Religion & Law

Ruling to come later in school prayer lawsuit

Posted on April 23, 2009
The Elizabethton Star (AP): "The most recent lawsuit alleged the school district was showing hostility toward God and their religion. 'This vague policy coupled with hypersensitivity leads to inconsistent application,' said Nate Kellum, the group's attorney...

Nations Balk at UN Proposal for Billion Dollar Global Gender-Policing Agency

Posted on April 23, 2009
LifeSiteNews: "At a meeting at United Nations (UN) headquarters last week, nations pushed back when UN staff insisted governments approve an enormous new gender-policing agency with scant details on its budget, staffing, or mandate. The UN Secretariat called the meeting to get nations to choose one of four models it proposed for a new UN 'gender entity...

A change in America?s form of government? The authoritarian impulse behind the push to prosecute ex-officials

Posted on April 23, 2009
James Taranto writes at the Wall Street Journal: "If officials pay for policy mistakes not only by losing elections but by losing their freedom, that would amount to a fundamental change in America's form of government."

Secretary of State Clinton confronted on commitment to eugenicist Margaret Sanger?s global agenda

Posted on April 23, 2009
"In a House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing yesterday, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was confronted on her avowed commitment to eugenicist Margaret Sanger's global agenda . . . "

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Proposed policy would protect conscience rights of Iowa county recorder employees

Posted on April 22, 2009
A letter issued by the Alliance Defense Fund and the Iowa Family Policy Center Wednesday offers free legal defense by ADF attorneys to county recorder offices that adopt a policy protecting employee rights of conscience.

Wis. school district sued over church graduations

Posted on April 22, 2009
MyWay (AP): "A group of students and parents sued Wednesday to stop a Wisconsin school district from continuing to hold high school graduations in a Christian megachurch."

California: Same-sex ?marriage? backers plan ballot drive

Posted on April 22, 2009
San Francisco Chronicle: "Gay and lesbian groups joined with progressive and civil rights organizations Tuesday to announce they are collaborating on a poll to determine the best time and message for a ballot measure legalizing same-sex marriage."

Lila Rose: Planned Parenthood shows ?institutionalized indifference? to statutory rape

Posted on April 22, 2009
Catholic News Agency reports: "Having just released her latest undercover video showing Planned Parenthood clinics dodging mandatory sexual abuse reporting laws, investigator Lila Rose has decried the organization for its 'abortion-first mentality' and its ?institutionalized indifference? to statutory rape...

University of Louisville raises tuition, pays for LGBT lobbying

Posted on April 22, 2009
Family Foundation of Kentucky: "The Louisville Cardinal printed a story this week highlighting the well-paid executive director of U of L's . . . (LGBTQ) services, Brian Buford and his political lobbying efforts against SB68 that would prohibit gay, bisexual, and trasgender couples from fostering and adoptiong children in the state's care...

Wesley Smith: ?Homo Sapiens, Get Lost?

Posted on April 22, 2009
National Review Online: "Here and abroad, environmentalism itself seems to be evolving from a movement dedicated to conserving resources, preserving pristine areas, and protecting endangered species into an anti-humanistic ideology that increasingly disdains humankind as a scourge that literally threatens the existence of 'the planet...

San Jose libraries reject porn filter plan

Posted on April 22, 2009
KLIV: "A proposal to install Internet filters on computers in the children's section of San Jose public libraries has been rejected."

German Cabinet approves ban on child porn sites

Posted on April 22, 2009
Associated Press: "Chancellor Angela Merkel's Cabinet approved a new law Wednesday to require the vast majority of the country's Internet service providers to block child pornography sites."

Bioethics and the family in Malta

Posted on April 22, 2009
Malta Independent Online: "The doctor is expected to clearly lay out the options and either refer the couple for clinical ethics counselling, or to counsel them herself, even about the social and religious issues, as required by the biopsychosocial paradigm with which primary health care doctors work today...

Chicago residents protest strip club opening in community

Posted on April 22, 2009
CBS 2: "Chicago's laws make it one of the toughest towns in the nation to open an adult entertainment club. But the new 20,000 square foot facility is set to open Friday night despite the last-minute protests of area ministers and residents."

10th Circuit: Upholds Utah law prohibiting witholding of political contributions by public employers

Posted on April 22, 2009
Utah Education Assoc. v. Shurtleff, No. 06-4142 (10th Cir. Apr. 21, 2009): Having granted panel rehearing, we hold that under the Supreme Court's decision in Ysursa v. Pocatello Education Ass'n, 129 S. Ct. 1093 (2009), we must uphold the Utah VCA. Utah is under no obligation to aid the Unions' exercise of their First Amendment rights utilizing payroll systems, Ysursa, 129 S...

Hundreds rally to end sex trafficking in R.I.

