Religion & Law

Body art and deviant behavior: Study finds link between multiple tattoos, piercings and trouble

Posted on January 13, 2010
Chicago Tribune: "Here's a new aphorism: 'The more body art you have, the more likely you are to be involved in deviance.' So says Jerome Koch, a sociologist with Texas Tech University's "Body Art Team" -- true moniker -- which surveyed 1,753 students at four colleges and found a correlation between multiple tattoos or piercings and "deviant behavior...

Jeremiah G. Dys: Let people vote on how to define a ?marriage?

Posted on January 13, 2010
Jeremiah G. Dys of the Family Policy Council of West Virginia writes at Journal-News.net: ". . . the 2010 legislative session is set to begin, and our leaders have failed to advance a legitimate reason not to let the people vote on the definition of marriage ...

Google Threat Jolts Chinese Internet Industry

Posted on January 13, 2010
"The U.S. search giant's announcement that it will stop censoring its Chinese search site, and may withdraw from the country altogether, triggered an outpouring of concern, and some anger, among Chinese Internet users . . . "

Google threatens to leave China after attacks on activists? e-mail

Posted on January 13, 2010
Washington Post: "Google said Tuesday that it may pull out of China because of a sophisticated computer network attack originating there and targeting its e-mail service and corporate infrastructure, a threat that could rattle U.S.-China relations, as well as China's business community...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Law Review: When Children Become Child Pornographers and the Lolita Effect Undermines the Law

Posted on January 13, 2010
Sex, Cell Phones, Privacy, and the First Amendment: When Children Become Child Pornographers and the Lolita Effect Undermines the Law Clay Calvert, 18 CommLaw Conspectus 1 (2009) "It is a sure-fire recipe for legal trouble: combine hormone-raging teens with image-transmitting technologies, and then stir them together in a sex-saturated society replete with outdated laws and a criminal justice system that never could have anticipated such a combustible confluence of forces...

ADF update on federal Prop 8 trial: Day 2

Posted on January 13, 2010
ADF Attorney Dale Schowengerdt writing at the Christian Post: "[P]erhaps the most striking change that Professor Cott noted is that marriage has evolved from a child-focused institution to an adult-focused institution . . . Professor Cott couldn?t deny that [raising children] has historically been a major purpose of marriage...

Conservative Groups to Rally for Inclusion of American Exceptionalism in State History Curriculum Standards

Posted on January 13, 2010
Texas Insider: “Americans for Prosperity-Texas will be participating in a rally this Wednesday to encourage State Board of Education members to toughen history curriculum standards and put a renewed emphasis on American Exceptionalism.”

Mexico church faces violent reaction for defending marriage

Posted on January 13, 2010
Christian Telegraph: "The Catholic Church in Mexico has faced a violent reaction from homosexualists in the country who are upset over the Mexican bishops? strong defence of natural marriage, reports Agenzia Fides."

Law School Overselling

Posted on January 13, 2010
George Leaf writes at the National Review Phi Beta Cons Blog: "The reason why law-school graduation was initially demanded before an individual could sit for the bar exam was that the ABA wanted to reduce competition. Prior to the 1920s, most lawyers did not go to law school, but studied on their own while working for law firms ...

?US Human Rights Commission To Hold Hearings on Ugandan Anti-Gay Bill?

Posted on January 13, 2010
Box Turtle Bulletin: "Chris Johnson at DCAgenda reports that US Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WS) will chair a meeting of the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission next week to hear testimony on the Anti-Homosexuality Bill that is now before Uganda?s Parliament ...

Austria Approves Over-the-Counter Morning-After Pill

Posted on January 13, 2010
LifeSiteNews: "The change, announced before Christmas by the country's health ministry, went into effect on December 18th . . ."

Anti-sexting campaigns heat up

Posted on January 13, 2010
Wall Street Journal Digits blog: "The Ad Council has launched a series of Public Service Announcements promoting the slogan 'Think before you post' . . . The Family Violence Prevention Fund has launched ThatsNotCool.com, a site aimed at making teens aware of 'textual harassment' ...

UK party leader says faith schools must teach homosexuality is ?normal and harmless?

Posted on January 13, 2010
"U.K. Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg is . . . stating that his party (the third largest party in the U.K.) would legislate that all faith schools . . . teach . . . that homosexuality is normal and without any risk to physical or mental health."

Archbishop Niederauer responds to Pelosi?s Newsweek interview: Free will does not justify evil

Posted on January 13, 2010
Archbishop George H. Niederauer: "Embodied in [Pelosi's] statement are some fundamental misconceptions about Catholic teaching on human freedom. These misconceptions are widespread both within the Catholic community and beyond. For this reason I believe it is important for me as Archbishop of San Francisco to make clear what the Catholic Church teaches about free will, conscience, and moral choice...

Lithuania: Backs Italy against EU court in crucifix dispute

Posted on January 13, 2010
Baltic Reports: "The Lithuanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced its support Wednesday for Italy challenging the European Court of Human Rights on whether crucifixes of Jesus Christ should be displayed in public schools . . . Echoing the Italian education minister Mariastella Gelmini, Lithuania?s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that in this case posting an image of Jesus Christ on the cross is not a symbol of Christianity but of Europe?s Christian humanist tradition...

