Religion & Law

Wyoming: Marriage bill splits delegation

Posted on January 27, 2011
Cody (Wyo.) Enterprise: "Gay marriage is again before the Legislature and Cody's two Republican representatives are divided in their views - and votes - about one key bill. At issue is whether Wyoming should recognize same-sex unions from other states...

IL: School board OKs new charter schools for 6,000 kids

Posted on January 27, 2011
Chicago Sun-Times: "The Chicago Board of Education on Wednesday approved charter school expansion for just under 6,000 students ? providing an educational experience one parent said was as different from a traditional public school as 'night and day.'"

Border authorities arrest controversial Muslim cleric east of San Diego

Posted on January 27, 2011
L.A. Times / L.A. Now: "U.S. border authorities have arrested a controversial Muslim cleric who was deported from Canada to Tunisia three years ago and was caught earlier this month trying to sneak into California inside the trunk of a BMW, according to court documents...

Michael J. New: More misleading research about the mental-health consequences of abortion

Posted on January 27, 2011
Michael J. New writing at National Review Online / The Corner: "It should also be noted that this research was funded by a grant from the Susan Thompson Buffet Foundation. This foundation was formed by investor Warren Buffet and named in honor of his wife after her death in 1994...

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Fr. Frank Pavone: What disease does abortion cure?

Posted on January 27, 2011
Fr. Frank Pavone writing at The Washington Post / On Faith: "[T]here is no proven medical benefit to the killing of a child in the womb. What disease does abortion cure? A medical procedure is supposed to help the body do what it is trying to do but is having difficulty doing...

Erik Stanley: Does ADF believe the Constitution contains a ?separation of church and state??

Posted on January 27, 2011
ADF attorney Erik Stanley writing at Speak Up Movement / Church: "The most recent 'contribution' to the hyperbolic musings of the [Americans United for Separation of Church and State] blog was this little piece that trumpeted that ADF has now 'converted' to AU?s position, and now believes that 'separation of church and state' is in the Constitution ...

David Cortman on the Mike Gallagher Show: Christian bricks banned

Posted on January 26, 2011
ADF attorney David Cortman appeared on the Mike Gallagher Show to discuss this: Not just another brick in the walkway: Calif. high school forbids Christian pavers. | MP3 audio 6:05 mins

Slovakia: Hospital denies political link to abortion halt

Posted on January 26, 2011
The Slovak Spectator: "Bratislava University Hospital has rejected allegations that its new policy effectively ending abortion procedures was introduced based on a demand or call from Health Minister Ivan Uhliarik (Christian Democratic Movement (KDH)), hospital spokesperson Zuzana ?i?máriková told the TASR newswire on Tuesday, January 25...

UK: Portsmouth councillor in imam prayer protest

Posted on January 26, 2011
BBC: "Conservative councillor Malcolm Hey left Tuesday night's Portsmouth City Council chamber while Sheikh Fazle Abbas Datoo was speaking."

CA: Appeal of controversial Temecula mosque denied

Posted on January 26, 2011
The Press-Enterprise: "After an 8 ½-hour meeting, the Temecula City Council voted early Wednesday to allow a controversial mosque to be built. The vote, at 3:34 a.m., denied an appeal of the Planning Commission?s approval of a permit and development plan for the mosque sought for years by the Islamic Center of Temecula Valley...

Okla. lawmaker seeks to protect students? religious viewpoints

Posted on January 26, 2011
First Amendment Center (AP): "Introduced for the upcoming legislative session by state Rep. Mike Reynolds, H.B. 1001 provides that 'each school district shall adopt a policy, which shall include the establishment of a limited public forum for student speakers at all school events at which a student is to publicly speak...

NH: Federal court denies Jehovah Witness discrimination claim against Merrimack

Posted on January 26, 2011
Nashua Telegraph: "A federal judge ruled that Merrimack planners didn?t discriminate on religious grounds when they denied a building request of a Jehovah?s Witness church."

Calif. AG says religious beliefs can?t trump ban on beards for prison guards

Posted on January 26, 2011
The Canadian Press: "California's attorney general says religious beliefs aren't enough to trump a corrections department ban on prison guards wearing beards ? a stance that drew protests Tuesday from civil rights organizations."

Prayer, student speakers unwelcome

Posted on January 26, 2011
OneNewsNow: "'The university is the entity that decided to let the students choose, and then once the students chose overwhelmingly to include prayers in the ceremony, the university decided that . . . it would not allow that to happen,' reports Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) attorney [Travis Barham]...

?Gay marriage could move forward in some U.S. states?

Posted on January 26, 2011
Reuters: "A handful of U.S. states are poised to take up the issue of gay marriage afresh, due largely to incoming lawmakers who may tip the balance in favor of the controversial measure. In Maryland, New York and Rhode Island in particular, the legalization of same-sex marriages is moving ahead, organizers and supporters say...

