Religion & Law

VA: Court Rejects Establishment Clause Challenge To Housing Financing

Posted on April 14, 2010
Religion Clause Blog: "Plaintiff had alleged, among other claims, that FBCC had been overpaid for property it sold as part of the development plan, and that the housing units would have a "religious overtone" because they would be on church land and would share a lobby and entrance with the church itself...

Geoffrey R. Stone: Our Fill-in-the-Blank Constitution

Posted on April 14, 2010
Geoffrey R. Stone write at the NY Times: ". . . constitutional law is not a mechanical exercise of just 'applying the law.' Before there can be a serious national dialogue about our Constitution, our laws and the proper role of our judges, that myth must be exposed...

Catholic League: High time for honest discussion about homosexuals in the priesthood and incidence of sex abuse

Posted on April 14, 2010
The Catholic League has issued this press release: Obama Anti-Catholic Rips Vatican. It includes this: "The fact is that there is an undeniable link between the growth of homosexuals in the priesthood and the incidence of sex abuse (see our home page for more information)...

Citing evidence, Vatican reaffirms ?gay? link in sex abuse cases

Posted on April 14, 2010
"'. . . pedophilia in the strict sense' accounted for 10 percent of the cases, 60 percent of cases involved adolescents in homosexual relations, while the other 30 percent of cases involved adolescents in heterosexual relations . . . "

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Florida lawmakers debate sexting bill

Posted on April 14, 2010
ABC Action News: "Florida Lawmakers are debating a bill that would lessen the penalties for teens who send or receive nude picture of themselves or another minor." | For more information see this ADF Alliance Alert compound tag: http://www.alliancealert...

Italian court rebuffs bid to redefine marriage

Posted on April 14, 2010
AP: "Italy's constitutional court has rejected bids to have gay marriages recognized in two Italian cities."

Sen. Hatch questions AG on obscenity enforcement

Posted on April 14, 2010
Today in a U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah confronted Attorney General Eric Holder about his policy of enforcement of Federal laws against illegal adult pornography or ?obscenity? as it is known in the law

Ariz. medical marijuana supporters aim for ballot

Posted on April 14, 2010
AP:  "Arizona voters may get to decide in November whether to legalize marijuana for medical purposes."

74 year old Denver priest removed due to unsubstantiated allegation of ?gay? sex abuse of minor 35 years ago

Posted on April 13, 2010
"Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput on Monday asked for prayers for the priest he removed from the ministry Thursday and healing for the man who reported that he had been sexually abused by the Rev. Melvin Thompson more than 35 years ago in an undisclosed Colorado parish ...

Oregon jury holds Boy Scouts liable for $1.4M in ?gay? Scoutmaster sex abuse case

Posted on April 13, 2010
"Jurors on Tuesday found the Boy Scouts of America negligent and awarded $1.4 million to a former Portland man who was abused by an assistant Scoutmaster in the early 1980s, following a three-week trial in which secret Scout 'perversion files' were used as evidence...

Free religious speech for students in school?

Posted on April 13, 2010
Daily Dunkin Democrat: "Like Jefferson and Madison, I strongly believe in separation of church and state. And if a principal were to mandate school-directed prayer in classrooms, then that would be a violation of that separation. However, if at commencement, a valedictorian speaks of what God and Christ have meant to her life, that is her First Amendment right to free speech! The Roberts Supreme Court does not appear to agree ...

Florida Legislature to take up public funds for religious institutions

Posted on April 13, 2010
"Voters would be asked in November to amend the Florida Constitution by lifting a ban on the use of tax dollars 'directly or indirectly in aid of any church, sect or religious denomination or in aid of any sectarian institution.'' The proposal would repeal a 19th century provision known as the Blaine Amendment ...

WI: Undercover video exposes abortion clinic misinformation about fetal development

Posted on April 13, 2010
CNA: "A new undercover video from pro-life investigators shows medically inaccurate abortion counseling at a Milwaukee Planned Parenthood clinic. A staffer tells a woman six to eight weeks pregnant that her baby has 'no arms, no legs, no heart no head, no brain...

Judge Lets Mass. Insurance Rate Rejections Stand, For Now

Posted on April 13, 2010
NPR: "In a setback for the insurers, Superior Court Judge Stephen Neel told the health plans to exhaust their administrative appeals before asking the court to decide if they can raise their premiums by eight to 32 percent for individuals and workers at small firms...

AZ: McCain ad mocks Hayworth comments opposing redefinition of marriage

Posted on April 13, 2010
The video ad and a brief report are available at AZCentral.com.

?Huckabee likens gay marriage to incest, polygamy?

Posted on April 13, 2010
AP: "Mike Huckabee, a possible Republican presidential candidate in 2012, says the effort to allow gays and lesbians to marry is comparable to legalizing incest, polygamy and drug use. Huckabee also told college journalists last week that gay couples should not be permitted to adopt...

