Religion & Law

Germany: Court ruling could mean equal adoption rights for ?gay? couples

Posted on January 28, 2011
The Local: "While homosexual couples are allowed to adopt their partner?s own biological children thanks to a Constitutional Court ruling in the summer of 2009, the same rule does not apply to non-biological adopted children. But the Hamburg upper regional court (OLG) called this 'unequal treatment of marriage and civil unions in current adoption law' that is neither constitutional nor in the child?s best interest, broadcaster NDR reported...

India: Bill seeks to regulate surrogacy

Posted on January 28, 2011
Times of India: "A woman acting as surrogate mother in India cannot be less than 21 or over 35 years. Also, she cannot give more than five live births, including her own children. With India fast emerging as a hotspot for rent-a-womb phenomenon, the Union health ministry has now finalised the Assisted Reproductive Technologies (ART) Regulation Bill 2010, which has been sent to the law ministry for its approval...

Reproductive technologies creating a new stolen generation

Posted on January 28, 2011
Bill Muehlenberg writing at Christian Today: "While many adults applaud the new reproductive technologies, many children conceived by these means are far from thrilled with them. Many are left not knowing who their actual mother or father is. And many go though lifelong agony and grief as a result...

Jeremiah G. Dys: Parents need way to grieve

Posted on January 28, 2011
Jeremiah G. Dys, president and general counsel of The Family Policy Council of West Virginia, writing in the Charleston Gazette: "Faced with an agonizing loss, Cassandra and her family began making plans for mourning little Bobby James. But, because of a loophole in West Virginia's law, they were not allowed to do so...

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

Reps. Issa and Gowdy: Do the right thing, right now, on D.C. Opportunity Scholarships

Posted on January 28, 2011
Washington Examiner: "House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, introduced a bill this week to reauthorize the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, a successful education reform that has provided scholarships up to $7,500 annually for more than 3,300 disadvantaged children living in the District of Columbia...

Sweden is a model for American school choice options

Posted on January 28, 2011
Odd Eigen writing in the Washington Examiner: "Under our system, every family has the right to choose a school that's right for their child. And every student brings with him the same amount of per pupil funding as the cost of the public school in his or her home district ...

Obama to push gun-control measures

Posted on January 28, 2011
Washington Examiner: "President Obama's decision to push new gun-control measures in the wake of the mass shootings in Tucson, Ariz., is out of character and faces dubious prospects with a new Republican majority in the House."

D.C. strip club has ties to gangster legend

Posted on January 28, 2011
Washington Times: "A controversial strip club in Northeast Washington is operating with a liquor license reserved in 2007 for a blighted warehouse property owned by a convicted drug kingpin who at the time was receiving city funds to renovate the site as a job-training center for ex-offenders, records show...

Tyler Clementi Act a serious threat to free speech

Posted on January 28, 2011
Robert Shibley writing at Pajamas Media: "[A]s the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) has repeatedly determined, the vast majority of colleges maintain policies that restrict far more expression than the law requires . . . Lautenberg and Holt?s bill will only make this problem worse by actually requiring colleges and universities to enact policies that violate the Constitution...

UK: Islamists establish a bridgehead in Parliament; MP and peer resign

Posted on January 28, 2011
Andrew Gilligan writing in the Daily Telegraph: "In November, I disclosed how the new All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Islamophobia had unwittingly appointed a group of Islamist sympathisers called Engage (or iEngage) to act as its secretariat ...

Pakistan: Preparing a terrorist attack to eliminate Catholic Minister Bhatti

Posted on January 28, 2011
Fides: "Terrorist organizations in Pakistan are preparing an attack to eliminate Catholic Shahbaz Bhatti, Federal Minister for Religious Minorities."

?Gay? Ugandan Brenda Namigadde loses UK court appeal

Posted on January 28, 2011
BBC: "Lawyers for a Ugandan woman who says she is a lesbian say a judge has rejected an initial appeal for an injunction to stop her deportation. Brenda Namiggade says she fears for her life if she is returned to Uganda where gay sex is against the law...

Sweden?s national library seeks guidance on child porn

Posted on January 28, 2011
The Local: "Sweden?s National Library has sought guidance from the government after determining that a portion of its magazine collection features child pornography."

Canada: School board passes ?anti-homophobia? policy

Posted on January 28, 2011
Comox Valley Echo: "The Comox Valley School District is taking strides to protect students with anti-homophobia policy passed Tuesday."

University of Michigan?s campus ban reviewed after 2,000 are restricted

Posted on January 27, 2011
Detroit Free Press: "The University of Michigan has barred about 2,000 people from its campus or parts of its campus since 2001, according to documents released this week by the university."

