Religion & Law

Prop 8 trial, day 12 summary: Liberal Dem. who opposes ?gay marriage? testifies

Posted on January 29, 2010
Baptist Press: "Each day during the trial Baptist Press has posted a blog entry from someone in the courtroom. Following is commentary on day 12 of the trial from Austin R. Nimocks, senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, which supports Prop 8 ...

Austin R. Nimocks on the Michael Medved Show: Prop 8 trial ? Should religious folks be allowed to participate in the political process?

Posted on January 29, 2010
ADF attorney Austin R. Nimocks appeared on the Michael Medved Show to discuss the conclusion of the Proposition 8 trial. The MP3 runs approximately 34 minutes.

Homosexual conduct rampant among Afghan men, study says

Posted on January 29, 2010
Fox News: "An unclassified study from a military research unit in southern Afghanistan details how homosexual behavior is unusually common among men in the large ethnic group known as Pashtuns -- though they seem to be in complete denial about it."

California?s Prop. 8 trial on hold

Posted on January 29, 2010
OneNewsNow: "Alliance Defense Fund attorney Austin Nimocks tells OneNewsNow both sides have rested and the court is now considering thousands of pages of testimony and evidence. 'For a little over two weeks the plaintiffs made emotional appeals, presented irrelevant evidence, and pounded Proposition 8 with everything that they had -- and we don't feel like they made a dent at all,' Nimocks accounts...

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Evangelical homeschooling family from Germany granted asylum in U.S.

Posted on January 29, 2010
The Christian Post: "A German homeschooling family?s request for political asylum was granted Tuesday, five days after their case was heard by a U.S. immigration judge . . . According to the Alliance Defense Fund, which supported HSLDA in the Romeikes? case, Germany is the only European country that has outright criminal bans on homeschooling...

Forsyth loses prayer ruling

Posted on January 29, 2010
Winston-Salem Journal: "A federal judge ruled yesterday that the Forsyth County Board of Commissioners is violating the U.S. Constitution by allowing sectarian prayers before board meetings . . . The county's legal expenses are being borne by the Alliance Defense Fund, but that national organization won't pay the ACLU's legal expenses in the event of a loss...

Pro-life group gains equal footing at Middle Tennessee State

Posted on January 29, 2010
CitizenLink: "'They had done this multiple times to Pro-life Collegians,' [Joseph Martins] said. 'We were certain this was something that was only being applied to this group.'"

Civil Marriage Bill Pretends to Protect Religious Freedom

Posted on January 29, 2010
Citizen Link (quoting Ron Prentice of the California Family Council): "Senate Bill 906 introduces a new term into California law, namely 'civil marriage,'" he said. "It alters the term for marriage, and it actually may alter the definition of marriage...

Burden of proof to overturn Prop. 8 was unmet, backers say as testimony ends

Posted on January 29, 2010
Catholic News Agency: "Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) Senior Lead Counsel Austin R. Nimocks reported on the ADF website that one of the defense?s witnesses was David Blankenhorn, a liberal Democrat who has historically supported homosexual political causes including domestic partnerships...

Obama Owes the High Court an Apology: The justices were there as a courtesy to him.

Posted on January 29, 2010
Randy E. Barnett writes at the Wall Street Journal: "In his State of the Union address, the president of the United States called out the Supreme Court by name for sharp condemnation and egged on his congressional supporters to jeer its recent decision ...

Judge: Prayer before Forsyth County meeting unconstitutional

Posted on January 29, 2010
WNCT (AP): "A federal judge has ruled that the use of prayer to open a North Carolina county board of commissioners meeting violates the First Amendment . . . The Alliance Defense Fund represented the board. A spokesman did not immediately return a message seeking comment...

Obama v. the Supremes: Alito wins the oral, and factual, argument.

Posted on January 29, 2010
Wall Street Journal (subscription only): "In the case of Barack Obama v. Supreme Court of the United States, that was some oral argument on Wednesday night. With the Justices arrayed a few feet in front of him in the House chamber, President Obama blistered their recent decision defending free political speech for corporations and unions...

California Court of Appeal Mulls Mall?s ?Don?t Talk to Strangers? Rule

Posted on January 29, 2010
Pacific Justice Institute: "The California Court of Appeal is considering the constitutionality of a Sacramento-area shopping mall?s attempt to prevent adult patrons from talking to each other about hot-button topics such as religion and politics."

GOP Has New Counsel for Judicial, DOJ Nominations

Posted on January 29, 2010
Blog of the Legal Times: "It's a promotion for Danielle Cutrona, who will have the title of chief counsel for nominations on the committee's GOP staff."

Hawaii won?t vote on same-sex civil unions bill

Posted on January 29, 2010
"Lawmakers in Hawaii have decided not to vote on a bill that would have allowed same-sex civil unions in the state, a move that effectively kills the measure."

