Religion & Law

?U.N. committee moves to keep out gay-lesbian NGO?

Posted on June 03, 2010
Reuters: "A United Nations committee that decides which nongovernmental organizations can be accredited to the world body moved on Thursday to keep out the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission."

Gov. Douglas signs bill streamlining Vermont courts

Posted on June 03, 2010
Associated Press: "Thirty-six years after Vermonters voted to unify the court system, Gov. Jim Douglas on Thursday signed a bill to implement those changes . . . Under the 369-page bill Douglas signed, probate court districts no longer will follow the borders of Vermont's 14 counties; instead the courts will have five probate districts, with rural counties bunched together and the most populous, Chittenden, forming its own district...

FDA readies public hearing for next generation abortion drug

Posted on June 03, 2010
LifeSiteNews: "While the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) readies a June public hearing for a new drug billed as an advanced form of 'emergency contraception,' pro-life advocates are warning that ulipristal acetate is in fact the 'next generation' of the abortion drug RU-486...

Former Planned Parenthood director: Stop dangerous telemed abortions

Posted on June 03, 2010
Abby Johnson writing at LifeSiteNews: "The Iowa Board of Medicine and the FDA must take immediate action to ensure that the dangerous telemed abortions are stopped. Iowans should demand that their elected officials take swift action to strip all taxpayer funding from Planned Parenthood...

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AK: Parnell, citing abortions, rejects Denali KidCare expansion

Posted on June 03, 2010
Fairbanks Daily News - Miner: "Gov. Sean Parnell has rejected lawmakers' plan to expand eligibility for the Denali KidCare program, citing as justification his recent realization that the program helps aid abortions."

SC House approves budget; abortion deal made

Posted on June 03, 2010
CNBC: "House Republican leaders cleared a logjam Thursday tied to abortion coverage in the state's health insurance plan and have approved a nearly $5 billion state budget. Democrats voted against the proposal that passed on a 64-54 party line vote because they said it shirked state obligations for basic health and education needs...

Wis. AG: Auditors should probe abortion training at University of Wisconsin

Posted on June 03, 2010
Chicago Tribune: "Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen's office says state auditors should look into whether the University of Wisconsin health system is improperly funding abortion training for medical students. The Alliance Defense Fund asked Van Hollen for an opinion on whether the University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics Authority is violating state law by funding medical residents' abortion training at Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin...

Instant, online divorces receive clerical approval in Turkey

Posted on June 03, 2010
Hurriyet Daily News: "Though people who download pirated music and films are running afoul of Islamic law, those who want to divorce their spouses over instant-messaging services are in the clear, Turkey?s highest religious authority has said."

Religious statue vandalized in remote Maine town

Posted on June 03, 2010
WBZTV (AP): "Police say vandals ripped a 7-foot-tall statue of Jesus from its base and dragged it into the middle of Main Street in the remote western Maine town of Jackman."

Nampa Classical Academy headmaster to resign

Posted on June 03, 2010
Idaho Press-Tribune: "Nampa Classical Academy headmaster Val Bush will resign his position with the school. Terms of the resignation are not final and school officials don't know when Bush's last day will be."

Indiana county may tax church for housing politician

Posted on June 03, 2010
Forbes (AP): "A Roman Catholic church rectory in the northwest Indiana town of Merrillville might lose its tax-exempt status because a politician moved in to save money at the invitation of the pastor."

Groups criticize restrictive federal prison units over ?disproportionate number of Muslims?

Posted on June 03, 2010
Washington Post: "The ACLU contends the units were designed to house terrorists, but also hold inmates convicted of other offenses. Among the inmates at the CMU in Terre Haute is American-born Taliban soldier John Walker Lindh. Both groups contend a disproportionate number of CMU inmates - perhaps as many as 60 to 70 percent - are Muslim...

Afghan parliamentarian calls for execution of Christians

Posted on June 03, 2010
Christian Today: "An Afghan parliamentary secretary has called for the public execution of Christian converts from the parliament floor, according to International Christian Concern."

Federal judge: Pleasant Grove monument does not violate Establishment Clause

Posted on June 03, 2010
"The undisputed facts of record in this case show that?whatever the Eagles? intended message?Pleasant Grove has, since the beginning, displayed the monument for reasons of history, not religion. Moreover, there is no evidence that anyone in Pleasant Grove government had any idea what Summum?s religious beliefs were, and thus it cannot be said that the Pleasant Grove government demonstrated a preference for one religion over another...

Joe Infranco: Theft of Mojave Cross will only stiffen veterans? resolve

Posted on June 03, 2010
ADF Attorney Joe Infranco writing at Townhall: "Last month, in what can only be described as a cowardly criminal act, some unknown person or persons crept into the Mojave Desert under cover of darkness and hacked down a memorial cross honoring veterans...

