Religion & Law

Evan Wolfson: ?Freedom to Marry?s top 10 moments for marriage in 2010?

Posted on December 15, 2010
Evan Wolfson writing at The Huffington Post: "Freedom to Marry spent 2010 ramping up and reinventing itself to be the national campaign the movement needs to get the job done. Working together in this campaign, we can make 2011, like 2010, another winning year for the freedom to marry...

Minnesota taxpayers have spent $15M for 50,000 abortions

Posted on December 15, 2010
LifeNews: "Thanks to a Minnesota Supreme Court ruling in December 1995, requiring taxpayers to fund abortions, the state health department reveals Minnesotans have paid $15 million for 50,000 abortions in the years since."

MD: New late-term abortion legislation proposed in Germantown

Posted on December 15, 2010
Baltimore Messenger: "The arrival in Germantown of a doctor who has been frank about his performance of abortions late in pregnancy has not only spurred public protests in the community, but prompted legislators to propose new laws that would ban the practice in the state...

Bush: Religion is not a course in self-improvement

Posted on December 15, 2010
Christian Post: "The interview, which took place in Dallas last week, was broadcast on the ministry's daily radio program on Monday and Tuesday . . . 'But it took me a while to understand that religion is not a course in self-improvement. Religion is a surrender ? that you allow a living God into your life by surrendering to that living God...

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Air Force Academy sex assaults up 150%, most among service academies since 2008

Posted on December 15, 2010
Huffington Post: "Reported sexual assaults at the three U.S. military academies rose 64 percent in the 2009-10 academic year compared with the previous year, the Defense Department said Wednesday."

Germany applies anti-Nazi laws in crackdown on Salafi Islamic groups

Posted on December 15, 2010
Christian Science Monitor: "German officials said the preemptive raids, conducted under German anti-Nazi laws of association, were aimed at uncovering unconstitutional or separatist acts and not part of an international terror hunt."

Law Review: A New Rule for Extraterritorial Application of US Law

Posted on December 15, 2010
Dual Illegality and Geoambiguous Law: A New Rule for Extraterritorial Application of US Law Jeffrey A. Meyer, 95 Minn. L. Rev. 110 (2010) "Part I provides a background on the concepts of 'territoriality' and 'extraterritoriality,' the landmark decisions of U...

OR: Ashland schools set rules for holiday decor

Posted on December 15, 2010
Mail Tribune: "Ashland public schools can display a decorated pine tree if it is surrounded by symbols from other religious holidays, but in order to remain religiously neutral they should not display a Christmas tree alone, Superintendent Juli Di Chiro told the School Board Monday...

Dem controlled House votes to normalize homosexual behavior in the military

Posted on December 15, 2010
"The 250-175 vote propels the issue to the Senate for what could be the last chance for now to end the 1993 law that forbids recruiters from asking about sexual orientation while prohibiting soldiers from acknowledging that they are gay."

Texas agency tells employees to stop praying at work

Posted on December 15, 2010
KETK: "Texas Department of Aging and Disabilities service wrote this an email to their employees across the state. It reads: 'This is a reminder to all staff that prayer is considered a religious activity and therefore should not be included in unit/staff meetings at any time, not just the holidays...

Snowe backs ?Don?t ask, don?t tell? repeal

Posted on December 15, 2010
"The other three GOP senators who have said they support repeal are Susan Collins (Maine), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Scott Brown (Mass.)."

Discharged Army veteran, ?gay activist? is hospitalized for mental breakdown

Posted on December 15, 2010
MSNBC: "Lt. Dan Choi, the openly gay Army veteran who has been an outspoken critic of the military's 'don't ask, don't tell' policy, has been hospitalized after suffering a mental breakdown, he told colleagues."

ADF: Univ. of Wis. Hospitals confirms it will end late-term abortion program

Posted on December 15, 2010
In May, the Alliance Defense Fund obtained a letter from the Wisconsin Department of Justice stating that the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics had stopped pursuing the plan, but UWHC then made public comments that indicated they weren?t fully giving up at that time, despite public pressure brought to bear by ADF and its allies.

ADF Allied Attorney Success Stories: December 2010

Posted on December 15, 2010
Congratulations to allied attorneys Peter Costea, Dan Dalton, Natalie Decker, Matthew Fender, Steve Fitschen, Brian Hurley, Katie Short, Allison Aranda, Phil Jauregui, Steve Taylor, and Randy Wenger for their recent accomplishments and successes listed below...

TIME?s ?People Who Mattered?: David Boies and Ted Olson

Posted on December 15, 2010
TIME: "A decade after they faced each other in the landmark Bush v. Gore case, power attorneys David Boies and Ted Olson found common cause and fast friendship as co?counsels working to overturn California's prohibition on same sex marriage."

