Religion & Law

Attorneys protect pregnant 16 year old from parents

Posted on November 12, 2010
Christian Law Journal: "Several local and national organizations such as: Alliance Defense Fund, the Justice Foundation?s Against Forced Abortion, Texas Alliance for Life, and the Austin Coalition for Life took interest in the girl?s case. The girl?s representatives proceeded to file a temporary restraining order against her parents when they discovered how overbearing they acted towards their daughter...

?Day of Truth? acquired by Focus on the Family

Posted on November 12, 2010
Ex-Gay Watch: "Focus on the Family has taken the helm of the Day of Truth, which was spawned by the Alliance Defense Fund to oppose GLSEN?s Day of Silence."

NH: Electronic sign to flash Bible verses

Posted on November 12, 2010
Concord Monitor: "The town zoning board decided Wednesday night to reverse its previous ruling and allow the Barnstead man to place an electronic sign on his Route 4 property that quotes daily Bible passages . . . Cusson's lawyer, Michael Tierney of the Alliance Defense Fund, which specializes in religious freedom cases, [had] argued in an appeal that the ordinance had been invalidly adopted...

New Mt. Hope Infinity defendant

Posted on November 12, 2010
Infoshop News: "On Nov 5, a visible radical queer organizer in Chicago was added to the lengthy list of defendants in the Mt. Hope Infinity lawsuit. On November 9th, 2008 activists from the international queer liberation group, Bash Back! protested the notoriously anti-queer mega-church Mount Hope at its headquarters in Lansing, Michigan ...

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Focus on the Family picks up ?Day of Truth?

Posted on November 12, 2010
Christian Post: "Focus on the Family announced on Thursday that it is the new sponsor of the 'Day of Truth,' except now the ministry has changed the name to the 'Day of Dialogue' . . . The Day of Truth was established by the Alliance Defense Fund in 2005 to 'counter the promotion of the homosexual agenda and express an opposing viewpoint from a Christian perspective...

Suits equal ?full-court press? on marriage

Posted on November 12, 2010
Michael Foust writes at Baptist Press: "'This is a full-court press against marriage, and it's one to be concerned about,' [Dale Schowengerdt], an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, which opposes the suits, told Baptist Press."

?Focus to sponsor ?anti-gay? observance for students?

Posted on November 12, 2010
The Gazette (Colorado Springs): "GLSEN became a sponsor of the Day of Silence in 2001. Five years later the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative Christian law group, organized the Day of Truth as a rebuke to the Day of Silence. Soon after, Exodus International took over sponsorship...

$50k tax bill error could close church

Posted on November 12, 2010
KPHO: "According to Alliance Defense Fund, both state law and Arizona Department of Revenue agree that the church should not owe any of the $50,000 in property taxes they are being billed."

Evangelical group takes up ?gay ministry? day

Posted on November 12, 2010
The Oklahoman (AP): "The other co-sponsor remains the Alliance Defense Fund, a group of Christian attorneys. The sponsorship change was first reported by CNN."

New Christian sponsor takes over event challenging homosexuality

Posted on November 12, 2010
CNN Belief Blog: "Focus on the Family, an influential evangelical organization, will begin sponsoring the event known as the Day of Truth but will change the name of the happening to the Day of Dialogue, the group is set to announce Thursday . . . The Day of Truth was started by the conservative group Alliance Defense Fund, Chambers said, but the group transferred primary responsibility for the event to Exodus this year...

Is it disobedient for a Christian to oppose a Government? Q&A with Dr. Wayne Grudem

Posted on November 12, 2010
Alliance Defense Fund ? Q&A with Dr. Wayne Grudem talking about his new book "Politics according to the Bible" Question: Is it disobedient for a Christian to oppose a Government?

Ariz. church faces $50k tax bill after 3-year delay in paperwork

Posted on November 12, 2010
Christian Post: "A rural Arizona church is facing a bill of $50,000 in back taxes and faces the possibility of foreclosure after a local property assessor sat on tax exemption paperwork for three years . . . 'Churches shouldn?t live in fear of being punished or penalized by the government, but this church truly is in fear of losing everything because of nothing other than an unexplained three-year delay in approving paperwork,' said ADF Senior Legal Counsel [Erik Stanley]...

Pentagon investigates leak on DADT study

Posted on November 12, 2010
Associated Press: "Defense Secretary Robert Gates has ordered an investigation into the leak of details from a draft study about gays in the military."

?Updated LDS handbook softens language on gays?

Posted on November 12, 2010
Salt Lake Tribune: "A newly published compilation of LDS guidelines ? used by all church leaders worldwide when dealing with their members ? has softened the language about gay Mormons . . . Like most recent LDS Church statements, this new handbook makes a clear distinction between same-sex orientation and behavior...

