Religion & Law

Indiana: State Senator authors ?sexting? bill

Posted on January 19, 2010
WIBC: "Jim Merritt's (R-Indianapolis) bill would establish sexting as a delinquent act of a minor creating, transmitting or possessing a photograph, video or other material that shows someone under age in a state of nudity."

The British media?s trouble with religion

Posted on January 19, 2010
Alan Wilson writing in The Guardian: "[T]he fact that a whole range of religious leaders representing every major tradition in the UK feel chronically misunderstood must mean something . . . But it's almost impossible for central figures in the media establishment to take such phenomena seriously, perhaps because when they were at public school many of them had religion all sewn up around about the fourth year...

Case dismissed: Man arrested for touching grass after sharing Gospel exonerated

Posted on January 19, 2010
Criminal charges dismissed against NJ man arrested for ?trespassing,? ?obstructing justice? on sidewalk outside high school

German Christian homeschoolers may be granted political asylum

Posted on January 19, 2010
"In what could be a major international embarrassment for Germany a federal immigration judge in Memphis Tennessee is expected to rule this Wednesday on the political asylum case . . .

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Cuba performing state-sponsored sex change surgery

Posted on January 19, 2010
Washington Post: "The operations are covered by Cuba's universal health care system, even though some have protested the decision to allow them - either because of general opposition to the procedure or due to its high costs for a developing country with economic problems...

Increasingly, couples are saying ?I don?t?

Posted on January 19, 2010
MarionStar.com: ". . . A report issued last month by the National Marriage Project noted that in recent decades the U.S. marriage rate has been in continuous decline. From 1970 to 2007, the annual number of marriages per 1,000 unmarried women age 15 and older has dropped by nearly 50 percent - from 76...

Hawaii Faces Same-Sex Civil Unions Vote Today

Posted on January 19, 2010
LifeSiteNews: "Hawaii legislators reconvene today and are expected to address Bill HB 444, which would allow same-sex couples and unmarried opposite-sex couples to obtain all of the rights and benefits of legally married couples."

Doug Napier on AFR Focal Point: Update on the Cal. marriage trial

Posted on January 19, 2010
ADF attorney Doug Napier appeared on AFR Focal Point with Bryan Fischer to provide an update on the California marriage trial. The MP3 runs just under 13 minutes.

Ohio: New sex toys shop worries council, watchdog group

Posted on January 19, 2010
Mansfield News Journal: "A highway sign installed Monday trumpeted the opening of the new Adultmart store to motorists on Interstate 71 and Ohio 13. The shop, behind Taco Bell off Hanley Road, sells lingerie, adult DVDs and sex toys. It already has attracted attention from some City Council members ...

TN: ACLU claims schools illegally promoted religion

Posted on January 19, 2010
WSMV: "In Cheatham County, the school board is strategizing with its lawyers on how to respond to a[n ACLU] lawsuit over student rights."

Forced Recantations of Faith Continue in Vietnam

Posted on January 19, 2010
Christian Post: "A Vietnamese man violently forced to recant his fledgling Christian faith faces pressure from authorities and clansmen to prove his return to traditional Hmong belief by sacrificing to ancestors next month."

Prop. 8 trial Day 6: Live coverage from the courtroom

Posted on January 19, 2010
Contra Costa Times: "San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders has completed his stay on the witness stand. Prop 8 lawyer Brian Raum asked repeatedly questions to Sanders about his support for Prop 8, and attempted to get him to acknowledge that people who oppose gay marriage are not necessarily motivated by 'animus' and 'hostility...

Maryland: Bill would ban marriage redefinition

Posted on January 19, 2010
"A Baltimore County delegate introduced legislation Thursday that would ban recognition of same-sex marriages performed in other states and countries."

Security increased at Christian churches as Allah row divides Malaysia

Posted on January 18, 2010
Times Online: "Malaysian Christians will attend services in guarded churches alongside plain-clothes detectives tomorrow after another week of unsolved attacks on religious institutions provoked by a controversy over the use of the word Allah."

Hartford officials agree to stop silencing constitutionally protected speech

Posted on January 18, 2010
Alliance Defense Fund attorneys and city of Hartford officials have agreed to a settlement that will ensure the protection of citizens? free speech rights in public areas.

Haiti?s voodoo priests object to mass burials

Posted on January 18, 2010
Reuters: "Dumping the dead in hurriedly excavated mass graves without proper rites is seen as desecration in a country where many believe in zombies -- dead bodies brought back to life by supernatural forces who could persecute the living"

International Pro-Life Leaders Come to US Capitol to Protest U.S. Anti-Life Policies

Posted on January 18, 2010
"'We are tired of the arrogant American government trying to tell us how many children we should have,' said Emil Hagamu, HLI?s regional coordinator for English-speaking Africa."

