Religion & Law

Can civilization survive without God? A conversation with Christopher and Peter Hitchens

Posted on November 03, 2010
Pew Forum: "Christopher Hitchens: 'There used to be a word which could be used unironically, and it was used, really, until not much more than a century, a century-and-a-half ago. People could say, and mean what they said when they said the word, Christendom...

Is democracy the voice of God?

Posted on November 03, 2010
Steve Farrell writes at Meridian Magazine (LDS publication): "Without a second thought, some Conservatives instantly screamed in protest [at Judge Walker's ruling in Perry v. Schwarzenegger: 'One judge wiped away the votes of seven million people!' They were right...

Book review: Is ?Marxist Islamism? behind contemporary terrorism?

Posted on November 03, 2010
Emina Melonic reviews The Closing of the Muslim Mind: How Intellectual Suicide Created the Modern Islamist Crisis by Robert R. Reilly at The Catholic Thing: "Islamism's strange theology (or lack thereof, depending how one looks at it) is really an ideology, not a religion...

Egypt: Security ramped up for Coptic pope?s sermon following al-Qaeda threats

Posted on November 03, 2010
Al-Masry Al-Youm: "The Coptic Church has begun tightening security in advance of Pope Shenouda III's Wednesday sermon following threats by the Iraqi wing of al-Qaeda against Egyptian churches for allegedly detaining two women said to have converted to Islam...

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

Australia: Croydon school?s plan to ?stop homophobia?

Posted on November 03, 2010
Maroondah Leader: "?We have simple and modest goals, such as eliminating the use of the word ?gay? as a put-down or general negative word,? Mr McNamara said."

Belgium?s Catholic primate faces ?homophobia? charge

Posted on November 03, 2010
AFP: "Amid mounting uproar, a lawyer for a gay rights group filed a complaint against Archbishop Andre-Joseph Leonard in the northern city of Bruges after the church leader described gay love as a travesty of nature and AIDS as 'a sort of intrinsic justice...

Lexington, Ky. voters elect 1st ?openly gay? mayor

Posted on November 03, 2010
Washington Post (AP): "Businessman Jim Gray defeated incumbent Jim Newberry in Tuesday's nonpartisan election. Gray had 53 percent of the vote to Newberry's 46 percent with 79 percent of precincts reporting."

Australia: Euthanasia talks fail to attract Queensland MPs

Posted on November 03, 2010
9News: "Voluntary euthanasia talks featuring a Belgian expert in Brisbane have failed to attract much interest from Queensland's politicians."

CA: Catholic high schools address tough issues in bioethics courses

Posted on November 03, 2010
Catholic San Francisco: "Bioethical issues are real for this generation of high school students. Some of them were conceived using in-vitro fertilization technology and others have had abortions before they leave high school, said Marin Catholic High School religion teacher Ryan Mayer ...

UK: Call for pre-abortion counseling

Posted on November 03, 2010
UKPA: "Doctors give more information to patients with ingrowing toenails than they do to vulnerable women seeking abortions, a Tory MP has said. Nadine Dorries (Mid Bedfordshire) urged the Government to instruct clinics to provide counselling to women who seek terminations...

Canada: Probe called over New Brunswick abortion policy

Posted on November 03, 2010
Montreal Gazette: "The provincial Department of Health's policy stipulates that it will only pay for an abortion if a woman gets a referral from a family doctor and if the procedure is performed in a hospital."

Case could end religious scholarship donations

Posted on November 03, 2010
CBN News: "'This program is important to the millions of Americans who support school choice across the country,' [ADF Attorney David Cortman] said. 'And Arizona is trying to increase their scores by giving parents a choice whether they want to go to public schools, charter schools or private schools, and this is just another prong in that...

OH: Bowling Green splits on sexual orientation discrimination law

Posted on November 03, 2010
Toledo Blade: "By a narrow margin in unofficial results, voters upheld an ordinance that expands the list of protected classes in the city?s fair housing code to include sexual orientation, gender expression, gender identity, and marital status, among others...

Omaha City Council rejects public vote on ?gays?

Posted on November 03, 2010
Omaha World-Herald: "By a 6-1 vote, the Omaha City Council essentially killed a proposal to put protections for gay and transgender Omahans to a popular vote."

Supreme Court of Canada can still choose to defend free speech

Posted on November 03, 2010
Karen Selick writing at the National Post: "The Supreme Court of Canada has agreed to reconsider 20-year-old jurisprudence that limits free speech. The case under appeal is The Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission v. William Whatcott. Back in 2001 and 2002, Whatcott, a social conservative activist, distributed flyers in Regina and Saskatoon bearing headings such as 'Keep Homosexuality out of Saskatoon?s Public Schools? and ?Sodomites in our Public Schools...

