Religion & Law

Push on for Sunday alcohol sales in Georgia

Posted on January 25, 2011
The Chattanoogan: "With religious conservative Gov. Sonny Perdue out of office, a push is on for legislation allowing Sunday alcohol sales in communities all over the state."

Common Cause v. Scalia and Thomas

Posted on January 25, 2011
David B. Rivkin Jr. and Lee A. Casey writing in the Wall Street Journal [full text via Google News]: "Last week, liberal activists at Common Cause called on the United States Justice Department to investigate Supreme Court Justices Antonin Scalia and Clarence Thomas for a supposed ethical lapse ...

Scalia addresses tea party-organized event

Posted on January 25, 2011
Associated Press: "Scalia made the short walk from the Supreme Court to the Capitol on Monday to speak at a seminar organized by GOP Rep. Michele Bachmann and the Tea Party Caucus. In remarks closed to the media, Scalia told about 50 members of Congress and their staff to 'pay attention' and read up on their roles...

Roberts to lead delegation of six Supreme Court Justices at Obama address

Posted on January 25, 2011
Bloomberg: "The court?s contingent will now include two Republican- appointed justices and four who were appointed by Democratic presidents. Republican-nominated Anthony Kennedy and Democratic appointees Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia Sotomayor and Elena Kagan are also planning to attend...

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Eve Tushnet: Who put the tradition in ?traditional marriage??

Posted on January 25, 2011
Eve Tushnet writing at Cato Unbound: "Why is marriage the only area of contemporary politics in which tradition is used explicitly as a justification? . . . Two things have happened to contemporary marriage which all but compel traditionalist rhetoric in a non-traditionalist culture...

White House: ?Birthers? aren?t ?rational?

Posted on January 25, 2011
Politico: "Gibbs snuck a jab at the so-called birthers who don?t believe Obama was born in Hawaii. 'I think rational people have -- have long ago, many when they first heard and saw the president, come to the conclusion of his citizenship,' he said."

Ex-Minn. governor sues over body scans, pat-downs

Posted on January 25, 2011
Washington Post: "Former Minnesota Gov. Jesse Ventura is suing the Department of Homeland Security and the Transportation Security Administration, saying full-body scans and pat-downs at airport checkpoints are violating his rights."

India?s Supreme Court withdraws language criticized by Christians

Posted on January 25, 2011
Religion Clause: "According to Cath News, India's Supreme Court today withdrew on its own initiative a paragraph in an opinion it handed down last week that had created significant concern among Christian leaders and human rights groups."

Belgian doctors harvest high quality organs from euthanized patients

Posted on January 25, 2011
MercatorNet / Careful: "A group of Belgian doctors are harvesting 'high quality' organs from patients who have been euthanased. This is not a secret project, but one which they described openly at a conference organised by the Belgian Royal Medical Academy in December...

Court finds priest abuse claim against diocese is not time-barred

Posted on January 25, 2011
Religion Clause: "In Wisniewski v. Diocese of Belleville, (Ill. App., Jan. 13, 2011), an Illinois appellate court in a 2-1 decision rejected a statute of limitations and repose defense raised by a Catholic diocese held responsible for sexual abuse by a priest...

Suit challenges school?s refusal to install pavers with Biblical verses

Posted on January 25, 2011
Religion Clause: "[T]he school refused to install pavers from two donors who had Bible verses inscribed on theirs . . . Alliance Defense Fund issued a release announcing the filing of the lawsuit."

Supreme Court OK?s suits under Title VII for retaliation against 3rd parties

Posted on January 25, 2011
Religion Clause: "In Thompson v. North American Stainless, LP, (US Sup. Ct., Jan. 24, 2011), the U.S. Supreme Court held that Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act allows suit by a third party who was the victim of retaliation because someone else-- here plaintiff's fiancee-- filed an anti-discrimination claim...

Wal-Mart caves to government bullies

Posted on January 25, 2011
Orit Sklar writing at The Daily Caller: "Michelle Obama and nutrition czar Sam Kass have taken the Food Police nationwide. Last week Wal-Mart announced that it is joining the first lady?s anti-obesity campaign by reducing the salt and sugar content of the food it sells ...

Religiously demanding Obamacare abortion funding

Posted on January 25, 2011
The American Spectator: "Just in time for the 38th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Washington-based Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC) pledged to bring its 'moral force to bear' to ensure 'full coverage of abortion services' through Obamacare's tax-funded state insurance exchanges set to begin in 2014...

Utah: ?LGBT rally in favor of statewide anti-discrimination bill?

Posted on January 25, 2011
Fox 13: "More than 100 lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Utahns were at Utah's Capitol Rotunda rallying in support of a statewide anti-discrimination bill that would create equal rights in the workplace and employment."

