Religion & Law

Catholic Bishops, Congressman: Allow Vote to Cut Abortion Funding From Bill

Posted on August 14, 2009
LifeNews: "A leading pro-life congressman and the nation's Catholic bishops are asking House Democratic leaders to allow a vote on an amendment that would cut the taxpayer-funding of abortions found in one of the three House health care bills that will be voted on after the Congressional recess...

Obama Wrongly Says Senator Backs Pro-Euthanasia Provisions in Health Care

Posted on August 14, 2009
LifeNews: "President Barack Obama mentioned the name of a Georgia senator during his defense of the health care bills in a New Hampshire town hall on Tuesday. But, Sen. Johnny Isakson doesn't appreciate Obama erroneously using him to justify problematic provisions in the House version of the bill...

UN Health Data Show Liberal Abortion Laws Lead to Greater Maternal Death

Posted on August 14, 2009
LifeSiteNews: "The world's largest abortion provider, International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), has recently acknowledged an alarming "surge" in maternal deaths in South Africa, challenging the pro-abortion mantra that liberal abortion laws decrease maternal mortality...

Study Finds Injectable Contraceptive Leads To Obesity

Posted on August 14, 2009
LifeSiteNews: "A study by Drs. Abbey B. Berenson and Mahbubur Rahman of The University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, has found women who use the injectable hormonal contraceptive DMPA (depot medroxyprogesterone acetate) experience a significant increase in body weight and fat, and the obesity may persist even after stopping DMPA use...

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David Cortman on Reality Check: The Bible in an Idaho Charter School

Posted on August 14, 2009
ADF attorney David Cortman appeared on Reality Check with Mike and Claire Monokian to discuss efforts by some to ban the Bible as an education resource in an Idaho charter school. The MP3 runs just over 7 minutes. ADFMedia.org: ADF to Idaho Public Charter School Commission: Bible is not a banned book

Kyrgyzstan: ?Don?t meet for worship?

Posted on August 14, 2009
Forum 18: "Kyrgyzstan is continuing a crackdown on people exercising their freedom of religion or belief, Forum 18 News Service has found. Communities of Protestant Christians, Hare Krishna devotees and Ahmadiya Muslims have all been ordered by the authorities to stop meeting for worship, in some cases the orders having been originally issued in 2007...

Bill Clinton: DADT is the fault of the ?gays,? DOMA was necessary to stop Fed. Constitutional Marriage Amend.

Posted on August 14, 2009
Jennifer Vanasco writes at 365Gay.com: "'I hated what happened,' Clinton said about DADT . . . But he said that gays and lesbians didn?t deliver the Congressional support his administration needed to allow gays and lesbians to openly serve. . . . As for DOMA, Clinton said it was necessary to head off the possibility of Congress passing a Constitutional Amendment to ban gay marriage...

If parents could choose, the bureaucrats would lose

Posted on August 14, 2009
Jim Waters writes at the Bluegrass Institute: "A new survey debunks the myth that only right-wingers and rich folks favor giving Kentucky parents a choice when it comes to where their children attend school."

Washington Update: R-71 on pace to make the ballot in November!

Posted on August 14, 2009
"State election crews say they've now check[ed] more than 50,000 Referendum 71 signatures. The new totals show 45,099 accepted and 5,394 rejected - a rejection rate of 10.68 percent."

Italian Court Bars School Favoritism For Courses In Catholicism

Posted on August 14, 2009
Religion Clause Blog: "In Italy, an Administrative Tribunal in the district of Lazio (which includes Rome) has ruled that schools may no longer give credit for students who study Catholicism during public school 'religion hours,'since schools deny academic credit to students who study other religions...

EEOC and Belmont Abbey: ?Look who?s discriminating now?

Posted on August 14, 2009
"Increasingly it is clear to Catholics and other religious groups that without very clear exemptions for religious employers?and conscience protections . . . federal health-care laws and guidelines could severely restrict religious freedom in the U.S...

Missouri: Court Rejects Challenge To Recitation of Pledge By Judge

Posted on August 14, 2009
Religion Clause Blog: "Missouri's attorney general, Chris Koster, released a statement on July 30 praising a decision by the St. Francois County (MO) Circuit Court to dismiss a lawsuit challenging another judge's practice of opening his courtroom session with the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance...

Speech codes are unconstitutional (get over it)

Posted on August 14, 2009
(Warning vulgar language) Riley Waggaman writes at True/Slant: "There is a certain phenomenon in American higher education that I just can?t seem to wrap my head around. It?s called ?the speech code,? and holy mackerel, it?s all the rage these days! ? Even though policies regulating speech are completely antithetical to the purpose of higher learning; and even though courts have laughed at them...

Idaho: Group defends Bible in school

Posted on August 14, 2009
Idaho Press-Tribune: "'The Bible shouldn't be singled out for censorship,' Alliance Defense Fund Senior Legal Counsel David Cortman said in a prepared statement. 'Not only is the commission on safe constitutional ground to allow the school to use the Bible as an educational resource, it would be unconstitutional to deny the school the ability to include it as one resource among its many other texts...

World Congress of Families: ?Christians face continual threat of homosexual agenda?