Iran Detains Christians without Legal Counsel

Posted on January 29, 2010
Voice of the Martyrs Persecution Blog: "Half of those arrested in recent months could face apostasy charges . . . At least 14 Christians have been detained in Iranian prisons for weeks without legal counsel in the past few months as last year?s crackdown has continued, sources said ...

The Battle of Fitchburg: Federal Stimulus Money Subsidizes Planned Parenthood

Posted on January 29, 2010
Hot Air: "When administration officials are bragging about all those jobs 'saved or created' by Obama?s stimulus program, they probably won?t mention the $387,000 grant to Planned Parenthood of Massachusetts, but residents of Fitchburg, Mass., don?t like what it means for their community ...

Caritas in the veritable welfare state

Posted on January 29, 2010
James Matthew Wilson writing at the Front Porch Republic"[N]ote that the welfare state, by itself or aided by the dynamics of corporate capitalism (the corporation state), tends to dissolve both the labor market and the family alike, to render them both in thrall to its endless but petty pelf and absolutist bureaucratic procedures...

FL: Leon County charter revision to protect ?gays and lesbians? from discrimination moves forward

Posted on January 29, 2010
Tallahassee Democract: "The county's charter-review committee, which voted 10-3 in favor of the proposal, is expected to vote Feb. 11 on whether to move it on to public hearings and a vote by county commissioners. If approved, it would go to voters later this year...

Italy moves towards emulating France on burqa ban

Posted on January 29, 2010
Reuters: "Italy may soon seek a ban on full-face Muslim veils, drawing on debate in France where President Nicolas Sarkozy has described the burqa as unwelcome and legislators are considering a vote to outlaw or restrict it. Equal Opportunities Minister Mara Carfagna has said the Italian government will quickly follow in France?s footsteps, breathing new life into four draft bills on burqas already circulating in parliamentary committees...

MA: One of world?s largest child porn distributors arrested

Posted on January 29, 2010
WCBV: "A South Boston man was charged Friday in what prosecutors say could be one of the largest child pornography distribution cases in the world. Police said they found 16,000 files of child pornography on George Shipps' seized computer."

OH: Controversial adult store subject of community forum

Posted on January 29, 2010
WMFD: "More than 100 people attended the forum hosted by the Richland County Family Coalition at Berean Baptist Church on Middle-Bellville Rd. Opponents of Adultmart discussed options for opposing the adult store and to close it."

NYT: ?Many Successful Gay Marriages Share an Open Secret?

Posted on January 29, 2010
"The Gay Couples Study has followed 556 male couples for three years ? about 50 percent of those surveyed have sex outside their relationships, with the knowledge and approval of their partners . . . "

Pope says marriage annulments shouldn?t be easy

Posted on January 29, 2010
Calgary Herald: "Pope Benedict XVI called Friday on the Vatican court which rules on marriage annulments to take a strict line, saying the point of Church laws was to save souls."

Italy appeals school crucifix ruling

Posted on January 29, 2010
"The European Court of Human Rights ruled in November that Italy was undermining religious freedom and the right to a secular education by hanging crucifixes in state school classrooms, in a case brought by an Italian mother."

David French: Pro-life speech and the heckler?s veto

Posted on January 29, 2010
David French, Director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom, writing at Phi Beta Cons: "Last semester, Middle Tennessee State University informed the Pro-Life Collegians (PLC) that they could not host a traveling pro-life display without first paying a substantial security fee...

Robert P. George: Our struggle for the soul of the nation

Posted on January 29, 2010
Robert P. George at the March for Life Rose Dinner: "The Republican Party's support for the unborn has brought into its ranks many disaffected rank-and-file Democrats, including a large number of Catholics and Evangelicals. I am one. Indeed, it overstates the matter only a bit to say that, as a result of the conflict of worldviews that began with abortion, the Republicans have become the party of the religiously engaged, while the Democrats have become the party of liberal secularists...

Study: Mobility, Housing Markets, and Schools: Estimating General Equilibrium Effects of Interdistrict Choice

Posted on January 29, 2010
By: Eric Brunner, Sung-Woo Cho, and Randall Reback Occasional Paper No. 184 Mobility, Housing Markets, and Schools: Estimating General Equilibrium Effects of Interdistrict Choice, National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education at Columbia University...

Marriage, Parentage, and the Constitution of the Family

Posted on January 29, 2010
Chuck Donovan writes at the Heritage Foundation Insider Online Web Memo #2783: "The family is a prime institution of civil society. In its origins, it is both natural and pre-political. Family is not the creature of the state but a network of relationships between a man and a woman, their offspring (if any), and the families from which they themselves come and that their union will create...

CLS files Supreme Court Brief for Petitioners in CLS v. Martinez

Posted on January 29, 2010
The Christian Legal Society (Attorney Kimberlee Wood Colby) has filed the Brief for Petitioners in the U.S. Supreme Court in the case of CLS v. Martinez. ADF attorneys Greg Baylor, Casey Mattox and Tim Tracey are also on the brief along with Michael W...

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