Religion & Law

Obama Plans to Replace Bush?s Bioethics Panel

Posted on June 19, 2009
NY Times: "Members of the President?s Council on Bioethics were told by the White House last week that their services were no longer needed and were asked to cancel a planned meeting, a council staff member said Wednesday."

Maine ACLU enters fray over ban on ?political activity?

Posted on June 19, 2009
Rebekah Metzler reports in the Sun-Journal: "Farmington selectmen voted 3-2 in favor of banning any political activity on town property about a week and a half ago, based on an incident with a signature gatherer for a petition supporting the repeal of the state's new same-sex marriage law...

Indian cardinal assesses Hindu fundamentalist persecution

Posted on June 19, 2009
Catholic Culture: "An Indian cardinal believes that Hindu fundamentalists-- whom he estimates at 11% of the nation?s population-- persecute Christians because they fear the prospects of a mass conversion to Christianity among dalits (untouchables). 'In the eyes of the fundamentalists, the Muslims are also enemies of India, but Muslims retaliate so they are leaving them alone...

Ireland: Catholic control of schooling not tenable, says archbishop

Posted on June 19, 2009
Irish Times: "The Catholic near monopoly over schooling is 'not tenable' and does not reflect current realities, Archbishop of Dublin Diarmuid Martin said last night."

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Peruvian Government Shelves Investigation into Massive Forced Sterilizations of Indigenous Women

Posted on June 19, 2009
LifeSiteNews: "Human rights organizations have thoroughly documented evidence that women were physically coerced, threatened, tricked, and enticed with economic incentives during the implementation of the program, which sterilized a total of approximately 400,000 Peruvian women in just two years, 1997 and 1998, with the help of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)...

White House Looks to Include Same-Sex Unions in Census Count

Posted on June 19, 2009
Wall Street Journal: "The administration has directed the Census Bureau to determine changes needed in tabulation software to allow for same-sex marriage data to be released early in 2011 with other detailed demographic information from the decennial count...

?California gay marriage fight goes to Chinatown?

Posted on June 19, 2009
Reuters: "Lost in the 2009 election wreckage for gays was the marriage campaign's relative success in Asian communities, which have swung toward support of same-sex marriage at a faster rate than the rest of California and have become a model for other groups...

O Beautiful

Posted on June 19, 2009
Stuart Shepard offers this inspiring bit of Stoplight video from Citizen Link.

Poll: ?Support for Same-Sex Marriage Plummets?

Posted on June 19, 2009
Citizen Link: "The CBS News/New York Times study found that 33 percent of respondents favor same-sex marriage. That represents a 9 percent drop since April."

Civil Rights Group Issues New Report On Hate Crimes

Posted on June 19, 2009
Religion Clause Blog: "The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights has recently issued a 48-page report titled Confronting the New Faces of Hate: Hate Crimes in America 2009."

Texas High Court Says State RFRA Applies To Zoning Restrictions

Posted on June 19, 2009
Religion Clause Blog: "Today in Barr v. City of Sinton, (TX Sup. Ct., June 19, 2009), the Texas Supreme Court held that the strict scrutiny standard in the Texas Religious Freedom Restoration Act applies to zoning ordinances."

Church sues Florida school board over flyer policy

Posted on June 19, 2009
Religion Clause: "In Fort Myers, Florida, the Cypress Wood Presbyterian Church this week filed a federal lawsuit against the Collier County School Board challenging its policy on distribution of flyers in schools. . . . . Alliance Defense Fund issued a release announcing the filing of the case...

Same-sex ?marriage? taken to court

Posted on June 19, 2009
Melissa Giaimo reports in the Washington Times: "Without intervention by Congress or the courts, the legislation passed by the D.C. Council last month is set to go into effect early next month -- the end of the required congressional review period. 'Unless the clock is stopped, people will effectively be declined an opportunity to vote on this issue,' said Brian Raum of the Alliance Defense Fund, who is serving as counsel for the referendum supporters...

Chuck Colson: ?Gay activists and religious freedom?

Posted on June 19, 2009
Chuck Colson writing at The Christian Post: "First, if you are victimized by a gay activist group or same-sex couple demanding that you throw out your religious beliefs, contact the Alliance Defense Fund. They have spent many years defending the First Amendment right of religious believers-rights now under brutal attack...

U.S. Civil Rights Commissioners oppose ?hate-crimes? bill

Posted on June 19, 2009
CitizenLink: "'This particular hate-crimes bill would be the first time the federal government disapproves of a valid, sincerely held religious belief held by a majority of Americans,' [Erik Stanley] explained. 'And that's very troubling for free speech and free exercise of religion...

