scholarship board, alleging it
violated
>> > his First Amendment right to freely exercise his religion. His
attorney
>> > argues that by denying Haws' request for a leave of absence, the
board
>> > forced him to choose between his religion and his scholarship
through a
>> > state program, known as PROMISE.
>> >
>> > The Justice Department noted that the PROMISE Board grants
deferments
>> > for military and community service, and that by denying a
deferral for
>> > religious purposes, the board was placing a lower value on
religious
>> > deferments....
>> > _______________________________________________
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>

Douglas Laycock
Yale Kamisar Collegiate Professor of Law
University of Michigan Law School
625 S. State St.
Ann Arbor, MI  48109-1215
  734-647-9713

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