Religion & Law

Montana rejects ACLU?s ?gay? demands

Posted on November 10, 2010
KLUR 8: "The state of Montana has responded to a motion filed by the ACLU demanding the same legal protections for gay couples that are given to married couples . . . Now, Montana's Attorney General has denied their request."

Zambia: Polygamy is just a selfish matter for men

Posted on November 10, 2010
The Post Zambia: "Polygamy is just a selfish matter for men, newly-appointed World Bank alternative executive director Dr Denny Hamachila Kalyalya has observed. Dr Kalyalya discourages men from marrying more than one wife as such old-age traditional norms amount to injustice to children who grow up in polygamous homes...

Kevin Theriot: Colorado judge: Religious groups not second class

Posted on November 10, 2010
ADF Attorney Kevin Theriot writing at Speak Up Movement / Church: "On October 28, 2010, Colorado District Judge Mullins rejected an atheist group?s attempt to relegate religious groups to second class status . . . First he held the plaintiffs? claim that the prayer proclamation made them 'feel like outsiders' was not a denial of any right or privilege...

Bureaucratic error results in $50K tax bill, possible foreclosure on rural Ariz. church

Posted on November 10, 2010
Although state law and the Arizona Department of Revenue both say that a small, rural church in La Paz County should not owe any property taxes, county officials have levied a $50,000 tax bill against the church anyway simply because a property assessor sat on paperwork for three years.

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UK: What history should children be taught? The seeding of amnesia is the undoing of citizenship.

Posted on November 10, 2010
Historian and government adviser Simon Schama writing in the Guardian: "Who is it that needs history the most? Our children, of course: the generations who will either pass on the memory of our disputatious liberty or be not much bovvered about the doings of obscure ancestors, and go back to Facebook for an hour or four...

Pope says Europe should support family, political-religious dialogue

Posted on November 10, 2010
Catholic News Service: "Reflecting on his recent trip to Spain, Pope Benedict XVI spoke of the need to support marriage and family and for dialogue between religious, political and economic spheres to encourage a just society in Europe."

Roadside religious places encroachment of public land: Rajsthan high court

Posted on November 10, 2010
DNA: "Taking a serious note of the mushrooming illegal roadside religious places, the Rajasthan high court has directed the state government to come out with a plan within a month for the removal of 58,000 such structures in the state."

MO: Churches, entities must withhold tax on nonresident performances

Posted on November 10, 2010
Word & Way: "Since 1998, Missouri law has required venues -- including churches -- to collect withholding tax on amounts over $300 paid to entertainers who come from out-of-state . . . Missouri apparently holds to the federal Internal Revenue Service's definition of a love offering or love gift...

Sen. Jim DeMint: ?You can?t be a fiscal conservative and not be a social conservative?

Posted on November 10, 2010
"A large part of the expansive government is to make up for a dysfunctional society because our culture's falling apart. The family's falling apart."

Army?s Fort Hood report draws criticism, calls to clarify religious accommodation guidelines

Posted on November 10, 2010
Washington Times: "The report made no mention that Maj. Hassan, who is paralyzed and awaiting a military trial, had become a radical Muslim. However, it called for 'promptly' establishing standards and reporting procedures that would clarify 'guidelines for religious accommodation...

12,000 American Muslims to make pilgrimage to Mecca

Posted on November 10, 2010
The Christian Century (RNS): "Some 12,000 American Muslims are expected to join an estimated 2.5 million pilgrims in the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca for the hajj, the annual Islamic pilgrimage that this year runs between Nov. 14 and 18."

OR: Douglas County clerk claims she was fired over religious views

Posted on November 10, 2010
The Douglas County News-Review: "A federal jury is scheduled to decide in the spring whether a Douglas County clerk was wrongly fired after she objected on religious grounds to registering same-sex couples as domestic partners. Kathy Slater, who worked for the county for more than a decade before she was dismissed in February 2008, is seeking unspecified damages and attorney fees...

Finland?s Evangelical Lutheran Church: Blessings not in cards for same-sex couples

Posted on November 10, 2010
YLE: "A committee of Finland's Evangelical Lutheran Church says pastors could pray on behalf of same-sex couples?but not offer them blessings comparable to traditional weddings. The committee presented its proposal at the church's General Synod in Turku on Wednesday...

Two Utah cities pass gender identity measures

Posted on November 10, 2010
NECN (AP): "The city councils in Murray and Moab voted unanimously Tuesday to ban housing and employment discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity."

Mexico House votes for same-sex couple benefits

Posted on November 10, 2010
Washington Post: "Mexico's House of Representatives has voted to amend social security rules to include medical and social benefits for same-sex couples."