American Legion opposes last-minute DADT appeal

Posted on December 15, 2010
PR Newswire: "The American Legion remains strongly opposed to a renewed and intensified Congressional effort to hastily repeal the Pentagon's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' law during Congress's rapidly expiring lame duck session. "

VA AG: If we lose, gov?t ?will be able to order? people to buy anything

Posted on December 15, 2010
CNSNews: "Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli told CNSNews.com that the federal government will be able to 'order' individuals to purchase any product or service if the individual mandate in health care law is determined to be constitutional by the Supreme Court...

Canada: Prime Minister, MPs vote against ban on coerced abortion

Posted on December 15, 2010
Montreal Gazette: "The House of Commons killed a private member's bill Wednesday that would have criminalized 'coercing' a woman into an abortion. Bill C-510, sponsored by anti-abortion Winnipeg Conservative MP Rod Bruinooge, would have criminalized forcing a woman into an abortion through threats of violence, withdrawal of financial resources or a place to live...

Left wing groups sue over sexual assault epidemic in the military amidst calls for DADT repeal and women in combat

Posted on December 15, 2010
American Prospect: "Anecdotal evidence suggests sexual assault rates in the military are high, with as many as one in three women being sexually assaulted during their service . . . frustrated by rejected Freedom of Information Act requests, the Service Women?s Action Network (SWAN) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) have filed a lawsuit in federal district court demanding the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs release the data and disclose what they?re doing to treat victims and prevent future abuse...

Commission urges US to step up protection for Iraqi Christians

Posted on December 15, 2010
Christian Post: "The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom wants the government to use Wednesday's United Nations Security Council meeting on Iraq as an 'opportunity' to address the 'grave situation facing that country?s Christians and other imperiled religious minorities...

Chicago: Meeks wants to give private-school vouchers to 50,000 students

Posted on December 15, 2010
Chicago Sun-Times: "Arguing that Chicago Public Schools are 'broken' and that parents deserve a 'choice,' mayoral challenger James Meeks said Wednesday he would offer $4,500-a-year vouchers to 50,000 low-and-middle-income Chicago families to use toward private school tuition...

START passage looks dead for 2010

Posted on December 15, 2010
Wall Street Journal / Washington Wire: "In what looks like a decisive blow, at least eight Republican senators ? including some the White House was counting on ? will announce this afternoon they cannot vote to ratify President Barack Obama?s New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty with Russia this year...

China, the Nobel, the bishops and the Vatican: Who won, who lost

Posted on December 15, 2010
Card. Joseph Zen Zekiun: "The Eighth Assembly of the Representatives of the Chinese Catholics was 'victoriously' successful, as 'victoriously successful' was the preventing of Liu Xiaobo from going to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Are our leaders are truly proud of similar 'victories'? The fact that China has become an economic power, allows them to ignore so shamefully the human rights? Those who bow to you for business interests, do they respect you in their hearts? Wake up! Please, save a little the dignity of our great nation, famous for its ancient civilization and its refined etiquette...

Military conversion bill passes first reading in Knesset

Posted on December 15, 2010
Jewish Telegraphic Agency: "A bill that would validate conversions to Judaism through Israel's military rabbinate passed a preliminary reading in the Knesset. The measure, sponsored by David Rotem of the Yisrael Beiteinu Party, passed Wednesday by a vote of 75 to 18...

Police stop religious gatherings in Indian Kashmir

Posted on December 15, 2010
Washington Post: "Police fired tear gas and swung batons to disperse hundreds of Muslims participating in religious processions in the Indian portion of Kashmir on Wednesday. At least six people were injured, police said."

Germany: AIDS cure from adult stem-cell treatment?

Posted on December 15, 2010
aidsmap: "Doctors who carried out a stem cell transplant on an HIV-infected man with leukaemia in 2007 say they now believe the man to have been cured of HIV infection as a result of the treatment, which introduced stem cells which happened to be resistant to HIV infection...

CA: Homosexual history lessons in public schools

Posted on December 15, 2010
California Family Council: "Legislators in California have incrementally pursued special homosexual rights and curriculum in the schools, promoting the acceptance of behaviors unacceptable to many parents. New legislation - introduced December 13 - would require that children be taught the contributions of homosexuals in California and American history...

UK: A first step in handing power back to the people

Posted on December 15, 2010
Telegraph: "David Cameron's assertion that this Government would be the first in a generation to leave office wielding less power than it started with was more than a rhetorical flourish. The Localism Bill published yesterday sets out in some detail the mechanisms by which the Coalition intends to divest Whitehall of power and hand it instead to local communities and local government...

Senate passes tax package 81-19, sending Obama deal to the House

Posted on December 15, 2010
The Hill: "The Senate voted 81 to 19 in favor of the deal struck by President Obama and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)."

Episcopal Bishop of Chicago: Civil unions are crucial first step

Posted on December 15, 2010
Bishop Jeffrey Lee writing at the Chicago Tribune / The Seeker: "The Illinois? General Assembly?s approval of a bill authorizing civil unions is a step toward dismantling the barriers that limit access of gay and lesbian couples to the full protections and benefits guaranteed all Americans in our Constitution...

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