Religion & Law

Pope Benedict not fully welcome at German parliament next year

Posted on December 17, 2010
Reuters: "Pope Benedict?s invitation to address German parliament during his visit to his homeland next September 22-25 has not sat well with some members of the opposition. Volker Beck, the Green party floor leader, has protested that inviting a religious leader to address parliament, the Bundestag, is unprecedented and the wrong place to speak about religion...

Group opposing Temecula mosque files appeal

Posted on December 17, 2010
Mercury News (AP): "An organization called Concerned American Citizens filed the appeal Thursday, arguing that the panel showed favoritism to the Islamic Center of Temecula Valley."

CO: Anti-religious billboards back over the streets

Posted on December 17, 2010
ABC 7: "'Reason's Greetings' and 'Yes Virginia, There Is No God' is what the Freedom From Religion Foundation billboards will proclaim for the next two weeks."

Quebec to curtail religion in public daycares

Posted on December 17, 2010
CBC: "The Canadian Press has obtained documents from the Quebec Family Ministry that indicates the province will ban most forms of religion in centres that receive government money starting next June." CTV: Quebev gov't confirms

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Mich. school district bans religious symbols resembling weapons

Posted on December 17, 2010
The Detroit News: "In a carefully worded letter sent home to parents Thursday, school officials said they value 'the right of all students to practice their religion and wear religious symbols,' but that any religious emblems that resemble a weapon are now 'strictly prohibited...

NH lawmaker taken to task for prayer remarks

Posted on December 17, 2010
Eagle Tribune: "A Democratic Party attack on Rep. David Bates, R-Windham, is attracting national attention and demands the party apologize for 'religious intolerance.'"

WA: Board of Pharmacy won?t change ?Plan B? rule

Posted on December 17, 2010
Seattle Times: "Washington's Board of Pharmacy voted Thursday to not move forward with changing a rule that prohibits pharmacies from refusing to dispense all legal drugs, including the morning-after contraceptive 'Plan B.'"

Pakistan: Radical Muslims plan mass protest in defense of blasphemy law

Posted on December 17, 2010
Agenzia Fides: "An alliance among radical Islamic groups - which includes religious parties, Islamic movements, organizations allied with terrorist groups - has called a large mass national demonstration entitled Namos-e-risalat, that is, defending the honour of the Prophet Muhammad on 24 December, after Friday prayers, to say 'no' to the release of Asia Bibi and any changes to the blasphemy law...

Ken Connor: Restrained by the Constitution

Posted on December 17, 2010
Ken Connor writing at The Christian Post: "Perhaps to the chagrin of some conservatives who would have relished an ideologically-driven, politically-charged decision (and despite the wild accusations among some on the far left that this decision signals the first step towards a judicial imposition of a 'libertarian utopia'), Judge Hudson doesn't second guess or venture an opinion about the wisdom or merits of the legislation...

Spain: Right to life group denounces abortion of handicapped children

Posted on December 17, 2010
Spero Forum: "The Right to Life (Derecho a Vivir) of Spain's southern region of Andalucía denounced the apparent increase in the number of abortions of children thought to be handicapped or deformed. The group expressed the fear that a eugenic policy was arising in Spain that would lead to the extermination of the handicapped...

Republicans stop pro-abortion omnibus bill as Reid pulls it

Posted on December 17, 2010
LifeNews: "Late Thursday, pro-abortion Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid gave up on trying to pass the 1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill that contains numerous goodies for the abortion industry."

New attack against Christians in Iraq; girl kidnapped from home in Mosul

Posted on December 17, 2010
Asia News: "On the evening of December 15 armed militants abducted a young Christian female student from her home in Iraq?s northern city of Mosul."

Life on hold for Egyptian Christian arrested for his faith

Posted on December 17, 2010
Christian Post: "Ashraf Thabet, 45, is charged with defaming a revealed religion, Article 98f of the Egyptian Penal Code. The charges stem from Thabet?s six-year search for spiritual meaning that eventually led him to become a Christian. During his search, he shared his doubts about Islam and told others what he was learning about Jesus Christ...

ACLU says it wants to help Tehachapi school district address ?anti-gay climate?

Posted on December 17, 2010
Tehachapi News: ". . . 'The letter to the TUSD is about the anti-gay climate that?s going on in the school district and the steps the district can take to change that climate,' said lead attorney San Francisco-based Elizabeth Gill of the ACLU Foundation of Northern California ...

Church spokesman: Islamic fundamentalists want all Christians out of Mideast

Posted on December 17, 2010
Vatican Radio: "Fr. Rafic Greische is the director of communications for the Catholic Church in Egypt. Speaking from Cairo, he told Tracey McClure Copts and Muslims have organized small protests calling for the release of the many children who were among those arrested...

