Religion & Law

Texas: School graduation prayers won?t be left to student elections

Posted on March 10, 2008
"The settlement follows a ruling by U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks that found the Constitution prohibits public schools from holding student votes on whether to have prayers during commencement."

Spain?s Socialist Prime Minister re-elected in closely divided country

Posted on March 10, 2008
". . . But voters turned out in force to endorse the progressive social agenda that Zapatero championed in his first term -- including new laws on women's rights, divorce and gay marriage -- and returned him to office for another four years."

Higher power: Okemos church case heads to top U.S. court

Posted on March 10, 2008
Okemos Christian Center says Meridian impeded its ability to minister because the township limited the total size of buildings on its property to 25,000 square feet.

US House sues to enforce subpoenas against 2 White House officials

Posted on March 10, 2008
"The lawsuit filed in federal court Monday says former counsel Harriet Miers is not immune from the obligation to testify and both she and chief of staff Joshua Bolten must identify all documents that are being withheld from Congress."

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Liberty Legal Institute: Texas school district to continue Bible course

Posted on March 08, 2008
Liberty Legal reports: ECISD Will Continue Bible Courses: Courses Utilize Bible as Main Textbook Today, the Ector County Independent School District (ECISD) overcame an ACLU attack on its Bible courses with the adoption of Mediator Hesha Abrams? proposal providing that ECISD continue to offer Bible courses with a curriculum developed and monitored by ECISD that will [...

Cal. teacher?s union praises homeschool ruling, State Superintendent supports choice

Posted on March 08, 2008
The homeschooling movement never saw the case coming . . . "We're happy," said Lloyd Porter, who is on the California Teachers Association board of directors. State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O'Connell issued a statement saying he supports "parental choice ...

Schwarzenegger denounces ?outrageous? homeschooling ruling

Posted on March 07, 2008
"Every California child deserves a quality education and parents should have the right to decide what's best for their children," the governor said in a statement.

UK to Hand Sovereignty to EU: 1,000 Years of History extinguished without a shot or vote

Posted on March 07, 2008
"Everywhere we hear the smack of autocracy, as an out of touch government continues its battle against the British people and their liberties...The visceral hatred of democracy and liberty emanating from the government is now nauseating." . . .

Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) hearing on the legal recognition of same-sex partnerships

Posted on March 07, 2008
Pink News reports: The hearing will involve representatives of the International Lesbian and Gay Association ILGA Europe as well as parliamentarians and academics. It will also focus on freedom of assembly and expression for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people in the Council member states ...

Selfishness Thy Name is Lesbian.

Posted on March 07, 2008
". . . a New York Times article revealed the profound selfishness some same-sex couples exhibit when conceiving children as if they were consumer goods designed to satisfy adult desire."

California: Clergy Privilege Scope At Issue In Molestation Prosecution

Posted on March 07, 2008
". . . prosecutors want two elders in a Jehovah's Witnesses congregation to testify about statements made to them by Gilbert Simental, who is charged with molesting two of his daughter's friends."

England: Plans to give legal rights to cohabiting couples delayed

Posted on March 07, 2008
"Plans to give cohabiting couples legal rights like married couples appear to have been put on a back burner while the Government waits to see the effects of similar laws in Scotland."

Law Review: Privacy, Property, and Public Sex

Posted on March 07, 2008
This Article argues that the constitutional right to sexual liberty should include the right to engage in public sex under certain circumstances.

Polygamy in New York

Posted on March 07, 2008
. . . the New York Times ran a front-page story explaining that there is now a full-blown culture of polygamous West African immigrants, most of them here illegally . . .

Tennessee AG Confirms Abortion Decision Limits Pro-Life Bills

Posted on March 07, 2008
"The Supreme Court may have upheld a federal partial-birth abortion ban as constitutional but the Tennessee Attorney General says a state ban could be suspect."

Jan LaRue: Sermon from Mt. Obama Raises Big Questions

Posted on March 07, 2008
Barack Obama has expounded his revised standard version of the Sermon on the Mount, but the MSM couldn?t care less if Obama waxes theological from here to eternity.

