Religion & Law

Conservatives form rival group to Episcopal Church

Posted on December 03, 2008
AP: “Theological conservatives upset by liberal views of U.S. Episcopalians and Canadian Anglicans formed a rival North American province Wednesday, in a long-developing rift over the Bible that erupted when Episcopalians consecrated the first openly gay bishop...

?9 Ways to Halt the Right Wing Culture Wars and Bring Sanity to Sexual Policy?

Posted on December 03, 2008
David Rosen has this post at AltarNet. He begins: “The recent electoral victory of Barack Obama and the Democratic party presents a unique opportunity to overturn the most perverse policy of the Bush administration and the religious right, the conservative repressive sexual agenda...

Pennsylvania: Evangelical group sues Haverford district over fliers

Posted on December 03, 2008
Philly.com reports: Haverford Township school officials are trying to extricate the district from a legal tussle with an evangelical Christian group that wants to send informational fliers home with grade-school students. Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) filed suit against the Haverford Township School District in late October after the district refused to distribute fliers promoting the group’s after-school [...

ECLJ Pleads for Religious Freedom in Bulgaria at the European Parliament

Posted on December 03, 2008
ACLJ reports: “The European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ), which is representing the Holy Synod of the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, said today it is hopeful that the European Parliament in Brussels will act to bring an end to the troubling intervention and discrimination aimed at the church by the Bulgarian government since the fall [...

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Capitol Hill?s ?leftist agenda? in the crosshairs

Posted on December 03, 2008
OneNewsNow.com reports: The Alliance Defense Fund is monitoring Congress as the Obama administration prepares to take over the nation’s capitol . . . Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) spokesman Mike Johnson comments on the situation. “Many of [coming into office] said, including the new president and vice president, that they were committed to pursuing damaging policy changes that will [...

Updated Supreme Court Clerk Hiring Watch

Posted on December 03, 2008
AbovetheLaw carries this updated report on law clerk hiring at the U.S. Supreme Court. Visit Site » Share This

Legislative Grandstanding on Prop. 8 Insults Voters and Distracts Legislators From Real Priorities

Posted on December 03, 2008
"Yes on Proposition 8 campaign today accused legislators of 'grandstanding for the cameras' in an inappropriate and misguided publicity stunt designed to influence the California Supreme Court in the lead-up to the Court's scheduled hearing on the validity of Proposition 8...

After-School Christian Club Wins Battle Against School Board Discrimination

Posted on December 03, 2008
Liberty Counsel reports: We have “Good News” to report from California. A federal court judge has ruled that Child Evangelism Fellowship of San Diego is the prevailing party in a case against the San Diego City School District. Liberty Counsel sued the District for charging CEF to hold after-school “Good News Clubs,” while allowing free [...

Bush administration leaves major mark on faith-based funding, experts say

Posted on December 03, 2008
APBNews reports: President Bush?s administration and a host of court rulings have indelibly altered the way that the federal government relates to religious charities, according to an analysis by experts on the subject. ?The heart — the core — of the faith-based and community initiative is a commitment to equal treatment of faith-based social-welfare providers,? said [...

Vatican Attacked for Defending Natural Family

Posted on December 03, 2008
LifeSiteNews.com reports: The Vatican has been attacked for its defence of the natural family and of the countries in which the natural family is still recognised and protected in law. Homosexualist groups and newspaper editorials today attacked the Vatican?s representative to the United Nations, after he said that the Vatican will not support a resolution [...

ACLU Files Federal Lawsuit To Protect Religious Liberty Of New Jersey Prisoner

Posted on December 03, 2008
The ACLU has issued this press release that begins: he American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of New Jersey today filed a federal lawsuit on behalf of a New Jersey prisoner, an ordained Pentecostal minister, who is asking the state to respect his religious freedom by restoring his right to preach...

Review of ?Same-Sex Marriage and Religious Liberty: Emerging Conflicts? Part II

Posted on December 03, 2008
William May has this book review at the Culture of Life Foundation. He begins: In Part I, I said I would devote two articles to this important book. Because of the dramatic change in the political atmosphere caused by the 2008 presidential and congressional elections, I now think that three articles are necessary...

Researcher: APA Can?t Keep Ignoring Studies Showing Abortion Hurts Women

Posted on December 03, 2008
LifeNews.com reports: “The leading researcher responsible for a new study showing abortion has serious mental health complications for women says the American Psychological Association needs to reverse its own misleading conclusion that abortion doesn’t cause women mental health problems...

Second Video Shows Planned Parenthood Not Reporting Girl?s Statutory Rape

Posted on December 03, 2008
LifeNews.com: “A second video this week features a college student going to Planned Parenthood undercover posting as a young girl who is obviously a victim of statutory rape. This [...]

Capitol Visitor Center Opens With Objection To Lack of Religious References

Posted on December 03, 2008
The Religion Clause Blog reports: Yesterday, the $621 million U.S. Capitol Visitor Center, over-budget and behind schedule, opened to the public. (Washington Post.) South Carolina Republican Senator Jame DeMint almost delayed the opening further, according to the McClatchy Newspapers yesterday...

