Religion & Law

NPR: Young Adults in Search of Sex, Not Love

Posted on June 12, 2009
Colleen Raezler writes at the Culture Media Institute: NPR glossed over some of the most troubling aspects of the tendency of young adults to choose ?hook ups? over dating relationships during its June 8 ?Morning Edition? and acompanion piece on its Web site.

Dominican lawmakers reject legalization of same-sex ?marriage?

Posted on June 12, 2009
Catholic News Agency: A commission charged with revising the Dominican Republic?s constitution has rejected the legalization of same-sex ?marriages? and affirmed that the family based on a union between one man and one woman is the foundation of society.

British ambassador to Poland blasted for promoting ?gay rights?

Posted on June 12, 2009
Christian Telegraph: Poland's civil rights ombudsman, Janusz Kochanowski, said British ambassador Ric Todd was "being improper and doesn't understand the role of a diplomat" following the disclosure that Todd gave homosexual activist leaders a copy of the "UK Guide To Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual And Transgender People And Their Rights," translated into Polish, earlier this week, reports Thaddeus M...

RI gov vetoes bill allowing marijuana sales

Posted on June 12, 2009
Boston Globe (AP): "Gov. Don Carcieri has vetoed legislation allowing stores to sell marijuana to medical patients, a proposal that would make Rhode Island the third state in the nation to adopt such a course."

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Maine churches launch effort to reverse ?gay marriage? law

Posted on June 12, 2009
Baptist Press: If California can do it, then so can Maine -- that's at least what Carole Edgerly of Farmington Baptist Church in Maine believes . . . IRS regulations are very clear that a church is allowed to support or oppose legislation -- including initiatives and referendums -- as long as it does not constitute a substantial part of the church's activities," Erik Stanley, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, a legal organization, told Baptist Press...

Are evangelicals fractured & losing influence in the public square?

Posted on June 12, 2009
Will Hall writes at Baptist Press: "The following is the last of four articles which address research that has been published within the last year or so about people of faith in the U.S. The series examines Christianity in America, what the numbers mean for the Southern Baptist Convention and the imprint of evangelical voters in the public square...

ACLU: ?LGBT Legal And Advocacy Groups Decry Obama Administration?s Defense of DOMA?

Posted on June 12, 2009
ACLU: "We are very surprised and deeply disappointed in the manner in which the Obama administration has defended the so-called Defense of Marriage Act in a brief filed today in Smelt v. United States, a lawsuit brought in federal court in California by a married same-sex couple asking the federal government to treat them equally with respect to federal protections and benefits...

New Website Launched: Sotomayor411.com

Posted on June 12, 2009
Americans United for Life: "We?ve just launched a new website ? Sotomayor411.com ? to get the facts out on Judge Sotomayor?s life-related record."

Porn industry promotes record in fighting HIV

Posted on June 12, 2009
Mercury News (AP): ". . . the state Division of Occupational Safety and Health requires that safe sex be practiced on all adult movie sets. 'But we have persistent reports that that is not the case,' he said, adding his department receives an average of 15 reports a week from the Adult Industry Medical Healthcare Foundation of actors testing positive for other sexually transmitted diseases such as gonorrhea and chlamydia...

Office of Personnel Management head calls for more ?gay rights?

Posted on June 12, 2009
Alysa Rosenberg reports at Government Executive: "In some of the most pointed remarks on the subject by an Obama administration official, OPM Director John Berry, the highest ranking openly gay person to serve in the executive branch, affirmed the president's support for gay Americans, saying, 'with the help of a president who supports our cause, the aid of courageous fellow countrymen and women who love liberty, and with God's grace, we shall prevail' in the quest for civil rights...

?The end of originalism?

Posted on June 12, 2009
SSRN: "This essay further differs from previous works concerning originalism. First, the essay shows that originalism is a radical departure from the Supreme Court's well-established jurisprudence of a living Constitution. From its very inception, constitutional law has been a dynamic process of creativity and the vast majority of Supreme Court decisions interpreting the Constitution have been non-originalist in their methodology...

Maine: Sexually oriented business ordinances must be crafted carefully

Posted on June 12, 2009
Morning Sentinel: "Towns and cities across central Maine are scrambling to avoid getting caught with their pants down. By which we mean a number of them are working to fashion municipal ordinances that will restrict, or at least regulate, nudity and what are called 'adult businesses...

Schwarzenegger, Brown urge judge to keep Prop 8 in force pending federal appeal

Posted on June 12, 2009
Howard Mintz reports in the Mercury News: "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown on Thursday urged a federal judge to keep Proposition 8 in force for now, arguing that it would create too much uncertainty across the state to put the voter-approved ban on gay marriage on hold while the latest legal challenge unfolds in the federal courts...

ADF: Court order ends unconstitutional St. Louis policy banning literature distribution

Posted on June 12, 2009
A federal judge issued an order Thursday permanently prohibiting the city of St. Louis from banning a Christian ministry from distributing literature and speaking about their religious viewpoint at an annual ?PrideFest? event celebrating homosexual behavior.