Rape films at Yale and Pornography for feminists at Harvard

Posted on March 07, 2008
"To expect the Ivy League to reflect traditional values is to dabble in fantasy. But it's a sad cultural signpost when it's considered a prudish traditional value to object to films that seek to encourage men to build fantasy scenarios about violent sexual assault...

Virginia: Immigration-Linked Prostitution Cases Pose Challenge

Posted on March 07, 2008
"But a closer look at the rings reveals that the line between the local crime of prostitution and the federal crime of sex trafficking is often blurred in subtle details."

Maryland: Sex-Ed Curriculum?s Opponents Won?t Appeal

Posted on March 07, 2008
". . . Citizens for a Responsible Curriculum, the group leading the opposition to the revised curriculum, concluded that it did not have a strong chance of having last month's circuit court decision overturned on appeal."

Spotlight on Michael DePrimo: Connecticut solo passionately advocates for pro-life activists

Posted on March 07, 2008
"Michael DePrimo was a frustrated, 40-year-old real estate lawyer in Hamden in the mid-1990s when he found his legal calling 1,200 miles away in Tupelo, Miss."

ExpelledtheMovie.com Trailer: No Intelligence allowed in the age of Darwin

Posted on March 07, 2008
This is the era of Darwin . . . those who challenge the status quo . . . suffer persecution. People confident in their ideas are not afraid . . .

IL House Leader introduces bill to bar abortion, birth control restrictions

Posted on March 07, 2008
. . . bill (HB 5615) that would bar state or local governments from restricting women's access to contraceptives or abortions except in limited circumstances . . .

ADF: Ca. homeschooling decision demonstrates hostility toward choice

Posted on March 07, 2008
?If people think that such hostility toward parental rights and choice in education isn?t possible in America, this decision demonstrates otherwise.? said ADF attorney David Cortman

EU effort to coerce Germany on domestic partnerships

Posted on March 07, 2008
"Infringement proceedings begun against Germany over Berlin's failure to bring provisions on equal treatment of gay and lesbian partnerships in line with EU directives on the issue are going down badly with Angela Merkel's Christian Democrats."

Charges dismissed against N.J. Christians who shared faith

Posted on March 07, 2008
A New Jersey judge dismissed criminal charges Wednesday against four Christians who chose to share their faith on the Atlantic City boardwalk.

UK: MPs win opt-out on embryo bill

Posted on March 07, 2008
The Lawyers’ Christian Fellowship and Christian Concern for our Nation has forwarded this information today:   Good news stories on Embryos Bill in Press today More than 100 academics call for MPs to have free vote on embryo research Conscience Vote: Commons vote on controversial ethical issues should not be whipped Catholic MPs win opt-out on embryo Bill As [...

Parental Rights Case Goes to the U.S. Supreme Court

Posted on March 07, 2008
"In 2005, Parker was arrested at his son's school following a classroom lesson on same-sex marriage using the book King & King."

Belarus: Religious freedom petition delivered, but Protestant fines continue

Posted on March 07, 2008
Belarus seems to be increasing its use of technical building regulations to harass Protestant churches, Forum 18 News Service notes.

ACLJ: Supreme Court must take Utah aphorisms case

Posted on March 07, 2008
"The ACLJ, which represents the two Utah cities, once again urged the high court to take the cases and overturn troubling lower court decisions that could force local governments across the country either to dismantle a host of monuments, memorials, and other displays including long-standing patriotic and historical displays or else let all comers install privately owned monuments or displays, regardless of content...

ADF appeals New Orleans domestic partnerships case

Posted on March 07, 2008
http://www.alliancedefensefund.org/news/story.aspx?cid=4419 ALLIANCE DEFENSE FUND NEWS RELEASE March 7, 2008 ? FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT ADF MEDIA RELATIONS: (480) 444-0020 or www.telladf.org/pressroom ADF attorneys appeal domestic partnership case Appeal states that city of New Orleans violated state constitution when it granted domestic partner benefits NEW ORLEANS ? Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund filed an appeal Friday of a state court decision [...

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