Religion & Law

?Gays In The Military Should Be Allowed To Come Out, U.S. Voters Tell Quinnipiac University National Poll; Key Is Belief That Being Gay Is By Choice Or By Birth?

Posted on April 30, 2009
Quinnipiac University National Poll: "The ban on openly gay men and women in the military should be repealed, American voters say 56 - 37 percent, including 50 - 43 percent among voters with family in the military, according to a Quinnipiac University national poll released today...

New fight brews over UN treaty on children?s rights

Posted on April 30, 2009
Detroit Free Press (AP): "A global children's rights treaty, ratified by every United Nations member except the United States and Somalia, has so alarmed its American critics, led by a Michigan congressman, that some are now pushing to add a parental rights amendment to the Constitution as a buffer against it...

Maggie Gallagher leading charge against same-sex ?marriage?

Posted on April 30, 2009
Keith Eddings interviews Maggie Gallagher in The Journal News..

Obama/Clinton Position on Family Planning and Abortion Violates Cairo Agreement

Posted on April 30, 2009
"Clinton?s linkage of family planning with abortion is not just a severe break with the previous administration; it is a clear violation of the Cairo Program for Action, which her husband?s government helped to negotiate in 1994. The Cairo document explicitly states in two places that abortion should in no case 'be promoted as a method of family planning...

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

TN: ACLU delays lawsuit over LGBT web access in schools

Posted on April 30, 2009
The Tennessean: "The American Civil Liberties Union will wait another week before deciding whether to sue Metro Nashville schools for blocking access to nonsexual Web sites about lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues."

Islamic Scholars Wrestle With Death-For-Apostasy Issue

Posted on April 30, 2009
CNSNews: "An international Islamic body has appointed a committee of six religious scholars to study one of the most contentious issues in Islam today ? whether 'apostates' should face the death penalty."

Protecting Medical Professionals Who Morally Oppose Abortion Is ?Short-sighted,? Democratic Senator Says

Posted on April 30, 2009
CNSNews: ?I want you to know I am going to keep fighting for a reversal of that HHS provider-refusal regulation,? Murray said. ?It?s so important. It?s so short-sighted. You know, when we have 45 million Americans who are underserved and women and families are already struggling to access basic health care, it?s just wrong to make access to health care even more difficult,? she added.

First 300,000 Petition Signatures Delivered to Notre Dame Board Members, Fr. Jenkins

Posted on April 30, 2009
LifeSiteNews: "This morning the first 300,000 names of individuals who signed the petition at NotreDameScandal.com - opposing the University of Notre Dame's decision to honor President Barack Obama at this year's commencement - began to be delivered to Notre Dame president Rev...

Joel Oster on the Jody Hice Show: Kansas pastor arrested for sharing his faith

Posted on April 30, 2009
ADF attorney Joel Oster appeared on the Jody Hice Show to discuss the case of a Kansas pastor who was arrested for sharing his faith on a public sidewalk during an event celebrating homosexual behavior. The mp3 runs just under 14 minutes. Related ADF press release: Pastor prevails in Wichita

Abortion Law ?Not the Highest Legislative Priority? for Obama

Posted on April 30, 2009
CNSNews: "President Barack Obama says a bill eliminating state restrictions on abortion will take a back seat to other challenges facing the country."

A Primer on Human Sexuality?

Posted on April 30, 2009
William E. May writes at the Culture of Life Foundation: "Genital union between unmarried men and women does not, in truth, unite two irreplaceable and non-substitutable persons, because unmarried men and women are unmarried precisely because they have refused to 'give' themselves unconditionally to each other and to make each other irreplaceable and non-substitutable in their lives...

Misdemeanor Courts a Waste of Time and Money, Says Defense Lawyers Group

Posted on April 30, 2009
The National Law Journal: "Misdemeanor courts are a waste of time and money. So claims the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, which on Tuesday issued a first-of-its-kind national report on the status of misdemeanor courts across the country...

Christian student booted for not embracing homosexuality

Posted on April 30, 2009
Christian Examiner: "'Christian students shouldn?t be penalized for holding to their beliefs,' said ADF Senior Counsel David French. 'When a public university has a prerequisite of affirming homosexual behavior as morally good in order to obtain a degree, the school is stepping over the legal line...

Legal battle over mandatory sex ed in Germany

Posted on April 30, 2009
OneNewsNow: "'The family, the Elscheidt family, believe that this was contrary to their faith,' says Kiska. 'They did a lot of research on the governing law in Europe as well as international law coming from the United Nations documents, and they determined that since this was so contrary to their faith and that it would do damage to their ability as parents to raise their children according to that faith, that they would teach their child at home on this issue and only this issue...

?American Character, the Remix: How College is Shaping Us Now?

