Religion & Law

IRS drops inquiry into Minnesota church

Posted on July 30, 2009
Steve Karnowski reports in the Duluth News Tribune (AP): "Erik Stanley, senior legal counsel for the Arizona-based group, said 33 pastors in 22 states participated in the Sept. 28 Pulpit Freedom Sunday. He said they all sent the IRS copies of their sermons testing the ban...

IRS drops investigation of Minnesota pastor

Posted on July 30, 2009
CitizenLink: "ADF Senior Legal Counsel Erik Stanley said the IRS continues to leave churches in limbo while it refuses to clarify the tax code. 'It illustrates everything that is wrong with the current enforcement of the Johnson Amendment,' Stanley noted...

Stimulus Bill Funds Go to Art Houses Showing ?Pervert? Revues, Underground Pornography

Posted on July 30, 2009
Fox News: "The National Endowment for the Arts may be spending some of the money it received from the Recovery and Reinvestment Act to fund nude simulated-sex dances, Saturday night 'pervert' revues and the airing of pornographic horror films at art houses in San Francisco...

Murdered Catholic Priest?s Body Found on Roadside in India

Posted on July 30, 2009
Christian Post: "A Catholic priest was found murdered in a remote place on the side of a road in a village near Mangalore in the southern Indian state of Karnataka on Thursday."

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CSW condemns execution of North Korean Christian woman

Posted on July 30, 2009
Christian Today: "Ri Hyon Ok, 33, was publicly executed on June 16 for allegedly distributing the Bible, and also for charges of spying for South Korea and the United States, according to reports from the Investigative Committee on Crimes Against Humanity...

Penna Dexter: Don?t weaken ?Don?t Ask, Don?t Tell?

Posted on July 30, 2009
Penna Dexter writes at Baptist Press: "President Obama has asked Congress to pass, and send to his desk, H.R.1283, which would allow open homosexuality in the military. But there's a reason Congress has not taken this up . . . "

?Minn. pastor dodges IRS investigation ? for now?

Posted on July 30, 2009
a href="http://blog.au.org/2009/07/30/bypassing-booth-minn-pastor-dodges-irs-investigation-for-now/">Americans United for Separation of Church and State: "Then, in September, Booth violated the law again as part of the Alliance Defense Fund?s 'Pulpit Freedom Sunday,' a scheme in which the Religious Right legal group urged clergy across the country to endorse or oppose political candidates from the pulpit...

?Teaching and talking about religion? at ASU

Posted on July 30, 2009
ASU News: "Long-term goals for the Difficult Dialogues program are twofold, according to Cady: to better prepare faculty to teach in religiously pluralistic classrooms, and to better prepare students to 'live in a world of religious diversity and to understand how religion can be ? but need not be ? a factor in human conflict...

Mass. Dept. of Health Report: ?Third of Mass. transgendered weigh suicide?

Posted on July 30, 2009
"Nearly a third of transgender residents in Massachusetts have considered suicide according to a new survey by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health."

North Carolina: Planned Parenthood ?health center? to open in Fayetteville

Posted on July 30, 2009
FayObserver.com: "Services include gynecological exams, temporary and permanent birth control for women, and vasectomies for men. Johnson said the center plans to offer abortions, but not immediately."

ACLU: ?Senate Committee Votes To End Funding For Failed Abstinence-Only Program?

Posted on July 30, 2009
ACLU: "The Senate Appropriations Committee today voted to end funding for failed abstinence-only-until-marriage programs and to put resources into programs that can help teens make healthy and responsible decisions about sexuality."

Harvey Milk to receive Presidential Medal of Freedom

Posted on July 30, 2009
GayPolitics.com: "The Victory Fund has learned President Barack Obama plans to award America?s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, to Harvey Milk, one of the country?s first openly gay elected officials."

Rocco Buttiglione clarifies remarks on abortion

Posted on July 30, 2009
C-FAM: "In his Friday Fax interview, Buttiglione emphasized that the 'life of the child should be defended with all possible means.' In some countries ? such as those of Latin America, where abortion is generally criminalized ? legislators should fight to keep penal prohibitions in place...

Rhode Island laws allow 16-year-old strippers

Posted on July 30, 2009
KDVR.com: "The state of Rhode Island has no laws on the books to stop teenagers as young as 16 years old to work as strippers and even 'indoor hookers.'"

