Religion & Law

An argument for ?gay marriage? based on equality rests on false assumption

Posted on April 17, 2009
To build an argument for ?gay marriage? on the basis of equality is to assume a definition of marriage that does not exist. This assumption is patently false, and its assertion is tantamount to a bold-faced lie.

Genes show limited value in predicting diseases

Posted on April 17, 2009
Nicholas Wade writing in the New York Times: "The era of personal genomic medicine may have to wait. The genetic analysis of common disease is turning out to be a lot more complex than expected."

McCain Strategist Warns GOP Risks Becoming ?Religious Party,? urges support for ?gay rights?

Posted on April 17, 2009
Fox News: "John McCain's top adviser from the presidential campaign urged fellow Republicans on Friday to warm up to gay rights and warned that the GOP risks becoming the 'religious party' with its opposition to same-sex marriage."

House Committee to Vote on Hate Crimes Bill

Posted on April 17, 2009
Christian Post: "The U.S. House Judiciary Committee will vote on a controversial legislation next week that seeks to add homosexual and transgender people to the list of classes federally protected from hate crimes."

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In the billion-dollar world of baby-making, the fierce competition can include lawyers and even private eyes.

Posted on April 17, 2009
LA Times: "The clash among fertility titans underscores just how intense the competition has become in the multibillion-dollar business of baby-making."

Al Gore on board for $20M adult stem cell venture

Posted on April 17, 2009
USA Today: "Former vice president Al Gore is entering the stem cell arena with an announcement today of a $20 million biotech venture in the hot area of 'induced pluripotent' stem cells."

ACLU argues againt parental rights in Montana

Posted on April 17, 2009
The ACLU has issued this press release that uses the term "parent" rather loosely and argues that the former partner of an adoptive parent should be granted parental rights in the absence of a showing of abuse, dependency, or neglect. Related ADF press release: ADF attorney to argue against ACLU attorney before Montana Supreme Court

Oregon: Outcry fails to halt strip club

Posted on April 17, 2009
The Oregonian: "After months of political maneuvering, threatened lawsuits and public outcry, the fate of a controversial Tualatin strip club rested in the resolve of a 79-year-old former lawmaker . . . Oregon's constitution protects nude dancing as free expression, squelching strong resistance from city leaders and residents, but officials challenged the liquor license because of problems at the Stars location in Bend ...

Illinois: Board denies permit to Illiopolis strip club

Posted on April 17, 2009
SJ-R.com: "Outskirts Gentlemen?s Club near Illiopolis won?t be an anything-goes place, its would-be proprietors told the Sangamon County Zoning Board of Appeals during a packed hearing on Thursday."

New York: ?One person shot at West Babylon strip club?

Posted on April 17, 2009
Newsday: "An early morning shooting Friday at a West Babylon strip club left one victim wounded, Suffolk police said."

San Antonio: Ambush near strip club leaves two dead

Posted on April 17, 2009
WOAI.com: "Two men were shot to death near a strip club early Friday. The shooting happened around 3:00 a.m. outside the Secrets strip club near New Laredo Highway and Zarzamora on the Southwest Side."

Tenn. pro-life bill scores breakthrough

Posted on April 17, 2009
Baptist Press: "The Health and Human Services Subcommittee of the Tennessee House of Representatives, on a 20-7 vote April 7, approved a bill to restore the regulation of abortion to the legislature . . . The measure seeks to overturn a 2000 opinion by the Tennessee Supreme Court that invalidated all state laws restricting abortion...

Obama to name out lesbian assistant secretary of HUD

Posted on April 17, 2009
GayPolitics: "The Victory Fund has learned Mercedes Marquez, the current head of the Los Angeles Housing Department and an out lesbian, will be appointed Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development...

Spain: Professor charged for denouncing homosexual lifestyle

Posted on April 17, 2009
Christian Telegraph: "A Spanish homosexual organization has submitted a legal complaint of "homophobia" to the nation's attorney general after a bioethics professor called sodomy a sexual perversion and said that homosexuality is a mental disorder, reports Matthew Cullinan Hoffman, LifeSiteNews...

Ellen Goodman: Defense of Marriage Act is becoming indefensible

Posted on April 17, 2009
Ellen Goodman writes at the Seattle Times: "First, Iowa joined Massachusetts and Connecticut. Then Vermont followed with the first legislative approval. And a bill was just introduced in New York, where people cringe to find themselves lagging behind Iowa...

Gates cautious on changing ?don?t ask, don?t tell?

