Religion & Law

Arizona Governor Signs Bill Giving New Religious Land Use Protections

Posted on May 17, 2010
Religion Clause Blog: "The Arizona Republic reports that Gov. Jan Brewer on Wednesday signed House Bill 2596 that gives added protections from land use regulations to religious institutions. It prohibits zoning regulations that impose an unreasonable burden on the exercise of religion, even if the government has a compelling interest ...

Holder Testifies About Religious-Based Hiring By Funded Faith-Based Groups

Posted on May 17, 2010
Religion Clause Blog: "The Obama administration has so far not announced an official position on whether it would continue the Bush Administration policy that allowed social-service groups receiving federal faith-based funding to apply religious criteria in hiring ...

Shakeup at Wikipedia in wake of porn purge

Posted on May 17, 2010
FOX News: "After much pressure from within the Wikipedia community, co-founder Jimmy Wales has relinquished his top-level control over the encyclopedia's content, as well as all of its parent company's projects . . . According to insider sources and publicly available internal listserve discussions, Wikimedia editors have rebelled in the last week against Wales' attempts to remove pornographic images from the nonprofit's websites...

?Europe must combat homophobia?

Posted on May 17, 2010
B-92: "President of the European Parliament Jerzy Buzek has condemned homophobia as International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) is marked today. 'The European Union is devoted to combating discrimination on any ground: homophobia is no exception. This commitment is enshrined in our fundamental legal texts: both in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU and in the Treaty of the European Union,' Buzek said...

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Belarus: Minsk police disperse banned ?gay rally?

Posted on May 17, 2010
Interfax: "Representatives of sexual minorities in Minsk were prevented by police from holding an unauthorized rally, head of the GayRussia human rights project and co-organizer of the 2010 Slavic Gay Pride Parade Nikolay Alexeyev told Interfax on Saturday...

MN: Pawlenty vetoes same-sex couples inheritance bill

Posted on May 17, 2010
Pioneer Press: "Gov. Tim Pawlenty vetoed a bill Saturday that would have given same-sex partners the right to decide what to do with the body of their loved ones, should they die."

Chinese educators in America

Posted on May 17, 2010
Chester E. Finn Jr. writing at National Review Online: "Are we in the early stages of outsourcing our education system to the same country to which we?ve surrendered our manufacturing sector and entrusted our national debt? That?s probably too dire, at least for now, but the Chinese education ministry has been extending its tentacles worldwide, from the 550 higher-ed programs ('Confucius Institutes') already operating in 90 countries (including almost 70 on American shores) to the newer but no less worrisome K?12 language programs that are taking the U...

So much for Europe?s superiority

Posted on May 17, 2010
Joel Kotkin writing at NewGeography.com: "Europe?s problems extend well beyond policy, into the realm of culture and demographics. Even in France, people and what they do actually matter more than abstract ideas. A culture that believes in itself, not only to have children, but also start businesses and innovate will overcome one, however theoretically well managed, that does not...

Homosexual Rainbow Sash Movement Threatens to Disrupt Pentecost Mass, Confront Cardinal George

Posted on May 17, 2010
Catholic Online: "On Pentecost Sunday, May 23, 2010, members of a Homosexual Equivalency Activist Movement which calls itself the 'Rainbow Sash' have announced their plans to attempt to disrupt the celebration of the Holy Mass throughout the Nation.They have specifically announced their intention to openly confront one of the great Churchmen of the United States, the Archbishop of Chicago and President of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, Francis Cardinal George, OMI...

GOP filibuster unlikely on Kagan nomination

Posted on May 17, 2010
AP: "Sen. Jon Kyl of Arizona, the Senate's Republican whip, said Sunday that he doesn't see the GOP employing a filibuster against Kagan, who was nominated for the high court by President Barack Obama . . . "

Daniel Blomberg on Freedom?s Ring: Zoning barriers to religious assemblies in homes

Posted on May 17, 2010
ADF attorney Daniel Blomberg appeared on Freedom's Ring with Alan J. Reinach to discuss the increasing prevalence of zoning barriers to religious assemblies in homes. | MP3 13:20 mins

Doug Napier on the Bott Radio Network: Senior Citizens mealtime prayer prohibited

Posted on May 17, 2010
ADF Doug Napier appeared on the Complete Storey with Dick Bott on the Bott Radio Network to discuss the attempted prohibition on prayer at a Senior Citizens Center in Georgia. | MP3 27:54 mins

Titles of Nobility in America: ?Why elites do belong on the Supreme Court?

Posted on May 17, 2010
Christopher Edley Jr., dean of the School of Law at the University of California at Berkeley, writing in the Washington Post: "The gatekeeper power of such institutions is why it was so important to desegregate them (using affirmative action, among other tools) and why virtually all leaders of great universities talk about diversity and access...

?Same sex, different marriage?

Posted on May 17, 2010
Mollie Ziegler Hemingway writing at Christianity Today: "To be sure, some advocates of same-sex marriage hope that heterosexual marital norms of monogamy and fidelity would be transferred to same-sex unions. But since these norms are based on the ideal that marriage is the union of a man and woman making a permanent and exclusive commitment for the purpose of bearing and rearing children, it would be irrational to expect same-sex partners?whose sexual relations bear no risk of procreation?to share the same norms...

