Religion & Law

School system agrees to curb Gideons

Posted on January 29, 2010
Baptist Press: "The Nashville-area Wilson County school system in Tennessee has agreed to ban Bible distributions on school grounds during school hours after the American Civil Liberties Union threatened a lawsuit."

Indiana Senate approves marriage amendment

Posted on January 29, 2010
"The 38-10 vote marked the fourth time the Senate has approved such a provision . . . "

Stress marriage in sex education, teachers are told

Posted on January 29, 2010
Guardian Unlimited: "Teachers are being told today to stress the importance of marriage and the challenges of parenthood in sex education classes for children aged 11 and older."

International Planned Parenthood Pushes ?Sexual Rights,? Abortion for Children

Posted on January 29, 2010
LifeNews: "In its new report 'Stand and Deliver,' the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) is demanding that governments, religious institutions and society at large provide 'comprehensive sexuality education' for children as young as ten years old...

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Senator Tom?s Bill Would Protect Abortion Industry, Not Women, Say Silent No More Leaders

Posted on January 29, 2010
Christian Newswire: "A bill pending in the Washington state Senate, SB 6452, seeks to protect the abortion industry and keep the truth about abortion's risks from women said leaders of the Silent No More Awareness Campaign today . . . "

Family Group Looks to Protect Marriage in West Virginia

Posted on January 28, 2010
Citizen Link: "The Family Policy Council of West Virginia has released its second online video on the importance of one-man, one-woman marriage. The group will be releasing a total of four videos on the issue." The Video

Why ObamaCare Isn?t Flying

Posted on January 28, 2010
Daniel Heninger writes at the Wall Street Journal: "The answer lies in the often-repeated phrase that they are trying to reform '16% of the American economy.' Why would anyone think it possible in 2010?as politics, economics or mere practical feasibility?to reorder 16% of a $14 trillion economy of 300 million people living in 50 separate states whose geography is 16 times larger than France? ...

Bankers unite against Barack Obama and Gordon Brown in call for world regulation

Posted on January 28, 2010
London Evening Standard: "Bankers stood shoulder-to-shoulder at the Swiss ski resort of Davos to try to prevent a scatter-gun approach to new financial regulation by different countries."

Full Text of the State of the Union Address and the Republican Response

Posted on January 28, 2010
CBS carries the full text of Obama's State of the Union Address and the Republican Response by Bob McDonnell.

Colorado man: Pot charge violates religious rights

Posted on January 28, 2010
Associated Press: "Douglas told the Vail Daily newspaper that his religion is similar to Christianity and that the use of pot is sacred to him, just like wine and bread are sacred to Christians. 'The court is basically trying me for my religious beliefs,' he told the newspaper...

Doug Napier on AFR Focal Point: The Conclusion of the Prop. 8 Trial

Posted on January 28, 2010
ADF attorney Doug Napier appeared on AFR Focal Point to discuss the winding down of the Proposition 8 trial. The MP3 runs just under 13 minutes.

Russia: Muslims raided, more Jehovah?s Witness literature banned

Posted on January 28, 2010
Forum 18: "Following an 11 December raid on a Makhachkala flat by 'a whole busload' of armed and masked rapid reaction police led by a Dagestani FSB security service investigator, some 30 readers of the works of the late Turkish Islamic theologian Said Nursi were taken for questioning...

Prop 8 Trial, Day 11 summary: religious conservatives again targeted

Posted on January 28, 2010
"But let's assume for a moment that it could be shown that religious views formed the basis for even most of the voters who supported Prop 8. So what?"

Meilaender on Genetic Advance and Prenatal Screening

Posted on January 28, 2010
William E. May reviews Bioethics: A Primer for Christians at the Culture of Life Fundation: ". . . the moral questions raised by somatic cell therapy do not call for 'the no that should be spoken to germ cell modification but for caution and a willingness to distinguish acceptable from unacceptable aims of therapy...

At Davos, Sarkozy Calls for Global Finance Rules

Posted on January 28, 2010
NY Times: "France wants to use its presidency of the Group of 20 next year to create a new international monetary system, President Nicolas Sarkozy said on Wednesday, adding that he believed the dollar should no longer be the primary reserve currency in the global economy...

Defendant testifies he killed Kan. abortion doctor

Posted on January 28, 2010
AP: "The man accused of murdering prominent Kansas abortion provider Dr. George Tiller took the stand in his own defense Thursday and promptly admitted that he fatally shot Tiller in an attempt to save unborn children."

