Religion & Law

Students rebel at graduation against the ACLU?s bullying tactics

Posted on June 04, 2009
Liberty Counsel press release: "Nearly 400 graduating seniors at Pace High School stood up in protest against the ACLU and recited the Lord?s Prayer during their graduation ceremony on Saturday. Many of the students also painted crosses on their graduation caps to make a statement of faith...

California: ?Adult store ?sex shop? in Whittier closes?

Posted on June 03, 2009
Whittier Daily News: "Good Time, which was located at 13425 Whittier Blvd., shuttered its doors May 28 after a little more than a year in business, officials said. With its scantily-clad window mannequins in the front window, the store's opening touched off an angry reaction from hundreds of Whittier residents, prompting many residents to ask the city to shut the business down...

As GM Goes So Goes California in Pensions

Posted on June 03, 2009
Roger Lowenstein writes at Bloomberg: "With each new labor contract, GM management found it easier to grant sweeter future benefits than to raise current wages. Over time, benefits went up much more quickly. That left GM with a daunting unfunded health-care obligation ...

AZ: Bishop found guilty of loud church bells

Posted on June 03, 2009
AZ Republic: "That's because Painter was convicted of two misdemeanors earlier this week. His crime? The church bells that ring during the day are apparently too loud." ADF is involved in this litigation, but not mentioned in this report.

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Separation of Powers? N.Y. Appeals Court orders the legislature to give judges a pay raise

Posted on June 03, 2009
ABA Journal: "A New York appeals court has ordered state legislators to give judges a pay increase of about 30 percent to reflect the increased cost of living since their last raise in 1998."

NH Senate approves ?compromise? bill to redefine marriage

Posted on June 03, 2009
The House is expected to vote later today.

Kansas is deadly battleground in abortion debate

Posted on June 03, 2009
AP: "In a nation divided by abortion, Kansas has become perhaps the fiercest battleground - with mass protests, prosecutions, lawsuits and now a killing keeping the issue almost constantly in the public eye."

Next Article Everyday People Examiner Wisconsin court dismisses domestic partner benefit lawsuit

Posted on June 03, 2009
Examiner.com: "A Wisconsin trial court dismisses American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) lawsuit seeking domestic partner benefits for lesbian and gay state employees but issues lengthy decision reasoning that it is unconstitutional for the state to deny the benefits...

?Evangelist sues city, police after gay-pride events?

Posted on June 03, 2009
Philadelphia Inquirer: "For the third time, an anti-homosexuality evangelist has sued for what he describes as police interference with his free-speech rights at gay-pride events. Michael Marcavage, the director of Philadelphia-based Repent America, said he was physically restrained by city police on four separate occasions, and once, he said, an officer put him into a chokehold...

British hostage thought killed by al-Qaida

Posted on June 03, 2009
Washington Post: "Al-Qaida terrorists have killed a Briton taken hostage in Mali, the British prime minister said Wednesday. The fate of a Swiss hostage taken at the same time was unknown."

NH Senate leader violates Senate rules to redefine marriage

Posted on June 03, 2009
UnionLeader.com: "Senate rules require that all committee of conference votes be unanimous. They also require that committees of conference contain senators from each party. When Sen. Sheila Roberge, R-Bedford, refused to sign the conference report approving the amendment to the same-sex marriage bill, Sen...

ACLU: Immigration Law Denies Equal Protection For Same-Sex Life Partners

Posted on June 03, 2009
ACLU: "The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing tomorrow on a bill that modifies U.S. immigration law to provide equal protection to same-sex life partners of citizens and permanent legal residents. As part of the hearing, entitled 'The United American Families Act: Addressing Inequality in Federal Immigration Law,' the American Civil Liberties Union sent a letter to lawmakers urging the Committee to pass S...

Georgia: ?Justice stumped on gay marriage?

Posted on June 03, 2009
Atlanta J. Constitution: "Georgia Supreme Court Justice Leah Ward Sears was 'stumped' Tuesday on the issue of gay marriage. Asked whether the U.S. Constitution would require Georgians to recognize the marriages of gay Iowans if they moved to the state, she first deferred to a lesser document: The state constitution banned gay marriage in 2004...

?Minnesota Archbishop Bars Gay Activists from Commonion?

Posted on June 03, 2009
Catholic Culture: He explained that anyone wearing the rainbow sash would be barred from receiving the Eucharist "since their dissent is a sign that they have publicly broken communion with the Church?s teaching."

Critics Pounce on Sotomayor?s Reversal Rate

Posted on June 03, 2009
Tony Mauro writes at the National Law Journal: "Only five of the 232 opinions Sotomayor has written in her 11 years as a 2d Circuit judge have been reviewed by the Supreme Court. Of those five, justices overturned three -- including one environmental and one prison abuse case that are drawing attention...