Belarus: Bible school fined for ?unsanitary conditions?

Posted on November 10, 2010
Forum 18: "Belarusian Pastor Nikolai Borichevsky, who leads the Grace of Jesus Pentecostal Church in the small town of Krupki in Minsk Region, has paid a fine of 700,000 Belarusian Roubles (1,340 Norwegian Kroner, 165 Euros, or 230 US Dollars) imposed on him in August, Forum 18 News Service has learned...

Lawsuit filed over Okla. English-only state law

Posted on November 10, 2010
Fox News: "A legal challenge was filed Tuesday to the 'official English' state question that Oklahoma voters approved last week."

G20: Why the US should worry if Asian currencies strengthen

Posted on November 10, 2010
Christian Science Monitor: "As G20 leaders gather in Seoul Thursday ? their first meeting in Asia ? to seek to rebalance the world economy, some economists here are warning the United States that it should not worry about China's and other regional currencies being too weak; rather, it should worry if they get stronger...

Education in Georgia ? A Citizen?s Guide

Posted on November 10, 2010
Georgia Family Council: "Education in Georgia, A Citizen?s Guide is a first-of-its kind directory of information covering virtually all aspects of education in Georgia."

Speaker defends Howell, freedom of speech through First Amendment

Posted on November 10, 2010
Daily Illini: "Aspiring students and school of law professors filled the auditorium at the Law Building Tuesday to listen to [Gregory Baylor], senior counsel member of the Alliance Defense Fund, a servant organization that fights for First Amendment rights ...

Will Indiana marriage amendment see new life?

Posted on November 10, 2010
Goshen News: "Conservative state lawmakers say they expect to re-introduce legislation in the next session that would clear the way for a constitutional amendment to define marriage as a union between one man and one woman."

Christian Coalition releases new app for iPhone and Android smart-phones

Posted on November 10, 2010
ChristianNewsWire: "The new application gives users access to information from the Coalition's website as well as allows them to participate in online campaigns and petitions."

?Barack Obama had gay transvestite nanny in Indonesia?

Posted on November 10, 2010
Excerpt from a New York Times story on President Obama's childhood in Indonesia: "His nanny was an openly gay man who, in keeping with Indonesia?s relaxed attitudes toward homosexuality, carried on an affair with a local butcher, longtime residents said...

Saying no to no-fault divorce

Posted on November 10, 2010
Beverly Willett writing at The Huffington Post: "Two months ago, outgoing New York Governor Paterson . . . signed legislation making New York the 50th and final state to sign on to no-fault divorce . . . I was heartsick and wrote about my own divorce experience for The Daily Beast ...

IL: ?Same-sex ?wedding? announcement costs woman job at Catholic college?

Posted on November 10, 2010
Peoria Journal-Star: "[W]hen Helstrom?s and Tadlock?s wedding announcement was published in The State Journal-Register, it was the beginning of the end for Tadlock?s tenure as director of the education program at Benedictine." About Benedict University at Springfield

?PA legislators have chance to make an impact on anti-gay bullying?

Posted on November 10, 2010
Louis Marven, director of Education and Youth Services at the LGBT Center Coalition in Harrisburg, writing in the Patriot-News: "The General Assembly had three initiatives before it in the 2009-10 session that would advance equality for the LGBT community, including gay youth, but failed to pass any of them...

80 million Bibles printed in China ? and counting

Posted on November 10, 2010
Christian Today: "The only authorised Bible-printing company in China marked the printing of its eighty-millionth Bible on Monday, the government?s official press agency announced.'

Charles Taylor: The meaning of secularism

Posted on November 09, 2010
The Meaning of Secularism Charles Taylor, The Hedgehog Review 12.3 (Fall 2010) "One of our basic difficulties in dealing with these problems is that we have the wrong model, which has a continuing hold on our minds. We think that secularism (or laïcité) has to do with the relation of the state and religion, whereas in fact it has to do with the (correct) response of the democratic state to diversity...

1 Gov, 7 congressional races still to be decided

Posted on November 09, 2010
Associated Press: "Here are the congressional and gubernatorial races that remain uncalled after last Tuesday's election . . ."

German Finance Minister: ?US has lived on borrowed money for too long?

Posted on November 09, 2010
Spiegel: "Schäuble: 'The German export successes are not the result of some sort of currency manipulation, but of the increased competitiveness of companies. The American growth model, on the other hand, is in a deep crisis. The United States lived on borrowed money for too long, inflating its financial sector unnecessarily and neglecting its small and mid-sized industrial companies...

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