Religion & Law

Virginia: County prosecutor won?t charge middle schoolers in ?sexting? case

Posted on May 13, 2009
Mark Bowes reports in the Richmond Times-Dispatch: "But Commonwealth's Attorney Wade Kizer said he still hasn't decided how Henrico authorities should handle such 'sexting' incidents, which aren't really covered by law. His office and county police are still reviewing several cases involving students at Moody Middle School...

Polyamorists call for group marriage

Posted on May 13, 2009
CitizenLink: "As gay activists take aim at marriage across the country, other groups are raising their voices in the battle to redefine marriage. Polyamorists claim there?s no reason to confine a marriage to two people and are calling for 'equal marriage rights...

Obama?s DOMA pledge to homosexuals disappears from official agenda

Posted on May 13, 2009
Chelsea Schilling reports at WorldNetDaily: "The White House has scrubbed President Obama's central pledge to the homosexual community from its website ? his promise to quash the federal Defense of Marriage Act."

Michigan lawmakers weigh changes to ?bias crime? law

Posted on May 13, 2009
Todd A. Heywood reports in the Michigan Messenger: "Introduced late last month, the legislation, HB 4835 and HB 4836, would add sentencing guidelines for violations of the state?s bias crimes act. That bill would make it illegal to target a person because of their real or perceived involvement in any of a variety of protected classes, such as sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, veteran?s status, race or religion...

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South Carolina bills would allow social gambling

Posted on May 13, 2009
Seanna Adcox reports in the Charlotte Observer: "The Senate Judiciary Committee approved legislation that would revise the state's 207-year-old gambling laws, which ban 'any game with cards or dice.' Interpreted literally, those include board games such as Sorry...

North Dakota Governor signs pro-life bills on abortion, ultrasound

Posted on May 13, 2009
LifeNews: "North Dakota Gov. John Hoeven has signed a couple of pro-life bills into law, including one that would allow mothers to see an ultrasound of their unborn child prior to an abortion. The other measure requires the lone abortion center in the state to tell women considering an abortion that it will destroy the life of an unborn child, a unique human being...

ADF: Militant homosexual group faces federal suit, Bash Back! invaded MI church in Nov.

Posted on May 13, 2009
Alliance Defense Fund attorneys filed suit in federal court Wednesday against a radical anarchist group that openly advocates the use of riots and crime to further its views in favor of homosexual behavior.

Americans not concerned with diversity on Supreme Court, poll shows

Posted on May 13, 2009
LA Times: A Gallup poll finds that 64% say it 'doesn't matter' to them if the president appoints a woman and that 68% and 74% do not care whether a Hispanic or black person, respectively, is named.

Why Sexting Should Not Be Prosecuted as ?Contributing to the Delinquency of a Minor?

Posted on May 13, 2009
Julie Hilden writes at Findlaw: There is no shortcut here: Legislators need to write new laws ? and/or schools must write new policies -- regarding sexting that are specifically geared toward the peculiarities of the practice as it exists among teenagers today...

California: Paper Explores Attempt To Organize A Good News Club

Posted on May 13, 2009
The Religion Clause Blog: "The Santa Barbara Independent last week carried a long investigative article chronicling an attempt to create a Good News Club program at Cold Spring Elementary School in Santa Barbara, California."

Liberty Legal Institute: Pastors win IRS Ruling

Posted on May 13, 2009
This liberal attempt to intimidate pastors has backfired,? said Kelly Shackelford, chief counsel of Liberty Legal Institute which represented event organizers. ?There is now a clear IRS statement outlining these pastors? events and approving them as valid under the law...

La. House passes bill restricting birth certificates for adoptions by unmarried couples

Posted on May 13, 2009
Bill Barrow reports in the Times-Picayune: "The 77-18 vote on House Bill 60 comes amid the state's appeal of a December ruling from U.S. District Judge Jay Zainey, who sided with two California men seeking a revised birth certificate listing both of them as the fathers of the Shreveport-born toddler they adopted in a New York court in 2006...

Pope gunman: I want to convert to Christianity

Posted on May 13, 2009
AP: "The man who shot Pope John Paul II says he would like to convert to Christianity at a baptism ceremony at the Vatican soon after his release from prison in January, his lawyer said Wednesday."

Phoenix: Neighbors file noise complaint about church bells

Posted on May 13, 2009
AZ Republic: "A religious leader went before a judge Tuesday morning to face criminal charges regarding his church bells."

Senate Blocks Hayes as No. 2 at Interior Department

Posted on May 13, 2009
Wall Street Journal: "Republicans blocked Mr. Hayes mainly to protest the Interior Department's decision earlier this year to cancel 77 leases to drill for oil and gas in wilderness areas of Utah."

