Religion & Law

The Constitutional question

Posted on April 05, 2010
Reihan Salaam writing at National Review Online, The Agenda: "Basically, we had a limited government until 1937. Then, after the court-packing imbroglio, we no longer had a limited government. In my view, this is a very bad thing. The death of the nondelegation doctrine and the concept of a federal government limited in its scope to a fairly narrow set of enumerated powers has hollowed out what was a system of government that was unusually conducive to freedom, local democracy, institutional creativity, and much else besides ...

Conflict Between Two Nebraska Abortion Bills?

Posted on April 05, 2010
Press & Dakotan: "One measure would require women seeking abortions to first be screened to determine whether they?re at risk of having mental or physical problems after the procedure. The other would ban abortions at 20 weeks and not allow mental health problems to be used as a reason to have an abortion after that time...

Have British baby boomers stolen their children?s future?

Posted on April 05, 2010
". . . how on earth this demographic timebomb can be defused . . . Baby Boomers have stolen their children's future. . . . "

Study (sort of) Admits: Abortion Draining US Economy

Posted on April 05, 2010
Family Policy Council of West Virginia: "Did you get that? For every baby lost because his or her mother fails to nurse him or her for a mere six months, the country loses $13 BILLION dollars, which is calculated from the, on average, $10.56 MILLION of lost wages for each child who dies...

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Supreme Court refuses Muslim?s case about possible juror bias

Posted on April 05, 2010
Christian Science Monitor: "The US Supreme Court on Monday declined to take the case of a Muslim defendant in Colorado whose lawyer was barred from questioning a prospective juror who, during jury selection, expressed concern that he might be biased against Muslims...

UK: Couples who pay surrogate mothers could lose right to raise the child

Posted on April 05, 2010
The Guardian: "Childless couples who acquire a baby using a surrogate mother abroad risk not being recognised as its parents in Britain if they flout British law by paying fees, fertility lawyers have warned. Such payments, which can be as high as £30,000, could lead to those who have made them being refused permission by the high court to become the child's legal parents, specialist solicitors say...

MI: County Won?t Let Mexicans Marry Gringos

Posted on April 05, 2010
Courthouse News Service: "Two U.S. citizens and the Mexican citizens they want to marry say a Michigan county unconstitutionally refused to issue them marriage licenses because one half of each couple has no Social Security number. "

OK: Governor Brad Henry Signs Three Anti-Abortion Bills

Posted on April 05, 2010
Newson6.com: "Gov. Brad Henry has signed into law 29 bills that include three anti-abortion measures and a bill to revamp the Commissioners of the Land Office after an embezzlement scandal . . . SB 1891 Freedom of Conscience Act SB 1902 Regulation of RU-486 SB 1890 Abortions based on gender of child

WI Court: Taxpayer failure to fund sex change treatments is cruel and unusual, violates 8th Amend.

Posted on April 01, 2010
"After careful consideration, the court concludes that the defendants? application of Wis. Stat. § 302.386(5m) to these plaintiffs constitutes deliberate indifference to the plaintiff?s serious medical needs in violation of the Eighth Amendment inasmuch as enforcement of the statute results in the denial of hormone therapy ...

ACLU program will protect Muslims in FBI questioning

Posted on April 01, 2010
St. Louis Today: ". . . On a recent Friday afternoon at Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddiq mosque in south St. Louis, about 50 men, mostly of Afghan origin, gathered for prayer. They sat on the carpeted floor, shoeless, listening to the khutba, or sermon. After the men prayed, about half stayed to hear two ACLU members discuss the Muslim Rights Project...

Mosque building brings Islam fears to Poland

Posted on April 01, 2010
New York Times (Reuters): "Between 15,000 and 30,000 Muslims, many of them immigrants from Chechnya, live in Poland -- the biggest ex-communist EU state where more than 90 percent of the 38-million population declare themselves Catholics . . . 'The problems seen in France, Germany or the Netherlands will come to Poland as it is modernising, catching up with the EU's west and becomes more attractive to migrants from poorer parts of the world,' said Professor Zbigniew Mikolejko of the Polish Academy of Sciences...

EU proposes simplified international divorce laws

Posted on April 01, 2010
JURIST: "The European Commission on Wednesday proposed reforms to simplify and clarify international divorce laws. Under the proposal, married couples from different European Union countries could choose the country of the divorce, and the various courts would use a common formula to decide which country's law applies when a couple disagrees...

Kazakhstan: Criminal records for religious activity

Posted on April 01, 2010
Forum 18: "Two Protestants have been given criminal convictions to punish them for their activity, Forum 18 News Service has learnt. Vissa Kim, pastor of Grace Light of Love Church in Taraz in southern Kazakhstan, was fined 10 months' minimum wages today (1 April) for allegedly harming a woman's health by praying for her...

London: First men arrested for using prostitutes under new laws

Posted on April 01, 2010
Telegraph: "The men were detained after visiting an alleged brothel in east London. They were held under new legislation, which came into force on Thursday, to tackle men who pay for sex and to help women forced into prostitution against their will. It states that a man paying for sex with a prostitute who is being exploited through force, deception or threats is breaking the law...

