Religion & Law

RI House, Senate OK casino gambling referendum

Posted on June 11, 2010
Business Week: "Late Thursday, the House of Representatives passed a bill authorizing a voter referendum on whether to convert the state's two licensed slot parlors, Twin River in Lincoln and Newport Grand in Newport, into full-fledged casinos. Hours later, the Senate passed the measure...

MT: Signatures gathered for Personhood Initiative

Posted on June 11, 2010
Medical News Today: "On Tuesday, abortion-rights opponents visited Montana polling places in an attempt to gather enough signatures to qualify a 'personhood' ballot measure for the November election, the Great Falls Tribune reports."

Powerful Failure: How the National Education Association Fails to Use Its Influence for Education

Posted on June 11, 2010
Heritage Foundation's Insider Online carries this report on the NEA.

Dawn Johnsen?s failed self-reinvention

Posted on June 11, 2010
Rob Schwarzwalder writing at the FRC blog: "In an op-ed in today's Washington Post ('Restoring Leadership and Integrity to the Office of Legal Counsel'), President Obama?s former nominee to head the Justice Department?s Office of Legal Counsel Dawn Johnsen writes that 'There is no simple answer to why my nomination failed' ...

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NY: Boy can wear rosary to Schenectady school through Sept. 10, court agrees

Posted on June 11, 2010
The Post-Standard: "A federal judge today approved a lawyers' agreement allowing a Schenectady school student to continue wearing a rosary outside his clothing pending a court hearing in September . . . Dague today said Albany-based U.S. District Judge Lawrence Kahn agreed to postpone a hearing in the case from Friday until Sept...

Actress sues Bayer, claims birth control pill caused stroke at 27

Posted on June 11, 2010
Fox News (NYPost): "Brenda Hamilton, who is an understudy in the Broadway show 'Wicked,' said she had been taking Yasmin for a little more than two years when she suffered the terrifying stroke in May 2007. She has since recovered, but says in a civil suit filed in The Bronx that Bayer knew Yasmin posed a greater risk than did other birth-control pills for blood clots and strokes, but withheld that information from patients and doctors...

Joel Oster: Tear down that wall!

Posted on June 11, 2010
ADF Attorney Joel Oster writing at Speak Up Movement / Church: "This past week, ADF confronted the tangible results of the myth of an impenetrable wall of separation between church and state. We sent out 151 letters to various governmental entities asking them to stop the discrimination against religious people ...

County hires outsiders to defend in abortion dispute

Posted on June 11, 2010
The Journal Gazette: The Allen County commissioners today agreed to hire the socially conservative Alliance Defense Fund to defend against a lawsuit seeking to overturn the county?s new patient safety ordinance. The commissioners unanimously approved a resolution that appoints the attorney [Steven Aden] and the Defense Fund as the county?s primary legal counsel...

Justice Dept. Sides With ACLU Against Single-Sex Classes

Posted on June 11, 2010
Education Week: "The U.S. Department of Justice has sided with the American Civil Liberties Union in its challenge of single-gender classes at a Louisiana middle school."

FRC Praises Vote to Maintain Federal Blood Safety Rule

Posted on June 11, 2010
"Family Research Council praised today's decision by the federal Advisory Committee on Blood Safety and Availability to reject any change in current blood donation rules . . . "

Mitch Daniels Declares Surrender

Posted on June 11, 2010
Erick Erickson writes at Red State Blog: "I have had great hopes for the Governor of Indiana running for President. Signs are starting to point to a run and in the process Daniels is signaling he is not so much a leader as a technocratic wonk and not so much driven by fiscal conservative principles as by bureaucratically generated data...

Two Women Pastors Arrested in India

Posted on June 11, 2010
Christian Post: "Two women pastors were arrested and sent to jail on false charges by a Hindu Nationalist Movement in Karnataka, India, according to a Christian advocacy group."

ACLU requests records on AZ ethnic studies laws

Posted on June 11, 2010
KGUN: "The ACLU is requesting records on the new laws that pertain to the Ethnic Studies program in Public Schools . . . 'The American Civil Liberties Union today filed a records request seeking to prompt the Arizona Department of Education to release documents related to the implementation of a new law banning ethnic studies programs that goes into effect December 31...

Sri Lankan police remove ?indecent advertising,? look to internet

Posted on June 11, 2010
BBC: "Police in Sri Lanka say they have started a campaign to remove what they describe as indecent advertising on film billboards and posters in Colombo . . . The sources said it was hoped that the internet would be more tightly controlled, too, after the recent banning of pornographic sites on mobile phones...

ADF: Supreme Court decision on Mojave Cross bolsters defense of Mt. Soledad memorial

Posted on June 11, 2010
ADF submits supplementary letter brief in Mt. Soledad case on behalf of American Legion Dept. of Calif.

