Religion & Law

US?s first face transplant done in Cleveland, Doc suggested assisted suicide option if it failed

Posted on December 19, 2008
The China Daily reports:  Arthur Caplan, a leading bioethicist who has expressed grave concerns in the past about such surgery, withheld judgment on the Cleveland case but said the woman#8217;s doctors should give her the option of assisted suicide if they wind up making her life worse...

Vatican fears that cloning could enslave humanity

Posted on December 19, 2008
The Catholic Herald reports from the UK:  The instruction, Dignitatis Personae (#8221;The Dignity of the Person#8221;), represents the most trenchant criticism of biotechnological techniques ever issued. But it makes clear that the Church supports technologies and research that result in healing rather than harming human life ...

Unborn babies are ?part of the family?, says Archbishop of Canterbury

Posted on December 19, 2008
The Daily Mail reports: #8220;Unborn babies should be regarded as equal #8216;members of the human family#8217;, the Archbishop of Canterbury said today. In a bold but veiled attack on abortion, Dr Rowan Williams used his Christmas message to insist on traditional doctrine on the sanctity of life from conception until natural death ...

10,000 Polish women get abortions in Britain

Posted on December 19, 2008
The Telegraph reports:  Thousands of the women are thought to have come to Britain specifically for the procedure, which is illegal in Poland . . .  A pill given to women under nine weeks pregnant costs the NHS about £500 while an operation necessary for those further into pregnancy costs about £1,600 including after-care ...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

UK: Briefing Paper on the New Independent Safeguarding Authority

Posted on December 19, 2008
Christian Concern for our Nation has published this report that begins:  There is a new vetting and barring system that will impact on all volunteers and paid employees who work with children or vulnerable adults, which will include those in paid and volunteer roles within Churches and Christian organisations...

?U.N. divided over gay rights declaration?

Posted on December 19, 2008
"The U.N. General Assembly split over the issue of gay rights on Thursday after a European-drafted statement calling for decriminalization of homosexuality prompted an Arab-backed one opposing it . . . "img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/alliancealert/~4/489730774" height="1" width="1"/

NC: Forsyth rejects bid to settle prayer lawsuit

Posted on December 19, 2008
The Winston-Salem Journal reports:  Forsyth County yesterday turned aside a chance to negotiate a settlement in a case that challenges the constitutionality of allowing prayer before board meetings that contains specifically Christian references . . ...

Defending the family with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Posted on December 18, 2008
Don Browning writes on Mercatornet: . . . So I ask, what was the meaning of the family in the most basic document of the human rights tradition ? the Universal Declaration of Human Rights? And how can this view of the family help guide the modernization and development process? Historians tell us that an air of [...

With economy in shambles, Congress gets a raise

Posted on December 18, 2008
The Hill reports: A crumbling economy, more than 2 million constituents who have lost their jobs this year, and congressional demands of CEOs to work for free did not convince lawmakers to freeze their own pay. Instead, they will get a $4,700 pay increase, amounting to an additional $2...

HHS Issues New Conscience Regs

Posted on December 18, 2008
Casey Mattox has this post at the CLS Blog that begins: #8220;The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has issued final regulations protecting healthcare workers from being forced to perform or assist in abortions against their conscience. #8221; Casey#8217;s post links to the final regs and comments submitted by CLS...

?Gay man backed for Navy secretary?

Posted on December 18, 2008
The Washington Times: Some top retired military leaders and some Democrats in Congress are backing William White, chief operating officer of the Intrepid Museum Foundation, to be the next secretary of the Navy #8212; a move that would put the first openly gay person at the top of one of the services...

Texas: Police officer shoots suspect outside Dickinson strip club

Posted on December 18, 2008
TXCN.com reports: According to police, the officer was responding to some kind of disturbance in the back parking lot when he was approached by a man in a Cadillac. Police said the man began attacking the officer, and, fearing for his life, the officer shot him ...

Florida: 25-Year-Old Man Shot, Killed During Strip Club Fight

Posted on December 18, 2008
WFTV.com reports: #8220;A 25-year-old man was killed after a shooting outside an Orange County strip club late Wednesday night. Investigators said a fight started inside the Diamond Club on Semoran Boulevard near Hibiscus Road. . . .#8221; Visit Site #187; Share Thisimg src="http://feeds...

U.S. Census Bureau redefines parent?

Posted on December 18, 2008
So why re-define parenthood? . . . there?s also another impulse, connected to the marriage issue, which is the effort to re-engineer society, to break down the old structures with their traditional morality . . . Plus, it does away with all the inconvenient guilt over ?broken? homes ...

Congress OKs tough anti-trafficking bill

Posted on December 18, 2008
Baptist Press reports: #8220;Congress has approved legislation that supporters believe will strengthen both the domestic and international efforts to combat human trafficking . . . President Bush is expected to sign the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, H...

4th Circuit upholds obscenity conviction for adult-to-adult e-mail about sex with children

Posted on December 18, 2008
"We also reject his arguments that textual matter cannot be obscene under § 1462 and that cartoons depicting minors in sexually explicit conduct must depict real life minors to violate § 1466A(a)(1)."img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/alliancealert/~4/489091460" height="1" width="1"/

California: Benicia council OKs updates to ordinance on ?adult businesses?