Is Georgia DHS burying abortion numbers?

Posted on January 27, 2011
Georgia Family Council: "[T]hey have buried the information in the OASIS data management server so that you have to dig it up that way. What?s more, they don?t use the term 'abortion' anywhere in OASIS that I can find. Instead, they use the sterile euphemism/acronym ITOP (Induced Termination of Pregnancy)...

Feds estimate deportation costs $12,500 per person

Posted on January 27, 2011
CNSNews: "A high-level immigration official says it costs $12,500 to arrest, detain and deport each person removed from the U.S."

High revenue keeps porn available in hotels

Posted on January 27, 2011
OneNewsNow: "'It is undoubtedly true that people who travel with laptops use that means for getting pornography, more so than they would to get a pay-per-view channel on television. So there is likely a decline in the revenue from pornography,' he agrees...

?The GOP?s quiet evolution on gay rights?

Posted on January 27, 2011
Aaron Blake writing at Washington Post / The Fix: "[T]he Republican Party has moved steadily to the left on gay rights . . . Ten years ago, it wouldn't have been so easy for many of these influential conservatives to ally themselves with gay Republicans...

Maryland State Board of Physicians formally charges Utah abortionist

Posted on January 27, 2011
DFW Catholic: "In the new document filed last week, the Medical Board formally charges Riley with fraudulently attempting to obtain a medical license, unprofessional conduct, aiding an unqualified person in the practice of medicine, and lying on her medical board license application...

Military to unveil homosexual indoctrination plan

Posted on January 27, 2011
OneNewsNow: "Officials say Pentagon leaders will roll out a plan Friday that is expected to give the military services about three months to train their forces on the new law allowing 'gays' to serve openly."

Homeschool Freedom Act introduced in New Hampshire

Posted on January 27, 2011
ChristianNewsWire: "New Hampshire moved one step closer to homeschool freedom as House Bill 301, the Homeschool Freedom Act, sponsored by State Representative James Parison was formally introduced."

US military to end ?gay ban? this year: Gates

Posted on January 27, 2011
AFP: "Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday the US military would be able to scrap a ban on gays serving openly in the military by the end of the year, promising swift action."

Defense of Marriage Act in trouble?

Posted on January 27, 2011
Presidential Prayer Team: "Though the brief acknowledges that 'in the end, the large majority of states today do not recognize same-sex marriage,' Alliance Defense Fund Legal Counsel [Dale Schowengerdt] criticized the defense as being 'deficient,' asserting that the Department of Justice is giving a weak defense of DOMA because the president is in favor of its repeal...

Army bills Lt Choi $2,500 for DADT discharge

Posted on January 27, 2011
DailyKos: "Lt Dan Choi has been served with a collection notice, asking him to repay $2,519.18 left on his service contract, which was prematurely terminated when it became publicly known he was gay . . . He says he's not paying."

Ireland: Father removes son from school over prayers

Posted on January 27, 2011
Belfast Telegraph: "Martijn Leenheer said he was 'shocked' to accidentally discover five-year-old Finn had been reciting prayers several times a day at Drumlease Primary School in Dromahair, Co Leitrim, despite the fact that his parents had opted out of Catholic religious instruction for their child...

UK: Somerset council turns down church grant bid for children?s group

Posted on January 27, 2011
This is Somerset: "Church leaders have accused a Somerset council of political correctness after they were denied a grant for a children's group ? for being religious. Newtown King's Church in Bridgwater asked Sedgemoor District Council for £285 to fund a daily two-hour programme for youngsters during the Easter holidays...

Evolution sparks controversy in Turkish schools

Posted on January 27, 2011
Deutsche Welle: "The reprimanding of a teacher for advocating evolution has prompted a political row in Turkey, as teachers and academics worry that the Islamic-rooted government is trying to undermine science education."

33% of GOP voters hope Palin isn?t 2012 nominee

Posted on January 27, 2011
Rasmussen Reports: "A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 81% of Likely GOP Primary Voters have a favorable opinion of Mitt Romney, former governor of Massachusetts and an unsuccessful candidate for the Republican presidential nomination in 2008...

Video: Too religious to home-school?

Posted on January 27, 2011
Fox News / Live Shots: "Like many parents who home-school, Voydatch believes in the importance of teaching the basics of reading and writing. But she also believes in the importance of a religious education . . . 'The judge,' explained Simmons, 'said that Amanda reflected her mother?s rigidity in matters of Faith, and that because of that rigidity she needed to be ordered into government run schools...

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