Religion & Law

NC: Asheville to review ?gay? partner benefits

Posted on February 09, 2010
Citizen-Times: "Councilman Gordon Smith is asking the council to move forward with the idea of giving same-sex domestic partners health insurance, bereavement leave and other benefits. If a majority votes yes, city staff would come back to the council at a later date with information including estimated costs and who would qualify...

AZ eyes bigger tax breaks for private school scholarships

Posted on February 09, 2010
Education Week: "An Arizona House committee voted Monday to allow bigger tax breaks for private school scholarship donations while also requiring new accountability measures."

?Gays in the Militaries?

Posted on February 09, 2010
Bret Stephens writes at the Wall Street Journal: "Israel lifted restrictions on gay soldiers in 1993 on orders from then-Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. If there were ill-effects, Capt. Raz says, nobody noticed. Openly gay soldiers have served with distinction in elite combat units and as senior officers...

Sen. Kristen Gillibrand will propose budget amendment to cut funding for ?Don?t Ask, Don?t Tell?

Posted on February 09, 2010
NY Daily News: "The senator plans to introduce a budget amendment to stop funding for enforcement of the military's policy on gays, she said Saturday night at a gala dinner of the Human Rights Campaign."

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NY: Schumer recommends ?openly gay? Daniel Alter for federal bench

Posted on February 09, 2010
Senator Charles E. Schumer press release: "Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced that he is recommending Daniel Alter to President Obama to serve as a judge in the Southern District federal court. Mr. Alter is a history-making pick, as he is the first openly gay male nominated for the federal court in American history...

Mississippi ?Personhood? Ballot Violates Rules

Posted on February 09, 2010
Ethiopian Review: "It appears to be all over but the cryin' for supporters of the Mississippi "egg-as-a-person" initiative to ban abortion. RH Reality Check has discovered that a unique provision in the state's Constitution prohibits modifying the Bill of Rights by voter referendum ...

Update: With Nelson, GOP blocks Obama NLRB nominee

Posted on February 09, 2010
San Francisco Chronicle (AP): "Senate Democrats are unable to muscle through President Barack Obama's choice of a union attorney for the National Labor Relations Board, because one of their own has joined the Republicans to block the nomination."

PA: ACLU objects to Grove?s sexting proposal

Posted on February 09, 2010
The Evening Sun: "State Rep. Seth Grove, R-Dover Township, said he was genuinely surprised to learn that the Pennsylvania ACLU is objecting to his proposed legislation on the subject, because his goal is to reduce the penalty for teens ... He's proposed legislation that would reduce the charge to a misdemeanor for offenders who are 13 to 17 years old...

Dems shoot down Iowa marriage amendment

Posted on February 09, 2010
"Lawmakers have failed Monday in an effort to begin the process of amending the Iowa Constitution to ban same-sex marriage . . . The house voted down the measure bringing it up for debate 45 to 54. One Democrat voted with Republicans . . . "

Ohio House speaker denies girl spotlight for anti-abortion group?s award

Posted on February 09, 2010
The Columbus Dispatch: "'It is an outrage that Speaker Budish has decided to politicize and deny the presentation of a proclamation honoring a national pro-life award on the House floor that was previously approved by the speaker,' [Rep. John] Adams said in a release...

Case of teen wed to 80-year-old sparks fierce debate in Saudi Arabia

Posted on February 09, 2010
NY Daily News: Saudi Arabia?s human rights commission has hired a lawyer to help a 12-year-old girl divorce her 80-year-old husband, the lawyer said, a move activists hope will lead to a ban on child marriages.

Disappointer in Chief: Obama falling in the polls

Posted on February 09, 2010
National Review: "A new Marist poll shows President Obama's disapproval rating (47 percent) exceeding his approval rating (44 percent). Among independents, just 29 percent approve of the president's job performance, while 57 percent disapprove."

Australia: Surrogacy Seen as Threat to Children?s Rights

Posted on February 09, 2010
Zenit: "A proposed bill that would legalize altruistic surrogacy in Queensland is not only unnecessary, but is a violation of one's birthright to enter into the world with a mother and a father, says the Family Council of Queensland. Family doctor and spokesman of the organization, Dr...

Emerging issues in assisted reproduction

Posted on February 09, 2010
Religion Link: "The ethics of fertility treatments are struggling to keep up with rapid-fire advances in biotechnology. The case of Nadya Suleman, the 'Octomom' who gave birth to octuplets in January 2009 through reproductive technology, is just an extreme example of the ethical dilemmas that parents, medical professionals and religious leaders are facing...

Bombay High Court: Islam can be criticized, but not maliciously

Posted on February 09, 2010
Outlook India: "Islam or any other religion can be criticised, but a malicious criticism aimed at promoting communal hatred and painting the whole community as villainous is not permissible, Bombay High Court held today."

