Israeli Postal Workers Object to Delivering New Testaments

Mon Mar 5 08:26:09 PST 2012

The ReligionClause blog has a very interesting  post that nicely relates to our Basketball Tournament topic.

Here is the money passage:

"In Israel, mail carriers in the city of Ramat Gan are refusing to 
deliver thousands of copies of the New Testament translated into Hebrew 
that have been mailed to city residents. According to YNet News
 today, religious mail carriers are asserting that delivering the books,
 which they see as missionary material, violates their conscience. They 
say that delivering the books to Jewish residents violates halacha (Jewish religious law)." 

In the past, we have discussed whether postal workers have a religious liberty right to refuse to deliver abortion-related material. 

Rick Duncan 
Welpton Professor of Law 
University of Nebraska College of Law 
Lincoln, NE 68583-0902

"And against the constitution I have never raised a storm,It's the scoundrels who've corrupted it that I want to reform" --Dick Gaughan (from the song, Thomas Muir of Huntershill)

--- On Sat, 3/3/12, Richard D. Friedman <rdfrdman at umich.edu> wrote:

From: Richard D. Friedman <rdfrdman at umich.edu>
Subject: Re: Basketball tournaments on the Sabbath
To: "Law & Religion issues for Law Academics" <religionlaw at lists.ucla.edu>, "Law & Religion issues for Law Academics" <religionlaw at lists.ucla.edu>
Cc: "religionlaw at lists.ucla.edu" <religionlaw at lists.ucla.edu>
Date: Saturday, March 3, 2012, 3:48 PM

Say what?  Although I'm a member of this list, I don't follow the
law in this area closely, but I know enough that Smith limited
Sherbert -- or at least it sure appeared to do so, and Congress
sure thought so in purporting to restore religious freedoms after
Smith.  I assume Marci has a log-considered take on
Smith that is contrary to this widely held perception (shared,
e.g., by Wikipedia's article on Smith), but I can't see how that
"goes without saying."

Rich Friedman

At 06:27 PM 3/3/2012, Marci Hamilton wrote:

I'm sure it goes without saying
that Rick is 

incorrect about Smith.  It did not gut anything

It was a case of first impression in the Court's

eyes and rightly so.   That is what the 

historical record at the Court establishes 

clearly.   Folks can dislike Smith but lets 

at least nuance the discussion to the point

where preferences do not substitute for

the actual doctrinal history

Marci

On Mar 3, 2012, at 5:57 PM, "Finkelman, Paul
<
paul.finkelman at albanylaw.edu
>"<
Paul.Finkelman at albanylaw.edu> wrote:

Since I have so often -- and
often vigorously -- disagreed with Rick, I thought it appropriate to
endorse his analysis and his use of the Franklin analogy.

Paul Finkelm

Connected by DROID on Verizon Wireless

-----Original message-----

From: Rick Duncan
<
nebraskalawprof at yahoo.com>

To: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics
<
religionlaw at lists.ucla.edu>

Sent: Sat, Mar 3, 2012 22:47:38 GMT+00:00

Subject: RE: Basketball tournaments on the Sabbath

I speak about religious liberty at lots of CLEs for conservative
Christian lawyers and law students, and I try to tell them that religious
liberty is a lot like Franklin's view of the American
Revolution--"We better all hang together, or most assuredly we will
all hang separately."

The cases in which religious liberty has taken a hit--Reynolds and
Smith are two of the best examples--are ones involving unpopular
religious groups or practices. I know a lot of Christians were not to
upset about Smith--but Smith gutted free exercise for everyone.

I know you all know this, but it is worth remembering from time to
time.

Prof. Rick Duncan (Nebraska Law)

See my recent paper on The Tea Party, federalism, and liberty
at:

http://ssrn.com/abstract=1984699

"And against the constitution I have never raised a storm,It's
the scoundrels who've corrupted it that I want to reform" --Dick
Gaughan (from the song, Thomas Muir of Huntershill)

--- On Sat, 3/3/12, Douglas Laycock
<dlaycock at virginia.edu
> wrote:

From: Douglas Laycock
<dlaycock at virginia.edu
>

Subject: RE: Basketball tournaments on the Sabbath

To: "'Law & Religion issues for Law Academics'"
<
religionlaw at lists.ucla.edu>

Date: Saturday, March 3, 2012, 8:26 AM

This morning's story in the Times confirms the unreconstructed
Texans

theory. It looks like the conservative evangelical schools have
taken

control of this organization, and tolerance of diversity has never
been one

of their strengths. 

