Religion & Law

50 Bishops Say Abortion Most Important Issue in U.S. Election

Posted on October 24, 2008
LifeSiteNews.com reports:  With only days remaining before the November 4 U.S. election, a tally has shown that over a quarter of America’s bishops have published articles, issued statements or given interviews where they have declared that the most important issue for voters in their choice of a new president is the candidate?s stance on abortion...

Cal. marriage amendment backers target businesses

Posted on October 24, 2008
The AP reports: “Leaders of the campaign to outlaw same-sex marriage in California are warning businesses that have given money to the state’s largest gay rights group they will be publicly identified as opponents of traditional unions unless they contribute to the gay marriage ban, too...

International Planned Parenthood and UNFPA Push ?Two Child Policy? in Philippines

Posted on October 24, 2008
CWA reports: “n their attempt to globalize their anti-life agenda, International Planned Parenthood, along with other international pro-abortion groups like the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), has fixed its sights on the Philippines. The Filipino legislature is contemplating a comprehensive reproductive health bill that, among other things, threatens to legalize abortion in the predominantly [...

Outraised 6 to 1, Prop 8 backers issue plea

Posted on October 24, 2008
Baptist Press reports: “Having been out-fundraised by more than 6-to-1 this month in large donations, supporters of a California constitutional marriage amendment are warning they will lose on Election Day unless they receive a heavy influx of donations in the next week...

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Apple donates $100,000 to fight California marriage amendment

Posted on October 24, 2008
MacUser.com reports: “Not only is Apple opposing Prop 8, it?s also putting its money where its mouth is, donating $100,000 to the ?No on 8? campaign, and citing its history as one of the first California companies to offer equal benefits to its employees? same-sex partners...

Barack Obama?s speech to Planned Parenthood; McCain to National Right to Life

Posted on October 24, 2008
Baptist Press reports: “Today, BP is printing the transcript of Barack Obama’s speech to Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider, July 17, 2007. An accompanying story in today’s Baptist Press includes John McCain’s speech to National Right to Life...

?Gay marriage? legalization would squash religious freedom, experts say

Posted on October 24, 2008
Baptist Press reports:  Robb and Robin Wirthlin didn’t want to believe their son. In fact, they thought he might have just misunderstood the teacher’s lesson, as second-graders sometimes do. So when he came home in March 2006 and told his parents his public school teacher had read the class a children’s book about “gay marriage” — the [...

Albert Mohler: ?What?s Really at Stake in the Gay Marriage Debate? Part Three?

Posted on October 24, 2008
Albert Mohler has this post on his blog: “‘We’re talking about really refraining from using things like, husband-wife, boyfriend-girlfriend, those kind of things, and just say ‘partner,’ explains Robin Sinks.  She is the health education specialist for the Long Beach Unified School District in California...

Florida: County cuts Planned Parenthood funding

Posted on October 24, 2008
The Sarasota Herald Tribune reports:  Social service agencies across Sarasota County suffered $1.1 million in funding cuts by the County Commission on Thursday, but only one $12,500 cut generated controversy. Commissioners said the cut was not politically motivated...

MA Parents Warn Floridians of Effects of Same-Sex ?Marriage? on Public Education

Posted on October 24, 2008
LifeSiteNews.com reports: “With large images of the homosexualist books ‘King and King,’ and ‘Heather has Two Mommies’ in the background, Massachusetts?s parents Robb and Robin Wirthlin warned Floridians about the detrimental effects of same sex marriage on public education and religious liberty at the Florida Press Center in Tallahassee yesterday...

Fireworks Company to Long Island Town: No Christmas, No Fireworks

Posted on October 24, 2008
LifeSiteNews.com reports:  The annual battle for Christmas has begun early this year, with the announcement that the internationally known fireworks company, Grucci, has pulled out of an annual Christmas event on Long Island. Grucci made the decision in protest against the town of Patchogue?s decision to break with its 15-year tradition of holding a Christmas Boat Parade [...

Nicaragua Pressured on Abortion by the UN Human Rights Committee

Posted on October 24, 2008
LifeSiteNews.com reports: “In Geneva last week Nicaragua came under fire for its laws protecting the unborn. Members of the Human Rights Committee (HRC) ? the treaty body that monitors implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) ? repeatedly grilled the Central American nation for outlawing abortion as Nicaragua presented its third [...

Cornell University Officials Claim Accusations of Censoring Pro-Life Signs False

Posted on October 24, 2008
LifeNews.com reports: “Cornell University officials claim a student pro-life group’s allegations of it censoring pro-life signs it displayed on campus are false. The Cornell Coalition for Life says College of Engineering staff removed a display it erected to educate students about fetal development even though it obtained permission beforehand...