RLUIPA Protects New York Church?s Catering Activities From Adverse Zoning Action

Posted on December 03, 2008
The Religion Clause Blog reports: In Third Church of Christ, Scientist v. City of New York, (SDNY, Dec. 2, 2008), a New York federal district court, applying the “equal terms provision” of RLUIPA, enjoined the city from revoking previously granted approval for a church to use its building for catering activities...

Proposition 8 Melee: Who?s Being Intolerant?

Posted on December 03, 2008
Dakota Voice reports: “This is the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) video put together of some of the outrageous behavior from homosexual activists after Californians voted for Proposition 8 to return marriage to the normal, natural definition: between a man and a woman...

ADF-allied attorneys secure free speech for L.A. Jews for Jesus

Posted on December 03, 2008
The city of Los Angeles has agreed to settle a federal lawsuit filed by Alliance Defense Fund attorneys and allied attorneys on behalf of representatives of Jews for Jesus. Police arrested a member of the group for handing out religious material outside of an event at a public park.

Mass. High Court: Rastafarian can sue over employer?s hair policy

Posted on December 03, 2008
How Appealing links to several reports and the ruling.  The AP: “A Rastafarian man who refused to shave off his beard or cut his hair to comply with an employee grooming policy at his oil change job can take his religious discrimination case to trial, Massachusetts’ highest court ruled Tuesday...

Victorious Chambliss urges GOP to return to basics

Posted on December 03, 2008
AP: “Fresh off a win in his U.S. Senate runoff, Georgia Republican Saxby Chambliss is calling on his party to return to its conservative roots.Chambliss beat Democrat Jim Martin 57 percent to 43 percent . . . ” Fox News: Sen. Chambliss Says Palin ‘Fired Up’ the Base in Georgia Runoff Visit Site » Share This

Senate recount: Pendulum swings to Franken

Posted on December 03, 2008
The Minneapolis Star Tribune: The U.S. Senate recount took two abrupt turns Tuesday, both boosting the prospects of DFLer Al Franken. Franken unexpectedly picked up 37 votes due to a combined machine malfunction and human error on Election Day that left 171 Maplewood ballots safe, secure but uncounted until Tuesday’s final day of recounting in Ramsey County [...

World stem-cell session to be held in Baltimore

Posted on December 03, 2008
The Baltimore Sun: Baltimore will act as host to the 2009 World Stem Cell Summit, solidifying its position as one of the nation’s foremost crucibles for bioscience research, officials said today. The summit, to be held over three days in September, is expected to bring together more than 1,200 scientists, companies and foreign government emissaries to [...

Rutherford Institute Attorneys Appeal to U.S. Supreme Court on Behalf of Street Preacher Arrested While Peacefully Preaching

Posted on December 03, 2008
The Rutherford Institute reports: “Attorneys for The Rutherford Institute have filed a petition with the United States Supreme Court in defense of the First Amendment rights of C. Stephen White, a street preacher who was arrested on three separate occasions while peacefully standing on public sidewalks in the City of Philadelphia and preaching a Christian [...

Indiana: Proposed marriage amendment to be reworded

Posted on December 03, 2008
WIBC.com: “Backers of a constitutional ban on gay marriage plan to reintroduce the proposal in next year’s legislature, but in a slightly revised form. The House and Senate approved a constitutional ban on gay marriage in 2005, but constitutional amendments must pass two consecutive legislatures...

Ireland: Advertising regulator says Bible quotes are indecent in ads

Posted on December 03, 2008
The Christian Institute: “The use of biblical language to describe homosexual practice in a newspaper ad broke rules on ?decency?, the advertising regulator has ruled. The minister of the church that placed the ad says the Advertising Standards Authority has effectively put the church on trial and found the Bible guilty of being offensive...

A lesbian in Obama?s cabinet? Speculation swirls around Maxwell for labor secretary

Posted on December 03, 2008
Washington Blade: “President-elect Barack Obama this week was reportedly considering nominating an openly gay person to serve as labor secretary. The Wall Street Journal reported that Obama was considering Mary Beth Maxwell, the founding executive director of American Rights at Work, to head the Labor Department...

Hate crimes, ENDA seen as top legislative priorities

Posted on December 03, 2008
Washington Blade: “Officials with the Human Rights Campaign and National Gay & Lesbian Task Force are hopeful that Barack Obama?s administration and Democratic leaders in Congress will help orchestrate the passage next year of two gay rights bills that enjoy widespread support...

New Vatican instruction on bioethics coming December 12

Posted on December 02, 2008
CWNews.com reports: The Vatican has scheduled news conferences on consecutive days, December 11 and 12, to unveil a new teaching document on bioethics and the Pope’s annual message for the World Day of Peace. The document on bioethical questions, entitled Dignitas Personae, will be promulgated by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith...

Vatican delegate opposes UN declaration condemning discrimination based on sexual orientation

Posted on December 02, 2008
CWNews reports: “Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Holy See’s permanent observer at the United Nations, has criticized a proposed UN declaration, backed by all 27 European Union nations, to condemn discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity...

New Zealand: Abortion increases risk of mental health problems - study

Posted on December 02, 2008
The New Zealand Herald: “Women who have an abortion are more likely to suffer subsequent poor mental health, according to a new survey . . . the findings have implications for the legal status of abortion in New Zealand where over 90 per cent of terminations were authorised on the grounds that proceeding [...

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