Politicians in Robes? Calling O?Connor?s Bluff

Posted on April 01, 2010
Carrie Severino writes at the Judicial Crisis Network: ". . . 'When I retired from the U.S. Supreme Court, I had become aware of a serious problem in the United States that affects our nation's courts both state and federal,' O'Connor said . . . "There are a great many people in the United States today who think that judges are just politicians in robes...

Arizona House committee to hear sexting bill

Posted on April 01, 2010
Arizona Republic (AP): "The House Judiciary Committee will hear the bill on Thursday . . . The bill would make it a misdemeanor for minors to send or keep such images. It would also target images passed around among young people other than the intended recipient...

Mississippi Personhood Amendment Officially On 2011 Ballot

Posted on April 01, 2010
"Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann has notified Personhood Mississippi that enough valid voter signatures have been certified to ensure a spot on the November 2011 ballot."

Christian faith: Calvinism is back

Posted on April 01, 2010
Christian Science Monitor: "Welcome to the austere ? and increasingly embraced ? message of Calvinism. Five centuries ago, John Calvin's teachings reconceived Christianity; midwifed Western ideas about capitalism, democracy, and religious liberty; and nursed the Puritan values that later cast the character of America...

Iowa Governor on marriage: ?Discriminatory amendments to our state constitution have no place in our state constitution?

Posted on April 01, 2010
"We stood firm for the civil rights of every Iowan by saying loudly and clearly that any and all efforts to add discriminatory amendments to our state constitution have no place in our state constitution . . . "

UK: Kids taken on school trips to sex clinics

Posted on April 01, 2010
The Christian Institute: "Children are being taken to sexual health clinics for school trips which are designed to be 'enjoyable' . . . In London a genito-urinary doctor who has been involved in trips in the capital said: 'We are trying to demystify the experience for children who may have to visit later in life, and to make the clinic friendly and welcoming...

Iowans Should Have a Chance To Speak Loudly and Clearly on Marriage

Posted on April 01, 2010
Shane Vander Hart responds to the Governor's argument that Iowans don't want a marriage amendment and just want to move on when it comes to marriage. He writes at the Des Moines Register:  "I?m curious where he?s getting his polling information because the last time a poll was done on the issue of marriage (not legislative priority, you can read a lot into that poll), but the question itself ...

U.S. Supreme Court will consider First Amendment rights of Christian club

Posted on April 01, 2010
Christian Examiner: "The U.S. Supreme Court?which will review a religious discrimination case brought by a Christian legal society from San Francisco college of law?has received nearly two dozen legal briefs supporting the student club . . . 'Just as all student groups have the right to associate with people who share common beliefs and interests, Christian student groups have the right to be Christian student groups,' said [Gregory S...

Three NJ lawmakers want in on same-sex ?marriage? suit

Posted on April 01, 2010
On Top Magazine ("gay advocacy website"): "Three Republican lawmakers filed a motion to intervene Monday to defend against a New Jersey lawsuit to win gay marriage. Senators Gerald Cardinale and Anthony R. Bucco, along with Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll, are being represented by the Christian-based group Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) ...

Media jump to smear right with extremist label

Posted on April 01, 2010
The New American: "The arrests on March 28 and 29 of nine people associated with the so-called Hutaree Militia in Michigan, Indiana, and Ohio has provided media commentators and reporters with an opportunity to broadly smear all political conservatives, constitutionalists, Tea Party activists, and opponents of President Obama's health care as 'extremist' and 'anti-government' ...

Oxford University: Wilberforce Academy

Posted on April 01, 2010
Christian Concern for Our Nation (CCFON): "On Sunday 21st March, 65 delegates gathered in the stunning grounds of Exeter College, Oxford, to embark on a week of intense study, fellowship with one another, and worship . . . On the first evening, after many cups of tea and introductions, there was an opening banquet...

WV: Clock ticking for woman in coma

Posted on April 01, 2010
OneNewsNow: "For the time being, a West Virginia hospital won't be permitted to stop life-saving treatment of a woman in its care. Forty-year-old Rebecca Bennett is on dialysis and in a coma due to complications from diabetes, and Ruby Memorial Hospital previously informed family members that treatment would end March 27 against their wishes...

DC: ?Time to tie the knot?

Posted on April 01, 2010
Metro Weekly: "As D.C. enters its second month of same-sex couples being able to obtain marriage licenses, some wonder if ? as with California and Maine ? this apparent equality might be short lived . . . the D.C. Court of Appeals hears oral arguments at 10 a...

West Virginia hospital will continue care for woman

Posted on April 01, 2010
CitizenLink: "Attorneys from the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) secured a court order on Friday that extends care for a 40-year-old woman on dialysis . . . Jeremiah Dys, an ADF-allied attorney, said hospitals 'should not be allowed to cease care for a family?s loved one when state law gives the family the right to make medical decisions in such circumstances...

Homeland Security Raid of Religious Tracts Violates Fourth Amendment

Posted on April 01, 2010
Liberty Counsel: "Yesterday, a federal district court ruled that agents of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) illegally conspired to violate the Fourth Amendment rights of Darrel Rundus when they confiscated his ?Million Dollar Bill? gospel tracts...

Judge: Lejeune improperly banned anti-Islam decals

Posted on April 01, 2010
AP: "Camp Lejeune officials violated the rights of a military veteran who came to his job on base in a vehicle emblazoned with anti-Islamic decals after his son died in a terrorist bombing, a federal judge ruled." Thomas More Law Center

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