Religion & Law

?World?s largest? student pro-life conference equips, energizes young pro-life vanguard

Posted on January 25, 2011
LifeSiteNews: "The conference gave older leaders present a refreshing look at the upbeat pulse sustaining the new generation of pro-lifers. At the morning general session, Alliance Defense Fund Attorney [David French] said, 'I look out into this crowd and I see the energy and the commitment that is going to transform the future...

Idaho pharmacy board won?t take action in ?Conscience Act? complaint against Walgreens

Posted on January 25, 2011
CB Online (AP): "The Idaho Board of Pharmacy says it has no basis to start proceedings against Walgreens in a complaint that alleged one of the drug store's pharmacists in Nampa improperly refused to fill a prescription."

Checks of Pa. abortion clinics find some problems

Posted on January 25, 2011
Bloomberg: "When they finally resumed routine inspections of abortion clinics last year after more than 15 years, Pennsylvania health regulators ordered 14 of the state's 22 freestanding clinics to remedy problems, a review of records shows."

PA Senate committee passes Obamacare abortion funding opt-out

Posted on January 25, 2011
LifeNews: "The Senate Banking and Insurance Committee passed a measure on Tuesday 12-2 to opt out of allowing any abortion funding under the state exchanges the Obamacare law sets up by 2014."

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Kansas reporting tougher rules on abortion

Posted on January 25, 2011
KAKE: "Kansas' top public health officials says abortion providers will be required to provide more details to the state about late-term procedures that they perform."

Medicaid expands birth control access

Posted on January 25, 2011
Politico: "As reproductive health advocates brace for a wave of state-level abortion restrictions, they also see a glimmer of hope in a little-noticed health reform provision: increased Medicaid access to family planning and contraceptives."

Hezbollah moves toward Lebanon government control

Posted on January 25, 2011
Washington Times: "Hezbollah secured the support from a majority of parliament Monday to nominate its candidate for prime minister, putting the Iranian-backed militant group in position to control Lebanon?s new government."

French government opposes bill to legalize assisted suicide

Posted on January 25, 2011
LifeSiteNews: "The French government is opposing two bills under consideration in the country?s Senate to legalize euthanasia and assisted suicide."

UAE: Interest legal under Sharia, court rules

Posted on January 25, 2011
The National: "Two courts made a mistake when they exempted a borrower from the interest he owed on delayed loan repayments on the grounds that it was forbidden by Sharia, the Supreme Court has ruled. The judgment, in court documents released yesterday, involved an unidentified bank owed more than Dh200,000 in interest by a man from Umm al Quwain...

Boehner to seek revival of D.C. vouchers program

Posted on January 25, 2011
Washington Times: "House Speaker John A. Boehner, Ohio Republican, plans to meet President Obama?s call for bipartisanship and education reform by restoring a D.C. voucher program that the president killed."

Melanie Phillips: ?Gays risk becoming the new McCarthyites?

Posted on January 25, 2011
Melanie Phillips writing in the Daily Mail: "Penalising religious people for speaking and acting in accordance with their beliefs is neither liberal nor tolerant. It is behaviour more commonly associated with totalitarian dictatorships . . . Many different groups are involved in promoting this crazy, upside-down world of the equality agenda...

UK: Court rejects 74-year-old nun?s appeal for pension

Posted on January 25, 2011
This is Staffordshire: "A 74-year-old nun who has worked to keep her community afloat has been told by judges she will not receive state pension benefits as long as she continues to be supported by her religious order. Benedictine Sister Mary Isobel Scott was at the centre of an Appeal Court test case, in which the Department of Work and Pensions' (DWP) refusal to support elderly members of religious orders across the country was challenged...

Poll: Christian marginalization on the rise, say UK church-goers

Posted on January 25, 2011
The Christian Institute: "The majority of church-goers in the UK feel that Christians are being increasingly marginalised in public life, a new survey has revealed. According to the poll, conducted by ComRes on behalf of Premier Christian Media, 81 per cent of church-goers think the marginalisation of Christians is happening more and more in the media and press...

?Pacific churches in Australia upset over gay ministers?

Posted on January 25, 2011
ABC Radio Australia: "Several Pacific island congregations in the Uniting Church of Australia have formed a potential breakaway movement, over the issue of homosexuality."

UK: Christian guesthouse owners to appeal ruling in double room case

Posted on January 25, 2011
Christian Today: "Peter and Hazelmary Bull are challenging the decision after several days of consultation with their legal team following last week?s ruling . . . The Christian Institute?s director, Colin Hart, said the guesthouse had since been 'besieged' with demands for double rooms by homosexual couples 'seemingly in a bid to destroy the business...

