Religion & Law

KY: Bible study rules for public schools proposed

Posted on February 09, 2010
Courier Journal: "The state would create rules for teaching about the Bible in public high schools under a bill filed Monday by three Democratic senators. The bill calls for the Kentucky Board of Education to establish guidelines for an elective course on the Bible's literary structure and its influence on 'literature, art, music, mores, oratory, and public policy...

UN member states discuss details of new women?s super-agency

Posted on February 09, 2010
Taiwan News: "Radical feminist groups allied under the Gender Equality Architecture Reform (GEAR) campaign worked in tandem with prominent UN staffers to successfully push for the creation of the new women's mega-agency. Critics fear that instead of advocating for the real needs of women worldwide, the new entity will be used as a tool to promote the abortion rights agenda of the radical feminist organizations who demanded for its creation in the first place...

United Nations urges Nicaragua to legalize abortion

Posted on February 09, 2010
LifeSiteNews: "The United Nations' 'High Commission of Human Rights' (OHCHR) is urging Nicaragua to legalize 'therapeutic' abortions, as well as abortions in rape and incest cases, according to the Mexican government news agency Notimex."

S.C. school ends prayer meetings

Posted on February 09, 2010
Pensacola News Journal: "A South Carolina school district has stopped the prayer meetings a woman had been holding in a school auditorium for a decade . . . Assistant superintendent Celeste Pringle says officials heard of the meetings from an attorney from Americans United for Separation of Church and State ...

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David French: Those angry, crazy conservative kids

Posted on February 09, 2010
ADF Attorney David French writing at Phi Beta Cons: "It's clear that Nancy Thomas, director of the Democracy Imperative at the University of New Hampshire, has had enough. Student activists have finally crossed lines of propriety and legality, and they need to be called out ...

?Cleveland gay partner registry foes appeal loss?

Posted on February 09, 2010
On Top Magazine: "After losing the first round of a lawsuit that aims to close Cleveland's gay-inclusive domestic partnership registry, foes return to court this week to appeal, Cleveland-based gay biweekly Gay People's Chronicle reported ... Cincinnati attorney David R...

Who?s to Blame for Nomination Bottleneck?

Posted on February 09, 2010
Volokh Conspiracy: "President Obama entered office with a nearly unprecedented opportunity to remake the federal courts, but he has yet to take advantage of it. The President has only made 38 judicial nominations, and the Senate has only confirmed 14...

?60 members of Congress seek LGBT-inclusive immigration reform?

Posted on February 09, 2010
San Diego Gay and Lesbian News: "The statement, which comes from members of the LGBT Equality Caucus, urges passage of the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) and for inclusion of 'LGBT binational families in comprehensive immigration reform.' Under current immigration law, lesbian and gay Americans are unable to sponsor their partners for residency in the United States, resulting in many such families living separately, or facing imminent separation, from their loved ones...

SC: Battle Over Richland County Charter School Heats Up

Posted on February 09, 2010
The Palmetto Scoop: "The battle over a proposed charter school in Northeast Richland County is heating up. The planners of the Hope Academy Charter School have filed paperwork in South Carolina Administrative Law Court challenging Richland School District 2?s decision to deny the school?s charter, which was approved by the State Department of Education in July ...

Blind justice: Free speech prohibited on public sidewalk outside Calif. courthouse

Posted on February 09, 2010
ADF attorneys file suit against L.A. County officials after police, judge order man to stop free speech activities outside San Fernando Courthouse

ABA Endorses New Procedure for Judicial Pay Hikes

Posted on February 09, 2010
Blog of the Legal Times: "The American Bar Association's House of Delegates today voted to ask Congress to make it easier for federal judges to receive cost-of-living pay increases when other federal employees get them. Passage of the change would remove a continuing source of friction between judges and Congress...

City Council in Nevada opened with Sanskrit mantras

Posted on February 09, 2010
Northern Voices Online: "City Council of Sparks, one of the fastest growing cities of Nevada (USA), started day?s business with Sanskrit shlokas from ancient Hindu scriptures on Monday."

ADF-allied attorney available to media after hearing on Illinois ?period of silence? law

Posted on February 09, 2010
Alliance Defense Fund allied attorney Andy Norman will be available for media interviews following a hearing Wednesday in Sherman v. Koch. In October, ADF and allied attorneys with the Chicago firm of Mauck & Baker filed a friend-of-the-court brief with the U...

House suspends votes this week, Senate may leave Wednesday

Posted on February 09, 2010
The Hill: "The House suspended votes for the rest of the week because of the impending snowstorm while the Senate may cancel votes on Wednesday."

BBC looks into Christian persecution

Posted on February 09, 2010
c21Media: "In BBC1's Are Christians Being Persecuted?, presenter Nicky Campbell will investigate what it means to be a Christian in Britain today. The doc will attempt to go behind the headlines to explore a number of high-profile legal cases, and examines the changing nature of how Christianity and Christians are viewed in society...

