Religion & Law

Love in Middle America: ?It?s complicated?

Posted on January 07, 2011
David and Amber Lapp writing at First Things: "A renewed society-wide resolve to strengthen marriage is not a matter of patricians 'imposing' their love of marriage on others who are resistant to marriage?it?s about helping those Americans who arguably value family the most realize their dreams of raising a flourishing, intact family...

Romney flexes muscle in first NH Primary poll

Posted on January 07, 2011
NH Journal: "Former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney holds a commanding lead in New Hampshire in the early stages of the race for the 2012 Republican Presidential nomination, according to a new survey commissioned by NH Journal and conducted by Magellan Strategies...

Nebraska bill opts state out of abortion-funding ObamaCare

Posted on January 07, 2011
LifeNews: "Sen. Beau McCoy introduced the bill yesterday that would prevent state-regulated health care plans from covering abortions unless necessary to save the life of the mother. If passed, the legislation would apply to plans both inside and outside of the health insurance exchanges that will be established under the federal health reform law...

UK: YWCA removes Christianity from title

Posted on January 07, 2011
Telegraph: "The YWCA, which was set up in 1855 to help young women going to London for the first time, has now become 'Platform 51' . . . However, officials at the World YWCA headquarters in Geneva told the Daily Mail that none of the 124 branches in other countries intended to follow suit...

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Twenty hurt as Muslim sects clash over mosque in Bangladesh

Posted on January 07, 2011
Monsters and Critics: "At least 20 people were injured in clashes between members of two Muslim sects seeking control of a mosque in Bangladesh's south-eastern Chittagong district on Friday, police said."

?Why tear down a symbol of Christianity??

Posted on January 07, 2011
California Catholic Daily: "[Joe Infranco], senior counsel of the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund, criticized the ruling. 'It's tragic that the court chose a twisted and tired interpretation of the First Amendment over the common sense idea that the families of fallen American troops should be allowed to honor these heroes as they choose,' he said...

Netherlands: Catholic school discriminates with headscarf ban

Posted on January 07, 2011
Dutch News: "A Catholic high school in Volendam is guilty of discrimination on religious grounds for banning a Muslim pupil from wearing a headscarf, the equal opportunities commission said on Friday."

Sarkozy: Christians in Middle East are victim of ?religious cleansing?

Posted on January 07, 2011
Henry Samuel writing in The Telegraph: "Mr Sarkozy made the statement while giving his annual address to religious leaders as Coptic Christians were due to celebrate Christmas yesterday, according to the eastern Orthodox church calendar. 'We cannot accept and thereby facilitate what looks more and more like a particularly perverse programme of cleansing in the Middle East, religious cleansing,' said the French president...

NY: Pagans still fighting for religious status

Posted on January 07, 2011
The (Greene County) Daily Mail: "The Palenville pagan sect fighting for the town?s recognition as a religious entity says it will not stop, even if it needs to go federal. The Maetreum of Cybele, Magna Mater?s ongoing tax battle with the Town of Catskill has entered its fifth year, with the municipality continuing to deny a religious property tax exemption it once granted for 2006...

Michigan Sikhs want religious swords in school

Posted on January 07, 2011
My Fox Detroit: "The small sabers worn under people's clothing are in the middle of a controversy in Canton where a fourth grader who follows the religion and its customs brought one to Bentley Elementary School."

30 Eritrean Christians arrested for praying in private home

Posted on January 07, 2011
All Voices: "According to a report by the International Christian Concern (ICC) (www.persecution.org) some of the Christians were only recently released after being detained for their faith."

Korean pastors protest development plan that will demolish churches

Posted on January 07, 2011
UCANEWS: "Protestants in the South Korean city of Incheon have gathered to urge the government to revise the country?s re-development plan to save thousands of churches from demolition."

Lao officials arrest 11 Christians at gunpoint

Posted on January 07, 2011
Compass Direct: "Following the arrest of 11 Christians at gunpoint on Tuesday (Jan. 4), three house church leaders remain behind bars for 'holding a secret meeting,' according to advocacy group Human Rights Watch for Lao Religious Freedom (HRWLRF)."

Thomas More Society presses for answers in Notre Dame 88 case

Posted on January 07, 2011
ChristianNewsWire: "This week in St. Joseph County Criminal Court, the Thomas More Society filed a motion to compel answers in a pretrial deposition of a former University of Notre Dame official in the case of the 88 pro-life demonstrators who were arrested on the University's campus before the 2009 Commencement ceremonies as they protested the honoring of President Barack Obama...

