Religion & Law

UK: Be ready to be sued under Equality Bill, Government Minister warns Christians

Posted on January 08, 2010
CCFON: "A Government Minister admitted last week that the Equality Bill, which is currently going through its parliamentary stages in Westminster, could trigger a raft of cases directed at undermining the liberty of Christian denominations."

New Poll Reveals Mothers? Polarized Views of Today?s Dads

Posted on January 08, 2010
PRNewswire: "Today, National Fatherhood Initiative (NFI) released Mama Says: A National Survey of Moms' Attitudes on Fathering, the first-ever national survey taking an in-depth look at how today's mothers view fathers and fatherhood. The survey's most revealing findings deal with the enormous gulf between the assessments of fathers by mothers who are married to or live with their children's dads and those who do not ...

The Marriage Recession

Posted on January 08, 2010
Times-Picayune: "Stand on the front lines of the recession, as therapist Erica Karlinsky has, and the view for married couples isn't rosy. Karlinsky, a Lake Mary, Fla., psychologist, now spends a lot of her time counseling men who've lost their jobs -- or wives who are dealing with an unemployed husband who won't get off the sofa or won't stop crying ...

Mixing sexes in Saudi Arabia: Not so terrible after all?

Posted on January 08, 2010
The Economist: "In the past few months top religious officials, including the minister of justice and the head of the religious police in the Mecca region, which includes Jeddah, have declared ikhtilat a modern term not proscribed by Islamic law. Saudi jurisprudence has erred, they say, by confusing conservative tribal custom with the rules of sharia, thus lumping the innocent mingling of the sexes with the true sin of khulwa, meaning an unmarried, unrelated couple?s ?seclusion? in a setting that could tempt devilishness...

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That?s Not A Speech Code; It?s a Code of Ethics!

Posted on January 08, 2010
"In the last five years, we've seen the 'helping professions' move to transform their codes of ethics and professional standards into instruments of ideological coercion . . ."

North Kansas City: A moment of silence replaces prayer at City Council meetings

Posted on January 07, 2010
SunTrib.com: "Silence had replaced bowed heads at City Hall. Since the recent removal of prayer from North Kansas City Council meetings, a moment of silence has appeared on meeting agendas where the prayer once was."

Catholic Politicians Supporting Same-Sex Marriage Legislation

Posted on January 07, 2010
LifeSiteNews: "Writing for the Catholic Advocate, Matt Smith reports that 39 of the 106 cosponsors of a House bill that would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) are 'self-identified' Catholics . . . "

Is the Secret Service Targeting the Birthers?

Posted on January 07, 2010
Mother Jones: "Over the past year, Secret Service agents charged with protecting President Obama seem to have taken a keen interest in the Birther movement, the committed group of anti-Obama activists around the country who claim the president was born in Kenya, not Hawaii, and is thus ineligible to serve ...

Chairman of the Cato Institute: ?The moral and constitutional case for gay marriage?

Posted on January 07, 2010
Robert A. Levy, chairman of the Cato Institute, writing in the New York Daily News: "Thomas Jefferson set the stage in the Declaration of Independence: '[T]o secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men.' The primary purpose of government is to safeguard individual rights and prevent some persons from harming others...

Mormon officials offer to work with Phoenix neighbors upset about proposed temple

Posted on January 07, 2010
Arizona Republic: "Mormon Church officials said Monday they want to work with a north Phoenix neighborhood, who turned in more than 16,000 signatures last week asking that voters decide the height of a temple."

ATF is inviting Latin nations to boost role in tracking guns

Posted on January 07, 2010
AZ Republic: "In a move to crack down on weapons from the U.S. that are funneled to drug cartels, police in Latin America will soon be able to track American gun sales in their own language, despite privacy concerns by gun-rights advocates . . . Springfield, Va...

Virginia: Antiabortion pregnancy center figures in state Senate race

Posted on January 07, 2010
Washington Post: "The literature, until recently circulated by a church-affiliated pregnancy center in Annandale, has become political fodder in the closely watched contest for Virginia's 37th Senate District between Stephen M. 'Steve' Hunt, a Republican and former Fairfax County School Board member, and Del...

Abortion funding fight far from over

Posted on January 07, 2010
Dr. Charmaine Yoest, Marjorie Dannenfelser, Kristan Hawkins and David Bereit writing in the Washington Times: "Planned Parenthood's cover has been blown. Before the vote on Stupak-Pitts, there were no uproars from the abortion lobby about government funding of abortion in the health care bill...

UK Communities and Local Government appoints 13 new faith advisers

Posted on January 07, 2010
The Gov Monitor: "Communities Secretary John Denham today announced the appointment of 13 new faith advisers who will act as a 'sounding board' to advise on effective engagement with faith communities, and the impact of Communities and Local Government policy on faith communities...

Can online marriages tame the culture wars?

Posted on January 07, 2010
Pew Forum: "The two Michigan State University professors argue that no couple should have to be physically present to be married and that any two adults should have the freedom to take advantage of another state's marriage laws, whether or not the pair resides in that state...