Opponent of NYC Islamic center becomes advocate for mosques nationwide

Posted on January 24, 2011
CNN Belief Blog: "When the Anti-Defamation League - a leading Jewish group devoted to fighting anti-Semitism and 'all forms of bigotry' - came out against the construction of an Islamic center and mosque near New York's ground zero last year, some critics alleged that the organization had lost its way ...

India: Christian leaders denounce dangerous Supreme Court comments on alleged coerced conversions

Posted on January 24, 2011
Asia News: "While confirming the life sentence for the main culprit of the heinous crime, the court added a few remarks on non-existent forced conversions that seem to justify sectarian and anti-Christian violence. Cardinal Gracias, 'I'm worried about the interpretations that may be given to this view, and especially for the implications that this ruling could have in the future...

Egypt: Heated discussion in parliament over mosque loudspeakers

Posted on January 24, 2011
Al Masry Al Youm: "'The use of loudspeakers for Friday sermons, Eid prayers and the call for prayer will continue until judgment day,' said Secretary of the Ministry of Religious Endowments Sheikh Fouad Abdel Azim during a heated discussion that took place during a meeting of the parliamentary religious committee on Sunday...

Islamists demonstrate against the opening of the Yasmin church in Bogor, West Java

Posted on January 24, 2011
Asia Times: "Indonesia?s Supreme Court ruled that Christians have the right to use a site they own for religious functions. Local authorities, who had stopped church construction in 2008, are now criticised for not implementing the court ruling, allowing Islamic extremists to patrol the site...

Britain?s Orthodox Jews in organ donor card row

Posted on January 24, 2011
Independent: "London?s Beth Din, which is headed by Lord Jonathan Sacks and is one of Britain?s most influential Orthodox Jewish courts, caused consternation among medical professionals earlier this month when it ruled that national organ donor cards were not permissible under halakha (Jewish law)...

Ireland: RTÉ and Sisters of Charity challenge changes to zoning conditions

Posted on January 24, 2011
RTE News: "RTÉ and the Sisters of Charity religious order have brought separate High Court challenges to Dublin City Council's decision to impose what they say are restrictive conditions on the potential development of their lands."

Canada: B.C. braces for testimony from polygamous commune members

Posted on January 24, 2011
Global Toronto: "A B.C. courtroom will hear testimony this week from women living in the secretive polygamous commune of Bountiful."

Video Interview of Iowa Gov. Branstad: Marriage, the legislature, and judicial nominations

Posted on January 24, 2011
The Des Moines Register carries a lengthy video interview with the governor.

School Choice Week highlights lack of freedom for Kentucky parents, urgent need for education reform

Posted on January 24, 2011
Bluegrass Institute: "Unfortunately, there?s not much to celebrate in Kentucky, one of only a handful of states without public charter schools. So far, the bosses who run the teachers unions have succeeded in strangling efforts by parents and conscientious legislators to secure for Kentucky parents the freedom to send their children to the public school that best fits their individual needs...

OR: Abuse case sparks a clash over limits of tough parenting

Posted on January 24, 2011
Wall Street Journal: "News of the case spread through this state capital, sparking outrage. Yet one subset of the community sprang to the Kozlovs' defense, holding demonstrations, filling the gallery at court hearings and flooding state officials with letters...

OR: Church loses challenge to county zoning ordinances

Posted on January 24, 2011
Religion Clause: "In McGuire v. Clackamas County Counsel, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 5521 (D OR, Jan. 19, 2011), an Oregon federal district court adopted a magistrate's recommendations (2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 140026, Nov. 10, 2010), and dismissed a free exercise challenge to the zoning laws of Clackamas County, Oregon...

TX: Episcopal church awarded Fort Worth diocese property

Posted on January 24, 2011
Religion Clause: "The Episcopal Church (TEC) has successfully asserted a claim to the property of a Texas diocese that broke away to affiliate with the more conservative Anglican Province of the Southern Cone.  In The Episcopal Church v. Salazar, (TX Dist...

Texas residents raise funds for religious memorial

Posted on January 24, 2011
Houston Chronicle: "An Amarillo memorial company has delivered a 4-ton gift from Oldham County residents to the county Courthouse Square: the Ten Commandments etched in granite."

Kyle Olson: Antidote to government?s education monopoly

Posted on January 24, 2011
Kyle Olson writing at Townhall: "The growing school choice movement provides parents a way out of Lewis' schools and into schools that do whatever it takes to make sure kids are prepared for life beyond graduation. It's too bad the same can't be said of Lewis' Chicago Public Schools...

Human Rights Watch says democracies ignore abuses

Posted on January 24, 2011
Associated Press: "Democracies around the world are ignoring abuses by repressive regimes and opting for improved relations rather than condemning rights violations and curtailing aid, Human Rights Watch said Monday."

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