Religion & Law

Wesley J. Smith: Politically Correct Eugenics

Posted on March 24, 2008
Americans may heartily cheer participants in the Special Olympics, but we abort some 90 percent of all gestating infants diagnosed with genetic disabilities such as DS, dwarfism, and spina bifida.

Gary Bauer: The Plague of Planned Parenthood

Posted on March 24, 2008
We all mourn the deaths in Iraq, now approaching 4,000th Americans, in the five-year-old fight for freedom and justice in that nation. But sadly we seem oblivious to the fact that we lose approximately the same number of our fellow citizens everyday to abortion.

NY Charter School to pay Teachers $125,000?

Posted on March 24, 2008
David W. Kirkpatrick reports on EdNews: In 2009 New York City may see a charter school that pays teachers $125,000 a year.  However, the school’s founder, Zeke M. Vanderhoek, says he will be the school’s principal for an annual salary of $90,000...

The Muslim call to prayer ring at Harvard yard?

Posted on March 24, 2008
Two issues of Muslim practice ? whether the call to prayer should ring out across Harvard Yard and whether the university should grant women separate gym hours ? have unleashed small waves of controversy over how Harvard practices tolerance.

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What Hein Can Tell Us about the Roberts Court and the Establishment Clause

Posted on March 24, 2008
Esbeck, Carl H., "What the Hein Decision Can Tell Us about the Roberts Court and the Establishment Clause" . Mississippi Law Journal, Vol. 78, No. 2, Forthcoming Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1112254

Wisconsin Campaign Finance law impairing citizen participation enjoined

Posted on March 24, 2008
The law requires that anyone spending over 25.00 or donating $100.00 to support or defeat a referendum must register with the Government Accountability Board, open a separate bank account, appoint a treasurer, disclose donors? identities and personal information, and continue filing reports for up to three years.

Supreme Court Allows Inmates to Get Abortions

Posted on March 24, 2008
The Supreme Court has turned down an appeal from a county sheriff who objects to transporting jail inmates for elective abortions.

Study: Unilateral divorce increases violent crime 8-12%

Posted on March 24, 2008
. . . we find that unilateral divorce has a positive impact on violent crime rates, with an 8% to 12% average increase for the period under consideration.

The Republican Party and the ?Christian Right:? Let?s Be Honest, Folks

Posted on March 24, 2008
Here is the reality facing social conservatives, fiscal conservatives, and the pro-defense hawks, all at once . . .

George F. Will: Americans Get The Judiciary We Pay For

Posted on March 24, 2008
The enlargement of the judiciary's role by the regulatory state requires compensation of the judiciary commensurate with its ever-expanding importance.

A Theory of Judicial Power and Judicial Review

Posted on March 24, 2008
By conveying relevant information about government misconduct in a highly public fashion, constitutional courts enable the people to exercise control over the government in an informed and coordinated manner.

?Bring private schools under state control?, says Britain?s biggest teacher?s union

Posted on March 24, 2008
Private schools should be abolished, the new leader of Britain's biggest teachers' union said yesterday.

Civil Procedure and the Establishment Clause: Exploring the Ministerial Exception

Posted on March 24, 2008
Boston College Law School has made the full text of this paper available for download. Gregory Kalscheur SJ, “Civil Procedure and the Establishment Clause: Exploring the Ministerial Exception, Subject Matter Jurisdiction, and the Freedom of the Church” (March 18, 2008)...

MN: Public schools send students to church

Posted on March 24, 2008
Scott Russell reports on the Twin Cities Daily Planet: On Wednesday afternoons, six to ten students from Minneapolis? Folwell Middle School trek to the church across the street for tutoring, snacks and money management lessons. It is one small example of the Minneapolis Public School?s new and growing faith-based initiative ...

Dutch Politician?s Anti-Islam Film Triggers Website Suspension and Lawsuit

Posted on March 24, 2008
On Friday, the Netherlands Islamic Federation filed suit in The Hague, asking a court to set up a panel of censors to review the film.

