Religion & Law

Why Obama Voted Against Roberts

Posted on June 02, 2009
Wall Street Journal reprints excerpts from then Senator Obama's floor speech: "There is absolutely no doubt in my mind Judge Roberts is qualified to sit on the highest court in the land. Moreover, he seems to have the comportment and the temperament that makes for a good judge...

Seventh Circuit Rules That, Under Supreme Court Precedent, the Second Amendment Is Not Incorporated Against the States

Posted on June 02, 2009
Eugene Volokh discusses the ruling, NRA v. City of Chicago, and a lot of constitutional history at the Volokh Conspiracy.

Mounting Speculation That Republican Chrysler Dealers Were Targeted

Posted on June 02, 2009
The basic issue raised here is this: How do we account for the fact millions of dollars were contributed to GOP candidates by Chrysler who are being closed by the government, but only one has been found so far that is being closed that contributed to the Obama campaign in 2008?

Are Democrats Behind Closing Republican-Owned Chrysler Dealerships?

Posted on June 02, 2009
U.S. News and World Report: "A number of bloggers are pointing out that the dealerships targeted for closure are owned by people who appear to be overwhelmingly Republican in their political giving patterns. In fact, one of the auto dealers happens to be a Republican member of the U...

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With Strong Bipartisan Support, Florida Strengthens Scholarship Program

Posted on June 02, 2009
Alliance for School Choice: "More companies can now participate in Florida?s popular parental choice program, thanks to a bill signed last night by Gov. Charlie Crist. The bill?which received strong bipartisan support in the Florida Senate and House?allows insurance companies to receive premium tax credits for making donations to nonprofits that help provide low-income students with scholarships to attend private schools...

Conservative Groups Want GOP to Oppose, Possibly Filibuster, Sonia Sotomay

Posted on June 02, 2009
LifeNews: "Conservative political groups are asking Republican members of the Senate to filibuster the nomination of Supreme Court pick Sonia Sotomayor. They are concerned about her judicial philosophy in light of comments she previously made saying the courts are the place to make legislative policy...

Why should Obama address ?the Muslim world??

Posted on June 02, 2009
Spengler (David P. Goldman) writing at Asia Times Online: "To speak to the 'Muslim world', is to speak not to a fact, but rather to an aspiration, and that is the aspiration that Islam shall be a global state religion as its founders intended. To address this aspiration is to breathe life into it...

3rd Circuit: Parent Can?t Read Bible to Son?s Public School Class

Posted on June 02, 2009
Shannon P. Duffy reports in The Legal Intelligencer: "The latest such case, Busch v. Marple Newtown School District, attracted six friend-of-the-court briefs when it went before the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals and resulted in a 48-page decision with all three judges on the panel weighing in ...

Tiller?s Killer: Is it wrong to murder an abortionist?

Posted on June 02, 2009
William Saletan writes at Slate: "If abortion is murder, the most efficient thing you could have done to prevent such murders this month was to kill George Tiller . . . The reason these pro-life groups have held their fire, both rhetorically and literally, is that they don't really equate fetuses with old or disabled people ...

Democrats clear decks for healthcare

Posted on June 02, 2009
"In doing so, the administration appears to be learning from the experiences of the Clinton administration, which engaged in divisive intra-party battles over trade and gays in the military as it fought unsuccessfully for healthcare reform."

?Coleman-Franken Roundup? and Yesterday?s oral argument

Posted on June 02, 2009
How Appealing reports and links to the argument.

Pierce vs Society of Sisters (& Hill Military Academy)

Posted on June 02, 2009
David W. Kirkpatrick writes at EdNews: "On June 1, 1925, 84 years ago today, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court handed down this decision which clearly established the right of parents to determine how their children would be educated. The right was challenged on November 7, 1922 when Oregon voters, urged by the Klu Klux Klan, among others, adopted an initiative requiring all school age youngsters in Oregon to attend public schools only...

Religious freedom in workplace gets shield

Posted on June 02, 2009
StatesmanJournal.com: "Gov. Ted Kulongoski is set to receive a bill ensuring that employees of Oregon businesses will be able to practice their religion freely. Senate Bill 786, which the House passed 38-21 on Friday, requires that employers must provide accommodation for religious beliefs provided that it does not impose an "undue hardship" on the business...

Shiite-Christian alliance shakes Lebanon politics

Posted on June 02, 2009
AP: "It's an unusual alliance in a country where your religion usually determines your politics: Christians siding with Shiite Muslim militant Hezbollah. But it has shaken up Lebanon's politics, and backers say it represents the future of this long divided nation...

Faith vs. evolution - considering the debate

Posted on June 02, 2009
One News Now: "The Discovery Institute has launched a new website which debates the question: Can evolution and faith co-exist? . . . " FaithandEvolution.org

Natural Law and Economics: Total Strangers or Separated Lovers?