Children first experience online porn at age 11, study finds

Posted on June 03, 2010
KING5.com: "On average, a child will have their first experience with online porn at age 11. That's just one of the statistics on Internet porn compiled this week by the business blog Online MBA."

?Girl, Va. mom missing from Vt. gay custody fight?

Posted on June 03, 2010
Associated Press: "Eight-year-old Isabella Miller-Jenkins and birth mother Lisa Miller failed to appear for a court-ordered Jan. 1 custody swap in which Miller's former partner, Janet Jenkins, was to get the girl."

NY: State?s highest court upholds merger of two Bronx courts

Posted on June 03, 2010
NY Daily News: "The state's highest court has upheld the merger of two Bronx courts, rejecting a lower court ruling that could have jeopardized 147,000 misdemeanor convictions."

IPPF report calls for youth sex rights and reveals new UN funding

Posted on June 03, 2010
C-FAM: "The abortion giant, the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), has just released its latest financial statement. The report boasts of increased spending on youth programs and a significant increase in funding from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), with an overall 20% boost in income as compared to 2008...

MO: Sexually oriented business owners ready for fight

Posted on June 03, 2010
Columbia Tribune: "In a backroom at Boone Tavern yesterday, a group of businessmen and -women sat down for a working lunch. About 30 owners of adult video stores and gentlemen?s clubs from across Missouri gathered to coordinate their response to what they?re calling a war on the state?s erotic services industry...

Pelosi says she has a duty to pursue policies in keeping with the values of Jesus

Posted on June 03, 2010
CNSNews: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) says she believes she must pursue public policies 'in keeping with the values' of Jesus Christ, 'The Word made Flesh.'"

Goldwater Institute will appeal Ninth Circuit Clean Elections decision, refile injunction request

Posted on June 02, 2010
Tucson Citizen: "This morning, the Supreme Court denied a request the Goldwater Institute filed two weeks ago asking for an injunction to stop the use of matching funds this year. But the Court gave the Institute permission to file the request again along with an assurance that the Institute plans to appeal the recent opinion from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that overruled the District Court and declared matching funds to be legal...

CT: Southington OKs new regulations for sexually oriented businesses

Posted on June 02, 2010
Hartford Courant: "The town has approved new regulations that limit where adult-oriented businesses can be located and require them to get licenses."

NJ: Planned Parenthood reps removed from sex-ed class

Posted on June 02, 2010
Independent Press: "The Board of Education and a group of parents are at a standoff regarding the school district?s reliance on Planned Parenthood to help with the fourth and fifth grade human growth curriculum . . . In response to objections from some parents, the Board of Education recently assured parents that Planned Parenthood operatives would no longer be co-teaching the students...

SC legislators make no progress on abortion bill

Posted on June 02, 2010
ABC 4 Charleston (AP): "A committee of House and Senate members tried again Wednesday morning to hash out differences in the versions each chamber passed. But, as in previous attempts, no progress was made."

SC lawmakers nix $5B budget plan over drug cuts, abortion

Posted on June 02, 2010
Forbes (AP): "South Carolina lawmakers refused on Wednesday to agree on a compromise version of a nearly $5 billion state spending plan as Republicans angled for abortion restrictions in the state health insurance plan and Democrats decried deep cuts in spending for health and social service programs...

The Incorporation Doctrine and the religion clauses

Posted on June 02, 2010
At the New Ledger Pejman Yousefzadeh reviews Hunter Baker's The End of Secularism: "I take issue with his claim that the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses of the First Amendment cannot be incorporated against the states. As we know, of course, pursuant to the Incorporation Doctrine, the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses are found to apply against the states via the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution...

For Christians in Iraq, the threats persist

Posted on June 02, 2010
USA Today: "Before the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 there were about 1.4 million Christians in Iraq, a Muslim-dominated nation of nearly 30 million. Since then, about 50% of Iraq's Christians have fled the country, taking refuge in neighboring Jordan, Syria, Europe and the USA, according to the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC)...

Simmering anger may drive religious right back to polls

Posted on June 02, 2010
Washington Times: "Angry over health care reform and the abortion fight it reinvigorated, worried about the expansion of gay rights and frustrated by President Obama's criticisms of Israel, religious conservatives are eager to play a key role in the outcome of the 2010 midterm elections...

More teens using rhythm method for birth control

Posted on June 02, 2010
San Francisco Chronicle (AP): "A growing number of teen girls say they use the rhythm method for birth control, and more teens also think it's OK for an unmarried female to have a baby, according to a government survey released Wednesday. The report may help explain why the teen pregnancy rate is no longer dropping...

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