Religion & Law

Group asks court to reconsider removing girl from home school

Posted on September 01, 2009
FOX News: "The Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based organization that seeks to preserve religious liberty and the sanctity of marriage, has asked a family court judge to reconsider her July 14 decision to send the girl, identified in court documents as 'Amanda,' to a public school in Meredith, N...

Religious freedom bill an attack against Christians, Spanish bishop warns

Posted on September 01, 2009
Catholic News Agency: "Bishop Adolfo Gonzalez of Almeria has criticized the Spanish government?s proposal to reform the country?s laws on religious freedom, saying it would be an attack on Christians under the pretext of 'democracy.'"

Dale Schowengerdt on Reality Check: Silencing the church bells

Posted on September 01, 2009
ADF attorney Dale Schowengerdt appeared on Reality Check with Mike and Claire Monokian to discuss efforts to silence the Church Bells at the Cathedral of Christ the King Church in Phoenix, Arizona. The mp3 is available here and runs just over 11 minutes.

Christian group challenges homeschool ruling

Posted on September 01, 2009
CBN News: "The Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal group, is challenging a New Hampshire court's decision to remove a girl out of homeschooling . . . 'The New Hampshire Supreme Court itself has specifically declared, Home education is an enduring American tradition and right,' said ADF Senior Legal Counsel Mike Johnson...

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Ill. pro-life advocates want parental notification on abortion enforced now

Posted on September 01, 2009
LifeNews: "A pro-life legal group has filed a challenge against state officials in Illinois who have put off for 90 days a federal court order to began enforcing the state's parental notification law on abortion. The law would allow parents to know when their teen daughters are requesting an abortion...

Father of Terri Schiavo dies

Posted on September 01, 2009
Baptist Press: "Robert S. Schindler Sr., who was at the center of a legal battle to save the life of his brain-injured daughter Terri Schindler Schiavo, died Aug. 29 in St. Petersburg, Fla., from heart failure."

Egypt Muslim Council: Building of Churches is ?Sin? Against God

Posted on September 01, 2009
Christian Post: "Egyptian Muslim leaders are caught in a storm of controversy after a human rights group confronted them about a fatwa (Islamic edict) that stated the building of a church is 'a sin against God.'"

Men Arrested in Cambodia Are the First Prosecuted Under Trafficking Initiative

Posted on September 01, 2009
Washington Post: "Three Americans accused of traveling to Cambodia to have sex with children are expected to be charged in federal court here, officials said Monday, marking the first prosecutions under a new international initiative intended to combat child-sex tourism...

NC: Education proposal promotes contraception, homosexual behavior

Posted on September 01, 2009
North Carolina Family Policy Council: "This week the State Board of Education will consider a $188,000 contract with Appalachian State University to promote contraceptive sex education and pro-homosexuality activities and training for North Carolina teachers and parents...

Washington: Judge expected to rule in R-71 case on Wed.

Posted on September 01, 2009
The Washington Secretary of State reports: "Arguments by supporters of the new law centered around the acceptance of over 35,000 signatures without a full declaration on the petitions signed by the signature-gatherer, and whether it is valid to accept signatures of people who signed up to become voters at the same time they signed petitions...

In Texas, another child loses a ?nonbio mom?

Posted on September 01, 2009
The Beyond (Straight and Gay) Marriage Blog carries this discussion of a Texas ruling that dismisses a lesbian's claims regarding her former partner's child. In the Interest of M.K.S.-V., No. 080586F (Aug. 11, 2009)

Richard Land: ?Mothers have no relationship with their unborn child??

Posted on September 01, 2009
Richard Land writes at the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission: "I am pleased that the 8th Circuit Court decision said it must be disclosed to mothers 'that the abortion will terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being,' but I am perplexed how the same judges can assert that, in accordance with a lower court ruling, the baby does not have to be informed that their unborn child is 'related' to her...

Maine gets new supreme court judge

Posted on September 01, 2009
Boston Globe (AP): "Gov. John Baldacci on Tuesday swore in Joseph Jabar of Waterville, who previously served on the Superior Court bench."

Lawsuit filed after Idaho commission bans all religious texts from curriculum

Posted on September 01, 2009
Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed a lawsuit Tuesday against the Idaho Public Charter School Commission on behalf of Nampa Classical Academy, which was threatened with the revocation of its charter if it utilizes the Bible or any other religious documents or text as part of its curriculum resources.

Model State Charter School Law Unveiled

Posted on September 01, 2009
Education Week: "The nation?s leading charter school organization has unveiled a proposal aimed at overhauling the wide range of state laws that govern the publicly funded schools, as well as establishing charter laws in the 10 states that don?t yet allow the schools to operate...

?The federalism trap in same-sex marriage litigation?

Posted on September 01, 2009
Professor Michael Dorf: "Massachusetts, which has also sued, could win on state sovereignty grounds. Hoping to duck the direct issue of same-sex marriage, the Court could hold that Congress has no business defining marriage because the law of domestic relations is within the reserved powers of the states...

