Religion & Law

NY Republicans want to force vote for Senate pick

Posted on January 13, 2009
The AP reports: “Republicans in New York’s Legislature are pushing for a special election to fill the expected vacancy in the U.S. Senate instead of allowing Democratic Gov. David Paterson to make a unilateral appointment through a secretive process ...

David Hacker: Professor sued for truthfully answering student?s question

Posted on January 13, 2009
ADF attorney David Hacker appeared on KPDQ with Georgene Rice to discuss the case that is the subject of this ADF press release: San Jose City College fired professor for truthfully, accurately answering student question. “The school fired Sheldon for answering a student?s in-class question about heredity and homosexual behavior after another student supposedly complained [...

Supreme Court Declines Appeal Over Abortion Display at School

Posted on January 13, 2009
The School Law Blog reports: The U.S. Supreme Court today declined the appeals of an assistant principal and a sheriff’s department stemming from a lawsuit that challenged their handling of a graphic abortion display near a California middle school...

U. of Arkansas: New DC Vouchers Study

Posted on January 13, 2009
The U. of Arkansas School Choice Demonstration Project has issued a new study that includes the abstract copied below.  The study is here (pdf 4.29 mb). ________ During the spring of 2004, the first federally funded voucher program ? the District of Columbia Opportunity Scholarship Program (OSP) - was established...

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U.N. Treaty Might Weaken Families

Posted on January 13, 2009
HSLDA President J. Michael Smith writes: One of the issues American families could face this year is the ramifications from a treaty called the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) . . . he CRC provides that in all matters relating to children, whether private or public, or in courts, the best [...

Egypt: Judge ejects Lawyer for Christian from Court

Posted on January 13, 2009
Compass Direct News: “An attempt by an Egyptian convert from Islam to legally change the religion listed on his identification card to ‘Christian’ hit a setback on Jan. 6 when a judge ordered security personnel to remove his lawyer from court...

Sexually Transmitted Diseases Snowball

Posted on January 13, 2009
NewsNet5.com reports: Sexually spread diseases - for years on the decline - are on the rise, with reported chlamydia cases setting a record, government health officials said Tuesday. The increase in chlamydia, a sometimes symptomless infection that can lead to infertility in women, is likely because of better screening, experts said...

Marriage Equality USA report: ?Prop 8 Hurt My Family, Ask Me How?

Posted on January 13, 2009
The California Chronicle: “Marriage Equality USA received hundreds of gut wrenching stories, particularly from children of same-sex couples and LGBTI youth, that describe harm and even threats and violence that resulted from California’s Prop 8 campaign,” said Molly McKay, Marriage Equality USA Media Director...

Dueling marriage proposals introduced in Maine

Posted on January 13, 2009
State Sen. Dennis Damon is introducing a bill to end the prohibition on gay marriage in Maine. House Republican Josh Tardy, meanwhile, is proposing to bolster the state law restricting marriage to one man and one woman by making it a constitutional amendment ...

Hindu extremists disrupt ministry with missionary arrests

Posted on January 13, 2009
The Christian Telegraph reports: Gospel for Asia missionary Yashpal Bhuta Masih remains in custody today after his arrest January 5 in Madhya Pradesh, India, reports MNN. The police charged him with violating anti-conversion laws, and he will now face trial...

Liberty Counsel Files Brief in Kentucky Ten Commandments Case

Posted on January 12, 2009
Liberty Counsel has issued a press release that reports: Liberty Counsel filed a brief at the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in defense of the Foundations of American Law and Government display, which includes the Ten Commandments. Liberty Counsel represents McCreary and Pulaski Counties in Kentucky...

Love Stronger than Death: Life Triumphs in 2 Near-Death Cases

Posted on January 12, 2009
The NC Register reports: Two dramatic end-of-life cases saw the love of parents and children dramatically change hearts. The cases come in the wake of an upswing in physician-assisted suicide after Washington state voters approved killing terminally ill patients and a court in Montana approved the practice...

Voinovich retiring, like 3 other GOP senators

Posted on January 12, 2009
AP: “Sen. George Voinovich said Monday he won’t seek re-election in 2010 . . . In recent weeks, Republican Sens. Kit Bond of Missouri, Mel Martinez of Florida and Sam Brownback of Kansas have all announced plans to retire in 2010 . . . “ Visit Site » Share This

Solicitor General Pick Has One Glaring Gap on Resume

Posted on January 12, 2009
Tony Mauro writes in the Legal Times: “. . . If confirmed, Elena Kagan will soon walk into this club as solicitor general, without a single Supreme Court oral argument to point to in her past — or, it appears, any other appellate experience ...

ACLU obtains injunction against Florida school district over prayer and other school events

Posted on January 12, 2009
Pensacola News Journal reports: A federal judge has granted an injunction against the Santa Rosa School District in a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union regarding prayer at graduation and other school events . . . ?The School District ultimately did the right thing in admitting and accepting responsibility for its violations of students? constitutional [...