Muslim convert baptized by Pope speaks out

Posted on March 24, 2008
Zenit has the full report.  Here is an excerpt: Dear Director, you asked me whether I fear for my life, in the awareness that conversion to Christianity will certainly procure for me yet another, and much more grave, death sentence for apostasy. You are perfectly right...

Court Dismisses Claims Challenging All-Male Limits On Theology Faculty

Posted on March 24, 2008
The Seminary?s new president, Paige Patterson, decided that all faculty teaching future pastors had to be qualified to serve as pastor of a local church?a position open only to men.

?Evangelical? polygamists hit the Web in search of ?sister-wives?

Posted on March 24, 2008
The Morrisons are part of a group of Evangelical Christian polygamists who believe that polygamy, the practice of taking more than one wife, is spiritually and even economically more favorable than monogamy.

NYT Editorial: The Supreme Court and Indecency

Posted on March 23, 2008
"A federal appeals court wisely struck down the F.C.C.?s harsh rules, which have done serious damage to free speech. We hope the Supreme Court does not authorize the F.C.C. to return to its censorial policies."

Steven Malanga: Getting Poverty Wrong

Posted on March 22, 2008
An article by the City Journal’s Steve Malanga: While they insist that strengthening labor unions or protecting homeowners from foreclosures will alleviate the hardships of the poor, the latest data from the U.S. Bureau of the Census remind us that the breakdown of the traditional two-parent, married family is a far greater contributor to poverty in [...

Good Friday: Alert publication schedule

Posted on March 20, 2008
The ADF Alliance Alert email digest will not be distributed on Good Friday. Additionally, stories posted to the website on Good Friday and over the Easter weekend, if any, will be greatly reduced in number. Normal publication will resume on Monday. We wish all of our readers a blessed Easter...

Iowa says faith-based charities unworthy, ADF/CLS sue

Posted on March 20, 2008
State claims religious nature of faith-based organizations excludes them from voluntary state employee donations; CLS, ADF attorneys file suit.

Members of Congress Sign Letter Asking For Complete Cut in Abstinence Funding

Posted on March 20, 2008
Several dozen members of Congress, all abortion advocates, have signed a letter to House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey asking him to cut all funds for abstinence education.

New UN initiative to check human trafficking

Posted on March 20, 2008
The launch of the initiative on Monday coincides with the 200th anniversary of the abolition of trans-Atlantic slave trade and the bicentennial of the abolition of the slave trade in the British Empire.

Alaska?s highest court to hear marijuana case

Posted on March 20, 2008
Alaska's highest court was expected to look at issues concerning the right of Alaskans to possess small amounts of marijuana in their homes. The

No students in ?Gay Club,? but, litigation continues.

Posted on March 20, 2008
365Gay.com reports: Even though Okeechobee High School’s Gay-Straight Alliance no longer has any members, a federal lawsuit by a former GSA member is continuing. This week a judge rescinded an earlier ruling that required the school board to allow the GSA to meet on campus while the lawsuit played out...

India: anti-Conversion bill declared unconstitutional in Gujarat

Posted on March 20, 2008
The amendment would have included Jain and Buddhist religions with the Hindu religion, while people choosing to convert to Christianity or Islam would have to seek government approval.

The effects of ?adult entertainment? in relationships

Posted on March 20, 2008
The Opine Editorials has this post discussing the adverse effects of pornography in relationships. Share This

?Queer Teens and Legislative Bullies: The Cruel and Invidious Discrimination Behind Heterosexist Statutory Rape Laws?

Posted on March 20, 2008
Higdon, Michael J., “Queer Teens and Legislative Bullies: The Cruel and Invidious Discrimination Behind Heterosexist Statutory Rape Laws” (February 23, 2008). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1097097 Abstract: Most states make an exception to their statutory rape laws for sexual acts involving an adolescent victim, who is below the age of consent, when the defendant is close in [...

9th Circuit: Same underlying conduct cannot be basis for separate counts of receiving and possessing child porn

Posted on March 20, 2008
Davenport?s simultaneous conviction for both receipt and possession of child pornography violates the Fifth Amendment?s prohibition on double jeopardy.

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