6th Circuit rules in Ky. Baptist Homes for Children: Employment discrimination dismissed, but lesbian Establishment claims survive

Posted on August 31, 2009
Proponents of homosexual behavior and the ACLU attempt to prevent faith based funding of KBH . . .

Saudi lawyer seeks apology over Danish Mohammed row

Posted on August 31, 2009
Asia One News (AFP): "A Saudi lawyer has demanded a public apology from a number of Danish dailies that reprinted a controversial cartoon of Prophet Mohammed in February 2008, Danish media reported on Sunday."

FCC ?Safe Viewing? report to call for more data

Posted on August 31, 2009
Broadcasting & Media: "The FCC's report to Congress on the state of media-screening technologies, due by the end of this month, comes to two broad conclusions, but does not suggest any action items beyond opening an inquiry prompted by its survey of the current content-control landscape for a variety of media...

CA: Lodi atheists challenge City Council prayers

Posted on August 31, 2009
Sacramento Bee: "Diskin and others have formed Lodi United, a group of religious and nonreligious who will meet Wednesday in response to the debate over prayer at the town's City Council meetings . . . The council will discuss the invocations for the first time at its Sept...

??Important Questions of Federal Law?: Assessing the Supreme Court?s Case Selection Process.?

Posted on August 31, 2009
How Appealing posts about this upcoming event at the National Press Club in Washington D.C. on September 18th

ADF allied attorney John Anthony Simmons on Lifeline: NH Homeschooler ordered to public school

Posted on August 31, 2009
ADF allied attorney John Anthony Simmons appeared on Lifeline (KFAX) with Crag Roberts to discuss the case of a home-schooled girl who was ordered to public school to diversify her exposure to other faiths. The MP3 runs just over eight minutes. Related ADF media information page: NH court orders home-schooled child into government-run school

Book Review: ?The Making of Amercians? by E.D. Hirsch, Jr.

Posted on August 31, 2009
Jay Mathews writes at Ed News: "It's not easy being E. D. Hirsch, Jr. If the inventive 81-year-old had been a business leader or politician or even a school superintendent, his fight to give U.S. children rich lessons in their shared history and culture would have made him a hero among his peers...

Watson Pharmaceuticals gets FDA approval for over-the-counter emergency contraceptive

Posted on August 31, 2009
Minneapolis Star-Tribunea: "Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. said Friday it received Food and Drug Administration approval for its over-the-counter version of the emergency contraceptive Plan B, which is made by Barr Pharmaceuticals unit Duramed."

Ohio: Group Challenges Toledo City Council Invocations

Posted on August 31, 2009
Religion Clause Blog: "Continuing its efforts around the country to challenge invocations offered to open city council meetings, the Freedom from Religion Foundation announced yesterday that it had written to the mayor of Toledo, Ohio and the City Council president objecting to sectarian prayers that have been offered by clergy at Council meetings...

Minnesota Investigating Use Of Lease Aid Funds By Charter School

Posted on August 31, 2009
Religion Clause Blog: "Yesterday's Minneapolis Star Tribune reports that, in its latest encounter with the Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy, the Minnesota Department of Education is investigating whether the charter school improperly used state funds to subsidize mosques on its two campuses...

What?s Wrong With ?Hillary: The Movie?? ? Pornographers have more freedom today than those who want to engage in political speech.

Posted on August 31, 2009
Hans A. von Spakovsky writes at the Wall Street Journal: "Criticizing a candidate for public office can get you into a great deal of trouble in America these days. Just ask Citizens United, a conservative nonprofit that a D.C. district court ruled in violation of the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance law when it produced a critical, 90-minute documentary about Hillary Clinton during last year's presidential campaign...

Janice Shaw Crouse: A Report on the U.N.?s Shocking Sexuality Guidelines

Posted on August 31, 2009
Janice Shaw Crouse writes at Townhall: ". . . in the view of the United Nations, sexuality education is the responsibility of 'education and health authorities' not parents . . . Excluding parents from the process keeps them from being aware of how frequently 'sexuality education' indoctrinates against traditional values, especially 'discrimination based on sexual orientation...

Church, Post Office are package deal in Manchester, Conn.

Posted on August 31, 2009
Connecticut Law Tribune: "On Aug. 20, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals unanimously ruled that U.S. District Judge Dominick Squatrito?s injunction against all religious paraphernalia went too far. It ordered the removal of the collection jar and prayer literature from the postal counter, with further instructions that the district court divide the church and post office areas of the room ...

Message to anti-prayer group: Don?t cross LaCrosse

Posted on August 31, 2009
OneNewsNow: One of the latest cities to be challenged [on public meeting prayer policy] is La Crosse, Wisconsin -- a community that took applicable legal advice offered by ADF . . . 'Thankfully they've done what so many cities have done already,' says [Mike] Johnson, 'and that is, they have adopted a model invocations policy that we drafted at the Alliance Defense Fund to protect this [practice] -- and they've told the Freedom From Religion Foundation they're going to stand for this practice...

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