Religion & Law

WI: ACLU decries Kenosha?s plan to stiffen obscenity law

Posted on August 17, 2009
Kenosha News: "The ACLU of Wisconsin issued a statement on Thursday urging the City Council to reject plans to amend the city?s obscene language ordinance to allow police and firefighters to issue warnings and, if necessary, tickets for profane, vile, filthy or obscene language that is observed by an officer or firefighter while they are in the line of duty...

?ACLU, Tenn. schools settle case over gay-issues Web sites?

Posted on August 17, 2009
First Amendment Center (AP): "A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union against the public school systems in Knoxville and Nashville over access to gay Web sites after a settlement was reached. . . . The ACLU said the two school systems have agreed to stop using filtering software that blocks those sites...

Conservatives Now Outnumber Liberals in All 50 States, Says Gallup Poll

Posted on August 17, 2009
CNSNews: "At the same time, more Americans nationwide are saying this year that they are conservative than have made that claim in any of the last four years." Gallup Analysis

Kansas AG ?retreats? when families threatened

Posted on August 17, 2009
One News Now: "Kansas Attorney General Steve Six is being criticized for not pursuing a lawsuit that was filed against a state law that deals with adult-oriented businesses."

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Federal judge reviews arguments in Prop. 8 case

Posted on August 17, 2009
"For one side . . . Proposition 8 was just the latest example of historical persecution of gays and lesbians based on sexual orientation. The other side says it's not sure sexual orientation even exists."

Maryland: Man Challenges Ban On Fortunetelling

Posted on August 17, 2009
Washington Post: ". . . His fate was already written: Montgomery County says it is illegal to make money from forecasting the future. But Nefedro, who says he is a Gypsy, is determined to change that. He has enlisted the American Civil Liberties Union ...

Cape Cod Town Allows Prayer Station At Beach Parking Lot

Posted on August 17, 2009
Religion Clause Blog: "Today's Cape Cod Times editorializes on a recent 4-0 decision by the Falmouth (MA) Board of Selectmen to allow four local churches to combine to set up a "prayer station" in the parking lot at Old Silver Beach in North Falmouth...

Former Gov. Dean calls public option indispensable

Posted on August 17, 2009
AP: "Former Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean, a leading figure in the liberal wing of his party, said Monday he doubts there can be meaningful health care reform without a direct government role."

Women activists condemn Afghan marriage law

Posted on August 17, 2009
AP: "Women's rights activists alleged Monday that Afghan President Hamid Karzai has used a constitutional loophole to enact a law that allows minority Shiite Muslim husbands to refuse food and money to their wives if they deny them sex."

Kathleen Parker: ?Media gives Obama a free pass on faith-based initiative?

Posted on August 17, 2009
Kathleen Parker writing in the Washington Post: When George W. Bush introduced the concept of a faith-based office . . . you'd have thought Bush was trying to install a caliphate. Indeed, most newspaper stories focused on the blurring of church and state...

Jillian Bandes: Family Planning to Save the Planet?

Posted on August 17, 2009
Jillian Bandes writes at Townhall: "What's the best way to save the planet? Don't have kids, say researchers from Oregon State University. 'Clearly, the potential savings from reduced reproduction are huge compared to the savings that can be achieved by changes in lifestyle,' the report states ...

California: ?Gay marriage supporters tangle over legal strategy?

Posted on August 17, 2009
Mercury News: "The conflict, which until this summer percolated behind the scenes, went very public in recent weeks when the powerhouse group backing the latest lawsuit against Proposition 8 moved to block the direct involvement of gay rights groups that previously led the charge against gay marriage bans in California and other states...

Pamphlet-bearing pro-lifer exonerated by court

Posted on August 17, 2009
OneNewsNow: "Alliance Defense Fund attorney Daniel Blomberg explains that Carrie Kafka's case dealt with the fact that Christians do not get their free-speech rights taken away -- even when the complaint comes from Planned Parenthood. 'Thankfully, in a situation where the city of Overland Park had decided to prosecute my client [Kafka] for simply offering literature to people who are entering a clinic, the court found that charge was completely without a base and dismissed it,' says the attorney...

Student pro-life group, Wayne State University settle lawsuit

Posted on August 17, 2009
MLive.com (LifeNews): "A yearlong lawsuit between Wayne State University and a student right-to-life group has been settled . . . The pro-life students contacted the Alliance Defense Fund, a pro-life group that filed a lawsuit against the school and its student fee policy...

Commissioners must pay fees in Ten Commandments lawsuit

Posted on August 17, 2009
Journal Record: "Haskell County commissioners must pay the attorney fees, costs and expenses of American Civil Liberties Union lawyers in the federal lawsuit over a Ten Commandments monument on the courthouse lawn . . . However, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, which represented the commissioners, has said the U...

