c. 2006 Religion News Service
Muslim Woman at Center of Veil Dispute Loses Case
LONDON (RNS) A Muslim teaching assistant who was suspended from her job when she refused to stop wearing her full-face veil in the classroom has lost her claim that she was discriminated against because of her religion.
An employment tribunal threw out the suit filed by Aishah Azmi, ruling that the standards set by the Church of England Junior School in Dewsbury were a “proportionate means” of making sure students “received the best possible instruction in the English language.”
Students had complained that Azmi’s “niqab” veil, which concealed all but the eyes, hid her lips and made it difficult for them to understand her.
The tribunal’s precedent-setting ruling is almost certain to fuel the controversy over veils because it gives schools in Britain the right to insist that Muslim staff remove the face gear. The issue first erupted when Jack Straw, a former member of Prime Minister Tony Blair’s cabinet, said Muslim women visiting his office should remove their veils.
Azmi was awarded about $1,900 because the school failed to follow proper procedure in the case, but she said she intends to appeal the discrimination ruling to the European Court of Justice.
Support for the teacher’s claim appeared to be waning. Shahid Malik, the member of Parliament from her home district, said, “I would appeal to Mrs. Azmi now just to let this thing go. There is no real support for it.”
A representative from the Muslim Council of Britain, Reefat Drabu, said the veil was not obligatory. She said Azmi’s stance was “exacerbating the misunderstanding” of Islam and making things harder for Muslim communities in Britain.
_ Al Webb
Muslim Says He Was Fired for Not Giving to Catholic Charity
NEWARK, N.J. (RNS) The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has filed a religious discrimination lawsuit against the nation’s largest community development corporation, alleging that it fired a Muslim employee after he refused to donate money to a Catholic charity.
The lawsuit, filed in late September but announced Tuesday (Oct. 17), alleges that New Community Corp. fired Newark Police Lt. Anthony Kerr from his part-time job as a security guard after he refused to donate to a Catholic charity because of his religious beliefs.
“It comes down to a matter of principle,” Kerr said. “People should not be forced to contribute to a charity. How do you penalize a man who stands up for his religious convictions?”
As a practicing Muslim, Kerr said he would prefer to give to a Muslim charity that conforms with his religious beliefs. Kerr said he was asked to donate to St. Rose of Lima School in Newark starting in the spring of 2005. The founder of New Community, Monsignor William Linder, is the pastor at St. Rose of Lima.
New Community also allegedly retaliated against Kerr by filing a complaint against him with the Newark Police Department’s internal affairs division after Kerr pursued federal charges, said Michael Ranis, a trial attorney for the commission.
“New Community went far beyond refusing to accommodate Mr. Kerr. They fired him and tried to make his life difficult,” said Ranis.
The case demonstrates that employers must make an effort to acknowledge the religious beliefs of employees if it is not a burden, said Ranis. Allowing one employee not to contribute to a Catholic charity because of his religious beliefs is not an encumbrance, he added.
New Community Corp. said Kerr’s allegations are false and vowed to defend the lawsuit.
“The idea that anyone was mistreated because of their religion is an affront to our pledge to the community,” said general counsel Anthony Higgins.
New Community Corp. is the largest community development corporation in the country, with assets of $50 million. The nonprofit affects the lives of more than 50,000 people by providing housing, job training and medical care and employs 1,600 people in Newark.
_ Jeffery C. Mays
New York Court Says No to Birth Control Exemption
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (RNS) The Catholic Church and other religious organizations must provide insurance that pays for prescription contraception, New York’s highest court ruled Thursday (Oct. 19).
The decision by the state Court of Appeals upholds a January ruling by the Appellate Division of the state Supreme Court. In a 3-2 decision, judges rejected religious groups’ arguments that the 2002 Women’s Health and Wellness Act violates religious freedom.
Ten religious organizations in New York sued the state in December 2002, claiming the law that requires health insurers to provide coverage for obstetric and gynecologic care should include a religious exemption for organizations that do not support birth control.
The New York State Catholic Conference, which represents the state’s bishops in matters of public policy, is disappointed with the decision.
“Any religious organization must have the right in American society to uphold its own teachings,” the conference said in a prepared statement.
The conference said the ruling opens the way for legislation that would force Catholic entities to pay for employees’ abortions.
The judges’ decision noted that the organizations involved are not solely committed to advancing their religious beliefs, and they employ and serve people of different faiths.
The ruling reinforces the intention of the women’s health legislation, said Betty DeFazio, speaking for Planned Parenthood of the Rochester/Syracuse Region.
“Part of this bill was intended to level the playing field to respect the truly religious organizations and make sure women in New York were not discriminated against in getting basic health care,” DeFazio said. “Birth control for women is basic health care.”
_ Renee K. Gadoua
Nuns’ Voter Guide Challenges Church on Abortion
WASHINGTON (RNS) Weeks before the November elections, a progressive coalition of Catholic nuns has issued an “open letter to Catholic voters” that challenges the church’s teachings on abortion and gay marriage.
The letter from the 500-member National Coalition of American Nuns is both a rebuke to conservative Catholic bishops and an encouragement to liberal lay Catholics, said co-executive director Sister Jeannine Gramick.
“We insist that legislators and voters alike cast their votes in accordance with their consciences and deeply-held values without incurring sacramental penalties based on their voting records,” the letter reads.
The open letter lists seven items Catholics should consider before voting. The first two items concern war and immigration.
The third item is: “We encourage respect for the moral adulthood of women and will chose legislators who will recognize the right of women to make reproductive decisions.”
“That would probably not be in line with what the bishops are currently saying,” said Gramick, who was ordered by the Vatican to quit her work with gay and lesbian Catholics in 1999.
NCAN board member Sister Donna Quinn said that “until the church recognizes women as fully functioning moral human beings, then they have no right to talk” about abortion.
“Because the church _ the institutional church _ is all male, they should stay out of these issues,” said Quinn, 68, a Dominican nun from the Chicago area.
The open letter also says that “all citizens in committed relationships _ whether marriages or civil unions _ should retain all rights … including … adoption of children, ownership of property, inheritance, health and end-of-life decisions.”
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops opposes gay marriage as well as efforts to accord gay couples all the rights pertaining to heterosexual marriages.
Joseph Cella, president of Fidelis, a conservative Catholic group, said the nuns’ letter “bulldozes the core teachings of the Roman Catholic Church: the sanctity of the unborn child and traditional marriage.”
“They’re about as far outside the Catholic moral framework as any organization can possibly be,” Cella said.
_ Daniel Burke
Quote of the Day: Evangelist Will Graham
(RNS) “Dad wanted to make sure that I wasn’t pressured and was doing it for the right reasons. He wanted to know that the Lord was leading me and not because of six letters.”
_ Evangelist Will Graham, son of Franklin Graham and grandson of Billy Graham, referring to his famous last name and following in the evangelistic footsteps of his relatives. Quoted by Baptist Press, Will Graham concluded his first U.S. crusade in Gastonia, N.C., on Oct. 11.
KRE/PH END RNS
