Religion & Law

Lawsuit charges that NIH embryonic stem cell funding policy violates federal law

Posted on August 21, 2009
Catholics News Agency: "A federal lawsuit seeking to overturn the National Institutes of Health (NIH) guidelines for public funding of human embryonic stem cell research was filed on Wednesday . . . The Alliance Defense Fund is serving as co-counsel on the case and is providing financial support...

Court finds separation between church and post office

Posted on August 21, 2009
WTIC 1080: "The Second Circuit Court of Appeals orders the Full Gospel Interdenominational Church in Manchester to put a barrier between its religious items, and a post office counter in the church's Main Street building . . . In a written statement, the Alliance Defense Fund, which represented the church, wrote 'We?re pleased that the 2nd Circuit agreed that the First Amendment does not call for a wholesale religious cleansing of the church?s speech from its own facility...

?Gay activists excluded from Calif. marriage trial?

Posted on August 21, 2009
CitizenLink: "U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker will not allow several national gay activist groups to intervene in the California case challenging the state's marriage amendment . . . Jim Campbell, litigation staff counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund, said ...

British woman with connection to Amnesty International leaves over abortion

Posted on August 21, 2009
Catholic News Agency: "The British woman Fiorella Nash owes the release of her father from prison in Malta in the 1970s to Amnesty International. For Nash, supporting the organization over the years was a given, but recently she decided to suspend her support because of group's pro-abortion agenda...

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Federal court: Abortion ends human life, but not all humans are persons

Posted on August 21, 2009
"[T]he judge struck down a portion requiring doctors to inform women that they are terminating a legally protected relationship with an unborn human being on the basis that the preborn are not 'persons.'"

Lutherans vote to allow ?non-celibate gay clergy?

Posted on August 21, 2009
"The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has just decided to approve same-sex relationships and non-celibate homosexual clergy."

Muslim charity teams up with U.S. Government

Posted on August 21, 2009
Washington Post On Faith blog: "American Charities for Palestine partners with the U.S. government on charitable projects in the Palestinian territories. Last August, the nonprofit signed an agreement with the Agency for International Development (USAID) aimed at expanding private American donor assistance to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza...

Sara Tappen: What women want?

Posted on August 21, 2009
"One of the great mysteries of modern life . . . [is] the increasing inability of women to understand, appreciate, and defend each other."

?Wis. attorney general won?t defend law providing gay, lesbian couples spousal rights?

Posted on August 21, 2009
Los Angeles Times: "Wisconsin's attorney general said Friday he will not defend a new law that grants same-sex couples spousal benefits such as hospital visitation and inheritance, saying lawmakers went against voters' decision not to extend such privileges ...

Alveda King speaks out against abortion

Posted on August 21, 2009
Rocky Mount Telegram: "The thought of the word 'abortion' should be unthinkable, Alveda King said during a community meeting Thursday . . . 'This country was founded upon the respect for personal freedom,' King said, referencing to an open letter drafted to President Barack Obama earlier this week...

Australia: Queensland abortion ban to be rewritten to protect doctors

Posted on August 21, 2009
The Australian: "Queensland will rewrite part of its hotly contested law on abortion to accommodate doctors' concerns that they may be liable to criminal prosecution for performing drug-induced terminations."

Australia: New underage sex reporting law called ?disturbing?

Posted on August 21, 2009
ABC News: "Parliament last night passed amendments to the Care and Protection of Children Act, which up until now has forced all adults to report any suspected cases of children under 16 having sex, even if it is with a consensual partner of the same age ...

Scotland: Bible-defacing gallery to host ?gay police recruitment drive?

Posted on August 21, 2009
The Christian Institute: "Strathclyde Police has rented space in the Gallery of Modern Art to host its gay jobs fair, a month after a gay art exhibition encouraged people to deface a Bible."

Iowa Civil Rights Commission backs same-sex ?marriage? ruling

Posted on August 21, 2009
Des Moines Register: "The Iowa Civil Rights Commission voted unanimously Thursday to formally support the Iowa Supreme Court's decision allowing gay marriage, and to formally oppose any constitutional amendment that would overturn the decision."

South Dakota: Challenges planned for abortion decision

Posted on August 21, 2009
KSFY: "Despite her praise [of the ruling], Kimberly Martinez, executive director of the Alpha Center in Sioux Falls, says her organization isn't completely satisfied and still plans to appeal the rulings as an intervenor with the state. It's a move she's confident in, after four years of back-and-forth challenges ...