Compounding Cowardice at Yale

Posted on August 17, 2009
Candace De Russy writes at the National Review Phi Beta Cons Blog: "Now, as Winfield Myers notes, Yale is refusing to identify the "authorities" behind whose skirts it hid to excuse the suppression of the cartoon . . . "

David French: Professor responds forcefully to ?Office for Inclusion? investigation

Posted on August 17, 2009
David French, Director of the ADF Center for Academic Freedom, writes at the National Review Phi Beta Cons Blog: "Over at Minding the Campus there's an excellent essay by Michigan State professor Frederick Fico. Professor Fico details his ordeal after he had the temerity to serve as faculty sponsor for a group (College Republicans) that co-hosted a speech by the founder of the Minutemen...

Tens of Thousdands of Vietnamese Catholics Rally for Religious Freedom

Posted on August 17, 2009
CWNews: "Hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese Catholics in the Vinh diocese celebrated the feast of the Assumption on August 15 by marching in a rally with banners invoking the protection of the Virgin Mary and demanding the end to government persecutions...

NH committee to work on assisted suicide bill

Posted on August 17, 2009
Boston Globe (AP): "In New Hampshire this year, the House held an assisted suicide bill for further study this fall and a vote in January. Judiciary Committee Chairman David Cote, D-Nashua, said Monday that committee work sessions probably will start next month...

Quebec: Neither practising nor believing, but Catholic even so

Posted on August 17, 2009
Globe and Mail: "The ?baptized pagans' of Quebec, the most secularized society in the Western world, have less and less knowledge of the doctrines of the Roman Catholic Church, but attempts to remove Catholicism's symbolic presence in public places and on the school curriculum are greeted with howls of outrage...

UK: Swimming pool?s dress code for non-Muslims is scrapped

Posted on August 17, 2009
London Evening Standard: "A London council has backtracked on rules forcing swimmers to cover up at a public pool to avoid offending Muslims. Croydon council has removed the guidelines from its website after being criticised for barring non-Muslims if they refused to comply with the dress code...

Iowa: Planned Parenthood opponents vow to drive organization out

Posted on August 17, 2009
ThOnline.com: "Planned Parenthood's opponents vowed to increase efforts to drive the organization from Dubuque."

?Gay-clergy policy divides Lutherans?

Posted on August 17, 2009
Arizona Republic: "Evangelical Lutheran congregations across the Valley are grappling with whether to accept new privileges for homosexual pastors that may become official policy soon for the national church . . . "

Venezuelan legislature passes controversial education bill

Posted on August 17, 2009
Miami Herald: "The bill appears to open up education to political interference by the government. Among other provisions, it enshrines 'Bolivarian doctrine' as the basis of education and gives a major role in education to the so-called 'communal councils,' which are community assemblies mostly dominated by the ruling Unified Socialist Party of Venezuela...

Judges Who Would Be King: The judiciary is on an unprecedented power trip.

Posted on August 14, 2009
Lee A. Casey and David B. Rivkin Jr. writes at Slate: "When a federal judge ordered 17 Chinese Uighurs, detained at Guantanamo Bay, released into the United States last October, he took to its logical conclusion the judiciary's increasingly bold effort to supervise the president and Congress...

Robert P. George: What Marriage Is?And What It Isn?t

Posted on August 14, 2009
Robert P. George writes at First Things: "Everyone agrees that marriage, whatever else it is or does, is a relationship in which persons are united. But what are persons? And how is it possible for two or more of them to unite?"

70% Say Brides Should Take Husband?s Name

Posted on August 14, 2009
WUSA9.com: "About 70% of Americans agree, either somewhat or strongly, that it's beneficial for women to take her husband's last name when they marry, while 29% say it's better for women to keep their own names, finds a study being presented today at the American Sociological Association's annual meeting in San Francisco...

HRC pledges $125,000 in Maine?s fight for marriage equality

Posted on August 14, 2009
Bay Windows: "Marty Rouse, National Field Director for the Human Rights Campaign, delivered a check for $50,000 to Maine?s ?No On 1 - Protect Marriage Equality? campaign August 12, totaling HRC?s current contributions to the campaign at $75,000."

Denver Archbishop: Catholics and the Fourth Estate

Posted on August 14, 2009
Denver Archbishop Chaput: "What we owe Caesar above all is honest, vigorous, public moral witness on abortion and every other vital social issue, whether Caesar likes it or not. Our moral witness needs to be formed not by the nightly news, but by learning and living an authentic Catholic faith...

YouTube: Ronald Reagan speaks against socialized medicine

Posted on August 14, 2009
YouTube: From the 1961 Operation Coffee Cup Campaign against Socialized Medicine as proposed by the Democrats, then a private citizen Ronald Reagan Speaks out against socialized medicine. There is no video because this was an LP sent out by the American Medical Association.

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.