Religion & Law

Insane NY cell phone taxes up to 33% are structured to hit families hardest

Posted on April 13, 2009
NY Post: "Eleven federal, state and city levies add as much as 33 percent to the cost of New Yorkers' cellphones, a Post analysis found . . . People trying to save money with multiline family plans are hit harder."

Minnesota: State?s high court may not be the last word in recount

Posted on April 13, 2009
StarTribune.com: "Maybe not. An intriguing possibility that could further prolong the Minnesota election dispute is an additional appeal to federal courts -- something supporters have repeatedly urged Coleman to consider and he has refused to rule out...

?Intimately Linked?: Examining Religious Protection for Student Expressions of Sexual Abstinence

Posted on April 13, 2009
Journal of Catholic Legal Studies: "Part I of this Note outlines the multiple avenues available for challenging a school chastity ring ban and explains why a Free Speech viewpoint discrimination analysis is the correct framework to apply."

Abandonment and Reconciliation: Addressing Political and Common Law Objections to Fetal Homicide Laws

Posted on April 13, 2009
Duke Law Journal: "This Note explores a variety of fetal homicide laws that states have adopted, demonstrating that popular opinion has shifted toward recognizing this crime. It then directly confronts the objections that have prevented other states from adopting such laws: it first reviews the literature suggesting that the born-alive rule should be abandoned, as it is an obsolete evidentiary standard; it then argues that constitutionally protected reproductive liberties can be reconciled with, and in fact augmented by, punishing the killing of a fetus as a homicide...

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Gonzales, Casey, and the Viability Rule

Posted on April 13, 2009
Northwestern University Law Review: "This Essay argues that the Supreme Court has an unmet obligation to account for the significance accorded to fetal viability in its abortion jurisprudence. Neither Roe nor Casey provided a constitutional justification for the viability rule, and Gonzales makes such a justification even harder to envision...

WSJ: ?Gay-Rights Outreach Grows in California?

Posted on April 13, 2009
Geoffrey A. Fowler writes at the Wall Street Journal: "'If you learn what works in the Central Valley, you learn what works across the U.S.,' Ms. McGehee said . . . Sitting in small groups, participants also were taught to make the issue personal, by condensing a narrative of their own experiences as a gay person into two-minute 'story of self...

?Catholic? Georgetown University Follows her Treacherous Sister Notre Dame, Invites Obama to Speak; Pro-Lifers to Protest

Posted on April 13, 2009
Christian Newswire: "On Tuesday, April 14, from 10:30 a.m. to the end of Mr. Obama's speech, DC area Pro-life leaders and activists will protest at the entrance to Georgetown University at 37th and O Street. Their presence is to denounce Georgetown, who invited President Obama to speak, knowing the scandal and outrage surrounding his scheduled speech at Notre Dame on May 17 ...

Vermont legislature considers legalizing sexting

Posted on April 13, 2009
Burlington Free Press: "Vermont?s Legislature is considering a bill that, if approved, would make the state one of the first in the nation to grant legal protections to teenagers who send sexually explicit photos and videos to one another with their cell phones...

?Sexting? and its legal ramifications

Posted on April 13, 2009
The Review: "The biggest problem is how to deal with the legal issues created by this latest technological phenomenon. Detective Walker said a young person who takes a photograph of himself or another minor in the nude, or in a sexually suggestive position or engaging in sexual activity, is guilty of illegal use of a minor in a nudity- oriented material or performance...

Catholic adoption agencies cut ties with church over ?gay equality? laws

Posted on April 13, 2009
Mail Online: "Five agencies have declared themselves independent - and some have changed their names - to comply with laws that say they must allow homosexual couples to adopt children."

UK: Christian charity worker suspended over opposition to ?gay rights?

Posted on April 13, 2009
Times Online: "A charity worker has been suspended after telling a colleague about his Christian beliefs against homosexuality, even though he says he is not homophobic and was merely responding to questions from a colleague about his beliefs."

NY: Men?s group works to combat sexually oriented business

Posted on April 13, 2009
Lockport Union-Sun & Journal: "The juxtaposition has become more troublesome now that Wright is raising his children just around the corner. He?s down the street from a store he says is teaching men to treat women as sex objects and to pass those preconceptions on to the next generation...

West Virginia lawmakers scrap ?In God We Trust? license plates

Posted on April 13, 2009
AP: "House Roads and Transportation Chairman Dale Martin said the plate was contained in a piece of legislation that became too cumbersome to handle."

Prayer, ultrasound, marriage license bills stall in Florida

Posted on April 13, 2009
St. Petersburg Times: Legislation that would open the door to school prayer and discourage teaching evolution has been declared dead. Prospects don't look good for a proposal to require ultrasounds for first-trimester abortions. Same goes for a bill to make marriage licenses more expensive for couples who don't take a premarriage education course...

Constitutionality of Wisc. gov?s ?domestic partner registry? in question

Posted on April 13, 2009
Wisconsin State Journal: "Gov. Jim Doyle?s proposal to create a statewide domestic partner registry for same-sex couples would be unique in the nation if it becomes law and survives an expected legal challenge, experts and advocates said. That?s because no state that both bans gay marriage and prohibits other legal recognition of same-sex relationships ? as Wisconsin does ? allows domestic partnerships or civil unions...

