Religion & Law

150 Mexican women fight ?personhood? laws before IACHR

Posted on September 22, 2009
"Earlier this month, 150 Mexican women from the state of Morelos filed a petition . . . to declare Mexico as responsible for the violation of human?s rights of women . . . [due to personhood amendments] . . . "

UK: Bristol councillor accused of homophobia called to resign

Posted on September 22, 2009
Official Wire: "The Bristol councillor who described an award of lottery funding to a gay charity as a 'mistaken and misguided, outrageous waste of money' will be the subject of a demonstration in the city tonight calling for his resignation."

2nd Circuit Reinstates Global Warming Suits Against Power Companies

Posted on September 22, 2009
ABA Journal: “The ruling by the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said there was no need for the courts to defer to Congress, the New York Law Journal reports. A trial judge had found the nuisance suit was nonjusticiable under the political questions doctrine...

Christian Legal Centre calls to stop relaxation of assisted suicide rules amid questions about Lord Phillips? role

Posted on September 22, 2009
Christian Legal Centre: "The Christian Legal Centre, a sister organisation of the Christian Concern for Our Nation, has questioned the plans to relax the laws on assisted suicide after the most senior Judge of the land failed to show impartiality in a landmark case...

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David French: Did the Harvard Law Review just get a black eye?

Posted on September 22, 2009
David French, Director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom, writing at National Review's Phi Beta Cons blog: "Over the past several weeks, defenders of academic freedom have been in an uproar over Harvard Law Review's unsigned student comment defending speech codes and criticizing the Third Circuit's landmark decision in DeJohn v...

Czechs Set Hurdle for Europe Treaty

Posted on September 22, 2009
NY Times: "With the Irish poised to vote next month on a landmark European Union treaty meant to improve the bloc?s global standing, alarm is growing in Brussels that the real stumbling bloc could prove to be the recalcitrant Czechs."

Legalizing same-sex ?marriage? only works in a society ?willing to diminish the value of children?

Posted on September 22, 2009
Ron Coody writing in the Fort Wayne News-Sentinel: "Elevating the importance of biologically sterile homoerotic attraction above the importance of sexual reproduction and child-nurture in the heterosexual family 'soul nest' can work only in a society that is willing to diminish the value of children, even the value of its future...

Missouri: Sedalia city council adopts sexually oriented business ordinance

Posted on September 22, 2009
Sedalia Democrat: "The Sedalia City Council adopted an ordinance . . . [restricting sexually oriented businesses] to areas zoned heavy industrial and be prohibited within 1,000 feet of schools, churches, day cares or residential property."

?Domestic Partners Seek To Intervene In Lawsuit Challenging Wisconsin?s Domestic Partner Law?

Posted on September 22, 2009
ACLU: "The American Civil Liberties Union filed a motion before the Wisconsin Supreme Court today on behalf of five same-sex couples asking that the couples be allowed to participate in a lawsuit that will decide whether the state?s newly enacted domestic partner law violates Wisconsin?s anti-gay marriage amendment ...

?Runaway convert?s parents want case in Ohio?

Posted on September 22, 2009
Miami Herald: "The parents of an Ohio teenager who ran away to Orlando because she thought her life was in danger for converting from Islam to Christianity filed court papers Monday to get the case moved to Ohio."

Pope to doctors: Do not sell drugs that stop life

Posted on September 22, 2009
JAVNO.com: "Pope Benedict XVI urged Catholic pharmacists to stop selling drugs that prevent pregnancy or assist in euthanasia. At the World Congress of the International Alliance of Catholic pharmacists in Poland . . . "

An Overview of Public School Funding in Washington

Posted on September 22, 2009
NCPA: "A coalition of education activists and union officials is suing the people of Washington, claiming taxpayers are not fulfilling the constitutional paramount duty to provide 'ample' funding for public schools. An in-depth study by Washington Policy Center finds the lawsuit's claim is not supported by research data...

Study shows better charter scores for NYC charter school students

Posted on September 22, 2009
New York Times: "Students who entered lotteries and won spots in New York City charter schools performed better on state exams than students who entered the same lotteries but did not secure charter school seats, according to a study by a Stanford University economist being released Tuesday...

Wednesday: House Education and Labor Committee hearing on ENDA

Posted on September 22, 2009
Committee on Education & Labor: "U.S. Rep. George Miller (D-CA), chairman of the House Education and Labor Committee, today announced that on Wednesday, September 23, he will hold the first full committee hearing in the House of Representatives on legislation to prohibit employers from discriminating against employees on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity...

NJ Catholic bishops oppose same-sex ?marriage? approval

Posted on September 22, 2009
NJ.com: "In anticipation of a possible vote on the issue by state legislators sometime after the November election, Catholic bishops in New Jersey have begun a campaign against same-sex marriage, issuing a 2,300-word letter opposing the redefinition of marriage to include same-sex couples...