Posted on August 14, 2009
OneNewsNow: "Members meeting in Amsterdam at the World Congress of Families have heard about the homosexual legal agenda's threat to religious liberty as a part of its drive toward same-sex 'marriage.' The comments came from attorney Ben Bull of the Alliance Defense Fund ...

Court waves charges against pro-lifer accused of blocking abortion clinic traffic

Posted on August 14, 2009
Catholic News Agency: "ADF Litigation Counsel Daniel Blomberg on Wednesday argued at Kafka?s trial that she should not have been arrested because she never violated the relevant ordinance. Further, he said, city police failed to order her to cease conduct and leave, as required by the ordinance ...

Haskell County to pay ACLU legal fees

Posted on August 14, 2009
Tulsa World: "A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that Haskell County commissioners must pay the legal fees of the ACLU of Oklahoma in its lawsuit against a Ten Commandments monument in Stigler . . . An attorney representing Haskell County commissioners said last week that they plan to ask the U...

NY: Greece prayer case goes to court

Posted on August 14, 2009
Democrat and Chronicle: "Joel Oster, a senior litigation counsel for Colorado-based Alliance Defense Fund that is representing Greece, said that it is not right to ask the town to police the clergy. 'It is not the town's place to tell the clergy what to say,' Oster said...

University agrees to allow Christian students same access as secular students

Posted on August 14, 2009
Evangelical Examiner: "'Pro-life student groups shouldn?t be penalized for expressing their beliefs,' said ADF Litigation Staff Counsel Joseph Martins. 'Public universities cannot discriminate against student organizations simply because of their religious or political viewpoints, and we are pleased that Wayne State has now come to this understanding...

$10 donation to ACLU to strengthen chapters in the South

Posted on August 14, 2009
San Diego Union Tribune: "Qualcomm founder Irwin Jacobs and his wife Joan have donated $10 million to the American Civil Liberties Union that will fund civil liberties work in other parts of the country and contribute to expanding the work of the local chapter in San Diego...

House Democrats Will Likely Prevent Vote to Remove Abortion From Health Care

Posted on August 14, 2009
LifeNews: "When members of Congress return from their August recess, the first battle over the abortion funding found in the health care bills will occur in the House. There, it appears Democratic leaders will prevent a vote on an amendment to remove the abortion funding from the bill...

Gary Bauer: ?Obama?s Conscience Claws: Will You be Forced to Perform Abortions??

Posted on August 14, 2009
Gary Bauer writes at Human Events: "Pro-life law firm Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) is representing Cenzon-DeCarlo in a civil case against Mount Sinai. In an interview, Matt Bowman, the lead attorney representing Cenzon-DeCarlo, said ADF has 'asked for a preliminary injunction to prevent the hospital from continuing to violate the rights of conscience of its employees...

Hospitals Must Have Clear Policies For Workers Who Object To Abortion Procedures, Opinion Piece Says

Posted on August 14, 2009
Medical News Today: "He writes that Mary Jean Schumann, chief programs officer for the American Nurses Association, recommends that health care organizations make clear their policies during the hiring process and that nurses who object to abortion services choose a health care field in which their beliefs are less likely to become an issue...

Alberta parental rights in education could be implemented by October

Posted on August 14, 2009
LifeSiteNews: "Alberta's new legislation, Bill 44, that recognizes the rights of parents to oversee their children's education, could be implemented as early as October or November, says Culture and Community Spirit Minister Lindsay Blackett."

Wayne State U. reaches settlement with pro-life student group

Posted on August 14, 2009
Christian Law Journal: Wayne State University has settled a lawsuit filed by the campus pro-life student group which said the university discriminated against them . . . 'Pro-life student groups shouldn?t be penalized for expressing their beliefs,' said ADF Litigation Staff Counsel Joseph Martins...

Parents need to know how their child?s school is doing

Posted on August 14, 2009
Gary Palmer, president of the Alabama Policy Institute, writes: "When school children return to school, most parents return to their school year routines. Once everyone settles into their school year schedules, there are issues that parents will start noticing...

Vermont: Mom wants twin fetuses recognized as children

Posted on August 14, 2009
Boston Globe (AP): "Vermont woman whose 6-month-old twin fetuses died after a car crashed into the family van wants them to be legally recognized as children, which is not the case under current state law."

Kansas: Medical Center Won?t Let LeRoy Carhart Take Late-Term Abortion Patients There

Posted on August 14, 2009
LifeNews: "Wesley Medical Center in Wichita, Kansas has announced that it will not allow LeRoy Carhart to admit patients there who may suffer from botched abortions. The decision is significant because it could prevent Carhart from opening up a new late-term abortion business in town ...

Australian man wins right to die

Posted on August 14, 2009
BBC: "The judge in the western city of Perth said the nursing home would not be held criminally responsible" if it stops feeding a quadriplegic who wants to die.

Iowa: Athiest bus ads create free speech debate

Posted on August 14, 2009
East Valley Tribune (AP): "A dispute about bus advertisements seeking to publicize atheist views has touched off a free speech debate after the signs were torn down - then posted again - on the sides of Des Moines city buses."

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