Religion & Law

UK: Christian hotel owners hauled before court after defending beliefs in discussion with Muslim guests

Posted on September 21, 2009
"A Christian couple have been charged with a criminal offence after taking part in what they regarded as a reasonable discussion about religion with guests at their hotel."

HLS Clerkships Fall Short in Ranking

Posted on September 21, 2009
Harvard Crimson: "A recently released U.S. News & World Report ranking of U.S. law schools placed Yale ahead of Stanford and Harvard based on the percentage of 2007 graduates from each school who received employment as judicial clerks."

The New Abolitionists ? sex trafficking worldwide

Posted on September 21, 2009
OneNewsNow: "According to World Vision, estimates of worldwide trafficking range from 12 million to 30 million. The numbers grow everyday. It is widely accepted by all who study human trafficking that there are more slaves today than there were during the three centuries of TransAtlantic slave trade combined...

UK: ?Campaigners win the fight to legalise assisted suicide?

Posted on September 21, 2009
Times Online: "Helping terminally ill and incurably disabled patients to commit suicide is set to be decriminalised in Britain under guidance to be issued this week."

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Family Diversity and Political Freedom: How Can People With Different Approaches to Family Life Live Together in Free Societies?

Posted on September 21, 2009
Family Diversity and Political Freedom: How Can People With Different Approaches to Family Life Live Together in Free Societies? World Congress of Families, Patrick Fagan, Ph.D., 8.12.2009 "The 'monogamous' and the 'polyamorous' cultures have totally different approaches to life, with religious worship and monogamous marriage being the defining differences in their different approaches to the sexual act...

NY: ?Bloomberg puts gay marriage chances this year at ?zero, zero??

Posted on September 21, 2009
Gay City News: "Even as he put the chances of moving a gay marriage bill in Albany this fall at 'zero, zero,' Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg argued that he has the political clout to win support from key New York Republican state senators, including two from the city who are vociferous in their opposition ...

Congress, Obama team up to kill marriage protections

Posted on September 21, 2009
WorldNetDaily: "Nearly 100 members of the U.S. House are working in lockstep with the Obama administration to try to eliminate protections for traditional marriage . . . 'Marriage is not just any two people in a committed relationship. There's more to a marriage than that...

Judge says she knows what?s best for homeschooled Christians

Posted on September 21, 2009
American Free Press: "A girl has been forced to attend public school by a judge who was concerned that she was a Christian who needed exposure to 'world views' . . . 'What if this were Muslims who don?t want their children exposed to infidel thoughts'? [Douglas Napier] asked...

Judge slams Kansas town for censoring citizen

Posted on September 21, 2009
WorldNetDaily: "A federal judge has ruled that town officials holding a public meeting to talk about a massive casino project proposed for their area cannot ban statements about the 'social ills' of gambling if they allow discussion of the industry's benefits ...

Statement by the President on the Occasion of Eid-Ul-Fitr

Posted on September 21, 2009
White House: THE WHITE HOUSE Office of the Press Secretary ___________________________________________________________________________ For Immediate Release September 19, 2009 STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT ON THE OCCASION OF EID-UL-FITR As Muslims in the United States and around the world complete the month of Ramadan and celebrate Eid-ul-Fitr, Michelle and I would like to extend our personal greetings on this joyous occasion...

Christian nurse under fire over wearing cross to meet hospital officials

Posted on September 21, 2009
Telegraph: "Shirley Chaplin has been taken off the wards at The Royal Devon and Exeter NHS Trust Hospital after refusing to remove her necklace . . . Mrs Chaplin, 54, from Exeter, has sought help from the Christian Legal Centre (CLC) which is supporting her legal battle...

Settlement Reached In Lawsuit Challenging FaithGuard Homeowners? Insurance

Posted on September 21, 2009
Religion Clause Blog: "The endorsement offered special benefits and discounts only to churchgoers and 'people of faith,' a practice which the Department of Housing and Urban Development claimed violated the Fair Housing Act." DOJ press release: Justice Department Settles Allegations of Religion Discrimination Against Guideone Mutual Insurance Co.

FLDS member files lawsuit over loss of police certification

Posted on September 21, 2009
Salt Lake Tribune: "A man who lost his job in a polygamous community alleges Arizona officials trampled his civil rights and defamed him when they revoked his police certification. Preston Barlow, a member of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, filed the lawsuit Friday against Arizona Attorney General Terry Goddard, two special investigators and the state's police certification board...

Boehner Says Democrat Health Care Plan Is Dead

Posted on September 21, 2009
CNSNews: "House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Sunday that the health-care plan that President Barack Obama is pushing in Congress is now dead and will not pass.'