?Rep. Barney Frank on ENDA, DADT and How LGBTs Should Lobby Like the NRA?

Posted on April 13, 2010
LGBT POV quoting Barney Frank: "I?m hoping to get a vote on it in committee [House Committee on Education and Labor, chaired by California Democrat George Miller]. I?m doing a lot of work on it quietly, to get the issues involving transgender access to rooms where people have their clothes off...

Nebraska to limit abortions because of fetal pain

Posted on April 13, 2010
"Nebraska lawmakers on Tuesday passed a groundbreaking bill banning abortions at 20 weeks based on assertions that fetuses feel pain then. Gov. Dave Heineman planned to sign it into law in the afternoon . . . "

Andrew Sullivan ?blames the gays? for Catholic sex scandal?

Posted on April 13, 2010
Sullivan already "went there" in his March 25 post, "Sin or Crime": . . . "Sex for them is an abstraction, a sin, not an interaction with an equal. And their sexuality has been frozen at the first real moment of internal terror: their early teens. So they tend to be attracted still to those who are in their own stage of development: teenage boys...

Canada: ?Defining hate in extreme times?

Posted on April 13, 2010
National Post: "'Bans on hate speech in human rights law are often justified in part because they can be overturned by fully fledged courts of law, where the rules are more strict. But that oversight is becoming problematic as judges grapple with Canada's legal test for hatred, famously defined by the Supreme Court as "unusually strong and deep-felt emotions of detestation, calumny and vilification...

Healthcare overhaul won?t stop premium increases

Posted on April 13, 2010
LA Times: "The new law doesn't prevent rate hikes such as Anthem Blue Cross' double-digit increase last year. 'It is a very big loophole,' says Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who is pushing regulatory legislation."

GOP warns Obama over SCOTUS litmus test on Citizens United

Posted on April 13, 2010
The Hill: ". . . Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) took to the Senate floor Tuesday to warn Obama that if he uses the campaign-finance ruling as a litmus test in selecting a nominee for the high court, he would face serious Republican opposition ...

7th Circuit Judge Diane Wood

Posted on April 13, 2010
TIME: "'A Wood nomination would return the abortion wars to the Supreme Court,' announced Americans United for Life on Friday, hours after Stevens announced his retirement."

Complaints dismissed over school Counselor?s support of traditional marriage

Posted on April 13, 2010
Evangelical Examiner: "Today, it was announced by the Alliance Defense Fund that a state licensing board in Maine has dismissed two complaints filed against public school counselor Don Mendell as of last Friday . . . 'The government should not punish people because they believe that marriage is the union of one man and one woman and because they say so during a political campaign,' said ADF Senior Counsel [Jordan Lorence]...

Complaints dropped against Maine school counselor who supported marriage

Posted on April 13, 2010
Catholic News Agency: "Donald Mendell, a licensed counselor at Nokomis Regional High School in Portland, Maine, was the subject of a complaint accusing him of violating the state?s code of ethics for social workers because of his expressed position on marriage...

David Cameron Pro-Life? Don?t Believe it, British Pro-Lifers Warn

Posted on April 13, 2010
LifeSiteNews: "Britain?s leading pro-life political lobby has warned voters not to heed Conservative leader David Cameron?s promises on abortion."

New Jersey Choose Life license plates revived by Federal Appeals Court after lawsuit

Posted on April 13, 2010
LifeNews: "A federal appeals court has revived the effort of a New Jersey pro-life group hoping to make it so motorists in the Garden State can purchase Choose Life license plates . . . 'The government should not be singling out a pro-adoption group for censorship...

?FFRF Calls Out Mayors on Prayer Breakfast Ties?

Posted on April 13, 2010
Freedom from Religion Foundation: "The Freedom From Religion Foundation sent letters April 12 to six mayors from Orange County, Calif., objecting to the Orange Coast Mayors' Prayer Breakfast, headlined by Focus on the Family CEO Jim Daly."

Court hears lawsuit to overturn Obama?s embryonic stem cell research funding

Posted on April 13, 2010
LifeNews: "A federal appeals court held a hearing today in a lawsuit seeking to overturn the controversial guidelines the National Institutes of Health used to implement President Barack Obama's decision to force taxpayers to finance embryonic stem cell research ...

Tennessee House Strikes Blow to ObamaCare Abortion Coverage

Posted on April 13, 2010
LifeSiteNews: "A strong bipartisan majority in the Tennessee House of Representatives voted to exercise its right to opt the state out of the abortion mandate in the new national health care reform law. The measure approved by the House forbids insurance companies receiving public subsidies in the state-run health exchange from offering or requiring abortion coverage...

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