Religion & Law

Britain?s first abortion television advert in spite of ban

Posted on May 19, 2010
Telegraph: "Britain's first ever television advert for abortion is to be aired next week despite a ban on the commercials and campaigners threatening a legal challenge."

Vatican to Study Bringing Catholics Back to Politics

Posted on May 19, 2010
Zenit: "A communiqué from the council noted how Benedict XVI has repeatedly affirmed a "pressing need" for a renewed commitment of Catholics in political life . . . "

President of Portugal Signs Law to Redefine Marriage

Posted on May 19, 2010
LifeSite: "Portugal's president, who was elected as a conservative, has signed a law passed by the Assembly of the Republic last year creating the institution of homosexual 'marriage.'"

NJ: Galloway Township suspends nonsecterian prayer invocations at meetings, searches for way not to offend

Posted on May 19, 2010
Press of Atlantic City: "Township Council has stopped opening meetings with what was intended to be a nonsectarian invocation while it develops a policy to avoid offending anyone ? or any lawsuits . . . "

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David Cortman: AU gets it oh so wrong on textbook case, Idaho bans numerous Great Works of Western Civilization from public schools

Posted on May 19, 2010
"Think it's just a ban on the Bible in public schools, even as a historical reference document? No. As worded, it prohibits many of the founding documents that are religious (and many, political)."

Americans United Asks IRS to Investigate Los Angeles Church That ?Tweeted? Candidate to Victory

Posted on May 19, 2010
AU: "Americans United for Separation of Church and State has asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate a Los Angeles church that used its Web site and the social networking site Twitter to urge congregants to support a candidate for public office ...

David J. Hacker: California?s Speech Zone Disease

Posted on May 19, 2010
ADF attorney David J. Hacker writes at the Speak Up Movement Blog via the Christian Post's Advancing Religious Liberty blog: "It seems Peralta Community College District has not learned its lesson. On the heels of settling an unfathomable case involving the punishment of two students who dared pray for an ill faculty member, Peralta is considering a new speech zone policy...

The Debate over Chaplains? Religious Liberty Heats Up

Posted on May 19, 2010
ADF attorney Daniel Blomberg writes at the Speak Up Movement Blog via the Christian Post's Advancing Religious Liberty Blog: "Last week, 3 retired chaplains expressed, in strong and occasionally harsh terms, their disagreement with 41 chaplains' stance that normalizing homosexual conduct in the military threatened military religious liberty...

Muslim Teachers in Pakistan Allegedly Abuse Christian Students

Posted on May 19, 2010
Christian Post: "Muslim teachers at a girls school here have derided Christian students for their faith, beat them, pressured them to convert to Islam and forced them to clean school bathrooms and classrooms after class hours, according to area Christians ...

Play space owner defends herself against claims that she?s pushing religion

Posted on May 19, 2010
Washington Post: "In the days before three Montgomery County kindergarten classes were slated to go on a field trip to the Be With Me Playseum, an indoor play space in Bethesda, the organization's staff prepared for what they hoped would be the first of many visits ...

?Most of Iowa?s gay marriages from out-of-state?

Posted on May 19, 2010
KTIV.com (AP): "The report from the Iowa Department of Public Health shows 2,020 same-sex marriages were recorded since April 27, 2009 through March 31. Of those couples, 815 were from Iowa . . . "

Texas Education Board Takes Up History/Social Studies: Experts and Educators Stand For Final Vote on Standards This Week

Posted on May 19, 2010
PR Newswire: "After almost 18 months of review, educators, experts, parents and members of the business community are sending a message: we don't want the American Atheists and the ACLU in charge of writing our history standards and we don't want a delay of the final vote," said Jonathan Saenz, Esq...

New Mojave Desert Cross Sits in Limbo in California Desert

Posted on May 19, 2010
FoxNews: "And, in an ironic development, the theft of the cross could provide an avenue for its unchallenged return, according to a lawyer involved in a contentious legal debate about whether it violates the separation of church and state . . . 'There's an interesting possibility,' said Hiram Sasser, the director of litigation at the Liberty Legal Institute, which is representing the VFW in the case...

Knights of Columbus refuse to allow suspension of members who promote abortion, gay marriage

Posted on May 19, 2010
Catholic Culture: "The leadership of the Knights of Columbus (K of C) has forbidden local councils to take any action against members of the Catholic fraternal organization who support legalized abortion or same-sex marriage."

