Religion & Law

Iowa Senate OKs plan to say Pledge of Allegiance each day

Posted on January 19, 2011
WCF Courier: "Iowa senators will begin their daily work with prayer and the Pledge of Allegiance. Senate President Jack Kibbie, D-Emmetsburg, the presiding officer when the Senate is in session, announced Tuesday that the change was approved following a request last week from freshman Sen...

Kansas House GOP launching late-term abortion debate

Posted on January 19, 2011
Topeka Capital-Journal: "The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee revealed Wednesday a sweeping abortion bill crafted to restrict late-term procedures, expand parental consent for minors seeking to end a pregnancy and match Kansas law on partial-birth abortion with a more stringent federal statute...

KY Courier-Journal: General Assembly should resist efforts to restrict ?portable abortion rights?

Posted on January 19, 2011
Courier-Journal Editorial: "Legal abortion is the law of the land, and a recent Kentucky Court of Appeals ruling served to support that settled law. But because the case involved a minor from another state, and her right to petition a Kentucky judge to have an abortion without a parent's permission, there is talk of approaching the General Assembly to 'tighten' the law that allows minors to make their case...

Obama must address human rights, forced abortions, with Chinese President

Posted on January 19, 2011
Congressman Chris Smith writing at LifeNews: "I urge President Obama to join us in speaking out for all those in China whose basic human rights are violated ? for political prisoners . . . "

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ACLU: ?Ceremony finalizes adoption process for family that challenged Florida?s ban on gay people adopting?

Posted on January 19, 2011
ACLU: "After a successful fight to overturn Florida?s ban on gay people serving as adoptive parents, the two young brothers adopted by Martin Gill participated in an adoption ceremony in Judge Cindy Lederman's chambers in Miami-Dade County Juvenile Court today, marking the final step in their adoption process...

?Gay university leaders form group to advocate advancement?

Posted on January 18, 2011
Chicago Sun-Times: "[A]bout 30 gay and lesbian university leaders . . . have formed the group LGBTQ Presidents in Higher Education to advocate for the advancement of gays to leadership positions."

NY: Sen. Thomas Duane to push bill redefining marriage

Posted on January 18, 2011
NY Daily News: "Sen. Thomas Duane (D-Manhattan), the Senate's biggest booster of gay marriage, said he'll introduce legislation 'within weeks' to legalize same-sex marriage - and will push for a vote before the end of June."

Hospital visits to extend to same-sex couples

Posted on January 18, 2011
ABC: "Some new rules on hospital visitation go into effect Tuesday. The new regulations were ordered by the Obama administration and deal with visitation issues affecting the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities."

Maryland: Marriage redefinition bill to be introduced this week

Posted on January 18, 2011
On Top Magazine (homosexual advocacy site): "A gay marriage bill will be introduced in the Maryland Senate this week, Senator Rich Madaleno told On Top Magazine during a brief telephone interview on Monday."

The battle for life at the Iowa capitol

Posted on January 18, 2011
Caffeinated Thoughts: "There are many pro-life bills that will be introduced this year and, although we don?t have the resources to work on them all . . . They range from overarching bans to specific responses to unique and immediate crises that are impacting Iowa...

Montana: Pro-life rally draws crowd

Posted on January 18, 2011
Montana Standard: "More than 200 people gathered for an anti-abortion rally at the Capitol Monday, including two dozen legislators, as abortion opponents predicted the 2011 Legislature will approve bills to restrict abortion in Montana."

World Congress of Families releases ?10 Best and Worst Developments for the Family in 2010?

Posted on January 18, 2011
ChristianNewsWire: "In the January issue of its newsletter, World Congress of Families News, the international family-values group published its list of 'The 10 Best and Worst Developments for The Family in 2010.' Click here for the list and news from the January issue...

Who?s underrepresented in Congress? Baptists, Pentecostals and ?no religion?

Posted on January 18, 2011
AllGov: "A survey of those serving in the U.S. House and Senate reveals only one member considers himself an atheist, agnostic or 'nothing in particular': Pete Stark (D-California) This is in contrast to the general population of the country, of which 16% falls into the non-religious category...

Supreme Court refuses appeal by opponents of marriage redefinition in D.C.

Posted on January 18, 2011
Keen News Service: "The U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday refused to hear the appeal of a group of clergy in Washington, D.C., who want to put the city?s new marriage equality law on the ballot . . . The clergy group took Justice Roberts? note to heart and, with the help of the Alliance Defense Fund, a right-wing legal group, filed this new challenge...

ACLU tries to silence religious voices, ignores threats to women?s health

Posted on January 18, 2011
ChristianNewswire: "Monsignor Ignacio Barreiro-Carámbula, interim president of Human Life International (HLI), today blasted the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) for what he called their 'flagrant disregard for women's health, and for the constitution...

