Religion & Law

Scout-free LAPD Explorer program in the works

Posted on December 11, 2009
LA Daily News: "The Police Commission voted two months ago to end its relationship with the Scouts because of the organization's policies that discriminate against gays."

No DOMA repeal next year before elections: Nadler

Posted on December 11, 2009
DC Agenda: "Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said in an interview with DC Agenda that lawmakers will work on passing other pro-LGBT bills next year, and could take up legislation to repeal DOMA ? known as the Respect for Marriage Act ? at the end of the two-year session starting in 2011...

Health care loophole would allow coverage limits

Posted on December 11, 2009
One News Now (AP): "As currently written, the Senate Democratic health care bill would permit insurance companies to place annual limits on the dollar value of medical care, as long as those limits are not "unreasonable." The bill does not define what level of limits would be allowable, delegating that task to administration officials...

Arkansas Suit Challenges Refusal To Permit Solstice Display at State Capitol

Posted on December 11, 2009
Religion Clause Blog: "Yesterday the Arkansas Society of Freethinkers filed a federal court lawsuit against the Arkansas secretary of state challenging the state's refusal to allow the Freethinkers to install a temporary Winter Solstice display on the state capitol grounds...

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

Connecticut: ACLU ?Complains About City?s Favoritism of Salvation Army?

Posted on December 11, 2009
Religion Clause Blog reports that the ACLU is complaining because the Salvation Army has been given the exclusive right to solicit donations at Meriden, Connecticut's Festival of Silver Lights. "The Salvation Army says that the $1400 collected so far will be used for social services, not religious programming...

Bureaucracy that controls access to Indiana bar claims attorney is mentally ill for being a pro-life Christian?

Posted on December 11, 2009
"Bryan Brown is a conservative, activist and unapologetic Christian. Of that there is no doubt. But does that mean he is also mentally ill?"

Democrats to lift debt ceiling by $1.8 trillion, fear 2010 backlash

Posted on December 11, 2009
Politico: "In a bold but risky year-end strategy, Democrats are preparing to raise the federal debt ceiling by as much as $1.8 trillion before New Year?s rather than have to face the issue again prior to the 2010 elections."

Christians killed in Mosul; Iraqi terrorists press for Islamic law

Posted on December 11, 2009
Catholic Culture: "Two Christian Brothers were shot and killed in Mosul, Iraq. The execution-style killings sparked new fears among the Christians of Mosul."

House lifts ban on D.C. abortion funding

Posted on December 11, 2009
The House passed a $1.1 trillion spending bill Thursday that gives the District of Columbia more control over such local issues as funding abortions and legalizing medical marijuana . . . The Senate is expected to pass the legislation, with a vote as early as Saturday...

Pope to preach in Westminster Hall where Sir Thomas More was condemned

Posted on December 11, 2009
Telegraph: "Pope Benedict XVI will preach in Westminster Hall, where Catholic martyrs including Sir Thomas More were condemned to die, when he visits England next September, it has emerged."

Why no-discrimination-based-on-religion conditions for government benefits aren?t viewpoint-discriminatory

Posted on December 11, 2009
Eugene Volokh writing at The Volokh Conspiracy: "As I argued in my law review article on the freedom of expressive association and government subsidies, the test for content discrimination is whether a rule is justified with reference to the content of the speaker?s speech...

David Cortman on The Michael Medved Show: Update on the Nampa Idaho Classical Charter School Case

Posted on December 11, 2009
ADF attorney David Cortman appeared on The Michael Medved Show to discuss this: Lawsuit filed after Idaho commission bans all religious texts from curriculum. The MP3 runs just over 31 minutes.

Arsonists torch Bronx synagogue-turned-church

Posted on December 11, 2009
AP: "A former Bronx synagogue that was turned into a church was torched by assailants who smeared Satanic graffiti on its walls."

Pope will write letter to Irish Catholics on abuse

Posted on December 11, 2009
The AP: "The 720-page report found that dozens of church leaders in Ireland's most populous diocese kept secret the record of child abuse by more than 170 clerics since 1940."

Pat Buchanan: Ron Paul?s Hour of Power, Calls to Audit the Federal Reserve

Posted on December 11, 2009
Patrick Buchanan writes at Townhall: "Is it not an admission that, though Congress was created by the Constitution, and the Fed is a creation of Congress, our elected representatives cannot be trusted with the money supply, cannot be trusted with control of the nation's central bank? To have decisions made in the national interest, we need folks who do not have to answer to voters...

Charles Krauthammer: ?The new socialism?