New ?Morning After? Pill Works Five Days Later, Too

Posted on June 11, 2010
NPR (includes audio): "But a fight is already shaping up over whether ulipristal ? which will be marketed in the U.S. under the brand name 'Ella' ? should be approved. Abortion opponents say it not only prevents ovulation, but can also destroy a fertilized egg, which they say is equivalent to abortion...

Pastor Arrested for Praying in Front of Washington Abortion Facility

Posted on June 10, 2010
LifeSiteNews: "Rev. Patrick J. Mahoney, Director of the Christian Defense Coalition, was arrested on Tuesday for praying on property where hundreds have prayed before - in front of the Washington, DC Planned Parenthood (PP) facility . . . "

Abortion Advocates Deny Ulipristal an Abortion Drug as FDA Hearing Comes

Posted on June 10, 2010
LifeNews: "As the FDA prepares for an advisory committee to meet on June 17 to consider whether the agency should approve a new drug called ulipristal (ellaOne), abortion advocates have ramped up their campaign to deny the drug causes abortions and are getting media help to do so...

Russia: St. Petersburg ?gay? march organizers to seek support from foreign diplomats

Posted on June 10, 2010
Interfax: "The organizers of a planned gay pride parade in St. Petersburg plan to seek support from the consulates in the city of European countries, Canada and the United States, the head of the parade organizing committee said."

Mich Daniels Causes Pro-Life Uproar After Declaring ?Truce? on Abortion

Posted on June 10, 2010
LifeNews: "Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels is seen as a potential 2012 presidential nominee to take on pro-abortion President Barack Obama. But, in an interview with the Weekly Standard, the potential candidate may have put is foot in his mouth by declaring a 'truce' on social issues like abortion...

European court: Russian ban on Jehovah?s Witnesses illegal

Posted on June 10, 2010
Interfax: "The European Court of Human Rights on Thursday ruled that the 2004 court ban on a Moscow Jehovah's Witnesses community was illegal. The ban was in breach of the European Convention on Human Rights articles on freedom of thought, conscience, worship and assembly, the Strasbourg-based court said in a statement...

Idaho: Hindu leader offers Boise City Council invocation

Posted on June 10, 2010
KHQ (AP): "Rajan Zed read prayers from ancient Hindu scriptures late Tuesday at a Boise City Council meeting, a possible first for the city."

Prince Charles for more active birth control measures

Posted on June 10, 2010
Zee News: "UK's crown Prince Charles has advocated greater adoption of birth control measures in developing countries, as he blamed 'cultural pressures' for resistance to such techniques and warned that it puts the planet at risk."

Kagan Files From Clinton Administration Show Her Backing Human Cloning

Posted on June 10, 2010
LifeNews: "Add human cloning to abortion and assisted suicide as practices pro-life groups oppose but Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan supports. Files released from the Clinton library about Kagan's time in the Clinton administration show her advocating cloning humans for dubious research...

Kevin Theriot on Reality Check Radio: Equal Access Litigation and Conflicts

Posted on June 10, 2010
ADF attorney Kevin Theriot appeared on Reality Check Radio to discuss Equal Access Litigation and Conflicts. | MP3 11:49 mins | ADF Media: ADF seeks to end religious discrimination policies at more than 750 government-run facilities

Misleading claims by Final Exit Network about GA, AZ euthanasia cases

Posted on June 10, 2010
Stephen Drake, research analyst for Not Dead Yet, writing in the Baltimore Sun: " I think it's important that readers ? and the editors ? know that Jerry Dincin misled readers on several points in his essay published on June 7 ("Death with dignity"). Mr...

Jordan Lorence on Moody Radio: NASA Specialist demoted for belief in Intelligent Design

Posted on June 10, 2010
ADF attorney Jordan Lorence appeared on Moody Radio to discuss the case of a NASA Specialist demoted for belief in Intelligent Design. | MP3 8:11 mins | ADF Media

Canada: Owners close B&B in rights dispute

Posted on June 10, 2010
'We've been harassed so bad we're not running (the B&B),' said Lee Molnar, who lives with his wife Susan in the southern interior community of Grand Forks.

FRC to Testify In Support of Current Blood Donation Policy

Posted on June 10, 2010
FRC: "Family Research Council Senior Fellow Peter Sprigg will testify before the Advisory Committee on Blood Safety and Availability (ACBSA) of the Department of Health and Human Services. He will urge the advisory committee to maintain the current policy which permanently defers men who have had sex with men since 1977 as blood donors ...

?David Cameron to hold first gay reception in a Tory Downing Street?

Posted on June 10, 2010
Pink News ("Europe's largest gay news service"): "Conservative prime minister David Cameron is to hold a reception for the LGBT community ahead of London Pride. The event will be held at Number 10 ahead of Pride Fortnight, PinkNews.co.uk can reveal."

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