Religion & Law

Without aid, Detroit Public Schools may close half of its schools

Posted on January 17, 2011
Detroit News: "Detroit Public Schools would close nearly half of its schools in the next two years, and increase high school class sizes to 62 by the following year, under a deficit-reduction plan filed with the state."

Cuomo?s hiring of Christine Quinn liaison may be major step in push for marriage redefinition

Posted on January 17, 2011
NY Daily News: "Andrew Cuomo said during his campaign that he wants to make gay marriage legal in New York and a new appointment may signal he means business - even if it's still an uphill battle. Cuomo is naming Erik Bottcher, City Council Speaker Christine Quinn's liaison to the gay community, to the newly created cabinet post of special assistant for community affairs...

New plea on DADT case timing

Posted on January 17, 2011
SCOTUSblog: "The Justice Department on Friday asked the Ninth Circuit Court either to put on hold the constitutional case on gays in the U.S. military, or else give it more time to file its written arguments ? a plea that would stretch out the briefing schedule another month...

Louisiana gets ready for first March for Life in Baton Rouge

Posted on January 17, 2011
LifeSiteNews: "Pro-life advocates in Louisiana will soon be gathering for the first ever Louisiana Life March to mourn the 38th Anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion in all 50 states."

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Walk for Life West Coast expects more than 35,000

Posted on January 17, 2011
LifeSiteNews: "Organizers expect more than 35,000 peaceful pro-life activists for the rally at Justin Herman Plaza and walk along the Embarcadero to Marina Green. The 2010 Walk drew a massive crowd with media estimates ranging from 23,000 to 35,000 people...

New Hampshire to consider parental notification on abortion

Posted on January 17, 2011
LifeNews: "Republicans, who enjoy a majority control of the state House, announced their legislative agenda yesterday and it included legislation helping parents not be in the dark when their daughters are contemplating an abortion."

Hu highlights need for U.S.-China cooperation, questions dollar

Posted on January 17, 2011
Wall Street Journal: "Chinese President Hu Jintao emphasized the need for cooperation with the U.S. in areas from new energy to space ahead of his visit to Washington this week, but he called the present U.S. dollar-dominated currency system a 'product of the past' and highlighted moves to turn the yuan into a global currency...

Two Christian women beaten in Pakistan over blasphemy charges

Posted on January 17, 2011
NDTV: "The roughing up of the family forced them to go into hiding for fear of being killed. The fresh incident has come as the country is yet to recover from the assassination of outspoken governor Salmaan Taseer for his support to Christian woman Aasia Bibi in jail on blasphemy charges...

Health care waivers smack of government corruption, say DC watchdogs

Posted on January 17, 2011
Law Enforcement Examiner: "President Barack Obama?s healthcare reform law does not specify which companies or labor unions should receive waivers for its requirements and under what circumstances. Critics of how Heath and Human Services Department has chosen to handle these waiver requests highlight the haphazard nature of the approval process and the fact that companies able to secure these coveted Obamacare exemptions are given an unfair competitive advantage over their rivals...

Star Parker: Restoring a culture of life

Posted on January 17, 2011
Star Parker writing at Townhall: "A widely held assumption in our national discourse today is that there are 'economic issues' and 'social issues' that are separate, unrelated concerns. The fact that many actually believe that our nation?s economic vitality has nothing to do with the condition of the American family or our general attitudes toward life and personal responsibility is a symptom of rather than an answer to our problems...

Killings of newborn babies on the rise in Pakistan

Posted on January 17, 2011
Yahoo News (AFP): "More than 1,000 infants -- most of them girls -- were killed or abandoned to die in Pakistan last year according to conservative estimates by the Edhi Foundation, a charity working to reverse the grim trend."

5th Circuit to re-hear same-sex couple?s challenge after Louisiana refuses to respect out-of-state adoptions

Posted on January 17, 2011
Lambda Legal: "The full 16-member U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments on Wednesday, January 19, 2011, regarding the New York adoption of a Louisiana-born baby boy by a same-sex couple."

Byron York: GOP gears up again to strip NPR of federal funds

Posted on January 17, 2011
Byron York writing at Townhall: "For years, Republicans have wanted to cut off federal funding for National Public Radio. They tried and failed in the 1990s, but now, with a new GOP majority in the House, they're ready to try again. It's still a long shot, but they have a fighting chance...

Dick Morris and Eileen McGann: To save the States, Let ?em declare bankruptcy

Posted on January 17, 2011
Dick Morris and Eileen McGann writing at Townhall: "When the states come calling, the House must say, 'No.' What's more, it's time to amend the federal bankruptcy laws to create a procedure for state bankruptcies -- allowing states to abrogate their municipal-union contracts from the school-board level on up...

Tennessee judges donate to politicians who oppose judicial elections

Posted on January 17, 2011
Tennessean: "Tennessee's highest-ranking judges don't want to run for elected office statewide to keep their jobs, but many of those same members of the judiciary give heavily to the campaigns of politicians who could help decide the fate of Tennessee judicial elections...

