Religion & Law

391 Years of Marriage and Counting

Posted on February 14, 2008
Newlyweds could probably learn a few things from the five Estes sisters and their two brothers, who collectively have lived through 391 years of marriage.

Crime Against the State: Why ?Progressives? Hate Homeschooling

Posted on February 14, 2008
". . . homeschooling is the ultimate repudiation of every grandiose scheme to pull children away from their families and train them in the values of social democracy."

1st Circuit rejects parental efforts to shield children from H-Agenda indoctrination in public schools

Posted on January 31, 2008
It appears substantive due process allows parents to abort their child, but it doesn't allow them to shield their child from H-Agenda indoctrination in public schools. A 1st circuit panel has issued its opinion in Parker v. Hurley, No. 07-1528 (1st Cir, Jan...

AZ Defendant is subject to prosecution even if child porn was saved to computer automatically

Posted on January 31, 2008
Jensen?s knowledge of receipt of illegal pornography is implicit in his intentional searches for child pornography. Contrary to Jensen?s contention, the act of intentionally searching for and accessing a website for child pornography is not the equivalent of merely looking at a picture in a museum...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

What role should religion play in child custody determinations?

Posted on January 24, 2008
Rivera v. Tomaino, 2007 WL 4530832 (N.Y. App. Div. 3rd Dept.) A December 27th child custody ruling in the New York Supreme Court raises questions about whether and how a court should consider religion in determining the best interests of a child in custody cases...

My Body, Your Commodity?

Posted on January 14, 2008
What?s in a word? You call it ?donating,? I call it ?harvesting.? British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is urging an overhaul of the UK medical system to mandate "presumed consent" for organ donation.In other words, medical centers?without first obtaining explicit consent--would be entitled to harvest valuable organs as soon as the patient expires...

Give Life the Benefit of the Doubt

Posted on December 20, 2007
The Catholic Hospital Association of the United States is again being criticized for promoting a position on a controversial sanctity of life issue that errs against life instead of for life. In October, I critiqued a CHA position paper on "emergency contraception"...

Indiana Supreme Court upholds Spencer County sexually-oriented business regulations

Posted on December 20, 2007
On Dec. 13, 2007, the Indiana Court of Appeals affirmed a trial court judgment against Plaza Group Properties, LLC (appellant) finding that Spencer County?s sexually-oriented business ordinances did not ?unconstitutionally burden protected speech.? Plaza also sought ?lawful nonconforming use status? on the property in question, since the plot had been purchased and built upon prior to the adoption by the Spencer County Board of Commissioners of ordinance 2005-10...

Tennessee: Federal Court Upholds Knox County Ordinance Regulating Sexually Oriented Businesses

Posted on December 19, 2007
On December 17th, District Court Judge Thomas W. Phillips (Eastern District of Tennessee at Knoxville) upheld a Knox County Ordinance O-05-2-102 establishing ?registration and licensing requirements for sexually-oriented businesses.? ...(read more)

"Q" joins GLBT in Sexual Chaos

Posted on December 18, 2007
Enter now the mysterious "Q." The "Q" stands for "Questioning," and its new inclusion in the acronym of sexual immorality is quite telling, as it makes remarkably clear what we've been saying all along, that homosexual behavior is just that-behavior....

Geoffrey Stone's Founders: An Exercise in Historical Revisionism

Posted on December 14, 2007
It?s been said (by me) that two half-truths don?t make the whole truth. Geoffrey Stone?s response to Mitt Romney?s ?religious assurance? speech begins by stating that it ?called to mind a disturbingly distorted version of history that has become part of the conventional wisdom of American politics in recent years...

Meme?s the Word: PFAW Willfully Ignores Homosexual Agenda's Real Conflicts with Religious Freedom (Part 1)

Posted on December 13, 2007
It seems there is a new favorite meme (from the French for ?broken record?) among the Secularist Left these days. They are quite fond of claiming that Christian organizations promoting and defending religious freedom and traditional values (ADF, FRC, Focus on the Family, etc...

What the ACLU Can Learn From an Atheist

Posted on December 13, 2007
Calling himself a "cultural Christian," leading God-denier Richard Dawkins still understands what strict separationists like the ACLU fail to grasp: The West has a culture and that culture is Christian in its foundation, mores, and traditions - and should be expressed in the public square...

Importing International Law: WWPD?What Would Publius Do?

Posted on December 13, 2007
Ever since Lawrence v. Texas as well as Roper v. Simmons it?s been the rage. The ACLU has sponsored seminars and conferences about this. Several sitting Justices?participating on the rubber chicken circuit (that?s NOT part of the Courts of Appeal)--have advocated for it and against it...

Rhodeachusetts, An Island That Will Not Be: State High Court Rejects Same Sex ?Divorce?

Posted on December 10, 2007
Though titled Rhode Island, most Americans understand that this small, but important state is anything but an isolated piece of land. Last week, Rhode Island made even clearer that it is one of many states that make up our country of interconnected politics and interests...

God rest ye weary separatists

Posted on December 10, 2007
God rest you weary separatists Let nothing you dismay Remember how your thin-skinned hurt made Christmas go away To save us from religion's snare And keep the creche at bay Oh tidings of bah and humbug,  bah humbug Oh tidings of bah and humbug.   We must not say the dread ?C? word Instead say ?holiday? For if someone should utter such it could produce dismay And their offense is too intense It makes them run away Oh tidings of bah and humbug, bah and humbug Oh tidings...