Posted on April 17, 2009
Boston Globe (AP): "Defense Secretary Robert Gates says it could take years to change the U.S. military's 'don't ask, don't tell' policy for gay troops -- if it ever happens."

WV: Kanawha school board poised to expand harassment policy to include sexual orientation

Posted on April 17, 2009
Charleston Daily Mail: "Kanawha County school board members say they're likely to approve a policy that explicitly bans harassment on the basis of sexual orientation."

Austin R. Nimmocks on KGVO radio: Montana parental rights case

Posted on April 17, 2009
ADF attorney Austin R. Nimmocks appeared on KGVO to discuss an important parental rights case that is pending before the Montana Supreme Court. The .wav file runs just under two minutes.

Obama Admin Releases Proposed Guidelines Opening Door to Embryonic Stem Cell Research Funding

Posted on April 17, 2009
"These draft Guidelines would allow funding for research using human embryonic stem cells that were derived from embryos created by in vitro fertilization (IVF) for reproductive purposes and were no longer needed for that purpose," they say.

Raw Data: NIH Draft Guidelines for Stem Cell Research

Posted on April 17, 2009
Fox News has reprinted the draft guidelines.

Matters of Preference: Tracing the Line between Citizens, Democratic States, and International Law

Posted on April 16, 2009
SSRN: "In this Article, we assess the role the aggregation of citizen preferences into the foreign policy choices of a democratic country might play in the legitimization of international law."

Hon. Clarence Thomas on worldview, legacy, and oaths

Posted on April 16, 2009
Todd Zywicki has this post on the Volokh Conspiracy discussing Justice Thomas' recent speech at the Bill of Rights Institute. Zywicki observes that response to the question "How does your faith or your world view impact your role as a Supreme Court Justice?" Justice Thomas says ...

Not All Cheer Iowa Court?s Ruling on ?Gay Marriage?: Normative vs. Conventional distinctions

Posted on April 16, 2009
The Wall Street Journal carries letters from several readers in response to the ruling: "Absent from the article or the court's decision is any explanation of why marriage is so important as a civil institution. Aristotle begins 'The Politics' not with a single individual, but with a description of a man and a woman together in the family, without which the rest of society cannot exist...

President of Thomas Aquinas College dies in car crash in Ireland

Posted on April 16, 2009
CNA: "On Wednesday, April 15, 2009, Dr. Thomas E. Dillon, the president of Thomas Aquinas College, was killed in an automobile accident in Ireland, where he was traveling with his wife, Terri, on behalf of the college,? the college announced yesterday...

Ga. Supreme Court Mulls Teacher?s Consent Defense Over Sex With Student

Posted on April 16, 2009
Fulton County Daily Report: "Several justices of the Supreme Court of Georgia on Tuesday appeared open to a former Augusta-area teacher's challenge of her conviction for a sexual relationship with a 16-year-old student at her school. A lawyer for Melissa Lee Chase argued that a student's consent is a defense to the statute under which the teacher was convicted ...

Cal. man?s conviction for showing nude film to minor reversed for lack of evidence

Posted on April 16, 2009
People v. David Lawrence Dyke: First, applying a ?contemporary adult standard,? the court pointed out that not all nudity and not all ?portrayals of sexual activity are ?necessarily obscene?; secondly, that it was impossible for the jury, based on the evidence provided, to determine whether the television clips observed contained ?harmful matter? under California code and the Miller test?especially with regard to the issue of artistic merit.

Walter E. Williams: Democracy and Majority Rule

Posted on April 16, 2009
CNSNews: "The founders of our nation held a deep abhorrence for democracy and majority rule. In Federalist Paper No. 10, James Madison wrote, 'Measures are too often decided, not according to the rules of justice and the rights of the minor party, but by the superior force of an interested and overbearing majority...

Dutch lawmaker to make sequel to anti-Islamic film

Posted on April 16, 2009
AP: "A Dutch lawmaker is planning to make a sequel to the anti-Islamic film that sparked protests among Muslims around the world. Geert Wilders said in an interview . . . "

Strong same-sex ?marriage? push in Minn.

Posted on April 16, 2009
One News Now: "A move is under way to legalize same-gender 'marriage' in Minnesota. Chuck Darrell of the Minnesota Family Council says homosexual activists are promoting four bills in the legislature that would legalize it in one form or another."

NY Gov introduce bill to redefine marriage

Posted on April 16, 2009
AP: "The proposal is the same bill the Democrat-controlled state Assembly passed in 2007 before it died in the Senate . . . 'I'm introducing a bill to bring marriage equality to the state of New York,' Paterson said to applause, surrounded by leaders including Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn...

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