Closeted Christians: No room in the public square

Posted on January 07, 2010
Mark Earley writing in the Christian Post: "The CLS sued the school, and in March the Ninth Circuit ruled that Hastings could require student groups to 'accept all comers as members, even if those individuals disagree with the mission of the group.' The precedent for this ruling was a 2008 opinion by the same Ninth Circuit, Truth v...

Ann Coulter on Christianity: If You Can Find a Better Deal, Take It!

Posted on January 07, 2010
Ann Coulter writes at Human Events: "Most perplexing was columnist Dan Savage's indignant accusation that Hume was claiming that Christianity 'offers the best deal -- it gives you the get-out-of-adultery-free card that other religions just can't.' In fact, that's exactly what Christianity does...

Human sacrifices ?on the rise in Uganda? as witch doctors admit to rituals

Posted on January 07, 2010
Telegraph: Moses Binoga, the assistant police commissioner who is head of the Ugandan anti-human sacrifice and trafficking task force, said there were 26 murders thought to be part of ritual sacrifice last year compared with three cases in 2007. 'We also have about 120 children and adults reported missing whose fate we have not traced,' he added...

In sub-Saharan Africa, radical Islam takes hold

Posted on January 07, 2010
Washington Times: "Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), Shebab fighting for the control of Somalia, or Nigeria's homegrown sects ? radical Islam is taking hold in sub-Saharan Africa, albeit in many varied forms."

The Man Who Can Stop Obamacare

Posted on January 07, 2010
National Review: "The special election for Ted Kennedy?s Senate seat is less than two weeks away. Should Republican Scott Brown win it, it could be all but impossible for Harry Reid to get 60 votes for the current version of Obamacare."

A Future Wave of Speech Codes, Though Enforced Through Exclusion from the Bar and Not Just University Discipline?

Posted on January 07, 2010
Eugene Volokh writes at the Volokh Conspiracy about proposals being discussed that would punish bar applicants who are deemed to engage in unacceptable speech or viewpoints by bar authorities.

Proposed Russian Law Would Return State-Owned Religious Property To Orthodox Church

Posted on January 07, 2010
Religion Clause Blog: "According to Interfax yesterday, Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin says that a bill has been drafted to deal with transferring state-owned religious property back to the Russian Orthodox Church."

Lengthy Bibliography in AALS Section on Law & Religion Newsletter

Posted on January 07, 2010
Religion Clause Blog reports that the December 2009 Newsletter for the AALS Section on Law and Religion carries a lengthy bibliography of law and religion issues.

Federal Prop 8 trial set to begin Monday

Posted on January 07, 2010
Bay Area Reporter: "Defending the anti-gay measure is the Alliance Defense Fund, which represents the group that pushed to pass Prop 8, ProtectMarriage.com. In a legal twist, both Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown are not defending the state law and have, in fact, told the court that Prop 8 is unconstitutional...

Open Doors Top Ten List of Countries Persecuting Christians Dominated by Islamic Governments

Posted on January 07, 2010
Catholic Culture: "The list compiled by Open Doors was dominated by Islamic governments. Conspicuously absent from the 'top 10' list were China and Vietnam . . The top 10 persecutors on the Open Doors list were . . . "

Major security operations protect Pakistani Christians

Posted on January 07, 2010
Catholic Culture: "Responding to Christians? fears that they would be the target of suicide bombing attacks, Pakistani security officials conducted major operations at Christmas to protect churchgoers, according to Archbishop Lawrence Saldanha of Lahore...

Vatican cardinal decries fear of Muslims, says Saudi Arabia should permit churches

Posted on January 07, 2010
Catholic Culture reports that Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran is quoted as saying: ?Currently religious freedom is assured in various Muslim countries, for example in those of the [Persian] Gulf, with the exception of Saudi Arabia, where nearly two million Christians do not have any possibility of gathering for their celebrations or in order to pray ? They feel tolerated rather than a partner in public dialogue...

Hill Republicans join fight against D.C. ?gay marriage?

Posted on January 07, 2010
"Thirty-nine GOP legislators, including 37 members of the House and two senators, James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.) and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), have filed an amicus brief supporting a public vote on the issue . . . "

Czech cardinal warns: Muslims are conquering Europe

Posted on January 07, 2010
Catholic Culture: "Cardinal Miloslav Vlk, who has served as Archbishop of Prague since 1991, has warned in an interview that 'if Europe doesn't change its relation to its own roots, it will be Islamized.' . . . 'Neither the free market nor freedom without responsibility is strong enough to form the basis of society...

NJ: State teacher?s union opposes DOE plan for federal money

Posted on January 07, 2010
E3 (Excellent Education for Everyone): "Local school districts have a week to decide if they want a share of $400 million in federal money. But getting it could mean longer school days and years, tougher teacher evaluations and more student testing. The president of the state?s largest teacher?s union is already telling local unions to reject the plan ...

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