Posted on December 18, 2008
The Times-Herald reports: The City Council has unanimously approved ordinance updates relating to #8220;adult entertainment,#8221; trying to balance city health and safety with constitutionally guaranteed rights. McLaughlin said the council#8217;s only major adjustment to the proposed ordinance was to increase the distance between the establishment and residential areas from 300 to 500 feet ...

Arkansas: Police seize ephedrine, adult videos from store

Posted on December 18, 2008
The Times-Herald reports: An employee at a local convenience store is facing felony charges for allegedly selling obscene movies from a storage room inside the business. According to a press release from the Forrest City Police Department, Zulfiya Nazarkhudoeva, 34, 2033 Merrell Cir...

Kansas: Atheists amend suit against DOD over evangelization in combat

Posted on December 18, 2008
The AP reports: Attorneys for an atheist soldier at Fort Riley said Monday that they plan to amend their lawsuit against the Department of Defense to include new allegations about evangelizing in combat. The evidence is in videos discovered by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation, which along with Spc...

Illinois Supreme Court: Religious objections of pro-life health professionals must be considered by the courts

Posted on December 18, 2008
Plaintiffs . . . that own and operate pharmacies in Illinois?brought a declaratory judgment action . . . seeking to invalidate an administrative rule that forces pharmacies to dispense Plan B contraception (also known as the morning-after pill or emergency contraception) ...

ACLU: ?Military Reverses Bible Distribution Policy At Induction Centers?

Posted on December 18, 2008
The ACLU has issued this press release that begins: #8220;In a move that will help protect the religious freedom of new inductees, the U.S. military reversed its policy of giving preferential access to some religious groups to provide literature to new recruits...

Obama planning billion-dollar ?bailout? for abortion industry

Posted on December 18, 2008
OneNewsNow.com reports: A pro-life group in Washington has launched a campaign to oppose what it calls president-elect Barack Obama#8217;s planned $1.5 billion #8220;bailout#8221; of the abortion industry. Last week, the Obama-Biden Transition Project posted a report on its website that calls for dramatic policy reversals on abortion, including $1 billion in taxpayer money for international abortion groups like [...

Vatican: Use of Morning After Pills ?Fall Within the Sin of Abortion? - Will Catholic Hospitals Now Stop Using them for Rape Victims?

Posted on December 18, 2008
John-Henry Westen reports at LifeSiteNews.com: In the December 12 document Dignitatis Personae, the Vatican has condemned the use of morning after pills as falling #8220;within the sin of abortion,#8221; and thus being #8220;gravely immoral.#8221; LifeSiteNews...

NJ Justices OK attorney ads noting they?re ranked ?best?

Posted on December 18, 2008
NJ.com reports: #8220;Get ready, New Jersey: The Super Lawyers are coming! The state Supreme Court ruled yesterday that lawyers who are named to lists such as #8216;Super Lawyers#8217; or #8216;Best Lawyers in America#8217; should be allowed to include that information in their advertising...

Minnesota: ?Big push for same-sex marriage coming in ?09?

Posted on December 18, 2008
In 2009, supporters of same-sex marriage hope to take the offensive, with a bill by Sen. John Marty, DFL-Roseville, to legalize it . . . OutFront plans to hold meetings in churches and synagogues and neighborhoods where gay and lesbian couples talk to people they know ...

Multicultural displays ?neutering? Christmas

Posted on December 18, 2008
OneNewsNow.com reports: #8220;There#8217;s something perverse in the land. This multicultural rage has been implemented basically to neuter Christmas,#8221; [Bill] Donahue notes. #8220;If you can dilute its significance by celebrating everybody else#8217;s religious and ethnic and cultural traditions, then you can really water down Christmas #8211; and that#8217;s really what#8217;s going on here...

Woman Says Church Threatening To Make Sins Public

Posted on December 18, 2008
News4jax.com reports: A divorced Jacksonville woman said her former church has threatened to #8220;go public with her sins#8221; and tell the congregation about her sexual relationship with her new boyfriend. Rebecca Hancock said harassment from Grace Community Church in Mandarin over her sex life caused her to leave, but she said that didn#8217;t put an end [...

Students Challenge Boise State?s Discriminatory Policies for Funding Student Groups

Posted on December 18, 2008
Attorneys with the Christian Legal Society?s Center for Law #038; Religious Freedom filed suit in federal court today against Boise State University officials challenging their discrimination against religious student organizations and other groups seeking funding from student government...

Pros and cons of Prop. 8: Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown?s Brief

Posted on December 18, 2008
The LA Times has published this editorial that begins: . . . By Friday, Brown is supposed to deliver his legal brief on whether the initiative banning same-sex marriage is an amendment to the state Constitution or, as opponents claim, a fundamental revision of it, which would require far more than a simple majority vote to [...

Spain: Prosecutor?s Office Removes Nativity Scene After Objections

Posted on December 18, 2008
The Religion Clause Blog reports: #8220;Argument over nativity scenes and church-state separation are not limited to the United States. AFP reported yesterday that in Madrid, Spain, a small nativity scene at the state prosecutor#8217;s office led to objections from a top judge who objected that it violated the church-state separation guaranteed by Spain#8217;s 1978 Constitution [...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.