Barclays to reimburse ?gay? workers for taxes on U.S. benefits

Posted on November 12, 2010
Bloomberg: "Barclays Plc, Britain?s third- largest bank, is joining Google Inc. and a small number of companies in reimbursing U.S. employees for federal tax they pay on health benefits provided to same-sex domestic partners."

UK: West Yorkshire teacher had lesbian affair with 15-year-old student

Posted on November 12, 2010
Yorkshire Evening Post: "A teacher who had lesbian sex with a 15-year-old pupil is facing jail. Louise Yeoman, 29, admitted carrying out 10 offences against the teenage pupil while working at a Wakefield school in 2009 and 2010."

Finland: Lutheran Synod votes for compromise on same-sex couples

Posted on November 12, 2010
Helsingin Sanomat: "The Synod of the Finnish Evangelical Lutheran Church voted on Friday morning to authorise the holding of prayer services for the union of same-sex couples."

?Male gay sex consent laws? to be considered by Gibraltar Supreme Court

Posted on November 12, 2010
Gibraltar Chronicle: "The Supreme Court will today consider the thorny question of whether Gibraltar wrongly discriminates against homosexual men by forbidding them from having sex before the age of 18."

FL: Cape Coral Mayor wants Ten Commandments in gov?t building; FFRF objects

Posted on November 12, 2010
The News-Press: "Cape Coral Mayor John Sullivan believes the moral character of the country is deteriorating, so he wants to put the Ten Commandments inside a government building as a reminder to straighten up. Sullivan has asked the city attorney?s office to look into the emotionally charged issue that has pitted religious leaders, politicians and others against one another in a battle that calls into question the separation of church and state...

School choice in Canada: Lessons for America

Posted on November 12, 2010
The Heritage Foundation: "Canada might be perceived as having 'socialized' education, akin to its 'top down' health care system. In reality, several Canadian provinces have a flourishing 'bottom up' choice-based primary and secondary education system...

Charter schools retain students better than nearby public schools

Posted on November 12, 2010
Illinois Family Institute (via Insider Online): "Charter schools are a new kind of public school, attended solely by choice. They must take all comers, irrespective of past performance in school or on tests. Through state law, charter schools are given the freedom to create 'new look' schools that break with the outworn, bureaucratic policies of inner city education...

1st Circuit rejects First Amendment challenge to the Pledge of Allegiance

Posted on November 12, 2010
"We hold that the New Hampshire School Patriot Act and the voluntary, teacher-led recitation of the Pledge by the state's public school students do not violate the Constitution."

Campus political correctness and the costs of free speech

Posted on November 12, 2010
Todd Hartch writing at Public Discourse: "We have watched, though, as our campuses veered farther and farther off course. Sexual license is now taken for granted. Mentions of abortion, homosexuality, and even bestiality hardly merit a second glance in our campus papers...

Proposition 8 litigators present their cases at Virginia law school

Posted on November 12, 2010
Virginia Law Weekly: "On Monday, the Law School hosted Jordan Lorence of the Alliance Defense Fund and Matt McGill of Gibson Dunn for a debate on Proposition 8, California?s recently passed constitutional amendment banning gay marriage. A U.S. District Court recently held that Proposition 8 violated the 14th Amendment of the U...

In the Philippines, church and state row over family planning

Posted on November 12, 2010
Christian Science Monitor: "If the bill becomes law, it will give responsibility for family planning to the state. Part of that would include the distribution of free contraception for the poor, maternity care, and family planning. It would also break new ground for the relationship between the government and the Church ...

Elizabeth Marquardt: Why your ?good enough? marriage is good for your kids

Posted on November 12, 2010
Elizabeth Marquardt writing at the Huffington Post: "[S]ocial science research shows that about two-thirds of marriages that end in divorce are low conflict. These marriages may feel troubled to the one or both of the spouses, but they are not struggling with the kinds of serious or frequent conflict many imagine when they picture a marriage on the rocks...

David French: Debating marriage

Posted on November 12, 2010
ADF Attorney David French writing at Phi Beta Cons: "I?d submit that a significant amount of the much-vaunted youth support for same-sex marriage is less the result of considered cultural change than years of one-sided, often inaccurate indoctrination ...

Colombian Constitutional Court blocks same-sex ?marriage?

Posted on November 12, 2010
Colombia Reports: "Colombia's Constitutional Court on Thursday ruled against a lawsuit to legalize civil marriage for same-sex couples. The Consitutional Court ruled that the request filed by two attorneys for equal rights for gay couples was flawed and presented in an irregular manner, La FM Radio reports...

Conservatives hope for marriage amendment in NC

Posted on November 12, 2010
The Sun News: "The economy dominated the fall campaign, but leaders among North Carolina's social conservatives believe the Republican sweep at the Legislature should finally permit a vote on a state constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage."

Amsterdam ready to restart Wilders? trial

Posted on November 12, 2010
Dutch News: "Amsterdam court has appointed three new judges for Geert Wilders' trial on inciting hatred and discrimination charges and hopes to restart the process as soon as possible."

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