Posted on June 02, 2009
James Stoner writes at Public Discource: A recent conference at Princeton University asked whether in the midst of current economic challenges natural law philosophy might not provide a better foundation for the practice of economics than the utilitarian account of value that currently underwrites it.

Indiana: Sex shop closing before it opens

Posted on June 02, 2009
JournalGazette.net: "Blanton believes the city needs an ordinance that would dictate where such businesses can operate. And she supports Mayor Terry McDonald?s effort to reintroduce such a bill, she said. McDonald said Monday that the city is still conducting research into such an ordinance...

Mike?s Peak

Posted on June 02, 2009
Mike S. Adams writes at One News Now: When I got back to North Carolina I called one of my lawyers, Travis Barham, at the Alliance Defense Fund. I told him that far from wanting to quit I was ready to get back in the trenches and try to make things right in the UNC system...

?Christian Fundamentalist Terrorism?

Posted on June 02, 2009
Shannyn Moore pontificates at the Huffington Post: "Christian Fundamentalist Terrorism. It's shocking to write. But it's time to start calling it what it is."

?NY exhibit on gay rights hits amid marriage debate?

Posted on June 02, 2009
Reuters: "As exhibitions go, the New York Public Library's '1969: The Year of Gay Liberation' could hardly have chosen better timing. With debate raging over same-sex marriage across the United States, the library in midtown Manhattan opened the exhibit on Monday to mark the 40th anniversary of the so-called Stonewall riots that triggered the modern U...

UK Priest Attacked for Saying that Sexual Abuse in Irish Schools Mostly Homosexual

Posted on June 02, 2009
LifeSiteNews: Fr. John Owen, a UK aide to the Archbishop of Cardiff, has come under fire from pro-homosexual groups for stating that most sexual abuse cases committed by clergy are ?committed by homosexuals? on BBC1's Big Questions. The priest said that the majority of sexual abuse by clergy affected teenage boys, drawing criticism from other panelists on the show that he is ?ill-informed, ignorant, corrupt and dishonest...

Fla. school district agrees to end discriminatory treatment of Christian club

Posted on June 02, 2009
ABC (WMBB.com): ?Christian student groups shouldn?t be discriminated against for their beliefs,? said ADF Senior Legal Counsel David Cortman. ?Further, it is unconstitutional to prohibit school district employees from attending a private religious service on their own time and in their individual capacities...

?Gay couples call on NY Senate to OK same-sex marriage?

Posted on June 02, 2009
Newsday: "Already there are enough votes for it to pass and a cushion," said Duane, the only openly gay senator. Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, who spoke to the couples, disagreed, saying the 32 votes needed for passage aren't in hand.

Fla. school district agrees to end discriminatory treatment of Christian club

Posted on June 02, 2009
Officials at Santa Rosa County School District, who previously barred a Christian-based club from meeting at Jay High School, have reversed course after receiving a letter from the Alliance Defense Fund.

?New York Senate Has the Votes to OK Gay Marriage. Will It??

Posted on June 02, 2009
Queerty (video also available at the link): Yes, according to Manhattan's Sen. Thomas Duane (right), who claims he's got 32 senators locked up, though he's not yet naming names. In a news conference yesterday, Duane announced, "I'm telling you we have the votes, it's coming to the floor, it's passing...

Seventy Percent of Americans Can?t Leave the Country

Posted on June 02, 2009
Reason: "Do you feel safer today? Let's hope so, since you're certainly less free to travel about the Northern Hemisphere. Beginning just after midnight, every American returning from Canada, Mexico, and various island paradises now have to flash a U...

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach: ?No Holds Barred: Would Jesus oppose gays and be silent on porn??

Posted on June 02, 2009
Rabbi Shmuley Boteach writes at the Jerusalem Post: "Here's a glimpse of religion in America. All gays all the time. It seems that nothing else can capture the spiritual imagination of this nation. Jesus came to the world to stop the damned gays. He had precious little else to say...

Thomas Berg: ?Gay marriage: A threat to religious liberty??

Posted on June 02, 2009
Thomas Berg writing at The Christian Century: "Giving meaningful protection to conscientious objectors is not only right in principle; it is also a sensible strategy for supporters of same-sex marriage. It answers a significant objection to gay marriage...

Living on the Edge: The Margins of Legal Personhood, Symposium Foreword

Posted on June 02, 2009
Rutgers Law Journal: "In January 2008, at the Association of American Law Schools' annual meeting, the Jurisprudence Section conducted a panel on 'The Margins of Legal Personhood.' The goal of this panel was to draw (or sever) connections between and among different 'marginal' entities: the psychopath, the animal, and the embryo or fetus...

Why Should Feminist Jurisprudence Be a Compulsory Course at Law School?

Posted on June 02, 2009
SSRN: "Feminist jurisprudence is a general term that encompasses many theories and approaches based on examining gender, sexuality, and power in relation to the legal system. As a field of legal scholarship and theory, feminist jurisprudence had its beginnings in the 1960s...

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