Maine: Manchester Passes Restrictions On Adult Businesses

Posted on June 12, 2009
WMTW.com: "The ordinance restricts the businesses in terms of location, layout and signage."

4th Circuit upholds N.C. city?s sexually oriented business law

Posted on June 12, 2009
"Adult businesses are not entitled to challenge whether they cause adverse effects in their neighborhoods after a new zoning law has been enacted, a federal appeals court has ruled . . . "

ACLU Ohio: Pledge requirement threatens free speech

Posted on June 12, 2009
ACLU of Ohio: "The American Civil Liberties Union of Ohio urged lawmakers to reject an amendment to the state budget, House Bill 1, that would prohibit school districts from deciding whether or not the Pledge of Allegiance will be recited in their classrooms...

Religion v. Girls? Education

Posted on June 12, 2009
Religion Dispatches: "Cultural and religious forces are often arrayed against girls when it comes to the right to education. Religion, in particular?whether it's Islamic legal law or an evangelical Christian aversion to evolution?is often evoked to bar girls from school...

Nebraska: Carhart Offers Late-Term Abortion Training

Posted on June 12, 2009
KETV.com: "Bellevue abortion provider Dr. Leroy Carhart said he will begin training his staff to perform late-term abortions." The announcement was met with a strong response from Nebraska's Attorney General.

Australia: ?Anti-abortion group barred from schools?

Posted on June 12, 2009
SMH.au: "A LIFE education program created by an organisation with ties to anti-abortion groups in Australia and the United States was endorsed by the NSW Education Department for use in public schools. But after the links were raised by the Herald , the department yesterday banned the group from visiting schools and announced a review of the processes that led to its approval...

April 15, 2010; $2,500; William Pew Religious Freedom Scholarship

Posted on June 12, 2009
Legal Writing Competitions Blog: "The Alliance Defense Fund has released the new rules for the 2009-2010 William Pew Religious Freedom Scholarship writing competition. Nothing but the dates have changed from your post last year. $2,500 cash prize; papers must be submitted by April 15, 2010...

Andrew Sullivan: ?Obama?s Gratuitous Insult To Gay Couples?

Posted on June 12, 2009
Andrew Sullivan writes at the Atlantic Monthly's Daily Dish: "John Aravosis gets ahold of the government's brief in a California DOMA case. He writes: 'It reads as if it were written by one of George Bush's top political appointees. I cannot state strongly enough how damaging this brief is to us...

?Lines That Divide?: Documentary on the moral issues of stem cell research

Posted on June 11, 2009
Information and clips are available at the Lines That Divide website. "This documentary seeks to educate the public on the scientific basics of stem cell research and the moral issues surrounding it as we enter the 21st century."

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad faces defeat if election not rigged, say Iranian experts

Posted on June 11, 2009
Guardian: "In the absence of reliable independent opinion polls, experts predicted today that Mir Hossein Mousavi, the moderate 'green' candidate, would probably beat the controversial incumbent so long as the result was not rigged."

U.K. Government Tightens Leash on Homeschoolers: Fears Raised of Germany-Style Clampdown

Posted on June 11, 2009
LifeSiteNews: "Under newly announced Labour government rules, local council authorities are authorized to enter private homes to interview children, without parents present, on their safety and 'quality of education.' The new regulations have raised fears among Britain?s homeschooling community of a government attack on the rights of parents to educate their children at home...

OH: U.S. Senate candidate changes position, supports same-sex ?marriage?

Posted on June 11, 2009
Joe Hallet reports in the Columbus Dispatch: "Both Democratic candidates for the U.S. Senate in 2010 now support gay marriage after Lt. Gov. Lee Fisher changed his opposition to it. Fisher has joined Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner in supporting marriage equality for gay couples...

ND Prez Jenkins Has ?No Interest? in Asking for Leniency for ND Protesters Despite Calls for ?Dialogue?

Posted on June 11, 2009
LifeSiteNews: "The president of the University of Notre Dame has 'no interest' in interfering with the fates of over 80 peaceful pro-life protesters arrested on campus while protesting President Obama's May 17 commencement speech, says the pro-lifers' attorney...

Martha Minow named dean of Harvard Law School

Posted on June 11, 2009
Harvard Gazette: "Martha Minow, the Jeremiah Smith, Jr., Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, will become the dean of the Faculty of Law on July 1, President Drew Faust announced today (June 11)."

LGBT groups seek edit to Prop. 8 decision

Posted on June 11, 2009
Bay Area Reporter: "'Correcting that error won't change the outcome, but given the continuing importance of the distinction between amendment and revision for our state constitution, we hope the court will set the historical record straight,' he wrote...

Feisty Timor Leste Bucks Abortion Lobby, Upholds Right to Life

Posted on June 11, 2009
Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute: "The parliament of East Timor ? a small, Catholic nation in South East Asia recognized as an independent state in 2002 ? has resisted concerted pressure from United Nations agencies and pro-abortion non-governmental organizations (NGOs) by enacting a revised penal law that continues to criminalize abortion in virtually all cases...

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