Religion & Law

ObamaCare repeal vote, bill to de-fund abortion, coming soon

Posted on January 03, 2011
LifeNews: "Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan, incoming chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, said yesterday that a vote on the repeal legislation and a companion bill to ensure there is no abortion funding under ObamaCare, will take place before President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address later this month...

Violence shows Christian, Muslim split in Nigeria

Posted on January 03, 2011
Associated Press: "The new violence over the past two weeks highlights the tensions between Nigeria's two major faiths - Christians and Muslims - and threatens peace ahead of the young democracy's April presidential election."

Bombing opens vein of Christian anger in Egypt

Posted on January 03, 2011
Associated Press: "The New Year's Day suicide bombing of a church that killed 21 people has opened up a vein of fury among Egypt's Christians, built up over years of what they call government failure to address persistent discrimination and violence against their community...

2011 RNC Chairman?s Debate today at 1:00 PM EST

Posted on January 03, 2011
RNC Debate: "View the debate live on Monday, January 3, 2011 at 1:00 PM ET, here and at www.dailycaller.com."

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Roots of British student unrest unresolved

Posted on January 03, 2011
New York Times: "Despite a growing wave of student protests in Britain over government plans to sharply raise university tuition fees that saw buildings occupied at campuses across the country, and battles in the streets between demonstrators and the police whose ferocity at one point even seemed to threaten the heir to the British throne, the year 2010 ended quietly, with students heading home for the holidays and university authorities once again in control of their premises...

Marriage: No avoiding the central question

Posted on January 03, 2011
"[I]n agreeing that marriage is a comprehensive union of persons but denying that it includes true bodily union, Yoshino must be reducing the person to a center of consciousness and emotion, which just uses a body as an extrinsic (and thus subpersonal) instrument for achieving satisfactions or other goals...

No bailouts for government unions

Posted on January 03, 2011
Heritage Foundation: "The problem with government unions is that, unlike the private sector, governments have no competitors. If a union ends up extracting a contract from a private firm that eats up too much profits, that firm will lose out to the competition...

Justice Roberts: End partisan feuds over judgeships

Posted on January 03, 2011
SCOTUSblog: "Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr., with a not-so-subtle suggestion that the Senate should stop playing politics with nominations of judges to the federal courts, on Friday called for a 'long-term solution to this recurring problem.' In another notable feature of his annual year-end report on the federal judiciary, the Chief Justice notified Congress that the Court itself, through belt-tightening, will be asking for less money in its new budget than it did last year...

Power players to watch in the incoming Congress

Posted on January 03, 2011
The Hill: "Democrats will control the Senate in the 112th Congress but lawmakers and aides expect a different power dynamic with Republicans in control of 47 seats. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) will take a bigger role in crafting the floor strategy and freshman Republicans are poised to take over the role Sen...

Ross Douthat: The unborn paradox

Posted on January 03, 2011
Ross Douthat writing in the New York Times: "This is the paradox of America?s unborn. No life is so desperately sought after, so hungrily desired, so carefully nurtured. And yet no life is so legally unprotected, and so frequently destroyed."

Sweden: Psych studies ordered for jailed homeschooling dad

Posted on January 03, 2011
WorldNetDaily: "Unspecified psychological studies or evaluations have been ordered for a jailed father who, in violation of the procedures of the government-run social services that instructed police officers to abduct his then-7-year-old son because he was being homeschooled, took him home for a visit ...

Casey Mattox: Bowl picks part III (New Years Eve & New Years Day Games)

Posted on January 03, 2011
ADF Attorney Casey Mattox writing at Speak Up Movement / University: "The First Amendment is now 10-8 this bowl season . . . Now the games get really good. And the First Amendment gets a chance to have its revenge in the Rose Bowl (a sentence that perhaps has never before been written)...

Fighting for ?right? in education

Posted on January 03, 2011
OneNewsNow: "Alliance Defense Fund attorney [Jordan Lorence] was disappointed that the court chose to affirm a policy [in Martinez] that very few universities have. He said of the handful of law schools that have this policy, most of them require no discrimination based on religion...

Following hearing, Prop. 8 verdict a mystery

Posted on January 03, 2011
OneNewsNow: "[Jordan Lorence] of Alliance Defense Fund was there for arguments in early December before the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. 'It was a very vigorous argument, and I feel that Chuck Cooper and Bob Tyler did an excellent job explaining why this was a rational decision and a constitutional decision by the voters to define marriage as one man and one woman,' said the senior counsel...

Christians, police clash after Egypt church bomb

Posted on January 03, 2011
"Christians clashed with Egyptian police in the northern city of Alexandria on Saturday, furious over an apparent suicide bombing against worshippers leaving a New Year's Mass at a church that killed at least 21 people. It was the worst violence against the country's Christian minority in a decade...

