Religion & Law

Poll Reveals 46% of Doctors Would Quit if Pro-Abortion Health Care Bill Passed

Posted on March 17, 2010
LifeNews: "The poll finds 46.3% of primary care physicians (family medicine and internal medicine) feel that the passing of a public option will either force them out of medicine or make them want to leave medicine . . . The Medicus Firm, a leading physician search and consulting firm based in Atlanta and Dallas, conducted the survey...

Judiciary Approves PACER Innovations To Enhance Public Access

Posted on March 17, 2010
USCourts.gov: "The Judicial Conference of the United States today approved key steps to improve public access to federal courts by increasing the availability of court opinions and expanding the services and reducing the costs for many users of the Public Access to Electronic Court Records (PACER) system...

Ballotpedia: 75+ statewide ballot measures include abortion, gambling, marijuana and more

Posted on March 17, 2010
BallotPedia has issued this update with links to various ballot initatives."

KS: Covenant marriage? measure taken out of bill

Posted on March 17, 2010
Lawrence Journal-World: "A proposal to establish 'convenant marriage' in Kansas was stripped out of a bill on Wednesday by a majority on the Senate Judiciary Committee." House Bill 2667

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Obama nominates ?unabashed liberal? to 9th Circuit

Posted on March 17, 2010
Associated Press: "Goodwin Liu, 39, is an unabashed liberal legal scholar who, if confirmed, could become a force on the federal appeals court for decades. There's talk that in time, the Rhodes Scholar, former high court clerk and current assistant dean and law professor at the University of California, Berkeley, could be the first person of Asian descent chosen for the Supreme Court...

Amicus and Party Briefs In Christian Legal Society Case All Now Available Online

Posted on March 17, 2010
Religion Clause Blog: "All of the amicus briefs, as well as the briefs of the parties, have now been filed with the U.S. Supreme Court in Christian Legal Society Chapter v. Martinez. The full text of all the briefs are available online from the ABA's website: 22 amicus briefs support Petitioner; 12 support Respondent; and one is in support of neither party ...

9th Circuit Defines Ministerial Exception For Employment Cases

Posted on March 17, 2010
Religion Clause Blog: "In Alcazar v. Corporation of the Catholic Archbishop of Seattle, (9th Cir., March 16, 2010), the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed under the 'ministerial exception' doctrine claims by two Catholic seminarians who alleged violations of Washington state's Minimum Wage Law ...

Arizona town to rescind ban on church meetings in homes

Posted on March 17, 2010
FOX News: "A controversial ban on holding church meetings in private homes in a rapidly-growing town in Arizona could be rescinded as early as next week, officials say. Gilbert, Ariz., Mayor John Lewis said members of the city's Town Council have asked town officials to stop enforcing the ban until permanent changes can be made at a March 22 meeting -- or possibly earlier...

Judge rules ?gay rights? law can by challenged by Catholic adoption agency

Posted on March 17, 2010
Daily Mail: "A Catholic charity won a High Court battle today over adoption laws that would have forced it to consider gay couples as parents. Catholic Care, a registered adoption agency, wants special dispensation from sexual orientation regulations which forbid it from giving children solely to heterosexual couples ...

Okla. Appeals Court upholds dismissal of same-sex ?divorce? case

Posted on March 17, 2010
The Church Report: "The Oklahoma Court of Civil Appeals has upheld the dismissal of a lawsuit that sought a 'divorce' between two women who claimed to have obtained a marriage license in Canada . . . 'The government cannot issue a divorce for a "marriage" it doesn?t recognize,' said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Austin R...

Georgene Rice summarizes developments in the Gilbert, Arizona zoning case

Posted on March 17, 2010
Georgene Rice summarized developments surrounding Gilbert, Arizona's suppression of home Bible Studies. The MP3 runs approximately 6 minutes. Related ADF Media and recent statements from Gilbert's leadership:  ?Gilbert remains committed to religious freedom?

Malawi church leaders meet to discuss homosexuality phenomenon

Posted on March 17, 2010
AP: "Church leaders say they have met in this fiercely conservative southern African nation to 'understand the phenomenon' of same sex partners days ahead of a court verdict that could send two gay men to jail for up to 14 years . . ."

Delaware Lawmakers Consider Adding Casinos

Posted on March 17, 2010
Citizen Link: "Developers are circling as the Delaware General Assembly considers adding one or more casinos to the state."

US clinic sparks debate with UK human egg raffle

Posted on March 17, 2010
AP: "An American infertility clinic seeking business in Britain has prompted fierce criticism by offering free eggs from a U.S. woman to one participant in a promotional seminar Wednesday evening in London."

Catholic Nuns support pro-abortion health-care reform, defy Bishops

Posted on March 17, 2010
Google News (AP): "Some 60 leaders of religious orders representing 59,000 Catholic nuns Wednesday sent lawmakers a letter urging them to pass the Senate health care bill."