Ohio House Should Honor Achievements Regardless of Political Beliefs, Says ACLU

Posted on February 09, 2010
ACLU of Ohio: "The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio urged House Speaker Armond Budish (D-Beachwood) to re-assess his decision to block certain groups or individuals from being recognized on the floor of the Ohio House. Elizabeth Trisler, a Shelby County teen who recently won an oratory contest sponsored by National Right to Life, was scheduled to be presented with a proclamation by state Rep...

Freedom of religion vs. freedom of worship

Posted on February 09, 2010
"Some advocates for international religious freedom are monitoring what they fear is a change in the language being used by Obama administration officials - that the broad emphasis on spreading 'freedom of religion' . . . is being subtly replaced by the more limited concept of 'freedom of worship...

Married couples pay a third more tax in Britain than other OECD countries

Posted on February 09, 2010
Daily Mail: "Married British couples on modest incomes pay a third more in tax than their counterparts in other countries, a report reveals today . . . Britain is almost 'unique' among developed countries in not recognising marriage in the tax system...

UK: Parliament?s Equality Bill

Posted on February 08, 2010
Edward T. Oakes writing at First Things, On the Square: "I am prompted to make these (what I hope are) commonsensical observations because of a controversy stirred up the past week by some remarks made by Pope Benedict to the bishops of England during their recent ad limina visit to Rome...

The EU?s horrible honeymoon

Posted on February 08, 2010
Brussels Journal: "At this point Europe is not even halfway its 100-day political 'honeymoon' since the Treaty of Lisbon, which transformed the EU into a state in its own right, came into force. So far the honeymoon has been a nightmare. Since the beginning of the year, the EU?s currency, the euro, is on the brink of collapse; Greece has been placed under EU financial supervision to prevent it from going bankrupt...

Democrats Divide on Voice of Possible Top-Court Pick

Posted on February 08, 2010
Wall Street Journal: "Democrats gearing up for a possible Supreme Court vacancy are divided over whether President Barack Obama should appoint a prominent liberal voice while their party still commands a large Senate majority, or go with someone less likely to stoke Republican opposition...

Harry Reid ready to play at recess

Posted on February 08, 2010
Politico: "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid used to consider recess appointments ?an end run around the Senate and the Constitution? ? so much so that he kept the chamber open during breaks to prevent President George W. Bush from making any more of them...

Indian Court Strikes Down Quotas for Backward Classes of Muslims

Posted on February 08, 2010
Religion Clause Blog: "In India, by a vote of 5-2 the High Court of Andhra Pradesh has held that the Andhra Pradesh Reservation in Favor of socially and Educational Backward Classes of Muslims Act 2007 is unconstitutional."

Jordan Lorence on the Janet Mefferd Show: The Prop. 8 Trial in Review

Posted on February 08, 2010
ADF attorney Jordan Lorence appeared on the Janet Mefferd Show to discuss the Proposition 8 trial. The MP3 runs approximately 19 minutes.

White House Faith Based Council Posts Votes On Two Controversial Church-State Issues

Posted on February 08, 2010
Religion Clause Blog: "Last Thursday, the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships posted the votes by its Advisory Council on two contentious issues. The first is whether faith-based social service providers should be allowed to provide services in rooms that contain religious symbols ...

Prop. 8 trial wraps up, leaving some Christians wondering if their votes counted

Posted on February 08, 2010
National Catholic Register: "'The votes of Christians and other people of faith are without question on trial in California,' said attorney Austin Nimocks of the Alliance Defense Fund, part of the ProtectMarriage.com legal team . . . Meanwhile, the district court trial 'has wound down in some respects, but it?s not over,' Nimocks said...

New CA bill protects pastors, could legalize ?homosexual marriage?

Posted on February 08, 2010
Black Christian News: "'This deceptively-named bill is another attempt to confine the liberty argument to a very narrow area. ADF has religious liberty concerns that are far wider,' Johnson told Baptist Press. 'Leno's bill is a Trojan horse that does nothing to protect religious institutions or other agencies of the church from being forced to violate their religious beliefs...

Street preachers challenge ?loud noise? and trespass bans

Posted on February 08, 2010
Religion Clause: "A federal civil rights lawsuit was filed in Richmond, Virginia by five Christian evangelists some of whom were charged with creating loud and disturbing noise for preaching at downtown . . . Alliance Defense Fund issued a press release on the case earlier this week...

Lawsuit challenges library?s meeting room policy

Posted on February 08, 2010
Religion Clause: "A federal civil rights action was filed on Thursday challenging the refusal by the New Smyrna Beach, Florida, Public Library to allow its meeting rooms to be used for a seminar titled 'Is Religion Alive in America?' . . . Alliance Defense Fund issued a release announcing the filing of the lawsuit and discussing other similar challenges filed in recent months...

Egyptian Christians call for right to build churches

Posted on February 08, 2010
One News Now: "Egyptian activists have protested in front of parliament and called for legislation giving Christians equal rights as Muslims to build houses of worship."

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