Florida: Planned Parenthood to start offering abortions in Naples next month

Posted on August 21, 2009
Naples News: "Planned Parenthood of Collier County will begin offering abortion services Sept. 14 after laying the groundwork for the past year to start the service, according to the chapter president."

Organized religion?s ?management problem?

Posted on August 21, 2009
Gary Hamel writes at his Wall Street Journal Blog: "My hypothesis: the problem with organized religion isn?t that it?s too religious, but that it?s too organized. And second, I believe that the ?church? (in the broadest, ecumenical sense of the word) plays an essential role in constructing the moral foundations of a democratic society ...

?An Odd Silence on Gay Marriage?

Posted on August 20, 2009
Steve Chapman writes at Townhall: "I contacted three serious conservative thinkers who have written extensively about the dangers of allowing gay marriage and asked them to make simple, concrete predictions about measurable social indicators -- marriage rates, divorce, out-of-wedlock births, child poverty, you name it...

Australia: Surrogacy laws may help same-sex couples adopt

Posted on August 20, 2009
The Daily: "Marion is optimistic proposed changes to Queensland law regarding altruistic surrogacy, expected to be introduced in the parliament by the end of the year, will allow both members of same-sex couples to become recognised as legal parents if they choose to have a child...

Christian psychologists: Internet sex addiction a ?global epidemic?

Posted on August 20, 2009
Christian Post: "Two Christian psychologists who have advised a number of churches and community groups on the sex-related problems that plague society have released a book that chronicles the problem of addiction to Internet pornography among Christians, including pastors, and describes problems that this type of addiction can create...

?North Carolina court order may boost same-sex adoption?

Posted on August 20, 2009
News Observer: "A three-judge panel of the state Court of Appeals this week unanimously upheld Sen. Julia Boseman's 2005 adoption of her partner's child, entitling Boseman to joint custody. Boseman, a Wilmington Democrat, adopted the child in Durham because it is one of only two counties in the state where judges have allowed such adoptions...

Pro-life lawsuit filed to stop Obama?s funding embryonic stem cell research

Posted on August 20, 2009
LifeNews: "A pro-life legal group has filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the controversial guidelines the National Institutes of Health used to implement President Barack Obama's decision to force taxpayers to finance embryonic stem cell research . ...

Suit filed against NIH to stop federal funding of destructive embryo research

Posted on August 20, 2009
LifeSiteNews: "A lawsuit filed yesterday in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia seeks to overturn the controversial guidelines for public funding of embryonic stem cell research that the National Institutes of Health issued on July 7, 2009 ...

Groups to file complaints against 16 porn companies

Posted on August 20, 2009
LA Times: "Two foundations will register their concerns with California's workplace safety agency. They allege that failure to require condom use endangers performers' health."

Iowa: Driver Refuses To Operate Bus Carrying Atheist Ad

Posted on August 20, 2009
Religion Clause Blog: "Now that the Des Moines, Iowa Area Regional Transit Authority has finally decided to allow an atheist group to run its ads on twenty local buses (see prior posting), transit officials face a different issue. Bus driver Angela Shiel refuses to drive a bus which carries the ad...

Wall Street Journal: ObamaCare?s Contradictions

Posted on August 20, 2009
Wall Street Journal Editorial: "Voters aren't stupid. The true reason ObamaCare is in trouble isn't because 'folks aren't listening,' but because they are."

Abortion Law Backers Vow Oklahoma Appeal

Posted on August 20, 2009
NY Times: "While advocates of abortion rights celebrated the victory in court, they acknowledged the fight against one of the most sweeping anti-abortion laws in the country was likely to continue for months in the Legislature and before the State Supreme Court...

Harvard Law Review speech code comment ignites FIRE-storm

Posted on August 20, 2009
"Alliance Defense Fund Senior Counsel and former FIRE president David French opines that the comment 'could have been ghost-written by Temple's attorneys.'" (Law Librarian Blog)

Christian man free to share faith in New Haven without fear of arrest

Posted on August 20, 2009
Elm City Beat: "The city of New Haven has agreed to a court order issued Monday that will allow a man to resume expressing his Christian faith on public sidewalks . . . 'Christians shouldn?t be penalized for expressing their beliefs,' said ADF Litigation Staff Counsel Jonathan Scruggs...

Classical school fights to use Bible in curriculum

Posted on August 20, 2009
OneNewsNow: "An Idaho charter school is being threatened by the ACLU over its decision to use the Bible in the school curriculum . . . NAMPA is planning to open in early September, but is facing a court date just before that. David Cortman is with the Alliance Defense Fund, which is representing the school...

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