Religion & Law

Protestant church destroyed by police in Shanxi. Dozens of faithful wounded

Posted on September 18, 2009
AsiaNews.it: "Night-time raid by 400 police and bulldozers. Hospital doctors are forbidden to treat the wounded. The campaign for the removal of underground Protestant communities. Video of the destruction."

Arizona parents sue over kids? bath pictures

Posted on September 18, 2009
"An Arizona couple accused of sexual abuse after taking bath-time photos of their children and then trying to have them developed at Walmart are suing the state and the retail giant."

Arizona Moves to Oppose Obama?s Expected Health Care Mandates

Posted on September 18, 2009
CNSNews: "Only the Arizona Legislature introduced an initiative (HCR2014), which if passed, would amend the state constitution to codify that no resident would be required to participate in any public health care option. Arizonans will vote on the initiative in November 2010...

NYT: ?Primary Results Show Progress for Gay Candidates?

Posted on September 18, 2009
NY Times: "With four gay and lesbian Democrats poised to take seats, the new makeup of the 51-person body for the first time appears likely to reflect the percentage of people in the city who identify as gay or lesbian, said Patrick J. Egan, who teaches politics and public policy at New York University...

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A Tampa first: Mayor names lesbian as first female police chief

Posted on September 18, 2009
St. Petersburg Times: "Jane Castor was a 24-year-old police recruit when she got her first law enforcement honor. Her peers elected her president of their police academy class, making her the first woman at the Tampa Police Department to achieve the title ...

Poll: 77% of OK highschoolers can?t name the first president

Posted on September 18, 2009
AFA Action: "In a study commissioned by the Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs, high school students were asked questions about basic U.S. history and about the structure of our government . . . "

Congressman ?Intrigued? by Idea that Congress Could Weigh in on Homosexual ?Marriage? in D.C.

Posted on September 18, 2009
CNSNews: "When CNSNews.com asked whether members of Congress should weigh in on the homosexual marriage issue with legislation legalizing gay marriage, since it?s 'Congress? responsibility' to regulate D.C. affairs, Rep. Eric Massa (D-N.Y.) said he was intrigued by the idea...

Catholic law school staff and faculty reaffirm support for ?LGBT? cause and offer no defense of marriage

Posted on September 18, 2009
No defense of marriage is offered by the faculty or staff which lends further credibility to concerns raised by Richard F. Collier, Jr. in yesterday's ADF Alliance Alert.

The undoing of American Constitutionalism

Posted on September 18, 2009
Richard M. Reinsch reviews Bradley Watson?s Living Constitution, Dying Faith: Progressivism and the New Science of Jurisprudence at National Review Online: "The social-Darwinist ingredient in progressive jurisprudence is the notion of the state as an organic principle, informed by the general will of society and by the particular facts, circumstances, and history of a people...

Can Bill Foster?s creation beliefs evolve into valid issue in St. Petersburg mayoral race?

Posted on September 18, 2009
"St. Petersburg mayoral candidate Bill Foster believes, contrary to the overwhelming majority of scientists, that dinosaurs and humans co-existed . . . Is that relevant to the campaign for mayor of Florida's fourth-largest city?"

Clarke Forsythe: Pro-lifers must be realistic about how, when Roe can be reversed

Posted on September 18, 2009
Basing state personhood amendments on extrapolations of Blackmun's language in Roe is futile. This does not mean that establishing some form of legal personhood in the states is not a worthy goal."

?Political Ignorance and Jewish Perceptions of Conservatives and the Religious Right?

Posted on September 18, 2009
Illya Somin writes at the Volokh Conspiracy: "In a recent post, co-blogger David Bernstein rightly chides for omitting political ignorance from my post on Jewish perceptions of the religious right. David suggests that Jews may overestimate the prevalence of anti-Semitism among Christian conservatives, and that this may account for part of their distaste for them ...

India: ?Gov?t silent on gay issue, asks Supreme Court to decide?

Posted on September 18, 2009
Christian Today: "Fearing severe backlash from religious-right conservatives, the government has decided to avoid consenting on the decriminalization of gay sex by the Delhi High Court. On Thursday, following a union cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, it was decided that the government would remain mum on the gay issue, leaving the Supreme Court to decide for itself the final verdict...

ACLU questions Gate City High about prayer before football game

Posted on September 18, 2009
TimesNews.net: "A prayer delivered prior to a high school football game last week resulted in Gate City High School receiving a letter Tuesday from the Virginia chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union."

D.C. Circuit Voids Campaign Finance Regs

Posted on September 18, 2009
Jonathan Adler writes at the Volokh Conspiracy: "It may be a little while before we see what the U.S. Supreme Court will do to campaign finance law in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission. In the meantime, lower court challenges to various FEC rules continue apace...

