Religion & Law

Lawsuit filed to keep bells ringing at 3 Valley churches

Posted on September 02, 2009
ABC 15: "Attorneys representing three churches are suing the City of Phoenix claiming that a noise ordinance prohibiting the ringing of their bells is unconstitutional . . . [Erik Stanley said,] 'the city's problematic ordinance is being used to inconsistently single out the peaceful sound of this time-honored expression of worship while allowing exceptions for others...

Kansas: Council to fight free speech suit

Posted on September 02, 2009
Washburn University Review: "A Mulvane woman who claims the city violated her free speech rights at a city council forum will get the opportunity to make her case in federal court . . . Farnsworth contends in her lawsuit that the city censored speakers who opposed a casino project...

UK: IVF kids can now have 2 mums on birth certificate

Posted on September 02, 2009
Christian Institute: "Lesbian couples can now enter both their names on the birth certificate of a child born to one of them through fertility treatment under new rules implemented this week."

Canada: Man knifed outside strip club

Posted on September 02, 2009
Barrie Examiner: "A local man was stabbed in the neck and leg, early yesterday morning, during a fight outside a strip bar in Barrie's west end."

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263 Episcopal Clergy including 20 Bishops Endorse Pansexual Declaration

Posted on September 02, 2009
Virtue Online: "Some 263 Episcopal clergy including 20 Episcopal bishops have signed a declaration on sexual morality, justice and healing. More than 3,500 religious leaders from more than 50 religious traditions have endorsed the Religious Declaration, including clergy; professional religious educators and counselors; denominational and interfaith leaders; and seminary presidents, deans and faculty members...

Colorado: Carbon Co. Adopts Temp Ban On Adult Business

Posted on September 02, 2009
CBS4Denver.com (AP): "The Carbon County Commission has approved a partial moratorium on sexually oriented businesses."

Colombian bishops denounce 8 million dollar ?women?s clinic?

Posted on September 02, 2009
CNA: "The twelve bishops of the ecclesiastical provinces of Medellin and Santa Fe de Antioquia in Colombia issued a statement this week deploring the violence that has claimed the lives of several people in the region and condemning the construction of the 'Women?s Clinic' in Medellin, an $8 million dollar project feminists hope will provide abortions to Colombian women...

Dance Teacher Fired for Using Religious Music in Class Goes to Trial

Posted on September 02, 2009
Pacific Justice Institute: "A dance teacher , who was terminated from her job after a complaint was made that she used religious music in her instruction, is in trial this week. The single complaint which cost the teacher her job came from a school staff member rather than a parent or student...

Conservative Christian Cause Lawyering, Pluralism, and Same Sex Marriage

Posted on September 02, 2009
Hensley, Jonathan, Conservative Christian Cause Lawyering, Pluralism, and Same Sex Marriage (2009). APSA 2009 Toronto Meeting Paper. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1450896 The idea of ?cause lawyering? is usually associated with liberal legal advocacy groups...

California: Human Trafficking Bill Passes Assembly

Posted on September 02, 2009
California Chronicle: "The State Assembly yesterday unanimously approved legislation that would allow courts to seize any property, such as house or automobile, used in the commission of human trafficking. In addition to the courts seizing property, SB 557 would add civil penalties of up to $25,000...

NY high court to consider lesbian co-parenting case

Posted on September 02, 2009
Leonard Link: "The New York Court of Appeals, the state?s highest court, announced on September 1 that it was granting Lambda Legal?s petition for leave to appeal a decision by the Appellate Division in Manhattan, which had ruled that a lesbian co-parent may not seek joint custody or visitation with a child she had been raising with her former same-sex Vermont civil union partner...

UK: Sentenced to death on the NHS

Posted on September 02, 2009
Telegraph: "Patients with terminal illnesses are being made to die prematurely under an NHS scheme to help end their lives, leading doctors warn today."

Rhode Island gov. defends speech at pro marriage event

Posted on September 02, 2009
Boston Herald: "Rhode Island Gov. Don Carcieri on Wednesday defended his decision to speak at a fundraising banquet for a Massachusetts group that considers homosexuality unhealthy and that opposes letting same-sex couples raise children."

Wuerl Ups Opposition To Marriage Redefinition: D.C. Archbishop Mobilizes Priests

Posted on September 02, 2009
Washington Post: "Washington Archbishop Donald W. Wuerl is plunging the Catholic Church deeper into the battle over legalizing same-sex marriage in the District, a tactic that could complicate the D.C. Council's efforts to quickly take up the matter this fall...