?Scottish gay couples to be allowed to adopt next week?

Posted on September 22, 2009
Pink News: "The new provision will come into law on Monday September 28th and will bring Scotland in line with England and Wales on gay adoptions."

What happened next with homeschooler snatched from plane in Sweden?

Posted on September 22, 2009
Mats Tunehag's blog at Varlden Idag: "The 7 year old Domenic were taken from his parents in late June because they wanted to home school him. Dominic is still not reunited with his family; his mother Annie is critically ill (trauma) and his father Christer is going through sleepless nights fighting for justice for his family...

Roundup: What evangelical political groups are talked about this week

Posted on September 22, 2009
Christianity Today: "The Alliance Defense Fund wrote that the recently introduced Respect for Marriage Act, which would repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, demonstrates an 'ongoing disregard for the American people.' The AFA urged its members to contact their representatives in Congress, predicting 'If DOMA falls, the door will be wide open for activist judges to order one state after another to recognize same-sex marriages performed in other states...

People with ?no religion? gain on major denominations

Posted on September 22, 2009
USA Today: "Americans who don't identify with any religion are now 15% of the USA, but trends in a new study shows they could one day surpass the nation's largest denominations ? including Catholics, now 24% of the nation."

Long Haul for Working Couples

Posted on September 22, 2009
WSJ: "The recession is complicating job hunts?and the lives?of two-career couples, particularly when one lands an offer out of town. The search for employment is forcing more couples into long-distance relationships."

David French: The Symptoms Don?t Lie ? Group Think

Posted on September 22, 2009
David French, Director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom, has this post at the National Review Phi Beta Cons Blog: "Recently, I found myself in an excellent briefing on the perils of groupthink . . . As a slide listing the "Eight Symptoms of Groupthink" flashed on the screen, I grabbed a pad and immediately wrote them down ...

?Ancient Greek Lessons About Gay Marriage?

Posted on September 22, 2009
Emily Wilson writes at Slate: "History is always a weak argument for social change. The fact that the Greeks recognized a wide variety of same-sex bonds, and the Victorians did not, tells us nothing about what ought to happen in California, or in the rest of the United States for that matter...

Britain Won?t Prosecute Assisted Suicide: Chief Prosecutor

Posted on September 22, 2009
LifeSiteNews: "Under new guidelines to be issued Wednesday, individuals who help others kill themselves will escape prosecution and punishment in Britain as long as prosecutors can discern no motive of personal gain in assisting in the suicide."

Northern Ireland Guidelines Will Establish Abortion on Demand by ?Bureaucratic Stealth?

Posted on September 22, 2009
LifeSiteNews: "Pro-life campaigners in Northern Ireland are perplexed at the reappearance and acceptance of abortion guidelines from the UK government that were rejected by the Northern Ireland Assembly in 2007 for being contrary to the province's unborn child protection laws...

Pro-Life Wisconsin Ad Attacks U. of Wisconsin Late-Term Abortion Plan

Posted on September 22, 2009
LifeSiteNews: "Pro-Life Wisconsin's True to Life media campaign has announced the beginning of a two-week television commercial campaign protesting the Madison Surgery Center's plan to begin performing late-term abortions."

?The Damage Done is Profound?: Former Senator Santorum Speaks on the Kennedy Funeral

Posted on September 22, 2009
LifeSiteNews: During his speech Santorum lamented "what the Church allowed to happen" with the Kennedy funeral, referring to it as a "deification" of Kennedy. "The damage done" to the Church, he said, "is profound." "We have Catholic politicians who have led this country astray, have led generations of Catholics astray," said Santorum.

Funeral Rites Should be Denied to Publicly Pro-Abort Catholics: Vatican Official

Posted on September 22, 2009
LifeSiteNews: "In an address to InsideCatholic.com's 14th Annual Partnership Dinner Friday evening, Archbishop Raymond Burke, Prefect of the Vatican's Apostolic Signatura, said that funeral rites should not be given to pro-abortion Catholic politicians...

Is the government threatening a private insurer over its Medicare reform representations?

Posted on September 22, 2009
Eugene Volokh reports at the Volokh Conspiracy on a letter from Department of Health & Human Services Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to Humana, Inc., a leading health insurance company demanding that it stop making certain claims about efforts to reform medicare and making threats if Human does not comply.

?O?Connor urges W.Va. to stop electing judges?

Posted on September 22, 2009
How Appealing links to numerous reports covering the story.

South Carolina High Court Rules For Break-Away Anglican Parish

Posted on September 22, 2009
Religion Clause Blog: "In All Saints Parish Waccamaw v. The Protestant Episcopal Church in the Diocese of South Carolina, (SC Sup. Ct., Sept. 18, 2009), the court, applying neutral principles of civil law, held that the Parish's property belongs to the break-away group and that the vestry elected by the majority break-away group are the true officers of the Parish...

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