Religion & Law

America?s disappearing unity

Posted on June 23, 2009
Peter Heck writes at One News Now: "Mr. Obama is right in saying that this country is made up of people of varying beliefs. But there's a reason that peaceful Muslims have found it safer to live in this country than in those founded on Islamic law. There's a reason atheists have found it safer to live in this country than in those founded on the absence of moral authority...

?Gay lobby presses UK Over Gib consent law?

Posted on June 23, 2009
Gibaltar Chronicle: ?The Government of Gibraltar is required by European Court of Human Rights rulings to equalise the age of consent for same-sex relationships,? said Ryan Cleminson, coordinator of the southwest Greens? Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Group.

West Virginia looks beyond Robert Byrd

Posted on June 23, 2009
Salena Zito writes at Townhall: "Should Byrd's seat become vacant before his term ends in 2012, that would create the first non-incumbent Senate race in West Virginia since 1984 when Jay Rockefeller, a Democrat, won his seat. Democratic Gov. Joe Manchin would appoint a replacement to serve until a special election is held...

California cuts tax exemptions for kids

Posted on June 23, 2009
San Francisco Chronicle: "The change will increase a family's California taxes for 2009 by about $210 per dependent compared with 2008."

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

?Don?t ask, don?t tell? in limbo for now

Posted on June 23, 2009
Stars and Stripes: "One of the most culturally contentious issues in the U.S. military ? the 16-year-old law requiring gay and lesbian members of the armed services to keep their sexual preferences hidden ? briefly seemed like it was back on the table last week...

New FDA Records Obtained by Judicial Watch Indicate 28 Deaths Related to Gardasil in 2008

Posted on June 23, 2009
Judicial Watch: "Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has obtained records from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) documenting 28 deaths in 2008 associated with Gardasil, the vaccination for human papillomavirus (HPV), up from 19 deaths in 2007 ...

Albany Democrats Lock Themselves in the Senate Chamber

Posted on June 23, 2009
NY Times: "Senate Democrats entered the Senate chamber through a back hallway on Tuesday afternoon and locked themselves in, pulling off a sneak attack of sorts in the ongoing battle for control of the State Senate."

Slovakia Passes Informed Consent Law Despite Pressure from Pro-Abort Groups

Posted on June 23, 2009
LifeSiteNews: "Informed consent before abortion has been adopted by the Slovak Parliament, establishing a mandatory counseling requirement, a 3 days waiting period, and mandatory parental/guardian consent requirements for minors within the current Slovak abortion law...

Senate Blocks Pro-Tiller Resolution Glorifying Abortion Industry

Posted on June 23, 2009
LifeSiteNews: "The Senate yesterday blocked a resolution praising the "crucial services" of abortionists and condemning violence against them in the wake of Kansas late-term abortionist George Tiller's murder last month."

Ohio: Religious groups can use civic center

Posted on June 23, 2009
Barrett J. Brunsman reports in the Cincinnati Enquirer: "This Clermont County community has settled a lawsuit filed by Citizens for Community Values, and it now will allow religious groups to use its Civic Center and adjoining amphitheater."

SD: Sioux Falls judge hears abortion donation argument

Posted on June 23, 2009
Associated Press: "A judge says she'll decide soon whether to keep alive or decide a lawsuit over the identity of the person who gave $750,000 toward the failed 2006 vote to ban most abortions in South Dakota."

Judge rules against county barring ministry from library use

Posted on June 23, 2009
Nathan Black reports in The Christian Post: "'Christian groups shouldn?t be excluded and discriminated against for their beliefs,' said Tim Chandler, legal counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund, which filed suit on behalf of the ministry. 'Christians have a First Amendment right to control the content of their own meetings...

Texas Supreme Court rules unanimously in favor of prison ministry

Posted on June 23, 2009
"The Texas Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of a ministry to former prison inmates Friday, determining that zoning regulations passed by the city of Sinton to oust the ministry from town violates the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act."

6th Circuit: Title VII religious objection to union support fails

Posted on June 23, 2009
"Reed claims that UAW, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, failed to provide a reasonable accommodation for his religious objection to financially supporting the union."

6th Circuit strikes Michigan prison regulation impairing possession of UCC-related materials

Posted on June 23, 2009
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit has issued a ruling in connection with a Michigan Department of Corrections regulation impinging on prisoners' possession of UCC-related materials. The court ruled that the regulation is not sufficiently narrowly tailored to survive First Amendment review and it upheld a preliminary injunction issued by the lower court...

UK: Christian nurse quits over crucifix ban

Posted on June 23, 2009
Hannah Wooderson reports at 24dash.com: "A Christian hospital worker who was ordered to remove a crucifix 'which could harbour infection' has left her job in protest. Devout Helen Slatter, 43, was told by Gloucestershire Royal Hospital the necklace posed a health and safety risk and could even be used as weapon...

Marci A. Hamilton: ?The Folly of the Federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act and Texas?s Too?