U.S. condemns beating of sons of Chinese pastor

Posted on October 24, 2008
Reuters: “The United States strongly condemned on Thursday the ‘brutal beating’ of two sons of a detained Beijing pastor and voiced concern over what it said was a pattern of intimidation of religious leaders in China.” Visit Site » Share This

Becket Fund: Crosses for Fallen State Troopers Are Constitutional

Posted on October 24, 2008
The Becket Fund reports:  The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty today (Oct. 24) filed an amicus brief on behalf of Colorado, Kansas, New Mexico and Oklahoma, in the 10th Circuit case of American Atheists versus Col. Scott Duncan, head of the Utah Highway Patrol and the Utah Highway Patrol Association, claiming that crosses placed on pubic highways to [...

Catholic League to IRS: Americans United Floats Sterotypes

Posted on October 24, 2008
The Catholic League has issued this press release that blasting Americans United for Separation of Church and State for filing an IRS complaint against New Jersey Bishop Arthur J. Serratelli for his letter to his constituents on the subject of abortion...

WSJ: Teacher?s unions are opposing marriage, funding the homosexual lobby and other leftist causes

Posted on October 24, 2008
. . . the NEA has directly (or via state affiliates) bankrolled Acorn, the Democratic Leadership Council, the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation and, naturally, the Human Rights Campaign, which lobbies for "lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equal rights...

Digest of 2008 Voter Guides

Posted on October 24, 2008
2008 Voter Guides

Judgment Calls: Principle and Politics in Constitutional Law

Posted on October 24, 2008
In this book, we argue that judging can be - and often is - both principled and flexible. In other words, we attempt to reconcile the democratic rule of law with the recognition that judges have discretion. We explain how judicial discretion can be exercised responsibly, describe the existing constraints that guide and cabin such discretion, and suggest improvements.

The Effects of Integrated and Intentional Parenthood on Children

Posted on October 24, 2008
This paper makes a case for an integrated family, and more specifically for the formal, legally recognized statuses of husband/wife and parent/child.

?N.Y. Judge Grants Divorce to Lesbians Wed in Massachusetts?

Posted on October 24, 2008
"A Manhattan judge has ruled that a same-sex couple wed in Massachusetts can obtain a divorce in New York . . ."

Justice Thomas Extols the Need to Listen Not Debate Lawyers

Posted on October 24, 2008
Clint Williams has this commentary on the Fulcton County Daily report:  The U.S. Supreme Court justice least likely to speak up during oral arguments told lawyers gathered in Atlanta on Thursday that judges should spend more time listening and less time talking...

Asia, world leader in religious freedom violations

Posted on October 24, 2008
AsiaNews.it reports: Asia is by a wide margin the continent with the most violations of religious freedom. Ten of the 13 countries with serious limitations to religious freedom are in Asia, this according to Religious Freedom Worldwide ? Report 2008 published by Aid to the Church in Need (ACN), which was released today in Rome...

9th Circuit upholds conviction for ?sexual misconduct with young children? discovered by U.S. Customs

Posted on October 24, 2008
In U.S. v. Seljan 2008 WL 4661700 (9th Cir. Oct. 23, 2008), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit upheld the conviction of John W. Seljan ?for multiple offenses primarily involving sexual misconduct with young children in the Philippines.?

Kennedy secretly crafts universal health care plan

Posted on October 24, 2008
The Washington Times reports:  From his sickbed, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy has secretly been orchestrating meetings with lobbyists and lawmakers from both parties to craft legislation that would greet the new president with a plan to provide affordable medical coverage to all Americans, a measure he has called “the cause of my life...

Election Could Have Seismic Effect on Federal Courts

Posted on October 24, 2008
"In addition, the report by Russell Wheeler at Brookings, predicts that in four years of an Obama presidency, his appointments could shift Republican dominance on 10 of 11 circuits, to give Democratic appointees a majority in seven circuit courts."

Pro-Life Politicians Have Made a Difference, Pro-Life Laws Work

Posted on October 24, 2008
Michael J. New has this commentary on the Witherspoon Institute’s Public Discource Site. During the past 35 years, the pro-life movement has made real progress. The number of abortions has fallen in 12 out of the past 14 years and the total number of abortions has declined by 21 percent since 1990...

Chicago TV station bans pro-life ad

Posted on October 24, 2008
One News Now reports: An ABC television station in Chicago is refusing to run a pro-life commercial. An organization called Caring Outreach bought time to run a commercial called “85 Days,” depicting a baby’s growth through the first few months of life in the womb...

NPR: ?If Gay Marriage Is Allowed, Will Schools Promote It??

Posted on October 24, 2008
NPR carries this report:  . . . For the past two weeks, supporters of Proposition 8 have been running an ad featuring a young girl who brings home a book called King & King. ”Mom, guess what I learned in school today,” she says in the ad...

ADF: Atlanta finally allows church to occupy its privately rented building

Posted on October 24, 2008
ADF Senior Legal Counsel David Cortman: "Federal law does not allow a city to put a desire for property tax revenue ahead of the right of a church to meet in a facility that it rightfully occupies.?

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