GOP to push for D.C. same-sex ?marriage? ban

Posted on January 25, 2011
"Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), chairman of the conservative Republican Study Committee (RSC), told The Hill that he will push for a vote on the controversial issue in the 112th Congress. The RSC has 175 members."

Iowa panel backs putting same-sex ?marriage? ban to vote

Posted on January 25, 2011
Sioux City Journal: "A key House committee on Monday approved a resolution that would begin the long process of putting a gay marriage ban before voters. The House Judiciary Committee approved the measure on a 13-8 vote, sending the measure to the full House for debate...

Renowned professor challenges promotion denial over religion in appellate hearing

Posted on January 25, 2011
"ADF is representing UNC criminology professor Mike Adams, who contends that he was unconstitutionally denied a promotion because his application referenced his nationally syndicated opinion columns that espoused religious and political views not held by university officials...

Greg Baylor: The passing of Sam Ericsson

Posted on January 25, 2011
ADF attorney Greg Baylor writing at Speak Up Movement / University: "Sam Ericsson passed away last Friday after an 11-year battle with cancer. Sam had served as Director of Christian Legal Society?s Center for Law & Religious Freedom from 1980 to 1985 and as CLS?s Executive Director from 1985 to 1991 before founding Advocates International, a global network of attorneys dedicated to religious liberty and the rule of law...

Growing threat: Abortion conscience coercion at med schools

Posted on January 25, 2011
National Catholic Register: "Pro-life medical and nursing students across the country say they face the same pressures to violate their consciences as two recent applicants to Vanderbilt University?s nursing residency program who were told that they would have been required to participate in abortions ...

Should churches be taxed?

Posted on January 25, 2011
Care2 / get political: "'"It makes no sense to tax churches and to limit their ability to provide their services, and it does damage to the constitutional separation between church and state," argues [Erik Stanley], senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, which is representing Catholic and Baptist churches in the city of 10,000...

AZ: Gov. Brewer launches website supporting school choice

Posted on January 25, 2011
Arizona Republic: "Gov. Jan Brewer unveiled a new website Monday that aims to help parents choose the best education options for their children. The governor announced the creation of arizonaschoolchoice.com as part of National School Choice Week."

Study: Half of college health care plans pay for abortions

Posted on January 25, 2011
LifeNews: "A new study sponsored by Students for Life of America follows an August 2010 scandal involving the University of North Carolina, whose system mandated health care coverage for the 2010-2011 school year. UNC required its students to have health care and automatically enrolled them in a plan that covered elective abortions...

Vietnam accused of widespread human rights abuses

Posted on January 25, 2011
Washington Post / On Faith: "Human Rights Watch is calling on the United States to return Vietnam to a list of the world's worst abusers of religious freedom, accusing it of continuously harassing some groups trying to worship peacefully."

Moscow prison opens prayer room for Muslims

Posted on January 25, 2011
AlertNet: "A prison where Soviet-era writer Alexander Solzhenitsyn was jailed and a third of inmates are Muslims from the North Caucasus and Central Asia, has become the first in Moscow to open a Muslim."

Study: Rising religious tide in China overwhelms atheist doctrine

Posted on January 25, 2011
David Briggs writing at The Huffington Post: "No more than 15 percent of adults in the world's most populous country are 'real atheists.' 85 percent of the Chinese either hold some religious beliefs or practice some kind of religion, according to the Chinese Spiritual Life Survey...

IL: Hearing next month in lawsuit saying abortion done without consent

Posted on January 25, 2011
LifeNews: "A hearing will take place next month on a lawsuit filed by a woman who accuses it of doing an abortion on her without her consent. Brandy Hildreth of Granite City is suing the Hope Clinic for Women, located outside St. Louis, for having a different abortion practitioner do the abortion...

CA: Abortion doctor gives up license again over death

Posted on January 25, 2011
Orange County Register: "Dr. Andrew Rutland, the Anaheim obstetrician-gynecologist accused by the California Medical Board of homicide in the death of an abortion patient, has agreed to surrender his medical license for a second time."

TX: Order to fast-track sonogram bill delivered

Posted on January 25, 2011
Houston Chronicle (AP): "Gov. Rick Perry has declared an emergency issue of efforts to require a woman considering an abortion to first have a sonogram. The Texas House received the official filing from Perry Monday. He first announced the plan Saturday at an anti-abortion rally in front of the Capitol...

CA: Temecula City Council set to vote on proposed mosque

Posted on January 25, 2011
LA Times / LA Now: "The Temecula City Council is expected to vote on a proposed mosque Tuesday night after months of often caustic debate over the religious facility in the conservative southwest Riverside County town."

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