Posted on June 23, 2009
Marci A. Hamilton writes at Findlaw: "TRFRA is a creature of the Texas legislature. Like Congress's RFRA, Texas's, too, has hardly led to a brighter day of religious liberty. Instead, it has authorized judicial intervention in public policy decisions that serve religious triumphalism at the cost of subjugating crucial safety interests ? and these are the interests of our most honorable, the firefighters who protect us and our homes, and our most vulnerable, our children...

Nominee for Alito?s 3rd Circuit Seat Appears to Be a Centrist at Heart

Posted on June 23, 2009
NJ Law Journal on Law.com: "Don't look for a 180-degree swing between Samuel Alito Jr. and Joseph Greenaway Jr., President Barack Obama's nominee to fill Alito's seat on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Greenaway is a centrist who was a prosecutor and corporate lawyer before he began 13 years of service on the federal district court in Newark, N...

Vail Ski Resort Settles Religious Discrimination Charges By EEOC

Posted on June 23, 2009
Religion Clause Blog: "Among the charges against Vail were that: "Cornwell's supervisor, Rick Garcia, forbade her and another Christian employee from even discussing their Christian beliefs with one another while at work, and would not allow them to listen to Christian music while on duty, because it might offend other employees, but had no similar restrictions on music with profanity or lyrics promoting violence against women, which were offensive to Cornwell...

NY Abuse Bill Stalls: Public Schools Still Vulnerable

Posted on June 23, 2009
Catholic League: "The bill by New York State Assemblywoman Margaret Markey that would suspend the statute of limitations for one year for cases of child sexual abuse (victims must be 53 or younger) will not pass this year unless a special session is called and the bill is put to a vote...

ACLU: ?Child Advocacy Groups Urge Florida Appeals Court To Strike Gay Adoption Ban?

Posted on June 23, 2009
ACLU: "The most respected Florida and national children?s health, welfare and legal advocacy groups filed seven friend-of-the-court briefs before a Florida appeals court Monday urging the court to strike down a Florida law barring lesbians and gay men from adopting...

?Fairness Doctrine by another name??

Posted on June 23, 2009
Brett Joshpe writes in The American Spectator (via the ACLJ): "The Fairness Doctrine may be dead, but media content regulation is another story. Just as the Obama administration has appointed White House policy czars to skirt the constitutionally required "advise and consent" of Senate approval, the FCC has been discussing activist media regulatory initiatives without subjecting the policies to a public debate in Congress...

More higher-income families are home schooling their children

Posted on June 23, 2009
USA Today: ". . . As of spring 2007, an estimated 1.5 million, or 2.9% of all school-age children in the USA, were home-schooled, up from 1.7% in 1999. The new figures come from the U.S. Department of Education, which found that 36% of parents said their most important reason for home schooling was to provide 'religious or moral instruction'; 21% cited concerns about school environment...

Guatemalan Children In Limbo of Orphanages

Posted on June 23, 2009
Washington Post: "At the start of last year, after months of hotly debated allegations that adoption brokers were paying women to give up their children or even stealing them, Guatemala's congress enacted tough regulations that effectively ended international adoptions ...

VBS shut out of community flyer distribution

Posted on June 23, 2009
OneNewsNow: "'As you may guess at this time of year, it's great for summer camps and summer activities,' [Cortman] explains. 'They open [the program] to sports camps, camps that do arts and crafts, any type of educational activities -- even [to] watch movies and play video games...

Worship legal if library OKs religious meeting

Posted on June 23, 2009
Bob Egelko reports in the San Francisco Chronicle: "The ruling allows the church to hold 'meetings with religious content on the same terms and conditions as everybody else, from political groups to labor unions to neighborhood groups,' said attorney Jordan Lorence of the Alliance Defense Fund, which represents the Faith Center Church Evangelistic Ministries in the long-running case...

Commissioners claim Ten Commandments monument is legal, file federal appeal

Posted on June 23, 2009
Robert Boczkiewicz reports in the Tulsa World: "'In fact, this is the first and only circuit to strike down a Ten Commandments monument' after the 2005 decision, the commissioners assert. They, through their attorneys at the Alliance Defense Fund, state that three federal appeals courts in other parts of the country have upheld such monuments...

Court rules against Contra Costa County on use of library room for religion

Posted on June 23, 2009
John Simerman reports in the Contra Costa Times: "'The library has a basically wide open forum for private and community groups to engage in a wide spectrum of speech. About the only thing that's excluded is religious speech,' said Lorence, of the Alliance Defense Fund, a national Christian legal advocacy group...

California Same-Sex Couples Who Wed Out-of-State Remain in Limbo

Posted on June 23, 2009
"Family lawyers representing California same-sex couples who wed out of state before the passage of Proposition 8 are hoping for the best, but bracing for the worst. Those marriages remain in legal limbo . . ."

Virginia State Police report: Pro-lifers, 2nd amendment supporters called terrorists

Posted on June 23, 2009
The Republic Broadcasting Network carries this report. The text of the report by Trooper John R. Wright is here: Crisis Controlled Assessing Potential Threats of Violence Website: Virginia State Police

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