Dems in NH legislature try to kill marriage amendment

Posted on February 09, 2010
AP: "A New Hampshire House committee is recommending against repealing the state's five-week-old gay marriage law . . . "

Defending ?Don?t Ask?

Posted on February 09, 2010
Mackubin Thomas Owens writing at National Review Online: "In a February 3 Wall Street Journal op-ed, I argued that the current law forbidding homosexual military members to discuss their sexual orientation ought to remain in place. I based my contention on the importance of non-sexual bonding as the glue of unit cohesion, which is an important contributor to military effectiveness...

Why is Obama killing off D.C.?s voucher program?

Posted on February 09, 2010
Washington Post, Post Partisan: "Yet the Obama administration seems to be doing everything it can to wind down the program. Why? Early research results have been positive -- certainly in terms of parental satisfaction, but also for achievement. Maybe the Democratic Party, and the teachers union leaders who support it, would rather not see any more evidence...

Joseph Martins: Student fee flop

Posted on February 09, 2010
ADF Attorney Joseph Martins writing at the Academic Freedom File: "Free speech violations manifest themselves in many forms on America?s campuses. Perhaps one of the most frequent?and misunderstood violations?concerns the distribution of student activity fees ...

Jordan Lorence: Seven reasons why we are battling for CLS at the Supreme Court

Posted on February 09, 2010
ADF Attorney Jordan Lorence writing at the Academic Freedom File: "Here are seven reasons why we at the Alliance Defense Fund are battling for the constitutional rights of the Christian Legal Society before the U.S. Supreme Court: 1. The Constitution protects CLS?s rights ...

UK Jews weigh fight after court ruling on ?Who is a Jew?

Posted on February 09, 2010
Jerusalem Post: "To fight or not to fight? That question has bitterly divided the Jewish community in Britain following the Supreme Court ruling a month-and-a-half ago striking down a Jewish school?s policy of limiting admission to the children of Jewish mothers...

Vote and stay sought in DC marriage debacle

Posted on February 09, 2010
OneNewsNow: "Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) attorney Tim Tracey explains the current legal efforts on voters' behalf. '[T]his is yet another appeal to the DC Superior Court in the hopes of vindicating the people's right to vote,' he says. 'And at the same time that we filed that appeal, we filed a motion to stay the effective date of the same-sex marriage law that was passed by the [DC] Council in December of last year...

Librarian may have violated First Amendment

Posted on February 09, 2010
CitizenLink: "Anthony Verdugo applied for a permit for a presentation on the relevance between Christians and the culture. He was denied, because of his Christian group's message. Verdugo is being represented by the Alliance Defense Fund. The religious freedom group has won at least three prior cases involving library meeting rooms...

?Brazil gay man wins U.S. asylum?

Posted on February 09, 2010
365gay.com: "Columbia Law School?s Sexuality and Gender Law Clinic has won asylum for a gay man who feared persecution because of his sexual orientation if forced to return to his native Brazil."

Georgia: ACLU Asks Tattnall Co. to Take Down Ten Commandments Display

Posted on February 09, 2010
WSAV.com: "Tattnall County officials say they didn?t know they were running afoul of state law when they let members of a Baptist church hang a framed copy of the Ten Commandments inside the county courthouse last week."

Christian speech targeted as ?hate?: ?Gays? pledge to ?pursue every method? of protesting flyers for school students

Posted on February 09, 2010
WorldNetDaily: A campaign has been launched in Montgomery County, Md., to classify the speech of advocates for people who choose to leave the homosexual lifestyle as "hate speech," which then could be banned under a new law signed last year by President Obama...

?Don?t Ask, Don?t Tell? and Liberal Dogmatism about Rights

Posted on February 09, 2010
Carson Holloway writes at Public Discourse: "In his State of the Union Message, President Obama called for a repeal of the federal law forbidding open homosexuals from serving in the United States military. As a political matter, his proposal attracted notice as a sign that the president would not try to respond to his party?s recent political setbacks simply by tacking to the center...

Losing Christianity

Posted on February 09, 2010
Assyrian International News Agency: "Even with its centuries-old roots throughout the continent, is Christianity history in the West?"

Scotland-wide inquiry into sex trafficking

Posted on February 09, 2010
HeraldScotland: "The Equality and Human Rights Commission is to use its unique powers to hold a national inquiry into human trafficking in Scotland . . . The move follows an investigation by The Herald last year that revealed there were up to 700 victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation living in Scotland at any one time, but there have been no successful prosecutions...

Russian Journalist Sparks Furor by Suggesting Infanticide for Disabled Newborns

Posted on February 09, 2010
LifeNews: "A Russian journalist has sparked furor by suggesting that newborn children who are mentally disabled should be killed. Aleksandr Nikonov wrote an article titled 'Finish Them Off, So They Don't Suffer,' which called "post-natal abortion" an act of mercy ...

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