Florida: Group questions why commission needs invocation

Posted on September 21, 2009
Gainesville.com: "Alachua County commissioners got numerous complaints from residents about letting a pastor from Dove World Outreach Center, which has anti-Muslim signs on its property, give the invocation at the Commission's Sept. 8 meeting. But one organization questioned why the commission even has an invocation...

More of the World?s Talented Opt to Leave United States

Posted on September 21, 2009
NCPA Policy Digest: "More skilled immigrants are giving up their American dreams to pursue careers back home, raising concerns that the United States may lose its competitive edge in science, technology, and other fields, says USA Today."

D.C. Circuit considers propriety of 15 year child pornography sentence

Posted on September 21, 2009
The Blog of Legal Times: "Dyer also argued Love did not distribute that material with the intent to entice any minor to engage in a prohibited sex act. There was no connection between Love?s sending images to the undercover detective and Love?s desire to have sex with a minor, Dyer said ...

Mom to give up IVF baby after docs gave her the ?wrong embryo?

Posted on September 21, 2009
"A pregnant woman has spoken of her pain at having to give up the IVF baby with which she had been mistakenly impregnated."

Maine Sun Journal: ?Marriage is not school?s responsibility?

Posted on September 21, 2009
Maine Sun Journal editorial: "Will same-sex marriage be taught in schools, if it becomes legal in Maine? No ? nothing in law, or curriculum, mandates any Maine student be taught about marriage, same-sex or otherwise. Should same-sex marriage be taught? Again, the answer is no...

?Korn/Ferry faces gay bias suit?

Posted on September 21, 2009
Wall Street Journal: "A former senior client partner for Korn/Ferry International Inc. is suing the executive-search and consulting firm for allegedly firing her because she is gay. The lawsuit, filed in March by Marti Smye in Los Angeles County Superior Court, claims that Korn/Ferry breached her employment contract by dismissing her last year and not paying her nearly $4 million she earned in bonuses...

Ind. court turns down same-sex divorce request

Posted on September 21, 2009
Chicago Tribune: "An Indiana judge has turned down a divorce request from two women married in Canada, ruling that state law doesn't give courts the authority to dissolve same-sex marriages."

?Census: 150,000 gay couples report they?re married?

Posted on September 21, 2009
CBS47.tv: "About 27 percent of the estimated 564,743 total gay couples in the United States said they were in a relationship akin to 'husband' and 'wife,' according to the Census Bureau tally provided to The Associated Press."

ABC?s new ?family comedy? features same-sex, adopting couple

Posted on September 21, 2009
Los Angeles Times: "'Modern Family' is an ensemble show set in three different households . . . There's a gay couple, Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) and Cameron (Eric Stonestreet), who have just adopted a baby daughter from Vietnam . . . [the show] treats the gay couple in its domestic triptych as purely matter-of-fact...

PA: Drugs, Weapons Confiscated At Altoona Strip Club

Posted on September 21, 2009
WJACTV.com: "Altoona police said they confiscated a half pound of marijuana and assault rifles form an Altoona strip club over the weekend."

?Tennessee Appeals Court Unanimously Upholds Rights Of Lesbian Mom?

Posted on September 21, 2009
ACLU: "A three-judge panel of the Tennessee Court of Appeals has unanimously ordered a trial court to reconsider a ban preventing a divorced mom from having her partner of 10 years and her own children stay overnight at her home at the same time." Chandler v...

Fired Ave Maria Law Prof Gets Tenure in Whistle-Blower Settlement, Lawyer Says

Posted on September 21, 2009
ABA Journal: "A much-watched whistle-blower lawsuit by three former faculty members at Ave Maria School of Law is now concluded without ever having the central legal issue publicly addressed."

Abortion-rights forces vexed by health care debate

Posted on September 21, 2009
AP: "For some abortion-rights activists, the debate over health care reform has been frustrating, even disheartening, as they see their political allies on the defensive and their anti-abortion rivals on the attack."

Fed Rejects Geithner Request for Study of Governance, Structure

Posted on September 21, 2009
Bloomberg: "The Federal Reserve Board has rejected a request by U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner for a public review of the central bank?s structure and governance, three people familiar with the matter said."

Stopping Big Biotech?s Brave New World Agenda: Lawsuit to Prevent Patenting of Genes

Posted on September 18, 2009
Wesley Smith writing at First Things: "This is a cause that the social right and the political left, liberals and conservatives, and everyone in between can agree upon: Don?t permit human genes to be patented. Genes are not human inventions. Hence, they should not be subject to patent protection (as opposed, say, the method of identifying genes)...

Phillipines: Catholic schools seek women?s law exemption

Posted on September 18, 2009
Phillipine Daily Inquirer: "Insisting on their religious and academic freedoms, Catholic educational institutions are seeking exemption from a provision in the new Magna Carta of Women banning the dismissal of unwed mothers from employment or school."

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