D.C. Elections Board vs. Founding Fathers

Posted on June 19, 2009
Hope Hodge writing in The American Spectator: "As the Alliance Defense Fund's Brian Raum pointed out, the ruling essentially invalidates the marriage statutes that have existed since the district was formed. And the potential misapplications from here on of the human rights law are legion--ballot initiatives on anything from the age for buying tobacco to educational standards for teachers could run afoul of broadly interpreted discrimination standards...

Khamenei signals showdown with Iran opposition

Posted on June 19, 2009
Reuters: "Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's uncompromising demand for a halt to street protests over Iran's disputed presidential election puts him in the forefront of a power struggle that could turn bloody."

?D.C. court asked to suspend gay marriage recognition law?

Posted on June 19, 2009
Michael Neibauer reports in The Washington Examiner: "After the procedural hearing at the Moultrie Courthouse, Raum contended that the court had the equitable authority to suspend a statute. Elections board General Counsel Kenneth McGhie disagreed, but he declined to explain further...

Thailand: Muslim rebels have killed 115 teachers

Posted on June 19, 2009
AP: "In a sickening trend, separatist insurgents are increasingly attacking teachers, who they consider a symbol of government authority and Buddhist Thai culture," the group said.

NJ: Christie Aims at Democrats Unhappy With Poor Schools

Posted on June 19, 2009
E3: "Yet Christopher J. Christie, the Republican candidate for governor, is hunting for votes in cities like Newark, Camden and Trenton, where Democrats routinely pile up big margins, but where black and Hispanic parents are increasingly running out of patience with the public schools, among the nation?s worst...

?Obama: Bible?s guidance is timely?

Posted on June 19, 2009
AP: President Barack Obama says the biblical command to "love thy neighbor as thyself" is as pertinent now as ever." His comments were made at a Hispanic prayer breakfast.

Why we should oppose same sex ?marriage?

Posted on June 19, 2009
. . . why is there an institution called ?marriage? at all in a secular society?

Companies remove ads from homosexual blog site

Posted on June 19, 2009
One News Now: "Two companies are expressing embarrassment for advertising their products on the blog of a militant homosexual activist who routinely bashes conservative Christians. Borden Dairy and Quiznos both say they were unaware they were helping finance a blog ...

Eye-Opening YouTube, Rampant Pornography

Posted on June 19, 2009
CNSNews: "Pornography is no longer a poison creeping into the crevices of our popular culture. It is part of the very fabric . . . A new study by Matthew Philbin and Dan Gainor of the Culture and Media Institute (CMI) found that YouTube is stuffed with porn videos...

The NEA?s Latest Trick

Posted on June 19, 2009
Wall Street Journal: "Public school teachers are supposed to teach kids to read, so it would be nice if their unions could master the same skill. In a recent letter to Senators, the National Education Association claims Washington, D.C.'s Opportunity Scholarships aren't working, ignoring a recent evaluation showing the opposite...

?Google vows to fight porn in China after govt rebuke?

Posted on June 19, 2009
AFP: "Internet giant Google promised Friday to work harder to eliminate pornography from its Chinese Web pages as state media reported authorities had shut down some of its search services."

Rutherford Institute Urges U.S. Supreme Court to Hear Free Speech Case of High School Valedictorian Censored, Silenced for Referencing Christ

Posted on June 19, 2009
Rutherford Institute: "Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute have asked the United States Supreme Court to hear the case of a high school valedictorian whose microphone was turned off by school officials after she began speaking about the part her religious beliefs played in her success in life ...

The Cyber Way to Knowledge

Posted on June 19, 2009
NCPA: How can we reform U.S. K-12 education so that U.S. students will be competitive with Finnish teenagers? Technology -- particularly online education, say Terry M. Moe and John E. Chubb, authors of "Liberating Learning: Technology, Politics, and the Future of American Education...

Florida: ?Cheetah? strip club now out of business for drugs, prostitution

Posted on June 19, 2009
Miami Herald: "Hallandale Beach's sole strip club is out of business after its owner agreed under pressure to sell his liquor license after an undercover investigation into drug-dealing and sex-for-hire on the premises."

Texas: Electrician says he videotaped Naked Harem customers having sex with dancers

Posted on June 19, 2009
El Paso Times: "An electrician at the former Naked Harem club testified that he surreptitiously videotaped dancers having sex with customers in a private room."

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