ACLU sues to stop USCCB pro-life restrictions in Trafficking Victims? programs

Posted on January 12, 2009
The ACLU has issued this press release that reports: The American Civil Liberties Union today asked a federal court to require the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to ensure that funds distributed through the Trafficking Victims Protection Act are not being used to impose religiously based restrictions on reproductive [...

School Choice: The Real Test

Posted on January 12, 2009
Ed Feulner writes on Townhall: . . . Powerful politicians of all stripes routinely exercise school choice. A recent survey of Congress found that 37 percent of representatives and 45 percent of senators had sent at least one child to private school. The Obama administration could pave the way for a better education system nationwide by [...

Forced abortions - America?s secret epidemic

Posted on January 12, 2009
OneNewsNow.com reports: Elliot Institute spokesperson Amy Solby tells OneNewsNow that one study found 64 percent of women who had abortions reported they felt pressured to abort by others. “Something like 80 percent of them said that they didn’t get the counseling they needed to make a good decision, that often they were not given counseling [...

Vatican Nuncio to the Netherlands Called to Defend Church Teaching on Sexuality by Dutch Foreign Minister

Posted on January 12, 2009
LifeSiteNews.com reports: The Vatican envoy to the Netherlands has been called to a meeting to defend the Catholic teaching on sexuality and marriage by the Dutch Foreign Affairs Minister. At the request of homosexualist activist groups, Maxime Verhagen, a Christian Democrat, has demanded that the Papal Nuncio to the Netherlands, Monsignor François Bacqué, respond to accusations [...

Texas Sen. Hutchison Tagged by Pro-Life GOP Group for Abortion Distortions

Posted on January 12, 2009
LifeNews.com reports: “A pro-life Republican group has tagged Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison for distorting her position on abortion in a recent mailing to prospective voters. Hutchison is planning to [...]

White House Must Turn Over Records Showing Christian Leader Visits

Posted on January 12, 2009
The Public Record reports: The White House lost a court battle Friday in its attempt to keep secret visitor logs containing the identities of fundamentalist Christian leaders who are said to have visited the White House and Vice President Dick Cheney?s home ...

French Cities Reportedly Finance Mosques Indirectly

Posted on January 12, 2009
The Religion Clause Blog reports: “Islamist Watch blog yesterday reported that mayors in French cities are indirectly subsidizing mosques by granting long term emphyteutic leases at low, or even nominal, rents to provide land on which the mosques will be constructed ...

Burma Orders Christians and Muslims To End Worship Services In Private Apartments

Posted on January 12, 2009
The Religion Clause Blog reports: “In the heavily Buddhist country of Burma, both Christians and Muslims were ordered last week to stop holding religious services in residential apartments . . . “ Visit Site » Share This

Pro-Life Group Laments Feckless Questioning of Pro-Abortion HHS Pick Daschle

Posted on January 12, 2009
LifeNews.com reports: “Members of the Senate HELP Committee last week had the opportunity to question pro-abortion former Sen. Tom Daschle, Barack Obama’s pick for health secretary. Daschle could advance Obama’s pro-abortion agenda but Senate Republicans failed to press him on the issue one pro-life group says ...

?Planned Parenthood makes staff cuts: Funding declines partly attributed to Madoff.?

Posted on January 12, 2009
Miriam Kreinin Souccar writes Crain’s New York: Hit with declines in funding from the economic crisis and the Madoff scandal, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America is laying off around 20% of its staff. Roughly 30 people were let go earlier this week, according to a source who works for the nonprofit...

U.S. Supreme Court refuses to decide case involving city council prayers

Posted on January 12, 2009
The Religion Clause Blog reports that the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear the Turner v. City Council of Fredericksburg, (Docket No. 08-518). The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the city’s requirement that prayers be nondenominational...

14th Amendment - no need for hate crimes legislation

Posted on January 12, 2009
OneNewsNow.com reports: Congresswoman Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-Texas) has reintroduced a bill that would expand the federal hate crime statute to include crimes motivated by bias against a person’s sexual orientation or gender. “The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees equal protection under the law,” [Matt Barber director of cultural affairs at Liberty Counsel] ...

Joel I. Klein and Al Sharpton: Charter Schools Can Close the Education Gap

Posted on January 12, 2009
Joel I. Klein and Al Sharpton write in the Wall Street Journal: . . . We, too, believe that true education reform can only be brought about by a bipartisan coalition that challenges the entrenched education establishment. And we second your belief that school reformers must demonstrate an unflagging commitment to “what works” to dramatically [...

?Gallagher: Conservative era comes to a close?

Posted on January 12, 2009
The conservative movement brought forth not only a generation of intellectuals (like Richard John Neuhaus) to clothe the naked public square, but also a new network of public interest law firms to defend religious liberty, from Christian organizations such as the Alliance Defense Fund to the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which defends all faith traditions? rights ...

Christianity Is No Longer Americans? Default Faith

Posted on January 12, 2009
The study discovered that half of all adults now contend that Christianity is just one of many options that Americans choose from and that a huge majority of adults pick and choose what they believe rather than adopt a church or denomination?s slate of beliefs ...

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