President of U.S. Bishops says cost is too high, loss is too great for Health Care Bill not to be revised

Posted on March 17, 2010
USCCB: "The bishops, however, judge that the flaws are so fundamental that they vitiate the good that the bill intends to promote. Assurances that the moral objections to the legislation can be met only after the bill is passed seem a little like asking us, in Midwestern parlance, to buy a pig in a poke...

Planned Parenthood Centers Using Dangerous Abortion Drug More, Survey Shows

Posted on March 17, 2010
LifeNews: "A national survey of Planned Parenthood abortion centers finds a higher number are giving women the dangerous RU 486 abortion drug that has killed at least 13 women worldwide and injured more than 1,100 in the U.S. alone."

US Muslims to challenge anti-Islam bias in children?s books

Posted on March 17, 2010
Arab News: "On Wednesday, the Pennsylvania chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-PA) will hold a news conference in Philadelphia to announce the launch of a nationwide campaign to challenge anti-Islam bias in a series of children's books that the Washington-based Muslim civil rights group says promote "hostility toward Islam and suspicion of Muslims...

Senate votes against reopening D.C. voucher program

Posted on March 17, 2010
Washington Post: "The D.C. voucher program's future appeared limited Tuesday after the Senate voted down a measure that would have reopened the initiative to new students."

Rabbie Daniel Lapin: Passover and ?.Sex?

Posted on March 17, 2010
Rabbi Daniel Lapin writes in his Daily Thought Tools: "Movie screens suggest that sex is public and everyone?s business. However, just try criticizing sexual misbehavior and you will be quickly told that sex is private and none of your business. So, which is it? It?s actually neither, or maybe we should say both...

NY: Cortland reexamines rules regarding sexually oriented businesses

Posted on March 17, 2010
9WSYR: "The City of Cortland is trying to tighten up its laws regarding adult entertainment businesses."

TN: 3 Nashville council members push ?gender identity rights?

Posted on March 17, 2010
The Tennessean: "Three Metro Council members are pressing the city's human rights agency to investigate private companies accused of discriminating against workers based on gender identity."

GA: New ordinance regulates sexually oriented stores in Albany

Posted on March 17, 2010
FOX 31: "Howard Brown with Planning and Development says the City approved merging an ordinance from the City Code, and one from the Zoning Ordinance that will be called the 'Sexually Oriented Business Ordinance.' However, they can only regulate where the businesses are located, not so much what they sell...

KY: Student suspended for in-school prayer called ?disruptive,? protests follow

Posted on March 17, 2010
WHAS11: "A teenage girl standing up to pray at a Louisville middle school has been suspended. Her principal calls it a disruptive and potentially dangerous. [Principal Rob] Stephenson, who carries a cross in his pocket, says the problem wasn't Aly praying...

Unlikely ally joins effort to overturn ?Iqbal? SCOTUS decision

Posted on March 17, 2010
InjuryBoard.com: "An unlikely ally has joined the fight to overturn two recent Supreme Court decisions ? Bell Atlantic v. Twombly and Ashcroft v. Iqbal ? which made it much harder for plaintiffs to file claims in civil disputes. Legal Times and Wall Street Journal blog posts today note that the conservative Alliance Defense Fund has penned a letter to lawmakers supporting legislation to overturn the decisions to restore the pleading standard and Americans? basic legal protections...

?Medicaid and Social Security changes urged to help gay seniors?

Posted on March 17, 2010
LA Times: "Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender senior citizens face myriad social and financial problems, and lawmakers could help them by altering Social Security and Medicaid rules, according to a national report being released Wednesday. The report, prepared by Services and Advocacy for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Elders, or SAGE, has been endorsed by major mainstream aging groups, including AARP and the American Society on Aging...

HI: Advocates, parents fight for tougher laws against prostitution

Posted on March 17, 2010
KHON: "A human trafficking bill is back in the Legislature again for the fifth time - with victims and their families wanting forced prostitution defined as a Class A felony with steep mandatory sentencing."

So. Calif. City to Home Bible Study: Shut Down by Good Friday

Posted on March 17, 2010
Pacific Justice Institute: "A city in Southern California is demanding that a small home Bible study group stop meeting because it does not have an expensive permit. The permit is not required for similar-sized gatherings in homes, such as book clubs, birthday parties or gatherings centered around sporting events...

Kucinich to vote ?yes? on health, giving a boost to Democrats

Posted on March 17, 2010
The Hill: "The Ohio lawmaker and perennial left-wing presidential candidate made the announcement at a Wednesday morning press conference two days after President Barack Obama personally lobbied him to switch his vote during a flight to Ohio on Air Force One...

FL: Polk County School Board asks religous leaders to say prayers

Posted on March 17, 2010
The Ledger: "Polk County School Board members decided Tuesday to ask various religious leaders to open their meetings with prayer."

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