Law Review: An Abortion Exception to the First Amendment?

Posted on January 03, 2011
An Abortion Exception to the First Amendment? Evaluating Recent Efforts to Regulate Speech About Pregnancy Options Engage Volume 11, Issue 3, December 2010 December 23, 2010 Mark L. Rienzi "Abortion is a highly-charged and intensely-debated issue. Partisans on both sides believe abortion implicates fundamental human rights, with abortion supporters comparing abortion prohibitions to slavery, and abortion opponents comparing a permissive abortion regime to the holocaust...

Law Review: How to Integrate Universal Human Rights into Customary and Religious Legal Systems?

Posted on January 03, 2011
Yuksel Sezgin, How to Integrate Universal Human Rights into Customary and Religious Legal Systems? (December 25, 2010). Journal of Legal Pluralism, Vol. 60, 2010. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1731162 "Customary religious legal systems have been utilized in various areas from fighting against crime to such mundane affairs as setting the price of goods and services in the market place or regulating personal and familial relations...

Broken system? NJ Supreme Court to review ?constitutionality? of education budget cuts

Posted on January 03, 2011
"I don?t think the court should be in the business of telling the governor and the Legislature how to spend the people?s money. But we?ll see what the court rules."

FL: Atheists plan to sue over donations of prisons? basketball goals to churches

Posted on January 03, 2011
The Ledger: "Atheists of Florida Inc. intends to file suit against the Polk County Sheriff's Office over its donation of jailhouse basketball goals to churches, the nonprofit's legal coordinator said Thursday."

Jill Stanek: ?Study: Contraception use up, abortions double; researchers can?t figure out why?

Posted on January 03, 2011
Jill Stanek: "Any person with common sense could cue the researchers that the more casual sex one has, the greater likelihood there will be of pregnancy, contraception use notwithstanding. Contraceptive use only provides a false sense of security."

Welfare rules discourage marriage, Brownback says

Posted on January 03, 2011
Kansas City Star: "Kansas Gov.-elect Sam Brownback wants to change rules for state social service programs that he says discourage marriage."

Republican Congressman: Ban funding of Obamacare in every appropriations bill this year

Posted on January 03, 2011
CNSNews: "Rep. Steve King (R.-Iowa) says that House Republicans should include language that prohibits any funding for implementation of Obamacare in literally every appropriations bill that passes the House of Representatives this year, thus forcing a showdown on the issue with the Democratic majority Senate and President Barack Obama...

Nebraska: Abortion debate ahead for unicameral

Posted on January 03, 2011
Yankton Press & Dakotan: "Abortion foes made strides in the last legislative session in further restricting the procedure in Nebraska, but the issue isn?t expected to fall by the wayside in 2011. Two anti-abortion groups that lobbied lawmakers during the last session are shopping new proposals for introduction after the Legislature convenes Wednesday, and at least one senator is working on an abortion bill of her own...

Is the U.S. government promoting homosexuality overseas?

Posted on January 03, 2011
Jeff Walton writing in The American Spectator: "[S]ignals emanating from the State Department indicate that the U.S. government may be engaged in its own evangelistic efforts -- to help legitimize homosexual practices in those socially traditional countries ...

House Republicans schedule health care repeal vote

Posted on January 03, 2011
Associated Press: "The announcement of the Jan. 12 vote by the No. 2 House Republican, Virginia Rep. Eric Cantor, sets the stage for a showdown with the Democratic-led Senate."

With Muslims, Europe sees no problem, and that?s the problem

Posted on January 03, 2011
John Vinocur writing in the New York Times: "Of all Europe?s great and present miseries, the one receiving the most uncertain remedies is the failing integration of its increasingly large and alienated Muslim communities . . . The disintegration of the European Union and its common currency may well be steered into a rational, livable outcome...

Minn. educators want more Muslim books for public school

Posted on January 03, 2011
Minneapolis Star Tribune: "As the Muslim student population grows in Minnesota, some educators detect a glaring gap: a dearth of books the students can relate to and from which others can learn."

Denmark to host seminar on Iraqi religious dialogue

Posted on January 03, 2011
Yahoo (AFP): "'I have ... taken the initiative for Denmark to host next week a seminar with the participation of religious leaders from a number of Iraqi communities, including Christians and Muslims, to promote dialogue between religious groups in Iraq,' Danish Foreign Minister Lene Espersen said in a statement...

Syria?s debate over face veil ban

Posted on January 03, 2011
BBC: "Like some governments around the world, Syria is taking measures against what it sees as the growing influence of Islamic conservatives."

French police probe threats on Coptic Christians

Posted on January 03, 2011
Jerusalem Post: "French police said Monday they have tightened security at Coptic Christian churches and opened a probe into online messages threatening terror attacks against such religious sites in France."

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