Religion & Law

Maine panel endorses marriage redefinition

Posted on April 28, 2009
AP: "Eleven of the 14 Judiciary Committee members voted Tuesday to pass the bill, while two voted against it and one proposed sending it to voters in a November referendum."

Policy proposed to protect Iowa officials who object to same-sex ?marriage?

Posted on April 28, 2009
Catholic News Agency: "Doug Napier, Senior Legal Counsel for the Scottsdale, Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund, responded to what he characterized as Miller?s 'threatening' statement . . . Napier said that Iowa citizens enjoy the rights of conscience guaranteed in the U...

?Amicus briefs filed in assisted suicide case?

Posted on April 28, 2009
KPAX.com (AP): "On Tuesday the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative legal group, filed a brief on behalf of the Family Research Council, the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the Catholic Medical Association and several Montana physicians...

Pat Robertson to retire from Va. college post

Posted on April 28, 2009
AP: "Religious broadcaster Pat Robertson plans to retire next summer as president of Regent University, the private Christian college he founded in 1978, the school said Tuesday."

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?NH state Senate voting Wednesday on gay marriage?

Posted on April 28, 2009
Chicago Tribune (AP): "The New Hampshire Senate is voting Wednesday on legislation to make the Granite State the fifth to allow gay marriage. The Senate Judiciary Committee recommends killing the bill, which narrowly passed the House."

Obama Picks Leader for Global AIDS Effort

Posted on April 28, 2009
NY Times: "Dr. Eric Goosby, a pioneer in the fight against AIDS, is President Obama?s choice to run the American effort to combat the disease globally, the White House announced Monday . . . With a new administration and a Democratic majority in the House, organizations seeking prevention choices beyond abstinence and fidelity ? including a renewed commitment to distributing condoms ? are eager to try to rewrite the guidelines...

Say Yes. What Are You Waiting For?

Posted on April 28, 2009
Mark Regnerus has this commentary in the Washington Post. He argues that it is detrimental in a variety of ways for women to wait too late to get married.

Book: The Democratic Virtues of the Christian Right

Posted on April 27, 2009
Princeton University press has released a new book by Jon A. Shields titled: "The Democratic Virtues of the Christian Right."

Shariah goes to Harvard

Posted on April 27, 2009
Diana West writes at the Washington Times: "What do Pakistan's Swat Valley and Harvard University have in common? Their leading Islamic authorities uphold the Shariah (Islamic law) tradition of punishing those who leave Islam with death."

Why Harold Koh is Dividing the GOP

Posted on April 27, 2009
Massimo Calabresi writes at TIME: "The battle began in late March, when Fox News firestarter Glenn Beck said Harold Koh, Obama's nominee to be the State department's top lawyer, supported Muslim Sharia Law. "Sharia law over our Constitution!" Beck said in amazement...

Illegal Abortionist Bertha Bugarin Sentenced in San Diego

Posted on April 27, 2009
Christian Newswire: "llegal abortionist Bertha Bugarin was sentenced in San Diego County on Friday to 6 years, 8 months on nine felony counts of committing abortions without a medical license."

Supreme Court could weigh free speech vs. license plates

Posted on April 27, 2009
New York Times: "The Supreme Court has turned back at least four requests to hear cases concerning 'Choose Life' license plates in recent years. But the volume of litigation on this question and the doctrinal free-for-all it has given rise to in the lower courts have convinced many legal scholars that the court must soon step in...

Supreme Court Weighs Funding For Special Education

Posted on April 27, 2009
Washington Post: "The Supreme Court will consider a question this week that has riled parents, cost local school boards here and across the country hundreds of millions of dollars, and vexed the justices themselves: When must public school officials pay for private schooling for children with special needs?"

California: Grace Church gets right to stay in industrial park

Posted on April 27, 2009
North County Times: "A three-year dispute between a church and San Diego city planners has ended with the church accepting a $950,000 settlement and gaining the right to stay in an industrial park for another 10 years."