Posted on December 11, 2009
Charles Krauthammer writing in the Washington Post: This naked assertion of vast executive power in the name of the environment is the perfect fulfillment of the prediction of Czech President (and economist) Vaclav Klaus that environmentalism is becoming the new socialism, i...

Texas Legislator Files Atypical Amicus Brief in Support of ?Pole Tax?

Posted on December 11, 2009
Law.com (Texas Lawyer): On Nov. 20, state Rep. Ellen Cohen, D-Houston, and two advocacy groups submitted an amicus brief to the high court in Susan Combs, et al. v. Texas Entertainment Association, et al. in the hopes of shedding more light on the reasons the Texas Legislature passed the 2008 law...

O?Connor Helps Launch New Initiative Against Judicial Elections

Posted on December 11, 2009
The National Law Journal: "On Thursday, the Institute for the Advancement of the American Legal System announced the creation of the O'Connor Judicial Selection Initiative, a project that will assist state level efforts to move away from judicial elections...

Forsyth commissioners split on sectarian prayer issue

Posted on December 11, 2009
Yes Weekly: "Lawyer Michael Johnson of the Alliance Defense Fund is representing the county in the case and filed the objection to Sharp?s recommendation. Katy Parker, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina, represents plaintiffs Janet Joyner and Constance Lynn Blackmon...

Can the Recession Save Marriage?

Posted on December 11, 2009
W. Bradford Wilcox writes at the Wall Street Journal: "Judging by recent press reports, the family fallout associated with the Great Recession has been severe . . . But there may be a silver lining in all this financial pain. For most married Americans, the Great Recession seems to be solidifying, not eroding, the marital bond...

CLS suit to affect University of Iowa group

Posted on December 11, 2009
Daily Iowan: "The clause has generated controversy across the country and at the UI . . . The decision will affect all chapters . . . 'It?s completely unreasonable ? and unconstitutional ? for a public university to disrupt the purposes of private student groups by forcing them to accept as members and officers those who oppose the very ideas they advocate,' Gregory Baylor, a lawyer with the Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom, said in a press release...

Pharmaceutical deal holding up bipartisan health amendment

Posted on December 11, 2009
The Hill: "A deal between the White House and the pharmaceutical industry is holding up a bipartisan amendment to allow the importation of cheaper prescription drugs from abroad, according to a member of the Senate Democratic leadership."

Germany Jails Eight Christian Fathers for Removing Children from Sex-Ed Class

Posted on December 11, 2009
LifeSiteNews: "At least eight Russo-German families in Salzkotten, Germany, have suffered heavy fines and now their fathers have been sentenced to prison, because they have refused to send their elementary school-age children to mandatory sexual education classes...

Ross Douthat: Europe?s Minaret Moment

Posted on December 11, 2009
Ross Douthout writes at the NY Times (Dec. 6th): "If the more perfect union promised by the Lisbon Treaty is the European elite?s greatest triumph, the failure to successfully integrate millions of Muslim immigrants represents its greatest failure . ...

Swiss ?mafia? inviting Qaeda hits with minaret ban: Kadhafi

Posted on December 11, 2009
AFP: "Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi said the Swiss referendum banning the building of new minarets was an invitation for Al-Qaeda to launch attacks in Europe, the official news agency JANA reported on Sunday."

Chimeny pot minaret defies Swiss voters

Posted on December 11, 2009
Telegraph: "Swiss shoe-shop owner has built a mock minaret on the top of his warehouse in defiance of a ban on the Muslim architecture."

Europe?s Religion Delusion

Posted on December 11, 2009
Luke Goodrich of the Becket Fund writes at the Wall Street Journal: "The common theme in these cases is that the Court [European Court of Human Rights] views religious expression as a threat to a free, democratic society . . . A serious commitment to human rights requires governments to respect the religious impulse?even if much of society thinks religious beliefs are wrong, silly, or even harmful...

?The real inconvenient truth: The whole world needs to adopt China?s one-child policy?c

Posted on December 10, 2009
"China has proven that birth restriction is smart policy. Its middle class grows, all its citizens have housing, health care, education and food, and the one out of five human beings who live there are not overpopulating the planet. For those who balk at the notion that governments shou

Copenhagen: China says population control key to climate control

Posted on December 10, 2009
". . . the population issue has remained a blind spot when countries discuss ways to mitigate climate change and slow down global warming, according to Zhao Baige, vice-minister of National Population and Family Planning Commission of China (NPFPC) ."

Mike Johnson on the Frank Pastore Show: ?CLS v. Hastings Law? and the War on Christmas

Posted on December 10, 2009
ADF attorney Mike Johnson appeared on the Frank Pastore Show to discuss this: U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear lawsuit against UC-Hastings. The MP3 runs just under 19 minutes.

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