Religion & Law

Utah Bill Would Criminalize Illegal Abortions

Posted on March 01, 2010
NY Times: "If it is signed into law by Gov. Gary R. Herbert, a Republican, who has said he agrees generally with its goals but is still studying the particulars, Utah would still allow legal abortions performed by a doctor. But it would go further than any other state, several legal experts said, in mapping out a much murkier question: when is a woman criminally liable for trying to end a pregnancy through other means or self-infliction?" H...

UK: ?Gay equality? laws threatening last Roman Catholic adoption agency ?will lead to harm to children in care?

Posted on March 01, 2010
"Children in care will suffer if the last Roman Catholic adoption agency in England and Wales is forced to close down by gay equality laws, Church leaders warned today."

ACLU: ?We?ll be Watching You, Sheriff Arpaio? as taxpayers are forced to facilitate abortions

Posted on March 01, 2010
ACLU Blog: "That's when the ACLU filed a legal challenge on her behalf, both to ensure that she receive a safe, timely abortion and to strike down Arpaio's unconstitutional policy . . . Arpaio must now transport women in his facility who request an abortion, and he must transport them even if they can't afford to pay the transport costs upfront...

New Report Shows American Law Firm Pushing Abortion on Africans

Posted on March 01, 2010
LifeSiteNews: "The Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR), a New York-based public interest law firm that seeks to expand abortion access globally, has issued a primer on 'reproductive and sexual rights' jurisprudence in Africa, including abortion."

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Risk of Stillbirth 4 Times Higher After IVF

Posted on February 26, 2010
LifeSiteNews: "Women who become pregnant with a single fetus after in vitro fertilization (IVF) or intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) have an increased risk of a stillbirth, according to new research out today. The study of over 20,000 singleton pregnancies, published in Europe's leading reproductive medicine journal Human Reproduction ...

Is our government out of control? Lawlessness and unresponsiveness, marriage is not the only thing at risk

Posted on February 26, 2010
"This is a movement driven to lawlessness and lies by a self-righteous sense that only they are right, and therefore only they have rights. We are fighting, in other words, not only for marriage but for fairness, for democracy, for the rule of law, for civility and for the ordinary civil rights of all Americans...

Atheist Group Heralds ?First Time in History? Policy Briefing with White House Officials

Posted on February 26, 2010
ABC: [Secular Coalition of America] The group calls this meeting 'the first time in history a presidential administration has met for a policy briefing with the American nontheist community.'"

UN deplores Gaddafi call for anti-Swiss ?jihad?

Posted on February 26, 2010
BBC: "A top UN official has condemned as 'inadmissible' Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's call for a jihad, or holy war, against Switzerland."

Baltimore liquor board suspends license of Fells Point strip bar

Posted on February 26, 2010
Investigative Voice: "The Baltimore City Liquor Board has suspended the license of a Fells Point strip bar for one year. The suspension came after a liquor board hearing over charges that owners of Chubbies last July operated the club later than allowed by their license...

CA: Lowenthal bill would remove homosexual cure statute from state law

Posted on February 26, 2010
Long Beach Press-Telegram: "On Feb. 19, Lowenthal, D-Long Beach, introduced AB 2199. The bill would repeal Section 8050 of the Welfare and Institutions Code, which declares the State Department of Mental Health 'shall plan, conduct and cause to be conducted scientific research into the causes and cures of sexual deviation, including deviations conducive to sex crimes against children, and the causes and cures of homosexuality...

NALP Backs Down From Offer Prohibition Plan

Posted on February 26, 2010
Law.com (The American Lawyer): "The National Association for Law Placement has released revised guidelines for summer associate recruiting, and the organization has backed away from recommendations to adopt a system that would have banned firms from making any offers before mid-January...

Maryland: ?Democrats fear voter ire over AG?s gay-marriage opinion?

Posted on February 26, 2010
Gazette.net: "A long-awaited attorney general's opinion on same-sex marriage thrust the polarizing issue into an election year spotlight that had Democrats cringing as they braced for an expected onslaught of Republican campaign rhetoric."

Finnish Court Imposes Damages on Parents for Son?s Circumcision Without Anesthetic

Posted on February 26, 2010
Religion Clause Blog: "A district court in Helsinki, Finland has imposed damages of 1500 Euros on an Orthodox Jewish couple who had their son ritually circumcised by a British Chabad rabbi who is a recognized mohelin Britain."

ADF attorneys to debate in NY, NC on Supreme Court case involving Christian student group

Posted on February 26, 2010
Alliance Defense Fund attorneys will participate in three law school debates next week sponsored by campus chapters of The Federalist Society on the subject of the U.S. Supreme Court case Christian Legal Society v. Martinez.

Malaysian Professor Discusses Controversy Over Christians Using ?Allah? For God

Posted on February 26, 2010
Religion Clause Blog: "The American Muslim on Wednesday published an interview with Prof. Chandra Muzaffar, Malaysia's best known public intellectual, on the controversy over Christians in Malaysia using the term 'Allah' for God in their Malay language publications...