Germany: Berlin voters reject secondary school religion classes in lieu of ethics

Posted on April 27, 2009
AFP: "In a vote that caused lively and sometimes heated debate, 51.3 percent of those that voted were against allowing children in secondary schools the choice of taking religion instead of ethics, final results showed."

Florida Senate approves religious license plates

Posted on April 27, 2009
St. Petersburg Times: "If you want Jesus on your license plate, the Florida Senate is looking out for you."

?Presbyterians reject homosexual clergy again?

Posted on April 27, 2009
One News Now (AP): "Efforts to allow homosexual men and women to serve as clergy in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) have been defeated again."

Talks continue in Utah over polygamous sect?s trust

Posted on April 27, 2009
Salt Lake Tribune: "The trust holds most property in the twin towns of Hildale, Utah, and Colorado City, Ariz., where a majority of the 8,000 or so residents are members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. It was set up in 1942 by a group of fundamentalist Mormons to hold property communally and support members of what was then known as The Work...

LA Times: 17,000+ trafficked into U.S. last year

Posted on April 27, 2009
LA Times editorial: "More than 17,000 people were smuggled or trafficked into the United States last year. Some were duped into believing that jobs awaited them and instead were forced into debt peonage, required to work in orchards and fields or as housemaids to reimburse the cost of their transport...

Porn ?hijacks? sexuality, expert says

Posted on April 27, 2009
Deseret News: "Pornography 'hijacks a person's healthy sexuality,' said the closing keynote speaker at a conference sponsored by the Utah Coalition Against Pornography on Saturday."

?Gay Marriage And Public Opinion?

Posted on April 27, 2009
Forbes: "But while Americans' opinions on gay marriage have become more liberal, courts and legislatures remain ahead of them. Majorities continue to oppose it."

Fla. church giving ?great sex? sermons might get booted

Posted on April 27, 2009
AP: "A church giving sermons about sex may have to find a new home. Brevard Public School District's risk-management department has threatened to boot New Hope Church out of Sherwood Elementary because of a worship series titled 'Great Sex for You.'"

Afghan president promises change in marriage law

Posted on April 27, 2009
AP: "The law, which sparked an international outcry after it was signed last month, says a husband can demand sex with his wife every four days unless she is ill or would be harmed by intercourse."

Iowa: Homosexual couples line up for ?marriage?

Posted on April 27, 2009
New York Times: "County officials all over Iowa began accepting marriage license applications from same-sex couples on Monday morning, making it the third state to allow such marriages."

ACLU wants change in Colorado public nudity laws

Posted on April 27, 2009
Examiner: "The American Civil Liberties Union is lobbying for changes to state law to prevent streakers from being classified as sex offenders."

Saudis expand influence in America?s public and private schools

Posted on April 27, 2009
Examiner: "Of the 500 historical errors uncovered by the study, hundreds of them tout a blatant agenda of Islamic superiority."

Pro-life movement gets unexpected twist

Posted on April 27, 2009
LA Times: "David French, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal group, gave [Lila Rose] free advice when Planned Parenthood of Los Angeles threatened action, and appeared at her side during an interview with conservative TV talk-show host Bill O'Reilly...

Policy proposed to protect Iowa officials who object to same-sex ?marriage?

Posted on April 27, 2009
Catholic News Agency: "Napier said that Iowa citizens enjoy the rights of conscience guaranteed in the U.S. and Iowa constitutions. He said these are 'the very constitutions that county recorders swore to uphold when taking office.'"

County recorder offices: Ground zero in same-sex marriage battle

Posted on April 27, 2009
Globe Gazette: "The Alliance Defense Fund and the Iowa Family Policy Center are offering free legal defense to county recorder offices adopting a policy that protects employees who refuse to issue same-sex marriage licenses."

No Word From I.R.S. on Protest by Pastors

Posted on April 27, 2009
New York Times: "'The wheels of bureaucracy move slowly,' said Erik Stanley, the group?s senior legal counsel. 'We?re prepared if they do come after these churches, and we?re also prepared if they do not.'"

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