Ideas

MONTREAL — Windows at a Westmount synagogue were struck by projectiles late Thursday, Oct. 29, in what police believe was pellet-gun fire. The glass did not shatter and no one was inside or hurt. The Suburban identifies the building as Temple Emanu-El-Beth-Shalom, and CTV carries the same account under a slightly different name. Montreal police's hate crimes unit and Federation CJA's community security network are investigating. Rabbi Lisa Grushcow credited recent security upgrades and called the act deliberate. The congregation said it lacks enough information to state a motive. The synagogue was targeted with Nazi graffiti in April and an attempted arson last June, for which a 38-year-old was arrested. Separately, Belleville, Ont., police said Const. Jeff Smith has left hospital more than a month after being shot while stopping an armed attack on the Sons of Jacob Synagogue on Sept. 20. Police have called that attack hate-motivated.

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court granted review on Oct. 1 in Missionaries of Saint John the Baptist, Inc. v. Frederic. The case asks whether a zoning rule that bars a religious group from building a shrine on its own land imposes a burden heavy enough to trigger the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA). Two neighbors appealed a local board's decision to allow the grotto. The trial court rejected their objections. The Kentucky Court of Appeals reversed, holding that the ban did not violate RLUIPA, and the Kentucky Supreme Court affirmed. The missionaries are represented by First Liberty Institute, which says the ruling would affect congregations across the state. Oral argument has not been scheduled. The case is the court's second religion-and-land-use matter of the term, alongside a pending grant on chilling effects in a Grand v. City of University Heights, Ohio, dispute.