Religion & Law

Tennessee Supreme Court Rules Voters Can Decide Marriage Question

Posted on July 14, 2006
Knox News is reporting on the story and additional coverage is available on Google News. ADF Attorney Byron Babione argued this case. Congrats to Byron. The opinion is ACLU of Tenn. v. Darnell, No. 05-1010-IV (Tenn. July 14, 2006). Here is a quote from its concluding paragraph: ...

ADF Attorney Lays Waste to Phony Federalism Argument Against the Federal Marriage Amendment in Today's Washington Times

Posted on June 07, 2006
ADF Attorney Jordan Lorence has this potent article in today's Washington Post in an article titled: Wedlock Amendment No Breach of Federalism. ...(read more)

Gonzales v. Carhart: Amici Supporting Partial Birth Abortion Restrictions

Posted on May 31, 2006
Today's ADF Alliance Alert contains links to all amici that have been filed in support of the ban on partial birth abortion. It also contains links to other docs and information about the case....(read more)

Supreme Court Holds Public Employee Speech Not Protected by First Amendment

Posted on May 30, 2006
Today, the Court took that very signifiant step, holding that "when public employees make statements pursuant to their official duties, the employees are not speaking as citizens for First Amendment purposes, and the Constitution does not insulate their communications from employer discipline...

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

A Refreshing Alternative to the 'Tolerance' Mantra

Posted on May 25, 2006
In current discourse the term, 'tolerance' is usually used for propagandistic purposes to browbeat one's opponent. Given this state of affairs, it is refreshing to see an intelligent consideration of the topic in the context of law, virtue, and morality...

A Big Win for Free Speech at Penn State

Posted on May 23, 2006
That is the title of this PhiBetaCons post by ADF attorney David French.  ADF distributed this press release on the victory. ...(read more)

Democracy: No Guarantee of Freedom

Posted on May 23, 2006
Our nation's leaders often proclaim the necessity of exporting democracy to promote freedom around the world. By contrast, America's founders had a deep distrust of democracy. They viewed it as a prescription for anarchy and established a constitutional republic as David Barton and many others have documented...

OK George Will --- How About "Virtue Voters"

Posted on May 19, 2006
George Will has a commentary in yesterday's Washington Post titled: Who Isn't a 'Values Voter'? He correctly makes the case that everyone votes according to some set of values and decries application of this description to social conservatives alone...

Psychological Parenting and the Call for a Constitutional Amendment

Posted on May 16, 2006
As reported in yesterday's ADF Alliance Alert, the U.S. Supreme Court has refused to hear an appeal seeking to reverse the Washington Supreme Court's endorsement of 'psychological parenting.'  The Washington ruling allowed a lesbian third party to sue for parental rights despite the objections of the child's biological parents...

Washington Post Teen Sex, Abortion, and Contraception Series and the Initiative by Democrats and Planned Parenthood

Posted on May 16, 2006
Today's ADF Alliance Alert highlights a series of articles that appear in the Washington Post on Teen Sex, Abortion, and Contraception. The Alert also links to articles from different sources illustrating that the Post series may be timed to coincide with an initiative by Democrats and Planned Parenthood ...

Utah Supreme Court Upholds Bigamy Conviction Even Though Second 'Marriage" was Private Religious Ceremony

Posted on May 16, 2006
This AP report covers today's Utah Supreme Court decision in Utah v. Holms. The court upheld Holm's bigamy conviction even though his second marriage was merely a private religious ceremony . . . ...(read more)

Who Are the Real Fundamentalists?

Posted on May 12, 2006
ADF Attorney David French answers that question . . . ...(read more)

Human Embryos as Commerce

Posted on May 12, 2006
Today's issue of the ADF Alliance Alert includes several articles that focus on controversies involving the human embryo . . . Billions of dollars are at stake . . . ...(read more)

God Made Me Transgendered and Why We Must Legislate Morality

Posted on May 11, 2006
Mike S. Adams has this insightful article on Townhall: God Made Me Transgendered.  It is a poignant response to a letter he received from a 'transgendered' individual who accuses him of being bigoted and judgmental.  Mike's article does not focus on the legal context, but it is often said that we "can't legislate morality...

How Does Same Sex 'Marriage' Affect You? How Does It Affect Religious Freedom?