Christmas Censorship And Those Who Deny It

Posted on December 07, 2007
For the last few years, groups like the ACLU and American United for Separation of Church and State have denied that there is censorship of Christmas in our culture. They also claim that groups like ADF have made up the ?War Against Christmas? as a way to stir up the masses and to raise money...

Stop That Singing in Whoville!

Posted on December 07, 2007
As Jordan explains in his post, the ACLU and its allies have a new spin on their anti-Christmas bias:  Christmas defenders should just shut up.  That's right, those bastions of free and open public debate have started a marketing campaign to repair their tarnished image, not by defending their attempts to expel religion from the public square, but by telling America that there is no war on Christmas and that Christians should just shut their traps...

Romney?s Speech on Religious Liberty, The Freedom of Conscience and the Role of Religion in Formation of Public Policy.

Posted on December 07, 2007
Mitt Romney?s speech on religious liberty and the role of religion in public life hits on so many issues we at the Alliance Defense Fund work on daily that it deserves some comments. There are obvious political goals Gov. Romney was trying to accomplish with this speech that I will not comment on...

"The ACLU and Its Allies: Standing in Need of Prayer"

Posted on November 26, 2007
In an article, The ACLU and Its Allies: Standing in Need of Prayer, published at Townhall this past Thursday, ADF attorney Jordan Lorence gives thanks for enforcement of the constitutional requirement of ?standing" in Establishment Clause suits: The obscure doctrine of ?standing? means that federal courts cannot hear a lawsuit unless the person bringing it has suffered some concrete injury by the hand of the government, and the federal courts can do something to remedy that harm ...

?Contracepting? Christians from the Medical Profession: A Response to Marci Hamilton

Posted on November 15, 2007
  Law professor Marci Hamilton, a regular contributor to Findlaw's parade of abortion enthusiasts, penned a screed today against religious freedom in the State of Washington.  Her article is well-crafted as a propaganda piece in the ongoing drumbeat to ban Christians from the medical profession, but it is somewhat short on rational analysis...

WA Supreme Court: Health Care Provider Not Liable for Failing to Discontinue Neonatal Resuscitation

Posted on November 15, 2007
This medical malpractice case involves an infant who received 24 minutes of continuous resuscitative medical treatment after being born without a heart beat. ...(read more)

Are Religious Folks Even Allowed to Talk About Abortion? A Response to the Scientism of Gary Wills

Posted on November 09, 2007
It is also no great difficulty to see that Wills understands modern science to be the equivalent of ?natural reason?: if science cannot definitively answer a question, there is no answer. Without an absolutely certain scientific definition of ?human life,? ethics, religion, and philosophy are all powerless...

Newdow Files New Attack on the Pledge in Federal Court

Posted on November 02, 2007
Click here to view a copy of the complaint filed in The Freedom from Religion Foundation v. Congress, No. 1:07cv356 JM (D.N.H., filed October 31, 2007)....(read more)

Alaska Supreme Court Rules Parental Consent Statute is Unconstitutional

Posted on November 02, 2007
The Alaska Supreme Court has issued a ruling in Alaska v. Planned Parenthood of Alaska, No. S/11365, 11368 (Alaska, Nov. 2, 2007).  After assuring everyone that they are not legislators, pundits, theologians, ethicists, or philosophers, the majority, in an opinion written by Justice Fabe, holds that the abortion parental consent statute is unconstitutional, because the legislature could have adopted a less intrusive parental notice statute to satisfy its compelling interest...

10th Circuit Ruling Paves Way for Potential Supreme Court Review in Sexually Oriented Business Challenge

Posted on October 25, 2007
The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals has denied en banc review of its earlier panel ruling in Abilene Retail #30, Inc. v. Bd. of Commissioners of Dickinson Co., No. 05-3473 (10th Cir. 2007), but not without a sharp dissent by Judges Gorsuch joined by Judge Kelly and a response by Judge Lucero...

6th Circuit: Record Keeping Requirements for Producers of Sexually Explicit Images Held Unconstitutional

Posted on October 23, 2007
. . . today the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued an opinion, Connection Distrib. Co. v. Keisler, No.06-3822, declaring unconstitutional the federal child pornography recordkeeping law (18 U.S.C. Section 2257)....(read more)

The Battle over Robert Bork ? 20 Years Later

Posted on October 23, 2007
Today marks the 20 year anniversary of the U.S. Senate?s ignominious defeat of Robert Bork to fill the Supreme Court slot of retiring justice Lewis Powell.  Other commentators, such as Gary McDowell in the Wall Street Journal, are offering good insights on why it was wrong for the Senate to defeat such a well-qualified individual for a seat on the high court...

A.G. Nominee Promises Review of DOJ Obscenity Enforcement Priorities

Posted on October 18, 2007
At yesterday?s Judiciary Committee hearing  for A.G. Nominee Michael Mukasey, Sen. Orrin Hatch  raised the obscenity enforcement at the Department of Justice directly.  He described the current narrow approach by DOJ and called it ?misguided...

Abortion, Lies, Murder, and Modern Legal Advocacy

Posted on October 16, 2007
Lies and murder go together. This is not only true in history and theology, but also in modern legal advocacy. Findlaw's latest abortion apologist Sherry Colb illustrated this principle well yesterday in her column supporting the idea that killing embryos inside women is not abortion...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.