Log Cabin says Boehner helpful on DADT vote

Posted on November 03, 2010
Washington Blade ("lgbtq" news source): "Rep. John Boehner (R-Ohio), who is expected to become Speaker of the House in January, agreed to a request by the gay GOP group Log Cabin Republicans not to penalize House Republicans who voted in May for repeal of 'Don?t Ask, Don?t Tell,' according to the group?s leader...

UK: Muslims curse judge after sentence shouting, ?Allahu akbar,? ?British go to hell?

Posted on November 03, 2010
Daily Mail: "After the sentence was passed, a group of men began shouting in the public gallery 'Allahu akbar' ('God is great'), 'British go to hell' and 'Curse the judge'. A demonstration was also taking place outside the court."

Evangelical, social conservative turnout highest ever recorded in mid-term election

Posted on November 03, 2010
ChristianNewsWire: "According to a post-election survey conducted by Public Opinion Strategies for the Faith and Freedom Coalition, the largest single constituency in the electorate in the 2010 midterm elections was self-identified evangelicals, who comprised 29% of the vote and cast an astonishing 78% of their ballots for Republican candidates...

Germany?s Freiheit Party joins the fray: ?We will oppose Islamization?

Posted on November 03, 2010
Daniel Pipes writing at National Review Online: "A new German political party, Die Freiheit (The Freedom), had its inaugural meeting on October 28 in Berlin. As a reminder of how freedoms have eroded in Europe in this age of Islamist terror, a political party that resists Islamization and supports Israel cannot come into existence in broad daylight...

PA: Same New Black Panther; same polling place; same polling threat

Posted on November 03, 2010
Breitbart.tv: "Jerry Jackson, the same New Black Panther member who intimidated voters in 2008 back at the same polling station, allegedly instructs voter to vote straight Democrat, then proceeds to threaten same voter."

Quebec woman wins huge common-law alimony case

Posted on November 03, 2010
Toronto Star: "Quebec?s top court has overturned a lower-court decision that denied an unmarried woman the right to alimony from her wealthy ex."

AZ: Amid tight races, some early ballots yet to be counted

Posted on November 03, 2010
Arizona Republic: "Early ballots delivered to polling places and provisional ballots are yet to be counted in Arizona from Tuesday's general election - and it's not clear how much a role those may play in several contests that have yet to be decided."

NSW, Australia: Bid for ethics class to replace religious studies

Posted on November 02, 2010
Southern Courier: "The State Government has called for public comment on a proposal to allow students who do not attend religious study classes to be taught ethics in primary school."

Malta: Students ?abused? with teaching on contraception

Posted on November 02, 2010
Times of Malta: "Teaching students about contraception encourages them to give in to the 'culture of pleasure' and is tantamount to abuse, according to Gozo Bishop Mario Grech."

NC: Republicans sue Board of Elections over voting machines

Posted on November 02, 2010
The News of Today: "The Republican Party of North Carolina has sued the NC Board of Elections because they claim that malfunctioning touch-screen voting machines are skewing the vote towards Democrats by preventing voters from casting their vote for Republicans...

Turkey reinstates YouTube ban

Posted on November 02, 2010
Wall Street Journal (full text via Google News): "Turkey shut down YouTube on Tuesday, just days after had lifted a ban of more than two years."

Ed Whelan: Prop 8 proponents? reply brief in 9th Circuit

Posted on November 02, 2010
"I haven?t yet read through the reply brief, but am pleased to post substantial excerpts from its excellent introduction . . . "

UK: Lesbian couple vow to take battle for same-sex ?marriage? to court

Posted on November 02, 2010
London Telegraph: "The Rev Sharon Ferguson, a Metropolitan church minister, and her partner Franka Strietzel, will claim that Greenwich Register Office in east London breached their human rights by turning down their application."

Israeli students rally against stipends for Orthodox

Posted on November 02, 2010
The Media Line: "Six-thousand students rallied in the center of Jerusalem late Monday against a plan to award government grants exclusively to ultra-orthodox Jews engaged in religious studies, a seemingly obscure issue that could blow in the face of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu...

Polygamist member on trial in San Angelo, TX

Posted on November 02, 2010
Houston Chronicle (AP): ". . . from the evidence . . .  there was no legal marriage between Dutson, who was 21, and the 16-year-old girl. The San Angelo Standard-Times reports defense attorney Brandon Hudson suggested all that was lacking for a legal marriage 'was the paperwork ...

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