Homosexuality ?against human spirit?: Ahmadinejad

Posted on January 26, 2011
AFP: "Iran's hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Thursday that homosexuality is 'against the human spirit,' the ILNA news agency reported."

Amended opinion issued, en banc review denied, in World Vision case

Posted on January 26, 2011
Religion Clause: "Yesterday, a panel of the 9th Circuit issued an amended opinion and denied an en banc rehearing in Spencer v. World Vision, Inc., (9th Cir., Jan. 25, 2011). At issue is whether the Christian humanitarian organization, World Vision, comes within the exemption in Title VII  ...

Senate nears approval of filibuster changes

Posted on January 26, 2011
Washington Post: "The Senate edged closer Tuesday to resolving a standoff over the chamber's arcane rules after leaders presented a set of modest changes designed to satisfy a group of junior Democrats who are pushing to dramatically revamp the filibuster process...

Pat Buchanan: And the debt bomb ticks on

Posted on January 26, 2011
Pat Buchanan writing at Townhall: "With his approval rating moving up to 50 percent and higher in some polls, the pundits are all agreed . . . He is now the winter-book favorite in 2012. There is a feeling that at last we are coming out of the Great Recession...

Scott Fischbach: Minnesota?s disadvantaged mothers need help, not abortions

Posted on January 26, 2011
Scott Fischbach, executive director of Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life, writing at Minnesota Public Radio: "Now it is time for the Legislature to represent the will of the people by passing a ban on taxpayer-funded abortions, and for Gov. Mark Dayton to allow the ban to become law...

CBO: this year?s budget deficit to hit $1.5T

Posted on January 26, 2011
Associated Press: "A new estimate predicts the federal budget deficit will hit almost $1.5 trillion this year, a stunning new record."

?Hawaii Gov. appoints gay judge? to Supreme Court

Posted on January 26, 2011
Honolulu Star Advertiser: "Sabrina Shizue McKenna, a longtime state judge and former University of Hawaii women's basketball player who was born in Tokyo and raised by a single mother, was nominated to a 10-year term on the Hawaii Supreme Court yesterday ...

Nearly 50 million abortions have been performed in U.S. since Roe v. Wade

Posted on January 26, 2011
CNSNews: "The pro-abortion rights Alan Guttmacher Institute reports that there have been nearly 50 million abortions performed since 1973, the year the Supreme Court issued the Roe v. Wade decision ushering in legal abortion nationwide."

Canada: ?Is B.C. ready for an openly gay party leader??

Posted on January 26, 2011
The Globe and Mail: "He has to win his party?s leadership first, of course, but he has an excellent chance of doing that . . . There has been at least one gay premier in Canada, although New Brunswick?s Richard Hatfield remained in the closet throughout his career...

Walter E. Williams: Can our nation be saved?

Posted on January 26, 2011
Walter E. Williams writing at Townhall: "Everyone who receives government largesse and special favors deems his needs as vital, deserving, proper and in the national interest. It is entirely unreasonable to expect a politician to honor and obey our Constitution and in the process commit political suicide...

How public unions took taxpayers hostage

Posted on January 26, 2011
Fred Siegel writing in the Wall Street Journal: "The first to seize on the political potential of government workers was New York City Mayor Robert F. Wagner. The mayor's father, a prominent New Deal senator, had authored the landmark 1935 Wagner Act, which imposed on private employers the legal duty to bargain collectively with the properly elected union representatives of their employees...

Egyptian police crack down on new protests

Posted on January 26, 2011
Associated Press: "Egyptian anti-government activists clashed with police for a second day Wednesday in defiance of an official ban on any protests. Beefed up police forces on the streets quickly moved in and used tear gas and beatings to disperse any demonstrations...

Child porn at MTV

Posted on January 26, 2011
Ken Blackwell and Ken Klukowski writing in The American Spectator: "The child porn allegations made against MTV for its "Skins" show must be investigated by the Obama Justice Department. Child Pornography is not protected by the First Amendment, and producing child porn is a crime...

Hawaii: Abercrombie shuts out public in judicial selection process

Posted on January 26, 2011
Honolulu Star Advertiser: "The governor introduced Circuit Judge Sabrina McKenna yesterday as the first of three associate justices he'll nominate for the five-member state Supreme Court early in his term. The Senate must confirm . . . It leaves the public with no voice in the vetting, no chance to judge the quality or diversity of candidates put forth by the secretive selection panel and no way to see any politics at play in the governor's pick...

Senate leaders eye option of state bankruptcy

Posted on January 26, 2011
Reuters: "Senate Republican leaders said on Tuesday they were considering introducing legislation to allow financially stressed U.S. states to declare bankruptcy, even though the No. 2 Republican in the House of Representatives has rebuffed the idea."

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