S.F. school board to vote on JROTC

Posted on May 13, 2009
Ed News: "A three-year battle over whether Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps belongs in San Francisco schools ended Tuesday night with a 4-3 vote by the school board to restore the military leadership program weeks before its scheduled expiration...

Alabama amends judicial qualification requirements

Posted on May 13, 2009
KEY PROVISIONS OF BILL: The bill requires that anyone sitting on State Supreme Court, courts of civil or criminal appeals be a licensed lawyer for at least 10 years. Circuit court judges will now need five years law license and District court three years law license...

NY State Assembly approves marriage redefinition; fate rests with Senate

Posted on May 13, 2009
"In the hours leading up to the Assembly vote, lobbyists for New Yorkers for Constitutional Freedoms and the Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based group that has sued the state for recognizing same-sex marriages performed elsewhere, were holding meetings with lawmakers...

Illinois AG: Craigslist To Drop ?Erotic Services? Ads

Posted on May 13, 2009
CBS2Chicago.com: "Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan says Craigslist is getting rid of its 'erotic services' ads and will create a new adult category that Web site employees will review."

Gender-bending chemical timebomb fear for boys? fertility

Posted on May 13, 2009
Daily Mail: "Chemicals in food, cosmetics and cleaning products are 'feminising' unborn boys and raising their risk of cancer and infertility later in life, an expert warns today."

Media bailout: Wash. gov OKs tax cut for newspapers

Posted on May 13, 2009
Seattle Times: "The new law gives newspaper printers and publishers a 40 percent cut in the state's main business tax."

Domestic partnership registry runs afoul of Ohio Constitution

Posted on May 13, 2009
OneNewsNow: "'Back in 2004, the Ohio voters enacted a state marriage amendment which prohibited any local political subdivisions from creating or recognizing a legal status for relationships of unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the relationship of marriage,' [Jim Campbell] explains...

Norfolk, Va., agrees to respect Constitutional rights of Christians

Posted on May 13, 2009
CitizenLink: "'Christians are not required to request permission from the government before exercising their First Amendment rights,' said Nate Kellum, senior counsel for ADF. 'We are pleased that Norfolk officials have agreed to respect the constitutional rights of Christians citizens, and that they can now express their faith freely and without fear of harassment or arrest...

The Irrational Woman: Informed Consent and Abortion Decision-Making

Posted on May 13, 2009
SSRN: "This Article critiques the woman-protective anti-abortion argument from the perspective of healthcare law. It compares women?s healthcare decision-making under abortion law to patient decision-making under more general law. This Article is the first to demonstrate that the woman-protective argument against abortion is an anomaly in the law?s treatment of patient healthcare decision-making...

Dismembering Families

Posted on May 13, 2009
SSRN: "In this paper, I explore how the deduction for extraordinary medical expenses, codified in I.R.C. section 213, furthers domination in American society . . . I explain how section 213 furthers the hegemony of the so-called traditional family and concomitantly contributes to the subordination of lesbian and gay families as well as many other nontraditional American families...

Law in Flux on Coverage for Same-Sex Couples

Posted on May 13, 2009
New York Law Journal: "One of the more interesting and significant questions that has recently arisen in the courts and legislatures across the country is whether same-sex couples can be legally married and thus entitled to those benefits presently available to opposite-sex couples...

NY paper reports that marriage redefinition is likey to pass Assembly

Posted on May 12, 2009
Rick Karlin reports at the Times Union's Capitol Confidential blog: "The Assembly is about an hour into the same sex marriage debate and its expected to go on for a while . . . The bill is expected to pass and the focus will then turn to the Senate."

U.S. elected to U.N. rights council for first time

Posted on May 12, 2009
Patrick Worsnip reports in the Washington Post: "The United States won election to the U.N. Human Rights Council for the first time on Tuesday, joining 17 other nations picked for the body, after the Obama administration ended a U.S. policy of boycotting it...

The empty symbolism of hate crimes legislation

Posted on May 12, 2009
Steve Chapman writing at Reason Magazine: "Federal law enforcement officials are not plagued by idleness these days, thanks to the demands on their time from terrorists, drug traffickers, human traffickers, Ponzi schemers, and crooked politicians. But Congress never stops trying to ensure full employment for FBI agents and U...

Ohio: Lawsuit filed over ?sexting? suicide

Posted on May 12, 2009
Kimball Perry reports in the Cincinnati Enquirer: "The family of a Sycamore High student who hanged herself after nude pictures she took on her cell phone were disseminated without her permission is suing the school, the city of Montgomery and several students they believe are involved...

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