Delaware appeals sports betting restrictions to US Supreme Court

Posted on January 28, 2010
LA Times: "The state of Delaware on Wednesday appealed restrictions on its sports betting lottery to the U.S. Supreme Court, arguing a lower court overstepped its authority by limiting the scope of the betting. In a 106-page court filing, attorneys for the state asked the court to review a ruling by a federal appeals court in Philadelphia that limits sports betting in Delaware to multi-game, or parlay, bets on professional football...

Human Rights Watch: ?Ireland: Abortion Limits Violate Human Rights?

Posted on January 28, 2010
Human Rights Watch: "The Irish government actively seeks to restrict access to abortion services and information both within Ireland and for its residents seeking care abroad, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The 57-page report, 'A State of Isolation: Access to Abortion for Women in Ireland,' details how women struggle to overcome the financial, logistical, physical, and emotional burdens imposed by restrictive laws and policies that force them to seek care abroad, without support from the state...

Feds seek to overturn Mexico City ?gay marriage? law

Posted on January 28, 2010
Washington Post: "The federal Attorney General's Office said in a statement that it believes the law 'violates the principle of legality, because it strays from the constitutional principle of protecting the family.'"

State Republicans tell national GOP: Keep out

Posted on January 28, 2010
The Hill: "Republicans in Arkansas and Nevada are telling the national GOP to stay out of their races as a pair of well-known politicians show renewed interest in running for the Senate. In both states, a field of candidates had already been going at it for months ...

Obama?s secret edu-judges

Posted on January 28, 2010
Frederick M. Hess writing at National Review Online: "Late last week, word leaked out that the Obama administration has selected the 58 reviewers for state applications to its $4.35 billion Race to the Top (RTT) fund ? and has no intention of revealing their names ...

ADF update on Prop 8 trial proceedings: Wednesday, January 27th

Posted on January 28, 2010
Update from ADF Attorney Austin R. Nimocks: "The final day of trial ended at noon on Wednesday, making the presentation of evidence end precisely at the 2½ week mark. While the ProtectMarriage.com legal team has not yet formally rested its case in defense of the California marriage amendment and the voices of over 7 million Californians, as well as the voices of the tens of millions of Americans who have voted for marriage in their respective states, the presentation of testimonial evidence from witnesses to the district court is now complete...

An Inconvenient Truth about Absent Fathers

Posted on January 28, 2010
". . . many of us still prefer to tell ourselves that any caring adult can fill a father's shoes, and a live-in, married-to-mom dad is simply a bonus. Such happy talk may comfort adults, but it does little to ease the pain of the millions of children ...

Plummeting birthrates threaten prosperity worldwide

Posted on January 28, 2010
City Journal: "Economists are increasingly recognizing that the struggles of places like Japan and Italy to extricate themselves from economic slumps that began in the 1990s result in part from extreme ?birth dearths? that have shrunk labor pools, dried up consumer spending, and made businesses, staffed by older employees, more risk-averse...

Will the Euro survive?

Posted on January 28, 2010
Paul Belien writing at Hudson New York: "With Greece facing bankruptcy, the fears about Greece's financial situation have led to a drop in value for the euro. Last week, the finance ministers of Germany and the Netherlands - the two eurozone countries which in pre-euro days had the strongest currencies in the EU: the German mark and the Dutch guilder - announced that they will not help Greece solve its problems ...

Pro-life legal group opposes Planned Parenthood efforts to block South Dakota law

Posted on January 28, 2010
LifeSiteNews: "Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund filed a friend-of-the-court brief Friday with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 8th Circuit asking the court to reject Planned Parenthood?s attempt to block portions of South Dakota?s informed consent law ...

Aging of Blood Stem Cells May Be Reversible

Posted on January 28, 2010
Business Week: "Older mice 'rejuvenated' when treated with blood factors from younger mice, researchers found."

Obama: will seek to end Pentagon policy on ?gays?

Posted on January 28, 2010
Reuters: "'I believe it would be a mistake to repeal the policy,' McCain said. 'This successful policy has been in effect for over 15 years and it is well understood and predominantly supported by our military at all levels.'"

Eugene Volokh: Asylum in the U.S. for German Homeschoolers?

Posted on January 28, 2010
Eugene Volokh has this post at the Volokh Conspiracy questioning whether Germans homeschoolers should be entitled to asylum.

Campaign-finance fights not over: High court?s ruling on spending limits was just one case

Posted on January 28, 2010
USA Today: "'Opponents of campaign-finance laws have teed up a series of cases to push the court ever further toward deregulation,' said Richard Hasen, an expert on election law at Loyola Law School in Los Angeles. 'It is paying off.'"

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