Religion & Law

Green Bay City Council to consider support for WI Family Action?s suit against domestic partner registry

Posted on October 29, 2010
Green Bay Press Gazette: "The City Council on Wednesday will consider a proposal to support Wisconsin Family Action in its lawsuit challenging the state's domestic partner registry. Approved by state lawmakers and enacted in 2009, the registry allows same-sex couples to qualify for certain employment benefits, including family leave for medical emergencies...

Sandra Day O?Connor v. the People

Posted on October 29, 2010
David B. Rivkin Jr. and Andrew M. Grossman writing in The Wall Street Journal [full text via Google News]: "Call it Supreme Hypocrisy: An ex-Supreme Court justice, still issuing rulings from the bench, wields her political clout to push citizens to abandon their own politics ...

?Gay-straight? clubs targeted in Washington County, UT school board race

Posted on October 29, 2010
The Spectrum: "Gay-Straight Alliances were formed in March at four local high schools, after the Washington County School District Board of Education, under pressure from the American Civil Liberties Union, changed its policies. The board has since taken steps to combat the clubs, unwanted by many in Southern Utah's socially conservative majority, by requiring parents' signatures to join noncurricular student clubs starting next year...

Congressman criticizes conviction of six Catholics in Vietnam as ?sham court?

Posted on October 29, 2010
Catholic News Agency: "After being arrested in a clash with police in a church-state property dispute, six Catholic villagers in Vietnam were convicted in a quick trial on Wednesday. One U.S. congressman criticized the proceeding as a 'sham court,' noting the defendants? lack of a lawyer...

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Kings County, NY: New task force to protect ?gay and lesbian community?

Posted on October 29, 2010
EmpireStateNews.net: "Kings County District Attorney Charles J. Hynes today announced the creation of a Hate Crimes Task Force in his office to counter the violence perpetrated against members of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community...

Pledge of Allegiance an issue again

Posted on October 29, 2010
UPI: "At a debate Tuesday in western Pennsylvania, U.S. Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa., asked a moderator from the League of Woman Voters to lead the audience in the pledge, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported. When she seemed reluctant, members of the audience got up and recited the words...

Pentagon poll: ?Most troops wouldn?t oppose serving with gays?

Posted on October 29, 2010
Washington Post: "A majority of active-duty and reserve service members surveyed by the Defense Department would not object to serving and living alongside openly gay troops, according to multiple people familiar with the findings."

White House praises Sotomayor after Tribe?s slap leaks

Posted on October 29, 2010
Politico: "The White House is coming to the defense of Justice Sonia Sotomayor, after the leak Thursday of a year-and-a-half-old letter from Harvard Law Professor Larry Tribe questioning her intellect and discouraging her appointment to the Supreme Court...

Battle for baby?s life won by ADF-allied attorneys

Posted on October 29, 2010
"The parents of a 16-year-old girl represented by Alliance Defense Fund allied attorneys signed a court order Wednesday agreeing to not force their daughter to have an abortion against her will."

Can states keep kids from violent video games?

Posted on October 29, 2010
Joan Biskupic writing at USA Today: "On Tuesday, Supreme Court justices will hear arguments in the case, which could have sweeping consequences for consumers and entertainment media. California officials and their defenders say the ban is important to protect children...

?Anti-bias? language given final OK by NC State Bar

Posted on October 29, 2010
WBTV (AP): "The North Carolina State Bar Council voted 35-20 Friday in favor of changes to the preamble of their rules of professional conduct." More information here.

D.C. mulls anti-bullying law

Posted on October 29, 2010
Washington Times: "Missouri lawmakers recently adopted a gender-neutral anti-bullying law, while the D.C. Council is considering legislation that adopts recommendations proposed by a gay rights group . . . The D.C. bill titled the "Harassment and Intimidation and Prevention Act of 2010" would hold school, library and recreation officials responsible for developing anti-bullying policies...

Arizona abortion rules expected to take effect Monday

Posted on October 29, 2010
Arizona Republic: "Judge Donald Daughton ruled late Wednesday that Planned Parenthood could not amend a separate lawsuit in an effort to block provisions of a 10-year-old Arizona law from taking effect. The law requires a licensed physician to participate in various aspects of the procedure, including a physical examination of the woman before surgery...

Abortion rate continues to drop in Washington

Posted on October 29, 2010
Seattle Post-Intelligencer (AP): "The department reported Thursday that the rate of reported abortions for women of childbearing age (15 to 44) was about 17 for every 1,000 women last year, compared with 18 in 2008. The pregnancy rate for the group dropped to 83, from 85 in 2008...

Washington Senate Poll: Dino Rossi leads Murray

Posted on October 29, 2010
LifeNews: "With than a week until Election Day, a new Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of likely voters shows Rossi picking up 48% of the vote, while Murray draws support from 47%. Three percent (3%) prefer some other candidate, and two percent (2%) are still undecided...