Abortion rules mark first big challenge to Obamacare

Posted on January 18, 2011
Fox News: "Starting today, House Republicans will begin work on new language that would go beyond simply closing the loophole in Obama?s law and actually create new restrictions, including allowing medical professionals who express objections of conscience to refuse to provide abortion services...

US Supreme Court turns down appeal of child porn conviction

Posted on January 18, 2011
Associated Press: "The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a man who was convicted of child pornography charges based on the nude pictures he kept from his mid-1970s affair with his teenage sister-in-law."

Quebec Human Rights Tribunal fines man $12,000 for ?homophobic? remarks

Posted on January 18, 2011
LifeSiteNews: "A Montreal man has been ordered to pay $12,000 to his homosexual neighbors for allegedly directing 'homophobic' remarks at them, by the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal. The homosexual couple has a history of pursuing lawsuits and complaints against neighbors...

Mexican bishop condemns pro-abortion group listed as ?partner? by Development and Peace

Posted on January 18, 2011
LifeSiteNews: "The Catholic Bishop of San Cristobal de las Casas, in the state of Chiapas, Mexico, has condemned a group that the Canadian bishops' Canadian Catholic Organization for Development and Peace (D&P) currently lists as its featured Mexican 'partner' on its website, LifeSiteNews has learned...

Canada: Sask. marriage commissioners must wed same-sex couples

Posted on January 18, 2011
"The Saskatchewan government says it will require marriage commissioners to perform civil marriages for all couples, including same-sex partners."

Pro-life organization sends 120 buses to National March for Life

Posted on January 18, 2011
LifeSiteNews: "A pro-life organization called 'People Concerned for the Unborn Child' (PCUC) based out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania organizes the largest coordinated contingent to the March for Life in Washington, D.C., sending 120-130 buses yearly."

Matt Bowman on the Zeb Bell Show: Vanderbilt?s abortion pledge for nursing students

Posted on January 18, 2011
ADF Attorney Matt Bowman appeared on the Zeb Bell Show to discuss this: Vanderbilt University abandons illegal policy that forced nursing residents to sign abortion pledge. | MP3 audio 17:12 mins

Pro-lifers: Vote against repeal equals abortion funding OK

Posted on January 18, 2011
LifeNews: "Because the Obamacare legislation contained insufficient limits on taxpayer funding of abortions, pro-life organizations are strongly supporting the repeal effort and groups like the Susan B. Anthony List say they will inform their members about the votes...

U.S. Supreme Court agrees to hear medicaid preemption case

Posted on January 18, 2011
SCOTUSblog: "This morning, the Court released its order list. The Court granted certiorari in three cases, appearing below, limited to the first question presented by the petitions.  The Court consolidated the cases and allotted one hour for oral argument...

Polls show voters still want ObamaCare repealed, scaled back

Posted on January 18, 2011
LifeNews: "The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows 55 percent of likely voters favor repeal of the health care law, while 40% oppose repeal. Some 40 percent of likely voters strongly favor repeal while 30 percent are strongly opposed ? showing passion remains on the pro-repeal side...

Catholic or consequences: Feds increasingly tell Catholic entities to be authentically Catholic or lose religious exemptions

Posted on January 18, 2011
Msgr. Charles Pope writing at the Archdiocese of Washington blog: "To be clear, there are very serious threats today looming over religious liberty. An increasingly intrusive government and menacing new laws are seeking to unreasonably restrict the Church, and her work of evangelizing the culture...

Another Iraqi Christian shot in Mosul

Posted on January 18, 2011
Asia News: "Another targeted attack against Christians in Iraq. On the afternoon of 15 January a group of unidentified criminals entered the Rabi'a hospital, a private clinic in the Sukar district in Mosul and shot a Christian doctor who worked there at point blank rabge...

Report: First two years of college show small gains

Posted on January 18, 2011
USA Today: "Nearly half of the nation's undergraduates show almost no gains in learning in their first two years of college, in large part because colleges don't make academics a priority, a new report shows."

ND US Sen. Kent Conrad won?t run for re-election

Posted on January 18, 2011
Associated Press: "North Dakota U.S. Sen. Kent Conrad said Tuesday he will not run for re-election in 2012, saying he will concentrate instead on reducing the national debt and dependence on foreign oil."

Cal Thomas: Contrasts in black and red

Posted on January 18, 2011
Cal Thomas writing at Townhall: "In Illinois, Democratic legislators and a Democratic governor pushed through a massive 67 percent personal income tax hike . . . In his State of the State address last week, Indiana Republican Mitch Daniels, properly took credit for policies that have placed his state among the financially strongest in the nation: lowest property taxes in the country and matching spending to income by eliminating 'nice to do' programs, focusing instead on 'must do' ones...

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