Religion & Law

?New impetus for bill banning anti-gay bias at work?

Posted on August 27, 2009
Associated Press: "Momentum is building for Congress to pass the first major civil rights act protecting gays and transsexuals . . . However, attorney Jim Campbell of the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal group, said ENDA would impose its provisions on more conservative states with more business owners who have religious objections to hiring gays and transsexuals...

Judge orders homeschool into school for being to religious

Posted on August 27, 2009
Dakota Voice: "The Alliance Defense Fund is attempting to dissuade a New Hampshire court from ordering a 10-year old girl from homeschooling into a public school."

Ohio school district lists ?Belief in God? as key value

Posted on August 27, 2009
Examiner.com: "A public school district in Uniontown, Ohio, erred by listing 'belief in God' in its mission statement as a district 'value,' the Freedom From Religion Foundation says. The Foundation sent a letter Aug. 26 to Lake Local School District after one of its Ohio members alerted FFRF, which has about 350 Ohio members and 13,900 nationwide...

Prayer Under Fire in North Texas City

Posted on August 26, 2009
Free Market Foundation Blog: "Recently, the City of North Richland Hills (near Fort Worth) received a letter from the Freedom from Religion Foundation, an organization whose goal is to remove religious expression from the public square."

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Monkeys born from eggs that got DNA transplant

Posted on August 26, 2009
Yahoo News (AP): "An experimental procedure that someday may enable women to avoid passing certain genetic diseases on to their children has gained an early success, with the birth of four healthy monkeys, scientists report . . . "

Chuck Colson on health care and religious freedom: Forced to choose?

Posted on August 26, 2009
Chuck Colson at Break Point: "When will this end? The more serious question is, however, when does the next round of government regulation against religious freedom begin? We?ll see soon enough in the current health care debate . . . Congress, after all, has rejected every attempt to include language to protect the consciences of medical professionals in the health care debate...

Colombian Government Fights to Open Abortionist ?Women?s Clinic? with Millions in Public Money

Posted on August 26, 2009
LifeSiteNews: "The government of Medellin, Colombia, is being inundated with email protests in response to plans to build an abortion center with millions of dollars in public money, according to the Catholic Spanish-language news agency ACI Prensa."

?In the Womb? is Now on the Net: Amazing 4-D Footage of Growing Baby

Posted on August 26, 2009
The two-hour National Geographic documentary 'In the Womb' is now available on YouTube in 9 parts . . . 4-D ultrasounds . . . present stunning images of the developing embryo . . .

California: Privatization of Public Schools

Posted on August 26, 2009
EdNews.org: "The Los Angeles Board of Education voted Tuesday to adopt a controversial resolution that could turn a third of the schools in the nation's second-largest school district over to private operators."

?Maine Marriage Campaign Draws Complaint?

Posted on August 26, 2009
WBZTV.com: "Californians Against Hate founder Fred Karger . . . groups are contributing to the Stand for Marriage campaign without reporting the names of their donors."

Conn. tribes to pay $25M to state for slots use

Posted on August 26, 2009
Boston Globe (AP): "Connecticut officials say two Indian tribes will pay the state $25 million in slot revenues to compensate for promotions that allowed gamblers to use slots for free."

9th Circuit enacts Miranda-like code for computer search and seizure

Posted on August 26, 2009
At The Volokh Conspiracy, Orin Kerr links to the 9th Circuit's decision in United States v. Comprehensive Drug Testing, No. 05-10067 (9th Cir. Aug. 26, 2009) and writes: "The majority opinion, by Judge Alex Kozinski, announces a laundry list of brand-new rules, introduced with no citations to any authority, that henceforth the government must follow when executing warrants for digital information...

White House: Restructure failing schools, close them or restart them.

Posted on August 26, 2009
Atlanta J. Constitution: "From the US DOE: Today, U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan announced draft requirements for $3.5 billion in Title I School Improvement grants to turn around the nation?s lowest performing schools."

ECLJ to United Nations: Urge Pakistani Government to Prosecute Acts of Violence Against Christians

Posted on August 26, 2009
ACLJ: "The European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ) has filed a petition with the United Nations asking the UN to urge Pakistan to prosecute acts of violence against Pakistani Christians after a series of attacks have claimed the lives of scores of Christians ? including the most recent attack this month in Gojra where at least seven Christians were burned to death...

Montana pharmacy board takes no action on birth control issue

Posted on August 26, 2009
Flathead Beacon: "The Montana Board of Pharmacy took no action Wednesday after hearing comment on the issue of pharmacists who refuse to dispense contraceptives because of religious beliefs. Montana currently has no rule or statute that requires pharmacies to stock every drug on the market, and 'we decided to leave it at that,' board President Jim Cloud of Stevensville said...

Sex trafficking, sex slavery, and forced prostitution in Texas

Posted on August 26, 2009
Legal News Examiner: "Five men and one woman were arrested in Texas on Monday and Tuesday in a 16-count indictment alleging conspiracy, sex trafficking of children, and forced prostitution of adults. The arrests mark the single largest domestic sex trafficking case in the history of the Southern District of Texas...