Muslim man told Skype divorce joke stands

Posted on October 29, 2010
Telegraph: "The ruling, made in an online fatwa by the Darul Uloom Deobandi seminary in northern India, regarded as one of Islam's leading authorities on religious law said that the woman would have to first marry another man before she could remarry her first husband...

To choose or not to choose: That?s the U.S. Supreme Court?s question Wednesday

Posted on October 29, 2010
ADF News Release: "Alliance Defense Fund Senior Counsel David Cortman will be available for media interviews following oral argument Wednesday at the U.S. Supreme Court in Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn. ADF contends that the suit, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, should be dismissed because the ACLU hasn?t proven that its clients have any legal standing to sue over someone else?s private donations...

NRLC offers updated affidavit on abortion subsidies in Obama health law

Posted on October 29, 2010
NRLC: "[O]n October 5, Congressman Steve Driehaus (D-Oh.) filed a complaint with the Ohio Elections Commission against the Susan B. Anthony List, claiming that organization was disseminating a knowing falsehood, in violation of an Ohio law, by asserting that Driehaus had voted for 'taxpayer-funded abortion' when he voted to pass the Obama health care bill...

Proposal for national panels to oversee Islamic financial instruments draws criticism

Posted on October 29, 2010
Bloomberg: "The plan to create national Shariah boards to oversee sukuk sales is drawing criticism from bankers and lawyers who say the groups would increase bureaucracy in the $1 trillion Islamic finance industry. The Accounting & Auditing Organization for Islamic Financial Institutions, a leading global regulator, is in the final stages of a plan recommending governments appoint panels of scholars and experts at the national level to rule whether products comply with the religion?s tenets...

Philippines: Tourist guide Celdran pleads not guilty to ?offending religious feelings?

Posted on October 29, 2010
Philippine Daily Inquirer: "In pleading not guilty before Manila MTC branch 4 Judge Alfonso Ruiz, Celdran told the Philippine Daily Inquirer that he was 'standing by the fact that he did not say anything offensive' when he hoisted a placard reading 'Damaso' disrupting a September 30 ecumenical service at the Manila Cathedral...

Texas court upholds biblically-based mediation agreement

Posted on October 29, 2010
Religion Clause: "In Woodlands Christian Academy v. Weibust, (TX App., Oct. 7, 2010), a Texas appellate court upheld an arbitration clause in an employment agreement requiring disputes to initially be submitted for settlement by Biblically-based mediation...

Denver judge rejects suit against Day of Prayer

Posted on October 29, 2010
"A Denver Judge says Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter did nothing unconstitutional when he issued proclamations recognizing the National Day of Prayer."

The Soros empire

Posted on October 29, 2010
"George Soros is back . . . he champions the culture of death. Abortion, atheism, pornography, gay marriage, euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide - these are the issues central to Mr. Soros' progressive agenda."

Judge?s unusual order revives law firm diversity issue

Posted on October 29, 2010
Law.com: "A stir recently erupted in the securities class action bar after Baer issued an order in a case against Gildan Activewear Inc., directing two of the largest firms in the field, Labaton Sucharow and Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd, to 'make every effort' to put at least one woman and one minority lawyer on the case ...

University of Virginia eliminates all speech codes, earning FIRE?s ?green light? rating

Posted on October 29, 2010
FIRE: "This week, the University of Virginia (UVa) confirmed that it had eliminated the last of its policies that unconstitutionally restricted the free speech of students and faculty members. While more than two-thirds of the nation's colleges maintain policies that clearly and substantially restrict freedom of speech, UVa is now a proud exception, having fully reformed four speech codes...

Gallup: Religious Americans enjoy higher wellbeing

Posted on October 29, 2010
Gallup: "A new analysis of more than 550,000 Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index interviews conducted over the last year and a half finds that Americans who are the most religious also have the highest levels of wellbeing. The statistically significant relationship between religiousness and wellbeing holds up after controlling for numerous demographic variables...

Olympic College to revise free speech policy

Posted on October 29, 2010
Bremerton Patriot: "Olympic College is revising a policy adopted in the summer that restricts where demonstrators may assemble in response to criticism that the regulations inhibit free speech. An anti-abortion group, the Anti-Choice Project, joined with the Alliance Defense Fund to challenge the restrictions...

Australia: Senators lend support to euthanasia debate

Posted on October 29, 2010
ABC: "Both Northern Territory senators say they will support a Greens bill to restore self-determination for Australian territories. Greens Leader Bob Brown wants to wind back federal legislation that overturned the Northern Territory's euthanasia laws in 1997...

Imam unmoved by Saudi criticism of NYC mosque

Posted on October 29, 2010
The Oklahoman (AP): "The imam co-leading a drive to build an Islamic community center near the World Trade Center has politely brushed aside a suggestion by one of his past benefactors that the project be moved to a different spot."

Court refuses to stop MN corporate political spending disclosure law

Posted on October 29, 2010
Washington Post (AP): "The high court without comment turned away a request for an injunction from Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life."

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