Posted on May 09, 2006
Yesterday's Weekly Standard Online carried an article by Maggie Gallagher of the Institute for Marriage and Public Policy titled Banned in Boston: The Coming Conflict Between Same Sex Marriage and Religious Liberty.  The article includes interviews with several legal scholars across the political spectrum, who are in agreement that a clash between homosexual demands and religious freedom is imminent: Just how serious are the coming conflicts over religious liberty stemming from gay marriage? "The impact will be severe and pervasive," [Anthony Picarello of Becket Fund] says flatly...

The Problem With Speech Codes: Even Faculty Members Can Read

Posted on May 05, 2006
Attorney David French, who heads ADF's Center for Academic Freedom, has this post at PhiBetaCons on National Review. He observes that David Bernstein over at the Volokh Conspiracy "has been all over Penn State University for its absurd censorship of an art display...

Easter OK, Christmas No Way --- So Much for Secularist Logic

Posted on May 05, 2006
The absence of logic on church and state issues in the militantly secularist crowd is truly amazing sometimes.  In today's St. Louis Post-Dispatch, there is an article regarding the Francis Howell School Board's divided and apparently controversial vote to restore the traditional name "Christmas Break" to the official school holiday period more recently known as "Winter Break...

Sane Judges See 'Emanations' and 'Penumbras'

Posted on May 04, 2006
This "Best of the Web" summary featured in today's WSJ Opinion Journal is funny enough, but when you consider the headline in the context of the story, it is off the charts: Sane Judges See 'Emanations' and 'Penumbras'"A Philippine judge who claimed he could see into the future and admitted consulting imaginary mystic dwarfs has asked for his job back after being sacked by the country's Supreme Court," Reuters reports from Manila: Floro was sacked last month and fined $780 (40,000 pesos) after a three-year investigation found he was incompetent, had shown bias in a case he was trying and had criticized court procedure, a ruling showed...

An Overview of the Marriage Battle in the States: Washington Marriage Ruling Looms

Posted on May 04, 2006
"Nearly half the states now outlaw or are poised to ban same-sex marriage in their constitutions, but one ? Washington state ? is a court order away from knowing whether it will join Massachusetts in legalizing gay weddings." So begins, an article by Kavan Peterson on Stateline...

Politics and the Pulpit: Some Get it Right!

Posted on May 02, 2006
Despite the corrupt and misinformed mantra, "separation of church and state," some theologians and some legal commentators are cogently setting the record straight. What a delight to see Blackstone presenter Dr. Al Mohler comment on the correctness of the op-ed piece by Professor Rick Garnett that appeared in USA Today on April 18, 2006...

States Need to Grapple with Pornography Problem and Disparities

Posted on May 01, 2006
Two stories about child pornography convictions that appeared in Friday's news illustrate the significant disparities that exist in our system.  One from the federal system appears in the Brownsville Herald by Sergio Chappa, titled ?Man gets 20 years for viewing child porn...

Day of Truth: ADF President Alan Sears Comes Out Swinging

Posted on April 27, 2006
Today is the second annual "Day of Truth." This day was established by ADF  to counter the promotion of the homosexual agenda and express an opposing viewpoint from a Christian perspective.  A brief description is here. The "Day of Truth" is held the day after the "Day of Silence" established by GLSEN...

LA Times Critical of Harper T-Shirt Decision

Posted on April 27, 2006
The LA Times is not exactly known as a bastion of conservativism. But yesterday, it joined a chorus of voices criticizing the Ninth Circuit's decision in Harper v. Poway Unified School District: "Free-Speech Fashion" (". . . does a Christian student have a similar right to wear a T-shirt proclaiming "Homosexuality Is Shameful"? He should, despite a recent federal appeals court ruling so sweeping and loosely reasoned that it virtually begs the Supreme Court to overrule it...

Dorf Commentary Compares Student Speech Critical of Homosexuality to Funeral Protests Calling for the Death of American Servicemen

Posted on April 26, 2006
Today, Columbia law professor Michael C. Dorf has this commentary posted on Findlaw: "Can the government limit speech to protect a captive audience." Dorf likens student speech that is critical of homosexuality to funeral protests that call for the death of American servicemen...

DOJ to Expand Obscenity Enforcement

Posted on April 25, 2006
U.S. Newswire is reporting a new obscenity indictment  by DOJ. The material is of an extreme nature, which is nearly all DOJ has been willing to prosecute during the term of the current chief of DOJ?s Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section...

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