Religion & Law

Gender neutral housing on campus is a bow to LGBT students

Posted on January 21, 2011
Ashley Herzog writing at Townhall: "Earlier this year, Ohio University announced a new pilot program for gender-neutral housing, which has become all the rage on college campuses. The program allows people of 'all genders' to live together in the dorms ...

Sunni Islamists slit the throat of a Christian mother in Somalia

Posted on January 21, 2011
Pakistan Christian Post: "In Somalia, the Sunni Islamic fanatics called the Al-Shabaab (Al-Shabab) have once more killed a convert to Christianity and in true style the soldiers of Islam held down a Christian lady and slit her throat in front of many villagers...

Brent Bozell: MTV?s sordid ?Skins?

Posted on January 21, 2011
Brent Bozell writing at Townhall: "Now those secular progressives at MTV have opened a new front. They feel one should enjoy a childhood stuffed with sex, drugs and alcoholism. That would be the message of their new teen drama 'Skins.' "

UK: ?Wear the hijab or I?ll kill you, cousin told girl?: Muslim tells of terrifying phone threats

Posted on January 21, 2011
Daily Mail: "A man threatened to kill his cousin and harm her family after she decided to stop wearing the traditional Muslim headscarf, a court has heard. Mohamed Al-Hakim, 29, allegedly phoned Alya Al-Safar to tell her she must die because of the 'shame' she had brought ? leaving her too afraid to leave the house...

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Why the West won?t hear about persecution

Posted on January 21, 2011
CBN: "Hundreds of millions of Christians have suffered discrimination or even persecution in lands as diverse as China and India, but mostly in countries where Islam is the top religion. Despite this, persecution of Christians is one topic the American public doesn't hear much about...

Europe goes halal

Posted on January 21, 2011
Soeren Kern writing at Hudson New York: "The European Union, bowing to pressure from Muslim lobby groups, has quietly abandoned a new measure that would have required halal [religiously approved for Muslims] meat products to carry a label alerting consumers that the animals were not stunned, and therefore conscious, just before slaughter...

Swiss official seeks crackdown on ?suicide tourists?

Posted on January 21, 2011
USA Today: "Now, former Swiss Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf wants to make assisted suicide more difficult by requring the process be supervised by doctors who aren't affiliated with one of the country's four right-to-die organizations. And Zurich voters are due to decide in May whether to ban assisted suicide, the article says...

Swiss suicide appeal dismissed by European court

Posted on January 21, 2011
Swiss Info: "Switzerland did not violate any human rights when it refused to give a mentally ill man over-the-counter access to a drug in order to end his life. In a ruling on Thursday, the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg dismissed an appeal by the 58-year-old man, who after two suicide attempts in 2004 turned to Dignitas, a Swiss assisted suicide organisation...

UK: Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) plan could pay IVF donors thousands

Posted on January 21, 2011
Christian Concern: "The current compensation limit for undergoing the complex process of donating human eggs is £250. However, five years after its last review of the rules on the practice, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) is testing public attitudes on whether payments should be sharply increased...

Peter Orszag: America must brace itself for turbulence

Posted on January 21, 2011
Peter Orszag, Vice Chairman of Global Banking at Citigroup and formerly Obama's Director of the Office of Management and Budget, writing at Financial Times: "If policymakers will not act before we have a fiscal crisis at the federal level, a fiscal crisis we will ultimately have...

Court in India hears challenge to Hindu ceremony starting courthouse construction

Posted on January 21, 2011
Religion Clause: "In India yesterday, a two-judge panel of the Gujarat High Court heard arguments in a case challenging the constitutionality of a Hindu ceremony in which the Gujarat governor, the chief justice of the High Court and other judges had all taken part last year...

Affordable health plans are an endangered species

Posted on January 21, 2011
NCPA: "Beginning in 2014, most U.S. residents will be required to have health insurance coverage. However, provisions of the new Affordable Care Act (ACA) will limit the choice of health plans offered. Health insurance that does not cover preventive care, plans with deductibles above the statutory limit and plans that cap benefits at predetermined levels will ultimately disappear...

UK: Is it right to persecute a harmless old couple for staying true to their faith?

Posted on January 21, 2011
Stephen Glover writing at Mail Online: "A Christian couple have lost a court battle over their refusal to ­allow a homosexual ­couple to share a room at their B&B, and have been ­ordered to pay them £3,600 in damages. Is this just? . . . A month before Steven and ­Martyn turned up in ­September 2008, the Bulls were sent a ­letter by Stonewall, the gay rights ­organisation, saying that it had received a complaint, and warning them that they were breaking the law...

Stop preaching about marriage, says Clegg (in a clear dig at the Tory Right)

Posted on January 21, 2011
Daily Mail: "Ministers must not 'preach' to parents about marriage or lifestyles, Nick Clegg declared yesterday ? as he signalled a new Coalition rift on the family. The Deputy Prime Minister said Government?s role was to 'empower' parents rather than browbeat them with 'prescriptive' solutions on the best way to bring up children...

