Religion & Law

NJ vote on ?gay marriage? could shape battles ahead

Posted on December 09, 2009
Reuters: "The legalization of same-sex marriage faces a critical test in New Jersey this week that advocates on each side of the controversial issue argue will shape the fate of gay-marriage battles across the nation . . . In the District of Columbia, a city council vote on same-sex marriage is set for next week, with a win likely ...

Soledad cross back on 9th Circuit?s agenda

Posted on December 09, 2009
San Diego Union-Tribune: "'Regardless of the makeup of the panel, they are bound by Supreme Court precedent, and that precedent is on our side,' said Joe Infranco, a lawyer with the Alliance Defense Fund. That group, which advocates on behalf of Christian religious beliefs in courts, was one of many organizations that filed 'friend of the court' briefs in the case...

Case challenging rights of unborn in Ireland could be ?Roe v. Wade of Europe?

Posted on December 09, 2009
Catholic News Agency: "'No one should be allowed to decide that an innocent life is worthless,' commented Roger Kiska, ADF legal counsel. 'Ireland?s constitutional amendment defending innocent life is under attack, and the stakes are high for all of Europe...

Pro-abortion measures being smuggled through Congress

Posted on December 09, 2009
One News Now: "A pro-life group warns that Senate Democrats are attempting to use the end of the year omnibus funding bill to "smuggle" in the removal of three longstanding bans on government-funded abortion."

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NJ: Despite Committee Nod, Dim Prospects Seen for Same-Sex ?Marriage? Law

Posted on December 09, 2009
"Twenty-one votes are needed for passage in the upper house, which Democrats control 22-18, and at least three Democrats . . . have said they will vote against it . . . "

Dinesh D?Souza on ?Life After Death: The Evidence?

Posted on December 09, 2009
Grove City College Center for Vision and Values: "Dinesh, your last book was ?What?s So Great About Christianity,? which did quite well, and which we profiled in a series of Q&As last year (Part I, Part II, Part III). It led to, among other things, an ongoing fascinating series of public debates you?ve had with Christopher Hitchens...

Michigan: Embryonic stem cell researchers watching legislative moves

Posted on December 09, 2009
AP: "More than a year after Michigan voters approved a ballot proposal that loosened restrictions on embryonic stem cell research by allowing people to donate embryos left over from fertility treatments, another heated debate begins."

Reid opposed Nelson Amendment to restrict abortion funding

Posted on December 09, 2009
AP: "In a speech on the Senate floor Tuesday event, the Nevada Democrat urged his colleagues to reject Sen. Ben Nelson's amendment to stiffen curbs on abortion in the worked-over health care bill."

Tangipahoa prayer policy has new wording

Posted on December 09, 2009
The Advocate: "The Tangipahoa Parish School Board unanimously agreed Tuesday night to change the word 'prayer' to 'invocation' in its policy on prayers before board meetings, a policy under challenge in a federal court lawsuit . . . The board?s attorney in the federal case, Mike Johnson of the Alliance Defense Fund, requested the changes, Assistant Superintendent Thomas Bellavia told the policy committee...

Canada: ?Hate speech? penalties tossed by appeals court

Posted on December 09, 2009
WorldNetDaily: "Gerald Chipeur, an ADF-allied attorney who argued the case before the Court of Queen's Bench of Alberta this fall, said, 'There is no place for thought control in a free and democratic society.' He continued, 'The tools of censorship should not be available to prohibit freedom of expression in Canada...

Boxer compares denying women abortion coverage to denying men Viagra

Posted on December 09, 2009
Mercury News: "'Why are women being singled out here? It's so unfair,' Boxer said on the Senate floor Tuesday. 'We don't tell men that if they want to ... buy insurance coverage through their pharmaceutical plan for Viagra that they can't do it.'" Mercury News fails to mention that there is key difference between Viagra and Abortion...

Half of Teen Girls Infected with STDs Within Two Years of Having Sex

Posted on December 09, 2009
NCPA Policy Digest: "Within two years of having sex for the first time, half of teenage girls may be infected with at least one of three common sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), according to a new study, published in the Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine...

U.S.?s debt burden will climb to 97.5 percent of gross domestic product next year

Posted on December 09, 2009
"The U.S.?s debt burden will climb to 97.5 percent of gross domestic product next year from 87.4 percent, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development forecast in June."

Reid doubles down on slavery analogy

Posted on December 09, 2009
The Hill: "Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele suggested Democrats should strip Reid of his leadership position if he does not apologize for the comments, but Senate Democrats on Tuesday defended him."