3 states still ban religious clothing for teachers

Posted on September 02, 2009
AP: "A law backed by the Ku Klux Klan nearly a century ago to keep Catholics out of public schools is still on the books in Oregon, one of the last states in the nation to prohibit teachers from wearing religious clothing in classrooms. Both Pennsylvania and Nebraska have similar laws ...

Controversial U.K. Mayor Cuts Gay Pride Funding, Pledges End to Political Correctness in Government

Posted on September 02, 2009
LifeSiteNews: "The recently elected mayor of Doncaster, in South Yorkshire, has infuriated Britain's politically powerful homosexualist lobby by attempting to withhold local funding for this year's Gay Pride celebrations."

WA: Poll finds support for same-sex domestic partnerships

Posted on September 02, 2009
The Seattle Times: "The Washington Poll released a report today showing public support for same-sex domestic partnerships has increased substantially over the past three years." Text of the poll results: Public Opinion Regarding Same?sex Domestic Partnerships in Washington

Justice Stevens slows his hiring at high court

Posted on September 02, 2009
Associated Press: "Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens has hired fewer law clerks than usual, generating speculation that the leader of the court's liberals will retire next year."

Ctr. for Security Policy: Rifqa Bary and the Noor Mosque

Posted on September 02, 2009
Center for Security Policy: "The Center for Security Policy-- along with the Florida Security Council and Nonie Darwish, bestselling author of Cruel and Usual Punishment-- hosted a blogger conference call to discuss the latest developments in the plight of 17-year-old Rifqa Bary...

TIME: A Florida Culture-War Circus Over Rifqa Bary

Posted on September 02, 2009
TIME: "But despite the heated rhetoric once again fueling a Florida fracas, it's not at all clear that Rifqa Bary's rights are in danger."

Voters to decide the fate of marriage in Maine

Posted on September 02, 2009
The governor has signed a proclamation that will allow voters to decide the fate of marriage in Maine.

UK: First baby born from new egg-screening technique

Posted on September 02, 2009
Breitbart (AFP): "Baby Oliver was born in Britain to a 41-year-old woman after 13 failed attempts at in vitro fertilisation (IVF). The new technique, called array comparative genomic hybridisation (CGH), makes it possible to ensure eggs have a normal number of chromosomes, boosting the likelihood of a successful pregnancy...

Media Ignoring Conservatives? Return to Dominance of Political Book Market

Posted on September 02, 2009
Newsbusters: "Conservatives are resuming their historically dominant position atop the New York Times and Amazon.com bestsellers lists after a short hiatus that coincided, not coincidentally, with George W. Bush's tenure in the White House."

Washington Secretary of State certifies Referendum 71; Superior Court refuses to block vote

Posted on September 02, 2009
"Secretary of State Sam Reed has certified Referendum 71 to the Nov. 3 statewide ballot in Washington state."

Churches sue city of Phoenix over ordinance prohibiting ringing of church bells

Posted on September 02, 2009
Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a lawsuit in federal court Wednesday against the city of Phoenix on behalf of three churches, claiming that a noise ordinance prohibiting the ringing of their bells is unconstitutional.

How to Become a Law Professor

Posted on September 01, 2009
Legal Blog Watch: "So how do you get one of these jobs? Probably the easiest way is to graduate in the top of your class at a top-tier law school and then clerk for a Supreme Court justice. Of course, first you'll want to work a couple years at a big firm, if only to score one of those clerkship bonuses...

The Mechanics of the Academic Job Market in Law

Posted on September 01, 2009
The U. of Chicago Law School has published this report for would be law professors.

Prelaw Is No Prep for the LSAT

Posted on September 01, 2009
Jonathan Adler reports at the Volokh Conspiracy: "Paul Caron points to an interesting new study looking at the average LSAT performance prospective law students' grouped by major."

Staff Attorney Opening with Institute for Justice Arizona Office

Posted on September 01, 2009
IC Arizona has posted the announcement. Institute for Justice website IJ's Merry Band of Litigators

Archbishop Sheehan Criticizes Condemnation of Notre Dame Scandal as ?Hysterical?

Posted on September 01, 2009
LifeSiteNews: "Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, NM, told the National Catholic Reporter (NCR) last month that he disagreed with what he called the 'hysterical' reaction of U.S. bishops condemning the Notre Dame scandal, as well as bishops who refuse communion to pro-abortion politicians, which he says makes the Catholic Church too 'isolated from society...

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