Mary Eberstadt: The weight of smut

Posted on May 17, 2010
Mary Eberstadt writing in the June/July 2010 issue of First Things: "[W]hile we?re on the subject of bad habits that can turn unwitting kids into unhappy adults, how about that other epidemic out there that is far more likely to make their future lives miserable than carrying those extra pounds ever will? That would be the emerging social phenomenon of what can appropriately be called 'sexual obesity': the widespread gorging on pornographic imagery that is also deleterious and unhealthy, though far less remarked on than that other epidemic?and nowhere near an object of universal public concern...

Almost Half of Deaths in Kids Under 5 Occur in 5 Countries

Posted on May 17, 2010
Business Week: "Almost half of these deaths occurred in just five countries -- China, Nigeria, India, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Pakistan. Africa (4.2 million) and Southeast Asia (2.39 million) accounted for the highest numbers of deaths ...

Sex will not be used to have babies in just 10 years, as couples turn to IVF

Posted on May 17, 2010
Daily Mail: "Couples will stop having sex to conceive babies within a decade and use IVF instead, scientists said yesterday. They say 30-somethings will increasingly rely on artificial methods of fertilisation because natural human reproduction is 'fairly inefficient' ...

Pelosi changes tune from 2004 on Bishops? involvement in politics

Posted on May 17, 2010
Human Events: "House Speaker Nancy Pelosi recently called on the Catholic Church to speak out from the pulpit to promote immigration reform, reversing herself on whether the church should take political stands . . . 'Politicians usually send mixed messages to pastors about what they can and can?t do,' [Erik Stanley] said...

Two things come to light about Obamacare

Posted on May 17, 2010
MercatorNet | Sheila Reports: Here are just two things that have emerged in the past few days [about the health care bill]. They deserve attention. First, the Washington Post raised the issue of physician conscience protection or lack thereof . ...

?Should we ask if Supreme Court nominee is gay??

Posted on May 17, 2010
The AP carries this article arguing that sexual preferences are irrelevant when it comes to the Supreme Court nominee. Meanwhile, AP headlines, are clogged with "gay" this and "gay" that . . . Very strange for an irrelevant topic . . .

?Reproductive rights? missing from U.N. treaties?

Posted on May 17, 2010
One News Now: "Pro-abortion groups are pushing to establish a right to abortion in every treaty that has emerged from the United Nations."

SD: Pastors urged to endorse candidates

Posted on May 17, 2010
Dakota Voice: "[The Rapid City Journal reports] South Dakota gubernatorial candidate Gordon Howie urges pastors to endorse candidates despite a 1954 tax code provision which prohibits this for tax exempt organizations . . . Two years ago, the Alliance Defense Fund began an initiative to overturn this unconstitutional 1954 interference with the First Amendment freedoms of religious and speech liberty enjoyed by pastors and churches...

U.S. birth rate drops below replacement level

Posted on May 17, 2010
One News Now: "According to newly released government statistics, the U.S. birth rate has dropped below replacement level . . . "

R.I. district to rehire fired teachers

Posted on May 17, 2010
USA Today: "A school district that gained the support of President Barack Obama for promoting accountability after it fired all its teachers from a struggling school announced Sunday it reached an agreement with the union to return all the current staffers to their jobs ...

Hobbling Charter Schools: They often lack the freedom they?ve been promised.

Posted on May 17, 2010
Wall Street Journal full report via Google: "The promise of charter schools is that they'll improve student performance in return for exemptions from the staffing, curriculum and budget requirements of traditional public schools. The reality is often very different...

Bill could ENDA Democrats? congressional careers

Posted on May 17, 2010
One News Now: "There is a slim possibility that the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA) could come up for a vote this week -- perhaps as soon as Wednesday . . . "

Nevada Joins 18 Other States in Lawsuit against Health Care Reform Law

Posted on May 17, 2010
CNSNews: "Gov. Jim Gibbons says Nevada has officially joined at least 18 other states in a lawsuit challenging the federal health reform law . . . "

AP-GfK Poll: Only a third want own lawmakers back

Posted on May 17, 2010
Yahoo News (AP): "People want Democrats to control Congress after this fall's elections, a shift from April, according to an Associated Press-GfK poll released Saturday. But the margin is thin and there's a flashing yellow light for incumbents of both parties: Only about one-third want their own lawmakers re-elected...

Calif. penal code pertaining to immigration similar to Ariz.?s SB 1070

Posted on May 17, 2010
Kerry Picket writes at the Washington Times: ". . . the California Penal Code actually requires that every law enforcement agency in the state shall 'fully cooperate with the United States Immigration and Naturalization Service regarding any person who is arrested if he or she is suspected of being present in the United States in violation of federal immigration laws...

On Speech, Kagan Leaned Toward Conservatives

Posted on May 17, 2010
NY Times: "In her early years as a law professor, Elena Kagan wrote almost exclusively on the First Amendment. There are indications in those writings that her views on government regulation of speech were closer to the Supreme Court?s more conservative justices, like Antonin Scalia, than to Justice John Paul Stevens, whom she hopes to replace ...

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