Jonah Goldberg: Islam?s hijackers and hijackees

Posted on January 07, 2011
Jonah Goldberg writing at Townhall: "For years we've been hearing about how the peaceful religion of Islam has been hijacked by extremists. What if it's the other way around? Worse, what if the peaceful hijackers are losing their bid to take over the religion?"

MN: Shir Tikvah is the latest congregation refusing to sign civil certificates until ?marriage equality? laws pass

Posted on January 07, 2011
MinnPost: "Rabbis at Shir Tikvah in Minneapolis are joining a smattering of leaders at other congregations in the state and around the nation who will no longer sign civil marriage licenses as a protest against state laws that don't recognize gay marriages...

Marriage redefinition bills introduced in R.I. House, Senate

Posted on January 07, 2011
"It says: 'Any person who otherwise meets the eligibility requirements [in law] may marry any other eligible person regardless of gender.'"

Vt. high school dance canceled; some upset by ban

Posted on January 07, 2011
Boston.com (AP): "A Vermont high school's winter ball has been canceled at least in part because of slow ticket sales caused by a ban on the style of dancing known as 'grinding.'"

NH high school bans safe-sex kits over contents

Posted on January 07, 2011
Boston.com (AP): "Officials at a New Hampshire high school say they will no longer allow a group to distribute safe-sex kits to students because the contents include flavored lubricant and candy as well as condoms."

Illinois House votes to abolish death penalty

Posted on January 07, 2011
Boston.com (AP): "The Illinois House has approved a plan to abolish capital punishment in a whirlwind reversal on a historic vote."

Deciding not to decide what marriage is

Posted on January 07, 2011
Kevin Staley-Joyce writing at First Things: "The inevitability of marriage?s decline . . . is as culturally invidious as it is philosophically fallacious. But hope and moral courage toward marriage are not the sort of virtues the culture encourages when its public discussion of marriage is colored by this politically expedient despair, and the blind and self-serving belief that being happy is the only thing that matters...

New Mexico governor to review domestic partner benefits

Posted on January 07, 2011
KOAT: "Thousands of people who work for the state could lose benefits for their families. In 2003, Gov. Richardson allowed state workers in domestic partnerships to buy into the state's insurance plans for their partners."

MA: Court rejects church?s objection to historical designation

Posted on January 07, 2011
Religion Clause: "In Roman Catholic Bishop of Springfield v. City of Springfield, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 345 (D MA, Jan. 4, 2011), a Massachusetts federal district court rejected a number of constitutional challenges as well as a challenge under RLUIPA to action declaring a closed Springfield, Massachusetts Catholic church to be a local historic district...

December jobs report: Unemployment rate at 9.4%

Posted on January 07, 2011
CNN Money: "The economy added 103,000 jobs in December -- falling short of most expectations. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate sunk to 9.4%, its lowest level since May 2009, confusing some economists."

U.N. refugee agency warns on Greek anti-migrant fence

Posted on January 07, 2011
Reuters: "The U.N. refugee agency voiced concern on Friday that Greece's proposed 12.5 km-long fence at its border with Turkey will shut out asylum-seekers fleeing violence and abuse in their troubled homelands."

Amish migration Westward spawns curiosity and criticism

Posted on January 07, 2011
Huffington Post: "Missouri is home to one of the fastest growing Amish populations in the United States. While the majority of the nation's 250,000 Amish still live in Ohio, Pennsylvania and Indiana, a westward migration has pushed settlements into 28 states...

Heather Hacker: Top ten New Year?s resolutions for college administrators

Posted on January 07, 2011
ADF attorney Heather Gebelin Hacker writing at Speak Up Movement / University: "Since this is still the first week of the new year, it?s not too late to make some New Year?s resolutions. Here are some suggestions for college administrators, based on what happened in 2010...

?Mother,? ?Father? changing to ?Parent One,? ?Parent Two? on passport applications

Posted on January 07, 2011
"These improvements are being made to provide a gender neutral description of a child?s parents and in recognition of different types of families."

Child pornographers using global spam: Italy

Posted on January 07, 2011
Associated Press: "Italian police on Friday warned of a new system by which thousands of Internet users around the world have received spam emails for business offers that actually click through to child abuse material."

Oregon AG will push to outlaw all viewing of child pornography

Posted on January 07, 2011
The Oregonian: "Oregon Attorney General John Kroger announced today that he will draft legislation that will make it illegal under state law to look at child pornography on the Internet . . . [the] announcement comes one day after the Oregon Supreme Court ruled that state law doesn?t make it a crime to look at child pornography while surfing the Internet if the viewer doesn?t purposefully download the images, print them out or pay for them...

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