UK: Petition raises concern about Equality Bill and religious freedom

Posted on January 13, 2010
Christian Today: "A new petition has been launched to press Prime Minister Gordon Brown on the right of religious believers to live out their faith. The petition was posted on the No 10 Downing Street website by Blandford Forum resident David Skinner...

DADT Repeal: Dems Move Forward With Plans

Posted on January 13, 2010
Huffington Post: "Congressional negotiators and White House officials are moving forward with plans to add the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell to the upcoming defense authorization bill, Democratic sources tell the Huffington Post."

Taxpayers only win 14% of suits versus IRS, family status among most litigated issues

Posted on January 13, 2010
The Blog of the Legal Times reports: "National Taxpayer Advocate Nina Olson, in her recently-released annual report to Congress, listed the 10 tax issues most litigated in the federal courts. Of the 923 cases involving those issues, taxpayers prevailed in whole, or in part, in 132, or roughly 14 percent...

Indonesia: Denial of religious freedom brings Christians to human rights commission

Posted on January 13, 2010
AsiaNews: "Hundreds of members of the Huria Batak Protestant Christians Group (HKBP) of Bekasi, West Java, streamed before the National Human Right Commission (Komnas Ham) to demand that their right to religious freedom be upheld. They complain that Muslim hard-line groups and their local authorities have forcibly stopped their activities and cancelled their Sunday services...

Emigration the norm for Iraqi Christians

Posted on January 13, 2010
Assyrian International News Agency: "As many of them continue to emigrate, some observers say the country may soon be empty of Christians altogether. To explore the implications for the migrants and for Iraq, Niqash interviewed Father Youssef Tuma, Editor-in-Chief of the magazine Christian Thought, and founder of Baghdad Open University for Humanities ...

Seating Mass. Senate winner could be delayed

Posted on January 13, 2010
Massachusetts's top election official says it could take weeks to certify the results of the upcoming U.S. Senate special election. That delay could let President Barack Obama preserve a key 60th vote for his health care overhaul . . . "

Dutch Lawmaker Tries to Avoid Hate Speech Charges Stemming From Portrayal of Islam in His Movie

Posted on January 13, 2010
CNSNews: "Dutch lawmaker Geert Wilders asked judges on Wednesday to drop or reduce charges against him of criminal incitement, arguing that his anti-Islam message falls within the boundaries of freedom of speech."

GOP Senate Leader Says U.S. Commanders in Afghanistan ?Confused? about How To Handle Captured Terrorists Now That Some Are Tried as Civilians

Posted on January 13, 2010
CNS: "Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), just back from a fact-finding trip to Afghanistan and Pakistan, said he and other senators found operational 'confusion' among U.S. military officials on how to handle detained enemy combatants."

Albert Mohler Radio: Pornography and the Male Brain: What?s Really Going On?

Posted on January 13, 2010
Rev. Albert Mohler of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary has posted this broadcast with Dr. William M. Struthers, a Professor of Psychology of Wheaton College who has authored the book: Wired for Intimacy: How Pornography Hijacks the Male Brain...

Texas churches apparently torched

Posted on January 13, 2010
Baptist Press: "A Southern Baptist church was one of two churches in the Athens, Texas, area heavily damaged by what investigators believe were arson fires set in the early morning hours Jan. 12, marking the third such church fire in a week near the East Texas city...

Texas Debates How History Should Be Taught in Schools

Posted on January 13, 2010
FoxNews: "This is the first time the State Board of Education is going to get to vote on this, so you can't take anything for granted," said Jonathan Saenz, a lobbyist for the conservative Free Market Foundation. "I think it would be a tragedy if students talk about Martin Luther King Jr...

U.S. Supreme Court says no TV coverage of Prop. 8 Trial

Posted on January 13, 2010
SCOTUS: "Courts enforce the requirement of procedural regularity on others, and must follow those requirements themselves."

30 Chinese House Church Leaders Detained, Says Rights Group

Posted on January 13, 2010
Christian Post: ". . . Handan City Public Security and Religious Affairs Bureaus reportedly broke into the leaders? meeting of the Chinese House Church Alliance that was held in Handan City, Hebei province while they were having Bible study. One of the detained pastor was able to briefly notify an outside contact about the incident before the call was 'abruptly cut off,' according to CAA ...

Frank: It Doesn?t Matter What the Pentagon Wants, We Have Votes to Repeal DADT

Posted on January 13, 2010
GayPolitics.com: "Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) told the Advocate Tuesday that he doesn?t believe it matters if the Pentagon is fully on board with the repeal of 'don?t ask, don?t tell,' because Congress can get it done without them."

Ohio: Charter school advocates say growth limits hurt their chance at federal funds

Posted on January 13, 2010
Columbus Dispatch: "State restrictions limiting the growth of charter schools will jeopardize Ohio's chances of winning federal Race to the Top funds, according to an analysis released today by advocates of the tax-funded, privately operated schools. The report by the National Alliance for Public Charter Schools in Washington D...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.