Hobbled Iowa Supreme Court slow to act

Posted on January 17, 2011
Des Moines Register: "The Iowa Supreme Court's four justices, who face an increased workload after voters ousted three colleagues, will release their first batch of opinions in 2011 in February. In a typical January, the court releases between eight and 10 rulings, said Iowa state courts spokesman Steve Davis...

Iowa: Chief justice to meet critic of court?s marriage ruling

Posted on January 17, 2011
Radio Iowa: "The chief justice of the Iowa Supreme Court has agreed to meet with one of the state?s leading critics of the court?s gay marriage ruling. Chuck Hurley of a group that recently changed its name to The FAMiLY Leader says he?ll ask the chief justice to 'pray and search his heart' and Hurley says he?s confident the justice will then resign...

New US lawmakers want action on China currency

Posted on January 17, 2011
Associated Press: "Congress may be less likely to pass legislation on the issue than it had been last year, when both chambers were under Democratic control. A bill to give U.S. companies a means of challenging what they view as an unfair export subsidy sailed through the House, but died in the Senate...

KY Court of Appeals: Nonresident minors can ask KY courts for abortion permission

Posted on January 17, 2011
"Minors from other states may ask Kentucky judges to give them permission to have abortions without their parents? knowledge or consent, a state appeals court has ruled."

Planned Parenthood to implement abortion mandate by 2013

Posted on January 17, 2011
LifeNews: "85 regions or affiliates aligned with Planned Parenthood must operate an abortion center by 2013 ? which would ensure all 820 Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide either do abortions or provide abortion referrals to a Planned Parenthood abortion center...

Census reveals declining marriage rate in Mississippi

Posted on January 17, 2011
Clarion Ledger: "[N]ew government figures suggest[] that this once rock-solid institution continues to crumble, even in the reputedly pro-marriage state of Mississippi, where religious leaders, sociologists and others are pondering the reasons."

China heads off US questions on human rights

Posted on January 17, 2011
Guardian: "The Chinese president, Hu Jintao, has held out the prospect of a clash with President Barack Obama over human rights when the two meet at the White House on Wednesday."

UK: Martin Amis says euthanasia is ?an evolutionary inevitability?

Posted on January 17, 2011
Telegraph: "The author, who caused an outcry last year when he called for euthanasia booths to be installed on every street corner, says that he now regards euthanasia as nothing less than 'an evolutionary inevitability.'"

Ireland: ?First gay couple to have civil partnership recognized?

Posted on January 17, 2011
Irish Times: "Glenn Cunningham and Adriano Vilar have become the first gay couple in the State to have their civil partnership formally recognised by the State. The couple, who work at Argos, formed a civil partnership at a ceremony in Northern Ireland last year...

VA lawmakers target ?discrimination against gays?

Posted on January 17, 2011
Star-Tribune: "At least eight measures in this year's General Assembly take aim against discrimination based on sexual orientation. The proposals range from prohibiting such discrimination in employment, to targeting harassment of gay students at school, to overturning Virginia's ban on same-sex marriage...

UK Christian B&B case: ruling due tomorrow

Posted on January 17, 2011
The Christian Institute: "A judge is expected to give his ruling tomorrow on the case of the Christian owners of a guesthouse sued by homosexuals for restricting double bed accommodation to married couples. The judgment is set to be handed down at Bristol County Court by His Honour Judge Rutherford at 10am tomorrow, Tuesday 18 January 2011...

Radical Indonesian Muslims to take legal action over Bogor church permit

Posted on January 17, 2011
Jakarta Globe: "A hard-line Islamic group is set to file a class-action lawsuit against the Bogor administration for its failure to rescind the Indonesian Christian Church?s building permit. The move follows the announcement on Friday that the Supreme Court had rejected the administration?s request to uphold the revocation of the church?s permit to construct a place of worship...

Planned Parenthood may double the number of NJ abortion clinics while expanding nationwide

Posted on January 17, 2011
NJ.com: "The Planned Parenthood Federation of America has announced a national expansion that could double the number of abortion clinics it operates in New Jersey from three to six by 2013 and provide a wider array of health care for the tens of thousands of uninsured or low-income people it serves...

FL: Car strikes pro-life activist in Fort Myers

Posted on January 17, 2011
ABC 7: "A planned anti-abortion rights demonstration ends in an unplanned crash. Protestors lined McGregor Boulevard outside the home of a Fort Myers doctor, when a car jumped the curb and ran over a protestor holding a sign."

MIT ethnographer warns of the dangers of social technology

Posted on January 17, 2011
The Chronicle of Higher Education: "She has spent some 15 years . . . studying this emerging breed of 'sociable robots'?including toys like Furbies and new robotic pets for the elderly?and what she considers their seductive and potentially dangerous powers...

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