Obama Speech for Pro-Abortion Candidate Coakley Disrupted by Pro-Life Heckler

Posted on January 18, 2010
LifeNews: "One participant was a pro-life advocate who, during the speech, help up a sign with fetal development pictures of unborn children and language saying, 'Jesus Loves All Babies.'"

Democrats May Look to House to OK Pro-Abortion Health Care Bill if Brown Wins

Posted on January 18, 2010
". . . Obama and top Democrats are considering the alternative of having the House pass the Senate bill even though large segments of the Democratic caucus oppose various sections of the Senate bill -- including its provisions allowing abortion funding ...

Hypocrisy, Same-Sex Marriage, and Televising Public Interest Litigation

Posted on January 18, 2010
Orin Kerr writes at the Volokh Conspiracy to disprove this thesis by Slate's Dahlia Lithwick: "Opponents of gay marriage can?t have it both ways. If they want to say that unelected federal judges cannot subvert the will of John Q. Voter, then they cannot also insist that John Q...

Obama?s EEOC Nominee: Society Should ?Not Tolerate Private Beliefs? That ?Adversely Affect? Homosexuals

Posted on January 18, 2010
CNSNews: "Chai Feldblum, the Georgetown University law professor nominated by President Obama to serve on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, has written that society should 'not tolerate' any 'private beliefs,' including religious beliefs, that may negatively affect homosexual 'equality...

Texas Supreme Court won?t hear Islamic groups? defamation suit

Posted on January 18, 2010
Robert Spencer writing at Front Page Magazine: "In a major victory for the increasingly embattled freedom of speech, the Texas Supreme Court has just denied a petition by the Islamic Society of Arlington, Texas and six other Texas-based Islamic organizations to review their case against human rights activist (and FrontPage Magazine writer) Joe Kaufman ...

Mississippi: Lt. Gov. Bryant leads anti-abortion effort

Posted on January 18, 2010
The Clarion-Ledger: ". . . If successful, voters would decide whether to amend the Constitution to declare that life begins at 'the moment of fertilization, cloning or the functional equivalent thereof.'"

LA Times: ?Gay marriage supporters fear Supreme Court?s ruling was an omen?

Posted on January 18, 2010
LA Times: "The U.S. Supreme Court cast its first vote last week on the legal challenge to California's voter initiative barring same-sex marriage, and some experts said it was a bad omen for those who hope gays and lesbians will win a constitutional right to such unions...

Oregon: Ban on teachers? religious dress could be repealed

Posted on January 18, 2010
KATU: "Teachers wearing turbans, head scarves or any kind of religious dress are currently banned from teaching in Oregon public schools . . . Sava Ahmed, who is Muslim, was one of several people to testify before state lawmakers urging them to repeal the law...

Prop. 8 trial Day 5: Live coverage from the courtroom

Posted on January 18, 2010
Contra Costa Times: "Judge Vaughn Walker, over the objections of Prop 8 lawyers, has decided to allow the testimony of Helen Zia, a San Francisco writer and lesbian who married in 2008 before the marriage ban took hold in the state . . . Prop 8 lawyer Brian Raum tried to argue that her testimony is irrelevant, and that it is inappropriate to have one person 'taken off the street' to testify on a same-sex marriage, saying such evidence should come into the trial through scientific studies of more couples ...

ACLU joins lawsuit on campaign contributions

Posted on January 18, 2010
San Diego Union Tribune: "The local chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union is siding with the county Republican Party in a lawsuit that seeks to eliminate several restrictions on campaign contributions for San Diego elections."

No Longer Their Golden Ticket

Posted on January 18, 2010
NY Times: "One 2008 graduate of a top-10 law school, who worked at a large Chicago firm for a year, said she spent days trying to look busy as business dried up while not billing a single hour, before being laid off last fall along with a quarter of the other first-year hires...

?Personal focus as same-sex-marriage trial opens in California?

Posted on January 18, 2010
The Gainesville Sun: "Supporters of Proposition 8, who were granted legal status to defend the ban in court, were quick to disagree. Their lawyers sharply questioned early witnesses about whether lessons on same-sex marriage belong in elementary school...

Alan Sears: The heart has its reasons

Posted on January 18, 2010
"The Apostle Paul reminded believers in Rome that Christ and His cross would be 'a stumbling stone and a rock of offense' to many . . . But the hallmark of American government and culture has always been a stubborn tolerance for religious belief . . ...

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