Hastings Law School Loses New Jersey

Posted on May 19, 2010
David French writes at National Review Phi Beta Cons: "Over at ADF?s Academic Freedom File, Jordan Lorence breaks some intriguing news about a recent development in CLS v. Martinez. The State of New Jersey has asked to withdraw from its amicus brief supporting Hastings Law School...

Saudi Arabia religious leaders call terrorism financing un-Islamic

Posted on May 19, 2010
Christian Science Monitor: "A government-appointed council of senior religious scholars in Saudi Arabia condemned terrorism financing and said it is forbidden by Islamic law."

Kansas Budget Item Takes Planned Parenthood Funds

Posted on May 19, 2010
KAKE.com: "Abortion rights advocates are urging Kansas Gov. Mark Parkinson to veto a measure taking family planning dollars away from Planned Parenthood."

?Gay 24-Year-Old Wins Primary in Kentucky?

Posted on May 19, 2010
Advocate.com (includes video): "An openly gay 24-year-old with only $150 in campaign donations and no college diploma has won the Democratic primary for the 45th district of Kentucky's house of representatives. Matthew Vanderpool . . . " About Advocate...

?Gay activists stage mass ?kiss-in? outside French cathedral?

Posted on May 19, 2010
Yahoo News (AFP): "Gay rights activists staging a mass 'kiss-in' to protest homophobia faced off with Roman Catholic protesters late Tuesday outside Lyon cathedral in southeastern France . . . Banners held by the Catholic counter-protesters including one that read: "We are the children of heteros, first, second, third generation"...

Australia: Stay in the closet, Jason Akermanis tells ?gay? players

Posted on May 19, 2010
Courier Mail: "Football clubs are very different environments. Locker room nudity is an everyday part of our lives and unlike any other work place. I believe it would cause discomfort in that environment should someone declare himself gay."

Proposed D.C. teachers contract makes charter schools nervous ? $100k salaries

Posted on May 19, 2010
Washington Post: "The proposed new D.C. teachers contract, which could boost some salaries well over $100,000, is causing tremors in the city's non-unionized charter school sector, where officials view the pact as only the latest inequity in District policies governing the funding of its two school systems ...

County sued after passing bill penalizing Md. pro-life pregnancy resource centers

Posted on May 19, 2010
New Montgomery County law deters women from talking to pro-life pregnancy counselors

Charter School Considers Appealing Decision on Religious Texts

Posted on May 19, 2010
Christian Post: "But ADF?s Cortman defended Nampa Classical Academy, saying that it has a right to 'provide the best possible education for its students and has decided to include the Bible, along with dozens of other religious and secular writings, as resources in its curriculum to enrich instruction of literature, history, and culture, among other topics...

Idaho: Federal judge dismisses Nampa Classical Academy?s suit over religious texts

Posted on May 18, 2010
Idaho Press-Tribune: "U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge Monday dismissed Nampa Classical Academy's lawsuit against the state brought so the school could use religious texts in the classroom . . . NCA founder and board member Mike Moffett said today the school has not made a decision about whether it will appeal the court order...

ADF considering all options for appeal after bad Nampa textbooks ruling

Posted on May 18, 2010
"Alliance Defense Fund attorneys are considering all available options for appeal of a federal judge?s decision Tuesday to dismiss Nampa Classical Academy?s lawsuit challenging the Idaho Public Charter School Commission?s ban on the use of religious texts in its curriculum...

MI: Ex-gay ministry axed from Dept. of Corrections programming

Posted on May 18, 2010
The Michigan Messenger: "The controversial ex-gay ministry Corduroy Stone of Lansing will no longer be recognized by the Michigan Department of Corrections or allowed to operate within the Michigan prison system."

?Inside the gay baby boom?

Posted on May 18, 2010
Salon: "The author of a new memoir talks about the odd dynamics of lesbian motherhood and how it's changing our culture . . . "

French bill to ban veiled faces would impose fines

Posted on May 18, 2010
Boston Globe (AP): "A bill to ban Muslim veils covering the face to be presented to France's Cabinet on Wednesday calls for fines and, in some cases, citizenship classes."

States opting out of abortion plans

Posted on May 18, 2010
Baptist Press: "States increasingly are enacting legislation to opt out of a provision in the new federal health care law that would require coverage for abortion in 'insurance exchanges.'"

Religion has a role to play in the public square

Posted on May 18, 2010
Maragaret Somerville writes in the Montreal Gazette: "To privilege secularism, as its advocates argue should be done, is to contravene the liberty and equality principles of democracy and to prevent democracy functioning as it should ? in short, it?s profoundly anti-democratic ...

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