Posted on April 22, 2009
Providence Journal: "A diverse crowd of 275 to 300 protesters crammed the State House rotunda Tuesday evening to demand that lawmakers enact legislation to combat sex-trafficking in Rhode Island."

?Victory Fund announces a dozen new endorsements?

Posted on April 22, 2009
Victory Fund: "The Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund today announced it has endorsed 12 more openly gay and lesbian candidates for public office, bringing its total number of 2009 endorsements to 32. "

The ABA?s BFF: Why Obama wants lawyers to rate judges.

Posted on April 22, 2009
Wall Street Journal: "President Obama announced recently that he will restore the American Bar Association to pre-eminence in federal judicial vetting -- a privilege it lost under President Bush. And no wonder. A study out of three universities in Georgia says the ABA's vetting is predisposed toward more generous ratings of liberal nominees than of conservatives...

Mexican states continue to preempt efforts to legalize abortion

Posted on April 22, 2009
CNA: "The Nayarit State Congress in Mexico has passed a reform of the state?s constitution that guarantees the right to life of all human beings from conception to natural death."

Tony Perkins: Why Congress Should Reject Federal ?Hate Crimes? Bill

Posted on April 22, 2009
Tony Perkins writes at Christian Post: "The House Judiciary Committee will on Wednesday consider a proposed federal 'hate crimes' bill, H.R. 1913. It would, for the first time, allow the federal government to step in and prosecute any violent crime anywhere in the country that 'is motivated by prejudice' against a number of protected characteristics, including 'sexual orientation' and 'gender identity' (that is, cross-dressing and sex changes)...

Abortion Permanently a Crime in the Dominican Republic, Pro-life Victory Comes with a Vote of 167 to 32

Posted on April 22, 2009
Christian Newswire: "In response to recent efforts by international pro-abortion groups seeking to decriminalize abortion in the Dominican Republic, legislators permanently enshrined the right to life for pre-born humans by rewriting the Constitution of the Dominican Republic with the words 'the right to life is inviolable from conception until death...

Former Miss Delaware, Day Gardner, Comments on Statements Made by Homosexual Activist Pageant Judge Perez Hilton Against Miss California Carrie Prejean

Posted on April 22, 2009
Christian Newswire: "Unfortunately, in today's crazy and mixed-up world where sex, violence, ignorance, arrogance and un-Godliness reign, we are seeing Miss California, Carrie Prejean, ridiculed for something as simple as answering a question in her honest opinion...

Nominee wins lawmakers OK for Conn. appeals court

Posted on April 22, 2009
Boston Globe (AP): "Waterbury Superior Court Judge Bethany J. Alvord has been confirmed by Connecticut's General Assembly to join the state Appellate Court."

Confirmation rush continues

Posted on April 22, 2009
Ed Whelan writes at National Review Bench Memos: "Judiciary Committee chairman Leahy has scheduled a hearing on Davis?s nomination for next Wednesday, April 29?less than four weeks after his nomination. To put this rush in context: During the Bush 43 administration, the average time from nomination to hearing for federal appellate nominees was 166 days overall, and 197 days while Leahy was chairman...

Ind. weighs rules for abortion doctors

Posted on April 22, 2009
Baptist Press: "The Indiana House of Representatives has passed a bill to require doctors who perform abortions to have hospital admitting privileges. The House voted 73-20 for the bill April 15. The legislation also would mandate that a doctor inform a woman that her unborn child may feel pain during an abortion, according to The Indianapolis Star...

FDA to allow Plan B birth control for 17-year-olds

Posted on April 22, 2009
AP: "The Food and Drug Administration says it will allow 17-year-olds to get the 'morning-after' birth control pill without a doctor's prescription. The FDA said Wednesday it will not appeal a federal judge's order overturning restrictions that were imposed during the Bush administration...

Wisconsin: County board settles on prayer policy

Posted on April 22, 2009
Wiscnews.com: "After more than four months of discussion, debate and protest regarding the Dodge County Board of Supervisor's policy on prayer, it's time to say amen ? for now. Supervisors on Tuesday adopted an invocation policy drafted by the corporation counsel that will enlist area religious leaders who volunteer their time to deliver uncensored invocations prior to county board meetings...

Fla. Supreme Court takes up Florida Bar ?gay adoption? endorsement dispute

Posted on April 22, 2009
Tallahassee.com: "State Supreme Court justices critically questioned both sides today in a dispute over whether the family-law section of the Florida Bar should be allowed to legally endorse adoption for gay couples."

Michigan House panel OKs bill for second parent adoptions

Posted on April 22, 2009
Detroit Free Press: "A sharply divided state House committee approved legislation today to authorize 'second parent' adoptions in Michigan, a change that would allow unmarried or same-sex partners to jointly adopt a child."

Iowa county recorders getting ready for same-sex applicants

Posted on April 22, 2009
Gazette: "County recorder offices are hustling to get ready for Monday, when they will start issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples."

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