Religion & Law

?Argentina?s gays to launch legal offensive for right to wed?

Posted on December 17, 2009
AFP: "Argentina's gay community launched Tuesday a major bid to compel the government to legalize same-sex marriage, saying they planned to file dozens of simultaneous appeals across the country."

NJ same-sex ?marriage? battle is likely over

Posted on December 17, 2009
NorthJersey.com: "Its chances in the full chamber were so dim that two days later the chief sponsors of the bill withdrew it, before a scheduled vote could take place. There are 40 senators. To pass, a bill needs 21 affirmative votes. A head count last week showed 13 senators publicly supporting same-sex marriage, including just one Republican, with 18 senators definitely opposed...

UK: Gordon Brown pushes for civil partnerships across the EU

Posted on December 17, 2009
B-92: "Gordon Brown is pushing for British civil partnerships to be recognised across the EU - including Eastern Europe, he has told Attitude magazine. The prime minister said Britain was negotiating deals with France and Spain but wanted to 'go further than that...

Dutch Parliamentary support to allow same-sex ?marriages? on islands

Posted on December 17, 2009
The Daily Herald: "The Dutch Parliament?s Second Chamber approved a motion Tuesday requesting the Dutch Government to 'encourage' the legalisation of same-sex marriage in countries Curaçao, St. Maarten and Aruba."

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Portuguese socialist gov?t aims to redefine marriage

Posted on December 17, 2009
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "Portugal's Socialist government has drawn up a proposal that would make Portugal the sixth European country to allow gay marriage. The law is almost certain to pass, as the center-left Socialist government has the support of all left-of-center parties, who together have a majority in Parliament...

Slovenian family law bill, including same-sex ?marriage? ready for Parliament

Posted on December 17, 2009
Slovenian Press Agency: "The government announced on Thursday that the new family law bill which envisages the equalisation of same-sex unions with other family unions, gay marriage and adoptions by gay couples is ready to be sent into discussion at the National Assembly...

Domestic partner legislation for federal employees moves to full Senate

Posted on December 16, 2009
On Wednesday morning, Dec. 16, the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee favorably reported the Domestic Partner Benefits and Obligations Act out of committee on an 8-1 vote . . .

Florida Court Says No-Aid Claim Against Faith-Based Treatment Program Can Proceed

Posted on December 16, 2009
Religion Clause Blog: "In Council for Secular Humanism, Inc. v. McNeil, (FL Ct. App., Dec. 15, 2009), a Florida state appellate court held that plaintiffs stated a valid claim under the "no-aid" provision of Florida's Constitution (Art. I, Sec. 3) when they challenged per diem payments by the state to two Christian ministries for prisoners placed in their faith-based substance abuse transitional housing programs ...

Dems Threaten Ben Nelson With Military Base Closing Over Abortion Opposition

Posted on December 16, 2009
". . . Nelson's demand that taxpayer money not be used to fund abortion has still not been met. According to a Senate aide, the White House is now threatening to put Nebraska's Offutt Air Force Base on the BRAC list if Nelson doesn't fall into line."

Quebec Issues New Policy Against ?Homophobia?

Posted on December 16, 2009
"This is going to be a full court press. It's going to lead to ostracizing different churches that have doctrinal oppositions to homosexual behaviour."

Detroit parents want DPS teachers, officials jailed over low test scores

Posted on December 16, 2009
Detroit News: "Impassioned parents demanded jail time for educators and district officials Saturday following the release of test scores that showed fourth- and eighth-graders had the worst math scores in the nation."

?Why Florida?s Ban on Judges? ?Friending? Lawyers on Facebook Is the Right Call?

Posted on December 16, 2009
Anita Ramasastry writes at Findlaw: "More generally, public officials are finding that their Facebook conduct (including their 'friending' practices) is being scrutinized. Since Facebook and similar sites are a mixture of public and private, this issue isn't going to go away any time soon...

William Saunders: ABC v. Ireland

Posted on December 16, 2009
William Saunders, Senior Vice President of Legal Affairs at Americans United for Life, writing at The Catholic Thing: "While the Court should dismiss the case, there are signs this will not happen. For example, before the lower chamber reached a decision, the matter was referred to the Grand Chamber...

Union pulls back on supporting healthcare bill

Posted on December 16, 2009
The Hill: "The Service Employees International Union (SEIU) backed out of an event with other organizations promoting the Senate healthcare reform bill Wednesday over concerns about changes made to the legislation to accommodate centrist Democrats."