Study: Sex Selection Abortions are major problem in China

Posted on April 13, 2009
Michael Foust writes at the Baptist Press: "Chinese males under the age of 20 outnumbered females of that same age range by more than 32 million in 2005, due in large part to the government's one-child policy and its citizens' use of sex-selection abortion and even abandonment, according to a new study in the British Medical Journal...

Andrew Koppleman: ?The surprisingly quick triumph of the same-sex marriage movement?

Posted on April 13, 2009
Andrew Koppleman writes at the Balkinization Blog: “Taking these eight states together, more than a fifth of the population of the United States lives in a jurisdiction that recognizes same-sex relationships as marriages or their functional equivalent...

Polls: ?Young Voters, the GOP, and Gay Marriage?

Posted on April 13, 2009
The Next Right: "44.3% of respondents to the General Social Survey 18-34 believe it is "never wrong" compared to 33.5% of respondents overall. Furthermore, 47.3% of respondents 18-34 said homosexual sex was "always wrong" compared to 55.6% of respondents overall...

Romania weighs decriminalizing consensual incest

Posted on April 13, 2009
AP: "In Romania, decriminalizing incest among consenting adults is being considered as part of a wide range of reforms to the country's criminal code. No date has been set yet for a parliament vote on the bill, and opposition to the proposal is fervent even among some lawmakers in the ruling coalition...

Focus on the Family Unveils True Tolerance Web site

Posted on April 13, 2009
Citizen Link: "Through TrueTolerance.org, parents can give professionally packaged information to school officials with an e-mail. The Web site is filled with information from legal experts, examples of pro-gay lesson plans that cross the line and fact-based counterpoints to the one-sided messages gay-advocacy groups frequently give public schools...

Missouri: Sexually oriented bookstore seeks restraining order against Crystal City

Posted on April 13, 2009
St. Louis Today: "Last week, Kleinhans' attorney, Robert Kister, filed suit in circuit court in Hillsboro. The suit asks the court to order the city to stop issuing tickets and to allow the store to remain open seven days a week. "

Missouri sexually oriented business ruling could trigger Supreme Court review

Posted on April 13, 2009
. . . the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals . . . said there was a distinction between on-site and off-site businesses . . . Unfortunately for Erotic City, federal district courts in Missouri must follow the law of the 8th Circuit . . .

Some argue D.C. should push for same sex ?marriage? before elections next year

Posted on April 13, 2009
Marc Fisher writes at the Washington Post: "Catania argues that there is no better time than this year. Next year, an election year, would be more difficult. Fear of Congress is natural, but probably overblown, Catania says. 'They've never actually reversed a law in the history of home rule; they've only prevented us from funding things'...

Dr. Laura on Larry King: Condemns Palin family out of wedlock birth and sexting; approves same sex ?marriage?

Posted on April 13, 2009
Click here for the full 19 minute CNN video (search on “laura”) of the April 9th interview.  Her comments regarding same sex “marriage” begin about 12:40 min. into the full video. A short You Tube clip of her comments on same sex “marriage” is here: http://www...

Steve Aden on the Jody Hice Show: The Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act

Posted on April 13, 2009
ADF attorney Steve Aden appeared on the Jody Hice Show on April 10th to discuss the Susan B. Anthony and Frederick Douglass Prenatal Nondiscrimination Act of 2009 (H.R. 1822) that has been introduced by Cong. Trent Franks of Arizona. The purpose of the act: To prohibit discrimination against the unborn on the basis of sex or race, and for other purposes...

Univ. of Maryland to keep commencement prayer

Posted on April 13, 2009
One News Now: "In a rare move, the president of the University of Maryland chose to go against the vote of the university senate and retain prayer as part of the school's annual commencement ceremonies."

The dark side of Dubai

Posted on April 13, 2009
The Independent: "Dubai was meant to be a Middle-Eastern Shangri-La, a glittering monument to Arab enterprise and western capitalism. But as hard times arrive in the city state that rose from the desert sands, an uglier story is emerging. Johann Hari reports"

Prominent Pro-Family Activist Julio Severo Flees Brazil to Escape Charges of ?Homophobia?

Posted on April 13, 2009
LifeSiteNews: "Julio Severo, one of Brazil's most prominent pro-life and pro-family activists, has fled Brazil to escape federal prosecutors who sought him following a complaint of 'homophobia' filed against him for his unfavorable coverage of the nation's Gay Parade in 2006, according to Severo...

Caroline Kennedy Reportedly Rejected as Potential Vatican Ambassador Over Abortion

Posted on April 13, 2009
LifeNews: "Vatican officials have reportedly rejected the possibility of pro-abortion President Barack Obama selecting Caroline Kenney as his ambassador to the Holy See because of her position on abortion."

Presumed Dead: Politics is driving the destruction of the District?s school voucher program.

Posted on April 13, 2009
Washington Post: "Education Secretary Arne Duncan has decided not to admit any new students to the D.C. voucher program, which allows low-income children to attend private schools. The abrupt decision -- made a week after 200 families had been told that their children were being awarded scholarships for the coming fall -- comes despite a new study showing some initial good results for students in the program and before the Senate has had a chance to hold promised hearings...

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