UK DPP: ?Mercy killing? is not the same as assisted suicide

Posted on February 26, 2010
Keir Starmer, Director of Public Prosecutions, writing at Times Online: "The policy I am publishing later today will show that we have looked carefully at the responses and, where appropriate, made changes. But I draw comfort from the large number of those responding who endorsed many important factors in the interim policy ...

Alabama: The Real Costs of the Legislature Killing the Charter School Bill

Posted on February 26, 2010
Gary Palmer writes at the Alabama Policy Institute: "While the Legislature may have killed the chance to get more than $180 million from the 'Race to the Top' program, the greater loss for Alabama is in the potential economic and financial impact that could be achieved from a charter school program...

Some MD lawmakers plan to fight Gansler?s same-sex ?marriage? opinion

Posted on February 26, 2010
News Channel 8: "Others like Delegate Don Dwyer say Gansler's opinion undermines the authority of the General Assembly. He's getting ready to file impeachment charges. 'There is already a standing opinion that was written on February 24 of 2004. The House Judiciary Committee chairman requested a letter on exactly the same topic,' Dwyer noted...

Pro-Abortion Group Endorses Obama Nominee Timothy Black for Federal Judge

Posted on February 26, 2010
LifeNews: "The pro-abortion group NARAL has endorsed a nominee President Barack Obama put forward for a federal judgeship in Ohio. Obama has selected Timothy Black, a magistrate judge in the Southern District of Ohio since 2004, for the District Court Bench for the Southern District of Ohio ...

BYU conference on rights of conscience in health care

Posted on February 26, 2010
Rob Vischer reports on the conference at the Mirror of Justice Blog and mentions the Cenzon-DeCarlo case that ADF is litigating.

SCOTUS Petitions to Watch includes Ten Commandments case

Posted on February 26, 2010
SCOTUS Blog has posted its latest list of Petitions to Watch. The list includes this: Title: Haskell County Board of Commissioners v. Green Docket: 09-531 Issues: (1) Whether including a public monument passively acknowledging the historical significance of the Ten Commandments among other privately donated historical monuments violates the Establishment Clause; (2) whether the endorsement test applied in Establishment Clause cases should be an uninformed and mistaken ?reasonable observer? or a well-informed ?reasonable observer?; and (3) whether the plaintiff, as an un-coerced ?offended observer,? has Article III standing...

UK: Government praises Catholic school for ?non-judgmental? approach to abortion

Posted on February 26, 2010
Damian Thompson writes at the Telegraph: "The school nurse provides students with clear accurate information about the full range of contraception and STIs and details of local services. Chlamydia screening is also offered to students in Years 11 to 13...

Air Force retracted Perkins invitation after criticism of Obama?s DADT position

Posted on February 26, 2010
CNSNews: "Perkins said he took to the FRC Web site to oppose Obama?s policy proposal, and urged Congress to retain the current law which excludes homosexuals from openly serving in the military . . . 'Dear Mr. Perkins: I wish to thank you for accepting our initial invitation to speak at our national prayer luncheon on Feb...

MA: Lund?s strip club lawsuit moved to federal court

Posted on February 26, 2010
Herald News: "The lawsuit filed two weeks ago by Gary Lund alleging the city has unconstitutionally prohibited adult entertainment was remanded to U.S. District Court in Boston this week at the city?s request."

South Africa: Christian Network takes aim at proposed porn channel

Posted on February 26, 2010
Mail & Guardian Online: "If DSTV went ahead with plans for a channel featuring pornographic content, it would be like pouring fuel on the 'fires of sexual abuse and exploitation', the Christian Action Network network said on Thursday."

Christians can?t vote for Wilders, say vicars

Posted on February 26, 2010
Dutch News: "A Christian cannot vote for Geert Wilders' anti-immigration party PVV, say 75% of church leaders in a poll of 1,200 ministers and church workers in the Nederlands Dagblad."

ADF Allied Success Stories

Posted on February 26, 2010
Congratulations to allied attorneys Jim Bopp, Tyson Langhofer, Rob McCully, Sharon Blakeney, Mike Donnelly, Pat Trueman, Stephen Braunlich, Carissa Mulder, Ryan Dwyer, Christopher DiPompeo, Aaron Martin, Demetrios Stratis, and Andrea Williams for their recent successes listed below...

?Maryland AG: No bar to recognizing out-of-state marriages?

Posted on February 26, 2010
Gay City News: "Since anti-gay organizations such as the Alliance Defense Fund and Liberty Counsel have proven eager to bring lawsuits challenging any state action recognizing same-sex marriages ? as they have done numerous times in New York ? it seems likely that this ruling will be tested in the courts, especially if state agencies decide to comply with it...

Land to Congress: Stop D.C. ?gay marriages?

Posted on February 26, 2010
Baptist Press: "Richard Land has joined two dozen other Christian and conservative leaders in urging Congress to pass legislation requiring a public vote before the District of Columbia issues marriage licenses to homosexual couples . . . the Alliance Defense Fund filed a lawsuit on behalf of eight D...

?ADF file[s] appeal in Forsyth County prayer ruling?

Posted on February 26, 2010
digtriad.com: "Wednesday, the Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed an appeal of a district court decision that prevents the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners from opening public meetings with prayer that may mention a particular deity . . . 'America's founders opened public meetings with uncensored prayer...

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