Tragedy of Britain?s fatherless families where one in five youngsters lose touch with a parent

Posted on January 21, 2011
Daily Mail: "One in five children from a broken home loses touch with a parent within three years and never sees them again, it is revealed today. Many more lose contact as they grow older, most often with fathers after mothers are awarded custody."

Charter schools expand with public, private money

Posted on January 21, 2011
Associated Press: "As cash-strapped school districts lay off teachers and close campuses, publicly funded charter schools are flourishing and altering the landscape of public education."

Path is sought for states to escape their debt burdens

Posted on January 21, 2011
New York Times: "Beyond their short-term budget gaps, some states have deep structural problems, like insolvent pension funds, that are diverting money from essential public services like education and health care. Some members of Congress fear that it is just a matter of time before a state seeks a bailout, say bankruptcy lawyers who have been consulted by Congressional aides...

9th Circuit: Ignorance of religious doctrine does not support adverse credibility finding in asylum application

Posted on January 21, 2011
Courthouse News Service: "A Chinese man who says he was persecuted in his home country for practicing Christianity got a second chance at asylum in the United States. In 2005, an immigration judge had rejected Lei Li's petition because Li incorrectly answered 'basic' questions about Christianity...

Groups protest Air Force Academy?s scheduled prayer luncheon speaker

Posted on January 21, 2011
Military Religious Freedom Foundation: "Albuquerque-based Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF) has demanded that the United States Air Force Academy rescind their invitation to former Marine Lt. Clebe McClary to speak at the Academy?s upcoming National Prayer Luncheon...

Parents Television Council calls for federal investigation into MTV?s Skins; Taco Bell pulls ad

Posted on January 21, 2011
Parents Television Council: "The Parents Television Council today called on the chairmen of the U.S. Senate and House Judiciary Committees and the Department of Justice to immediately open an investigation regarding child pornography and exploitation on MTV?s 'Skins...

Idaho GOP gets ready to nullify health care reform

Posted on January 21, 2011
Yahoo (AP): "After leading the nation last year in passing a law to sue the federal government over the health care overhaul, Idaho's Republican-dominated Legislature now plans to use an obscure 18th century doctrine to declare President Barack Obama's signature bill null and void...

Robert George: A lesson from Philadelphia

Posted on January 21, 2011
Robert George writing at Mirror of Justice: "District Attorney Seth Williams estimates that [Gosnell] performed the procedure hundreds of times . . . Gosnell's procedure for late term babies was to induce delivery and then kill the children with a quick snip ...

Kevin Theriot: Churches not welcome according to Port St. Lucie, FL zoning

Posted on January 21, 2011
ADF attorney Kevin Theriot writing at Speak Up Movement / Church: "Although several different churches are already located at the Shopping Center (churches have been leasing space there for the past nine years), the City of Port St. Lucie prohibited the Church from even attempting to obtain a certificate of occupancy ...

David Hacker: Stanford interferes with religious student organizations

Posted on January 21, 2011
ADF attorney David Hacker writing at Speak Up Movement / University: "This week Stanford gave me another reason to pause when Rev. Scotty McLennan (author of Jesus Was a Liberal) from Stanford?s Office of Religious Life, announced that Stanford intends to interfere with the leadership decisions of its religious student organizations on campus...

Put a crisis pregnancy center in every hospital says Head of Russian Orthodox Church

Posted on January 21, 2011
LifeSiteNews: "The leader of the Russian Orthodox Church has offered Russian authorities suggestions on how to reduce the nation?s staggeringly high abortion rate."

Head of U.S. Bishops? anti-poverty arm was team member for pro-abort state senator campaign

Posted on January 21, 2011
LifeSiteNews: "The popular Catholic blog Creative Minority Report unearthed documents Wednesday that show that in 2008 Ralph McCloud, while serving as head of CCHD, was the treasurer for the Texas state senate campaign of pro-abortion Democrat Wendy Davis...

Scientist appointed to Vatican academy admits he is ?pro-legalization of abortion?

Posted on January 21, 2011
LifeSiteNews: "A scientist recently appointed to the Vatican?s prestigious Pontifical Academy of Sciences has confirmed in an interview that he supports the legalization of abortion and civil unions for homosexuals, as LifeSiteNews.com and other websites had reported earlier this month...

The insanity of Canada?s political non-debate on abortion

Posted on January 21, 2011
LifeSiteNews: "The extremism and stupidity of Canada?s top political leadership on the matter of abortion was on display again today with Liberal and NDP leaders reacting to Conservative Prime Minister Harper?s comments on the issue yesterday. The message from both of the opposition parties has remained the same: 'ooooh, we?re scared Harper is secretly pro-life...

GOP aims to limit abortion in NC, 38 years after it became legal

Posted on January 21, 2011
The Daily Tar Heel: "The GOP takeover of the N.C. General Assembly in November has given anti-abortion groups encouragement in their attempts to limit the practice, as they no longer face resistance from key Democratic lawmakers in power."

Mexico: Guanajuato moves to allow public schools to teach religion

Posted on January 21, 2011
Guadalajara Reporter: "With a bow to the archbishopric of Leon, Guanajuato governor Juan Manuel Oliva is analyzing a proposal to teach religious education in the state?s schools."

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