CT: Apple technician finds child porn on man?s computer

Posted on August 26, 2009
Stamford Advocate: "A 36-year-old Fairfield man was arrested Sunday after a technician at the Stamford Town Center Apple store allegedly found child pornography on a computer he brought in for repairs, police said."

Panel recommends Ontario pay for in-vitro treatments, overhaul adoption system

Posted on August 26, 2009
Canadian Press: "The panel's report recommends that the Ontario Health Insurance Plan cover three cycles of expensive in vitro treatments, bringing infertility clinics, which would require accreditation, into the public health system."

Anchorage Assembly not moving to overturn ?gay rights? veto

Posted on August 26, 2009
Anchorage Daily News: "The first opportunity for the Anchorage Assembly to override Mayor Dan Sullivan's veto of an ordinance banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation went by Tuesday night without action."

Central Michigan University: Campus Conservatives RSO status revoked

Posted on August 26, 2009
Central Michigan Life: "Campus Conservatives is unable to meet as a registered student organization because of outstanding debt owed to Central Michigan University, officials from the Office of Student Life said . . . Campus Conservatives member Dennis Lennox II, a Topinabee senior, confirmed the outstanding charges in question are $220 in fees for uniformed police officers acting as security for David Horowitz when the conservative speaker appeared on campus Oct...

Florida: Students sent home for anti-Islam t-shirts

Posted on August 26, 2009
The Gainesville Sun: "More children from the Dove World Outreach Center arrived Tuesday at area public schools with shirts bearing the message 'Islam is of the Devil' and were sent home for violation of the school district's dress code when they declined to change clothes or cover the anti-Muslim statement on their clothing...

GOP Senator Asks Obama To Drop Labor Dept. Pick

Posted on August 26, 2009
Washington Post: "Obama nominated New York State Labor Commissioner M. Patricia Smith in March to the third-ranking job at the Labor Department. If confirmed, she will serve as general counsel to Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis after more than 30 years of work on labor issues...

German high court proclaims same-sex adoption legal

Posted on August 26, 2009
The Local (AFP): "The Federal Constitutional Court decided in favour of a woman in the southern city of Schweinfurt who wanted to adopt the now three-year-old child of her female partner, with the consent of the father and social services. The lower court had argued that such a move would be unconstitutional because it placed the rights of the partner of a parent above those of a biological parent...

Religious groups have wide latitude for property tax breaks

Posted on August 26, 2009
Religion Clause Blog: "Sunday's Rochester (NY) Democrat & Chronicle carries a lengthy investigative report on tax exemptions for local property held for religious use. It says that in 2008, the value of properties exempted from taxes for religious purposes in Monroe Count (NY) was almost $756 million...

U.S. Education Secretary Dodges Question on Whether Martin Luther King?s Views on God?s Law Should Be Taught in Public School

Posted on August 26, 2009
CNSNews: "In his famous 'Letter from Birmingham Jail,' King expressed his classical belief, based on the teachings of St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas as well as the Founding Fathers, that a just law is a law that comports with the law of God and an unjust law is a law that does not comport with the law of God...

Michigan: Suit Will Charge Judge With Improperly Requiring Removal of Hijab

Posted on August 26, 2009
Religion Clause Blog: "The Detroit News reports that the Michigan chapter of CAIR today will file suit against Wayne County Circuit Judge J. William Callahan."

Utah: Salt Lake nondiscrimination effort under fire from state legislature

Posted on August 26, 2009
Salt Lake Tribune: "For more than a year, Salt Lake City leaders have cataloged cases of discrimination against gay and transgender residents who lost their jobs or their homes -- simply because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. But if the city passes an anti-discrimination ordinance to outlaw such prejudice, state lawmakers are signaling they may shred it when the Legislature convenes in five months...

Inspired by Saul Alinsky, FCC ?Diversity? Chief Calls for ?Confrontational Movement? to Give Public Broadcasting Dominant Role in Communications

Posted on August 26, 2009
CNSNews: "Mark Lloyd, chief diversity officer of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), called for a 'confrontational movement' to combat what he claimed was control of the media by international corporations and to re-establish the regulatory power of government through robust public broadcasting and a more powerful FCC...

Obama?s FCC to enforce ?net neutrality?

Posted on August 26, 2009
The Hill: "The Obama administration?s Federal Communications Commission (FCC) plans to keep the Internet free of increased user fees based on heavy Web traffic and slow downloads. Julius Genachowski, the FCC chairman, told The Hill that his agency will support ?net neutrality? and go after anyone who violates its tenets...

Planned Parenthood submits correction plan following South Dakota ruling

Posted on August 26, 2009
KXMB.com: "Days after a judge ruled on a 2005 informed consent abortion law, Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota has submitted a plan on how it will comply at its Sioux Falls clinic."

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