N.Y. Federal Judge Confirmed for 2nd Circuit

Posted on September 18, 2009
Law.com (AP): "The Senate on Thursday confirmed Gerard Lynch . . . The 94-3 vote means that Democratic nominees now hold four of 10 currently filled seats on the appellate court that serves New York, Connecticut and Vermont. The court has three vacancies, giving President Barack Obama the opportunity to give the circuit a Democratic tilt...

Obama orders $25M in Grants to Examine Changes to Medical Liability

Posted on September 18, 2009
National Law Journal: "President Barack Obama ordered on Thursday that $25 million be made available in grants to examine alternatives to the current medical liability system. The order comes in a two-page memorandum (pdf) to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius...

Mass. Senate delays debate on ?Kennedy interim bill?

Posted on September 18, 2009
AP: "Republicans, who hold just five of 40 seats in the state Senate, objected to the bill being taken up Friday, without formal notice. Under Senate rules, the objection means the bill can't be debated until the next formal session."

Anonymous Donors And What To Do About Them

Posted on September 18, 2009
Julie Shapiro: "I do not believe gamete donors are or should be seen as parents."

UK: Home-schooling must be brought under Government control, says a Government-backed report

Posted on September 18, 2009
Christian Concern for our Nation: "An independent report, commissioned by the Government and published this year, recommends that home-schooling must come closer to the Government control. It says that home educators should be made to register with their local authorities annually, set out in writing their plans for educating the child for the next year and have regular home inspections to monitor children?s educational progress ...

UK: Ban any reference to God and Christianity to avoid ?offending religious sensibilities,? says Camden Council

Posted on September 18, 2009
Christian Concern for our Nation: "A London borough is to reconsider a ban on posters by a church advertising a weekend of events on climate change, unless they remove words such as 'God' and 'Christian' from the text in order to avoid 'offending religious sensibilities'...

School Officials Cleared of Criminal Contempt Charges in Case Involving Prayer!

Posted on September 18, 2009
Liberty Counsel: "Today Liberty Counsel successfully cleared Pace High School Principal Frank Lay and Athletic Director Robert Freeman of criminal contempt charges that arose out of a simple blessing of a meal. The ruling came at the end of an all-day hearing in a Pensacola, Florida federal court...

Lawmakers back officials facing jail for prayer

Posted on September 18, 2009
Washington Times: "Two Florida school officials facing possible jail terms for praying in the presence of students arrive in court Thursday enjoying the support of more than 60 members of Congress."

EU Directive Action Pack?Act to Stop the Silencing of Christians across Europe

Posted on September 18, 2009
Christian Concern for our Nation: "The proposed EU Equal Treatment Directive has the potential to be used as an instrument of cultural genocide. Its provisions are likely to restrict Christian freedoms to the extent that, in certain cases, we would be silenced and prevented from providing goods or services to the public without violating our consciences, particularly if required to promote other religions or the practice of homosexuality...

Indiana Appeals court strikes down ?tough? voter ID law

Posted on September 18, 2009
AP: "The state Court of Appeals on Thursday struck down an Indiana law requiring government-issued photo identification for voters, overturning on state constitutional grounds a strict law previously upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court." League of Women Voters v...

Janice Shaw Crouse: Do Female Pimps Do It Better?

Posted on September 18, 2009
Janice Shaw Crouse writes at Townhall: "There?s been a quiet change going on in the sex slavery business. According to the United Nations, there are now more female traffickers than male."

Muslim groups try to ease fears with accreditation

Posted on September 18, 2009
AP: "But Nashashibi also credits the influx of online donations to his organization becoming one of the nation's first to be accredited by the Better Business Bureau's newest charity wing tailored for Islamic nonprofits."

?Is secularism saving marriage??

Posted on September 18, 2009
Oliver Thomas writes at USA Today: "Religion may put the ?holy? in matrimony, but secular society may be applying the glue that keeps more couples together." "Oliver Thomas is a member of USA TODAY's board of contributors and author of 10 Things Your Minister Wants to Tell You (But Can't Because He Needs the Job)...

Iowa Supreme Court upholds sexting conviction

Posted on September 18, 2009
The Iowa Supreme Court on Friday upheld the case against a man convicted of knowingly disseminating obscene material to a minor in what's known as sexting -- sending nude photos via text messaging."

Mass. House approves ?Sen. Kennedy succession bill?

Posted on September 18, 2009
AP: "A bill allowing Gov. Deval Patrick to name an interim appointment to the Senate seat left vacant by the death of Edward Kennedy is headed to the Massachusetts Senate, where its fate is uncertain."

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