Posted on April 30, 2009
America has its own madrasses?secular madrassas of multiculturalism and sustainability. We call them public schools . . .

MA: Springfield law may curb strip venues

Posted on April 30, 2009
The Republican: "One of the changes in the proposed revision to the city zoning code could jeopardize the future of the Mardi Gras and other strip clubs, officials said. The change may trigger a state law which could require strip club owners obtain special permits from the City Council, lawyers and other officials told councilors on Monday...

West Virginia: Segal wants judge off case because of religion

Posted on April 30, 2009
West Virginia Record: "Prominent Charleston lawyer Scott Segal wants a circuit judge disqualified from hearing a lawsuit brought against him by a man who says a conspiracy based on faith has kept him from practicing law in West Virginia."

Cal. Supreme Court lets private schools expel lesbians

Posted on April 30, 2009
"The state Supreme Court left intact Wednesday a lower-court ruling that said a private religious high school wasn't covered by California civil rights law and could expel students it believed were lesbians."

Britain?s New Equality Bill Published and Introduced Into Commons

Posted on April 30, 2009
The Religion Clause Blog: "It is designed to place a new equality duty on public bodies, and to consolidate nine existing anti-discrimination laws into one Equality Bill."

Florida: ?An eventful encounter at a ?non-event? park?

Posted on April 30, 2009
One News Now: "Alliance Defense Fund attorneys have filed suit against the city of Pensacola. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of Faustina Old Catholic Church. Daniel Blomberg is an Alliance Defense Fund attorney. "

Senate Judiciary Hearing Held On Nominees for Civil Rights Division, Judgeships

Posted on April 30, 2009
The Religion Clause Blog reports: "Yesterday, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing on three nominees (webcast of hearing) . . . the most controversial of the nominations is that of David Hamilton . . . "

ADF offers to defend Orange County policy preventing public funds from subsidizing abortionists

Posted on April 30, 2009
Alliance Defense Fund attorneys have offered to defend the Orange County Board of Supervisors pro bono in the event it faces any threats of legal action by Planned Parenthood or similar pro-abortion groups over a new policy the board passed Tuesday restricting certain county funds from being used for abortions.

Miss California to campaign against ?gay marriage?; New religious liberty ad campaign

Posted on April 30, 2009
AP: "Carrie Prejean told NBC's 'Today' show Thursday that she'll be working with the National Organization for Marriage to 'protect traditional marriages.'"

Report shows press freedom declines worldwide

Posted on April 30, 2009
AP: "Declines in Israel, Italy and Taiwan illustrate that established democracies with traditional open media are not immune to restricting freedom," said Arch Puddington, research director for Freedom House, a nonprofit organization that plans to release the report on Friday in advance of World Press Freedom Day on Sunday.

Legal battle over mandatory sex ed in Germany

Posted on April 30, 2009
One News Now: Roger Kiska, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund's European office, explains the Elscheidt's situation. "The family, the Elscheidt family, believe that this was contrary to their faith," says Kiska. "They did a lot of research on the governing law in Europe as well as international law coming from the United Nations documents, and they determined that since this was so contrary to their faith and that it would do damage to their ability as parents to raise their children according to that faith, that they would teach their child at home on this issue and only this issue...

ADF protects freedom of speech

Posted on April 30, 2009
Tulsa Beacon: "Freedom of speech is alive again on the campus of The City College of San Francisco thanks to the Alliance Defense Fund. The college arrested an employee of Jews for Jesus, an evangelistic group, for handing out literature (Gospel tracts) on campus 'without a permit...

Iowa litigation: ?When Religion and Diversity Collide in the Workplace?

Posted on April 30, 2009
Travelers RM Plus Online: A senior systems engineer filed a lawsuit against his former employer claiming that the employer?s mandatory diversity training course violated his civil rights. The man claims his religion teaches that homosexuality is a sin and that he was terminated for objecting to training that encouraged acceptance of homosexuals...

Urban Catholic Schools, Social Cohesion, and Land Use

Posted on April 30, 2009
< ahref="http://ssrn.com/abstract=1395676">Notre Dame Legal Studies: "Catholic elementary schools, and particularly those located in inner cities, are a type of land use that provides positive external effects to their neighborhoods. We will make the theoretical case for the importance of parochial schools not just for the students in them, or even for their families, but for the broader communities...

NPR axes Christian radio programs

Posted on April 30, 2009
One News Now: "The rule, which takes effect May 1, means that any NPR stations carrying religious programming must cease and desist that programming as of that date."

Tennessee?s jihad against homeschoolers

Posted on April 30, 2009
Tennessee News Platoon: "As a result of her presentations, other agencies and departments of the state began to reject diplomas issued to homeschoolers when a high school diploma was required by law for certain regulated categories of employmen."

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