Ross Douthat: Marriage and the Recession

Posted on December 09, 2009
Ross Douthat writing at his NYT blog: "Here?s the glass half-full take on the National Marriage Project?s annual 'State of Our Unions' report, which tackles the Great Recession?s impact on American wedlock. As it turns out, the strain of the downturn hasn?t pushed the divorce rate higher; instead, economic stress seems to have made American marriages slightly more stable overall, as couples develop a 'new appreciation for the economic and social support that marriage can provide in tough times,' as the study?s lead author, Brad Wilcox, puts it...

Beware cheaters: Your lover?s spouse can sue you

Posted on December 09, 2009
CNN: "They're known as 'alienation of affection' suits, when an 'outsider' interferes in a marriage. The suits are allowed in seven states: Hawaii, Illinois, Mississippi, New Mexico, North Carolina, South Dakota and Utah."

?Largest Anonymous ACLU Donor Reveals Identity And Reaffirms Support For Organization?

Posted on December 09, 2009
ACLU: "In a statement reaffirming his support for the mission of the American Civil Liberties Union, philanthropist David Gelbaum explained today why his generous financial contributions to the ACLU and two other charities will be greatly reduced this year ...

Senator?s Amendment Would Protect Conscience Rights of Pro-Life Medical Staff

Posted on December 09, 2009
LifeNews: "The Coburn amendment would ensure that health care providers do not have to participate in the performance of abortions."

SnoCo rules bikini baristas are adult businesses

Posted on December 09, 2009
Seattle Times: "The Snohomish County Council has passed an ordinance requiring that bikini barista stands with partially nude employees or sexually suggestive signs be licensed as adult entertainment."

DC Circuit rejects Newdow effort to censor court?s opening reference to God

Posted on December 09, 2009
Blog of the Legal Times: "Newdow and Ritter this week filed what they called an emergency motion to block the court clerk from making reference to God in the opening cry before the Dec. 15 oral argument. Today, a three-judge panel?Judges Douglas Ginsburg, Janice Rogers Brown and Brett Kavanaugh?rejected the request...

N.J. Senate to delay marriage vote

Posted on December 09, 2009
" . . . instead will likely be introduced in the Assembly Judiciary Committee in preparation for a vote by the lower house."

Bakersfield council prayers too Christian?

Posted on December 09, 2009
Bakersfield.com: "Bakersfield is the second city in Kern County to have prayers at city council meetings challenged by the Freedom From Religion Foundation Inc., a Wisconsin nonprofit with a membership of mostly atheists and agnostics."

Maine: National Organization for Marriage Expands Legal Challenge

Posted on December 09, 2009
Maine Public Broadcasting Network: "The National Organization for Marriage spent more than $1 million in Maine to repeal the state's gay marriage law last month. The group also filed suit against the state, challenging the financial reporting requirements for political action committees...

Report: Two-Thirds of Abortion Clinics Closed Since 1991

Posted on December 09, 2009
Christian Post: "There were nearly 2,200 abortion clinics in 1991, estimates Operation Rescue. Today, there are just 713 clinics." Related: Harvard Study: Planned Parenthood is an Abortion Business and Business is Bad

Judicial Watch Files Lawsuit against Obama Administration to Obtain White House Visitor Logs

Posted on December 09, 2009
Judicial Watch: "Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Secret Service for denying Judicial Watch's Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for access to Obama White House visitor logs from January 20 to August 10, 2009...

Kids to Meet Marx in School ? Care of Hollywood and The History Channel

Posted on December 09, 2009
Patrick Courrielche writes at Breitbart Big Hollywood: "Enter Howard Zinn ? an author, professor and American historian ? who, with the help of Hollywood and the History Channel, intends to change the way our pre-K through high school children learn American history...

The ?European Street? on Minarets

Posted on December 09, 2009
"All throughout Europe a new reality is rising: entire Muslim neighborhoods where very few indigenous people reside or are even seen. And if they are, they might regret it."

Undercover Video Shows Planned Parenthood Staff Lying to Woman About Abortion

Posted on December 09, 2009
LifeNews: "A new undercover video released by the group that exposed Planned Parenthood staffers turning a deaf ear to potential cases of sexual abuse finds staff at a Wisconsin Planned Parenthood abortion center lying to women in abortion counseling about the development of their unborn child...

Spiritual Warfare: NH protesters oppose merger of Catholic hospital with ?secular?

Posted on December 09, 2009
The Union Leader: "Armed with religious icons, rosary beads and a satin-cloaked statue of the Virgin Mary, a small but determined group of Catholics met on the sidewalk in front of Catholic Medical Center yesterday to protest the erosion of Catholic ethical standards they say would result if the hospital affiliated with secular Dartmouth-Hitchcock Health...

?Gay marriage?s ?inevitability? in doubt?

Posted on December 09, 2009
"The same-sex marriage movement appears likely to end a banner year with a string of stinging defeats that opponents say have undermined a core proposition of the movement - that the acceptance of gay marriage is, sooner or later, inevitable."

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