Irish Supreme Court rules stored embryos ?not unborn?: No protection under Irish pro-life Constitution

Posted on December 16, 2009
"Despite the Irish constitutional guarantee for the right to life 'from conception,' the Supreme Court ruled that the three embryos cannot be implanted against the wishes of the woman's estranged husband."

UK: ?3,500 years of Jewish tradition overturned? in Jewish Free School ruling

Posted on December 16, 2009
"The UK Supreme Court . . . held that the admissions criteria . . . which gave preference . . . to children who are Jewish according to Orthodox Jewish law . . . were . . . racially discriminatory."

San Francisco: The worst-run big city in the U.S.

Posted on December 16, 2009
SF Weekly: "It's time to face facts: San Francisco is spectacularly mismanaged and arguably the worst-run big city in America. This year's city budget is an astonishing $6.6 billion ? more than twice the budget for the entire state of Idaho ? for roughly 800,000 residents...

Moralism without morality

Posted on December 16, 2009
Patrick J. Deneen, Associate Professor of Government at Georgetown, writing at his blog: "The discomfort with urging truly moral consequences that one would expect to accompany the language of moral condemnation is most often lacking because the Left has come to define itself as the 'Party of Progress,' in opposition to the 'Party of Memory' (or, 'Tradition'), to use Emerson's language...

Rubio Pulls Even With Crist In Senate Race

Posted on December 16, 2009
CBS4.com: "The new Rasmussen poll of likely GOP voters found Crist and his Republican opponent, Marco Rubio, are tied with 43 percent of the vote."

NC: Mecklenburg County to offer same-sex benefits to employees

Posted on December 16, 2009
Charlotte Observer: "Mecklenburg County will offer domestic partner benefits in 2011 to employees in same-sex relationships, under a plan approved Tuesday night by county commissioners."

North Idaho public charter school Bible use examined

Posted on December 16, 2009
Idaho Press-Tribune: "The Coeur d'Alene school's use of the Bible shows the state has singled out Nampa Classical Academy by prohibiting it from using religious texts, Nampa Classical Academy attorney David Cortman said. Cortman works for the Alliance Defense Fund, which describes itself as 'a legal alliance defending the right to hear and speak the Truth,' on its Web site...

Alan Sears: Religious freedom at stake in Supreme Court case

Posted on December 16, 2009
"Do constitutional protections of free speech, free assembly and conscientious religious expression still apply in an academic environment increasingly controlled by Leftist philosophy and the legal hyperventilations of political correctness?"

?D.C. gay marriage: The roadblocks that remain?

Posted on December 16, 2009
Washington City Paper: "As for the legal side, King and Jackson put a lot of faith in their attorneys, from the Alliance Defense Fund: 'I believe that we have the best legal team in America,' King says. A hearing is set for Jan. 6 before a Superior Court judge on one suit to force a popular vote on marriage...

D.C. marriage bill heads to Congress

Posted on December 16, 2009
Windy City Times: "With the help of the Alliance Defense Fund, a right-wing legal group that has filed many challenges against equal rights for gays, the clergymen are still pressing forward with an effort to put the issue before voters in the District...

D.C. gives ?gay marriage? final OK

Posted on December 16, 2009
Townhall (Baptist Press):"The Alliance Defense Fund has filed a lawsuit on behalf of eight D.C. citizens calling for approval of the attempt to place the initiative on the ballot."

Speaker Pelosi to shield vulnerable members from controversial votes

Posted on December 16, 2009
The Hill: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) has privately told her politically vulnerable Democratic members that they will not vote on controversial bills in 2010 unless the Senate acts first."

Teachers? Unions vs. Progess ? Again

Posted on December 16, 2009
National Center for Policy Analysis: "Ever wonder how effective your child's teacher is? Officials in Albany would rather you didn't know. At least that's the lesson one has to take from their refusal to allow data systems to match students to teachers, though doing so would help the state compete for a pot of perhaps hundreds of millions of federal dollars...

Maine casino withdraws new slot machine request

Posted on December 16, 2009
AP: "Maine's only casino has withdrawn its request to offer up a new type of slot machine for its customers."

Mecklenburg commissioners approve DP benefits

Posted on December 16, 2009
Q-Notes: "The 80-page human resources report also included a biased white paper from the Corporate Resource Council (CRC), recommended to the human resources department by Republican Commissioner Karen Bentley . . . The CRC has been identified as a 'non-profit consulting firm' affiliated with the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative organization which has mounted legal challenges to LGBT-inclusive and gay-friendly laws and policies across the nation...

Marriage redefinition is not evolution, its revolution

Posted on December 16, 2009
" . . . of the 194 countries around the world, 187 retain the common understanding of marriage."

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