Pennsylvania: Proposed zone changes could usher in strip club

Posted on July 30, 2009
Pocono Record: "Zoning became a hot topic in Middle Smithfield after reports that Werry's Pub is being advertised for sale as a site for a strip club in the adult-entertainment magazine Xtreme. Werry's is owned by Middle Smithfield Supervisor Bob Spano...

SF City Attorney seeks to shut down strip club

Posted on July 30, 2009
Mercury News (AP): "The San Francisco city attorney is trying to shut down a North Beach strip club he claims operates without permits and serves as a front for prostitution."

Texas? Hutchison voting against Sotomayor

Posted on July 30, 2009
Boston Globe (AP): "Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison says she will vote against confirming Sonia Sotomayor to be a Supreme Court justice."

Ten Commandments lawsuit in Jackson County could be resolved

Posted on July 30, 2009
Lexington Herald-Leader: "A federal lawsuit over Ten Commandments displays in the Jackson County Courthouse could be resolved for about $6,000 if a judge accepts a proposed settlement filed Tuesday by the fiscal court and the American Civil Liberties Union...

New doubts revealed in Obama?s nativity story

Posted on July 30, 2009
WorldNetDaily: "This leads to what is perhaps the key question: What is it the White House is determined to hide by refusing to release the president's original long-form birth certificate?"

?It?s Certifiable: The last word on President Obama?s place of birth.?

Posted on July 30, 2009
James Taranto writes at the Wall Street Journal: "In fact, although some people born outside the U.S. are natural-born citizens (including John McCain, born in Panama, where his father was stationed as a naval officer), the timing and circumstances of Obama?s birth make the place a necessary condition for natural-born citizenship...

11th Circuit Nominee Questioned on Sentencing

Posted on July 30, 2009
Blog of the Legal Times: "Senate Republicans said today that they plan to support President Barack Obama's nominee for a vacancy on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit, despite a controversial ruling she issued last year finding that a mandatory minimum sentence was unconstitutional...

Venezuela: ?Freedom of expression must be limited?

Posted on July 30, 2009
Boston Globe (AP): Venezuela's top prosecutor insisted Thursday that freedom of expression in Venezuela "must be limited," and proposed legislation that would slap additional restrictions on the country's news media.

Under legal pressure, Atlanta Public Schools allow Christian club

Posted on July 30, 2009
Evangelical Examiner: "The Alliance Defense Fund has announced that its attorneys have secured a settlement Monday with Atlanta Public Schools that will result in official recognition of a Christian student club that was repeatedly denied access to the same rights, benefits, and privileges given to all other student clubs at Sutton Middle School...

?Stimulus? grants going to porn producers?

Posted on July 30, 2009
OneNewsNow: "'The National Endowment for the Arts is using money from the stimulus bill, which was supposed to create economic activity, for the production of pornography,' he states. 'They've specifically given grants to companies that they know produce pornography -- primarily homosexual pornography...

Sotomayor Vote Likely Late Next Week

Posted on July 29, 2009
"A confirmation vote for Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor will be one of the last things the Senate does next week before it adjourns for its August recess, Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said today."

CBN News interviews Steven Aden: Catholic nurse sues NY hospital over abortion

Posted on July 29, 2009
CBN News: "CBN News spoke with senior ADF counselor Steve Aden, who believes the hospital mishandled this case. Click play to hear more about what the hospital should have done and how this experience has affected Cenzon-DeCarlo."

Albania to legalize same-sex ?marriage?

Posted on July 29, 2009
Balkan Insight reports: "Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha announced in a cabinet meeting on Wednesday that the government would push for a law that recognises homosexual marriages."

Racial and Religious Hate Speech in Singapore: Reclaiming the Victim?s Perspective

Posted on July 29, 2009
SSRN: "In this essay, I argue that the rationales offered by the Singapore Government for restricting racial and religious hate speech are not only constitutionally unsound, but also not without serious moral and social costs."

Conyers to Introduce Constitutional Amendment Making Health Care a ?Right?

Posted on July 29, 2009
CNSNews: "During his speech at a recent National Press Club luncheon, House Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) said he is introducing a constitutional amendment that would establish health care as 'a right' for all Americans . . . "

Tennessee: Church Members Upset About Adult Business Neighbor

Posted on July 29, 2009
Newschannel5.com: "Hermitage Church of Christ host a pre-school and daycare. Church members are angry that Venus Erotica has opened nearby on Lebanon Road."

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