British Tribunal Says Catholic Adoption Agency Policy Violates Equality Act

Posted on June 03, 2009
Britain's Charity Tribunal has held that a Catholic adoption agency is violating the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations 2007 by refusing to furnish adoption services to same-sex couples.

Top Pro-Abortion Senator: Sonia Sotomayor Will Support Roe on Supreme Court

Posted on June 03, 2009
LifeNews: "One of the leading pro-abortion members of the Senate has confirmed Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor's pro-abortion credentials following a private meeting with her. Sen. Diane Feinstein, a California Democrat and a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, says Sotomayor is pro-abortion...

Pro-life group wins victory at highest court in Slovak Republic

Posted on June 03, 2009
Attorney Dr. Alan Bohm together with Alliance Defense Fund attorneys represented the Centre for Bio-ethical Reform Europe, which filed suit after police disrupted a peaceful pro-life rally that was held in full compliance with domestic law.

Summum Seeks Dismissal of Its 7 Aphorisms Monument Challenge

Posted on June 03, 2009
Religion Clause Blog: "Now, according to yesterday's Deseret News, Summum has asked a federal district court to dismiss its lawsuit because subsequent developments have in effect mooted it. The city has moved the Ten Commandments monument from Roy Park to the city cemetery...

Assoc. of American Universities comments on proposed stem cell guidelines

Posted on June 03, 2009
The Association of American Universities has submitted these comments in reponse to NIH's proposed stem cell guidelines lifting restrictions on embryonic stem cell research.

American support for same sex ?marriage? has fallen despite media hype

Posted on June 03, 2009
A new poll from the USA TODAY and the Gallup Organization also found that national opposition to same-sex marriage is holding strong at 57%. Support for marriage protection has not changed in the last year in spite of the pro-gay pop culture and actions by some liberal northeastern states...

Mike S. Adams: My Declaration of Independence

Posted on June 03, 2009
Mike S. Adams writing at OneNewsNow: "Because of organizations like the Alliance Defense Fund, we are now able to wage war on these codes, not just in the court of public opinion, but in the courts of law."

GOP?Sen: Nominee could get 75 votes

Posted on June 03, 2009
Alexander Bolton writes at the Hill: "Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor on Tuesday launched her campaign to convince senators she?s worthy of a lifetime appointment, and at least one GOP member of the Judiciary Committee acknowledged her confirmation is all but a foregone conclusion...

R.I. Senate votes to extend funeral rights to domestic partners

Posted on June 03, 2009
The Providence Journal: ". . . the Senate on Tuesday approved a bill giving 'domestic partners' the right to claim the bodies of ? and make funeral arrangements for ? their loved ones. A domestic partner is defined in the measure as 'a person who prior to the decedent?s death was in an exclusive, intimate and committed relationship with the decedent...

Stealth War: Barack Obama sabotages Republicans

Posted on June 03, 2009
Politico: "Between high-profile conversions from the Northeast to the Midwest to the Rocky Mountain West ? not to mention Obama?s warm relations with the nation?s two most prominent moderate Republican governors, California?s Arnold Schwarzenegger and Florida?s Charlie Crist ? it?s beginning to look like a strategy that isolates conservatives, reinforces the impression that the GOP is defined by the borders of the Deep South and all the while underscores Obama?s stated goal of working across party lines...

Maine topless coffee shop gutted by overnight fire

Posted on June 03, 2009
AP: "A topless coffee shop that created controversy went up in flames early Wednesday, just hours after the owner talked with local officials about making the business more like a strip club."

Sacramento County Abandons Effort to Keep God Out of Some Weddings

Posted on June 03, 2009
Pacific Justice Institute: "After receiving a letter from attorneys with Pacific Justice Institute, Sacramento County has backed down from a requirement that people authorized to officiate at one marriage ceremony eliminate religious references."

Women at US Catholic Schools More Likely to Abort, Survey Shows

Posted on June 03, 2009
Catholic Culture: "The study-- by Amy Adamczyk of City University of New York-- confirmed an earlier study sponsored by the Cardinal Newman Society (CNS), which had found that Catholic colleges and universities had little impact on the moral behavior of students...

?Harvard to Endow Chair in Gay Studies?

Posted on June 03, 2009
New York Times: "Harvard University will endow a visiting professorship in lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender studies, a position that, it believes, will be the first endowed, named chair in the subject at an American college."

The Religious Right Didn?t Kill George Tiller

Posted on June 03, 2009
James Kirchick writes at the Wall Street Journal: "The organized antiabortion movement has always opposed violence against abortion providers. That has never stopped opportunistic prochoice activists, however, from conflating their passionate rhetoric with the behavior of individual criminals...

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