Vatican in new clash with China over church

Posted on December 17, 2010
Associated Press: "The Vatican accused China on Friday of spurning efforts for improved ties with the Holy See, condemning the government-backed church as violating religious freedom and human rights."

Clinton worried by talk of cutting US foreign aid

Posted on December 17, 2010
Associated Press: "Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says she is distressed by calls from some Republicans to reduce foreign aid."

UN raps Sweden for deporting Iraqi Christians

Posted on December 17, 2010
Associated Press: "The U.N. criticized Sweden on Friday for deporting five Iraqi Christians back to their homeland as Iraq's Christian community comes under severe threat of militant attacks."

More than 12,000 killed in Mexican drug war this year, officials say

Posted on December 17, 2010
Los Angeles Times: "More than 12,000 people have died this year in Mexico's drug war, officials said Thursday, making it the deadliest year since President Felipe Calderon launched a government crackdown against traffickers in 2006."

Homosexual advocacy group hires well-known lobbying firm to help redefine marriage in Maryland

Posted on December 17, 2010
Washington Post: "Equality Maryland, the state's largest gay-rights advocacy group, has hired Alexander & Cleaver, an Annapolis lobbying firm, to help push for legalization of same-sex marriage in the upcoming legislative session."

ACLU opposes all-male charter school in Madison

Posted on December 17, 2010
Chicago Tribune: "In a letter to school district officials, the ACLU says there's no proof that separating girls from boys will result in a better education. The union says it doesn't oppose the public charter school as an alternative to Madison district schools, rather it objects to providing males with different opportunities by separating the genders...

Irish Socialist party: Rally for ?choice? after ECHR abortion decision

Posted on December 17, 2010
Socialist Workers Party: "We call on the government to immediately legislate for abortion in line with X case judgement. There should be no question of a further referendum. There have been two referendums on the X case judgment and in both case the electorate rejected the government?s attempts to further restrict abortion...

Saint Xavier University professor comments on Dr. Howell controversy

Posted on December 17, 2010
Peter N. Kirstein, professor of history at Saint Xavier University in Chicago, writing at his blog: "Kenneth Howell is an University of Illinois faculty member who teaches Roman Catholic theology who was briefly fired due to an e-mail that some construed as hate-speech and virulently homophobic...

Atheist ads on Texas buses draw mobile reaction

Posted on December 17, 2010
Mercury News (NYT): [T]he reaction from believers has been harsher than anyone in the nonbelievers' club expected. Some black ministers organized a boycott of the buses, with limited success. Other clergy members are pressing the Fort Worth Transportation Authority for a ban on all religious advertising on public buses...

Why college graduates are not getting good jobs

Posted on December 17, 2010
NCPA: "Young Americans vary vastly in their aptitudes, their motivations, their interests. National policy prescriptions like 'everyone should have a postsecondary education" ignore the vast differences between people. If the public objective is to use higher education as a means to form human capital and expand national productive capabilities, it appears much of the recent 'investment' in colleges is misdirected...

Under the radar: ?Selective reduction? abortions

Posted on December 17, 2010
Dave Andrusko writing at the National Right to Life Committee News and Views: "Years ago we ran a lot of stories in National Right to Life News about 'selective reduction' (or 'fetal reductions')--the euphemism for aborting one, two, or more babies of mothers carrying multiple unborn children...

MN Supreme Supreme Court?s abortion-on-demand decision costs taxpayers $15 million for abortions

Posted on December 17, 2010
National Right to Life Committee News and Views: "More than 50,000 unborn babies have been killed in Minnesota with taxpayer funds since a Dec. 15, 1995, Minnesota Supreme Court ruling required taxpayers to fund abortions, according to the Minnesota Department of Human Services (MDHS)...

Cardinal Burke: ?Every aspect? of a Catholic university?s life must be Catholic

Posted on December 17, 2010
Thomas More College of Liberal Arts: "On Saturday, December 4, the Thomas More College of Liberal Arts was privileged to host Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke, Archbishop Emeritus of Saint Louis, and Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura...

Senate confirms four judicial nominees

Posted on December 17, 2010
Politico: "The Senate unanimously confirmed four of 38 pending judicial nominations Thursday evening, the first of President Barack Obama?s judicial nominees to be approved since September. The nominees?Catherine Eagles, Kimberly Mueller, John Gibney, and James Bredar?are the longest delayed district court nominees, who were each reported out of the Judiciary Committee unanimously...

Obama signs tax-cut bill in White House ceremony

Posted on December 17, 2010
Politico: "President Barack Obama celebrated the spirit of compromise Friday as he signed a controversial $858 billion tax-cut and unemployment insurance extension into law ? but warned that bipartisan comity could be fleeting."

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