Douglas Laycock

Robert E. Scott Distinguished Professor of Law

University of Virginia Law School

580 Massie Road

Charlottesville, VA  22903

     434-243-8546

-----Original Message-----

From:
religionlaw-bounces at lists.ucla.edu

[
mailto:religionlaw-bounces at lists.ucla.edu] On Behalf Of Richard D.
Friedman

Sent: Saturday, March 03, 2012 12:19 AM

To: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics

Subject: Re: Basketball tournaments on the Sabbath

The TAPPS website,
http://www.tapps.net/, indicates that
they agreed to let

Beren play when presented with the papers, before they were actually
filed.

But the lawyer who signed the complaint -- which included the
application

for the TRO -- confirmed to me that the papers were indeed
filed.  I get the

impression that TAPPS, while saying adamantly that they were going to
adhere

to their schedule, decided they would fold quickly if sued; I think
someone

there finally realized that they were not casting themselves in a
favorable

light.

Rich Friedman

At 07:19 PM 3/2/2012, you wrote:

>It would look less like a discrimination claim and more like an

>exemption claim. Judges tend to naively assume that the calendar
is a 

>neutral set of rules, and the sharply different treatment of
Sunday and 

>Saturday here would make it more obvious than usual that that
just 

>isn't true.

>

>By the way, I was confused about chronology. The complaint was
filed, 

>and TAPPS caved, yesterday. There was another story in the Times
this 

>morning. Haven't heard the score of the game.

>

>On Fri, 2 Mar 2012 23:11:44 +0000

>  "Finkelman, Paul 

>
<paul.finkelman at albanylaw.edu
>"      
<Paul.Finkelman at albanylaw.edu>

wrote:

> >I am guessing that the leaders of this organization never
dreamed

> of a Jewish basketball team going to the finals.  They
never heard of 

> Dolph Shayes or Nancy Lieberman.

> >

> >

> >

> >More seriously:  If the organization (which includes
many

> Christian schools) played games on Sundays, would the Hebrew
high 

> school be in a weaker position?

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >*************************************************

> >Paul Finkelman, Ph.D.

> >President William McKinley Distinguished Professor of Law
Albany Law 

> >School

> >80 New Scotland Avenue

> >Albany, NY 12208

> >

> >518-445-3386 (p)

> >518-445-3363 (f)

> >

>
>paul.finkelman at albanylaw.edu
<
mailto:paul.finkelman at albanylaw.edu>

>
>
www.paulfinkelman.com<
http://www.paulfinkelman.com/>

> >*************************************************

> >

> >________________________________

> >From:
religionlaw-bounces at lists.ucla.edu

> [religionlaw-bounces at lists.ucla.edu] on
behalf of Ira Lupu 

> [iclupu at law.gwu.edu]

> >Sent: Friday, March 02, 2012 6:03 PM

> >To: Law & Religion issues for Law Academics

> >Subject: Re: Basketball tournaments on the Sabbath

> >

> >Today's first semi-final: Houston Beren 58, Dallas Covenant
46 --

> final is after sundown tomorrow evening.

> >

> >Thanks, Doug.

> >

> >On Fri, Mar 2, 2012 at 5:48 PM, Ed Darrell

>
<edarrell at sbcglobal.net
<
mailto:edarrell at sbcglobal.net>> wrote:

> >If your position is utterly untenable as a matter of
public

> relations, it may not matter that the other side's state action
theory 

> is very weak. But they had to file the lawsuit before common
sense 

> could prevail.

> >

> >One more demonstration of the value of lawyers.  Good
news that

> they've scheduled the game to fit it in.  Good, good
news.

> >

> >Ed Darrell

> >Dallas

> >

> >________________________________

> >From: Alan Brownstein

>
<aebrownstein at ucdavis.edu
<
mailto:aebrownstein at ucdavis.edu>>

> >To: Law & 

_______________________________________________

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