Religion & Law

Muslim religious demands on French state schools rising

Posted on October 25, 2010
Reuters: "Among its findings, the report says Muslim pupils and parents in France are increasingly making religious demands on the state school system and that teachers should rebuff these demands by explaining the country?s principle of laïcité, the official separation of church and state...

Mass. bishops urge Catholics to vote

Posted on October 25, 2010
Boston Herald: "Massachusetts? four Roman Catholic bishops are urging Catholics to vote in next week?s elections in a way that will 'enhance human dignity' . . . It urged voters to weigh abortion, same-sex marriage, religious freedom, and the well-being of the poor in their decisions...

Film review: The myth of charter schools

Posted on October 22, 2010
Diane Ravitch writing at The New York Review of Books: "Davis Guggenheim?s Waiting for 'Superman' . . . arrived in late September with the biggest publicity splash I have ever seen for a documentary . . . The message of these films has become alarmingly familiar: American public education is a failed enterprise...

Linda Greenhouse: Calling John Roberts

Posted on October 22, 2010
Linda Greenhouse writing in The New York Times: "I am eager to see whether Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. will take a page from his mentor and criticize his fellow Republicans ? who are functionally even if not formally in charge of the United States Senate ? for their role in creating the current judicial vacancy crisis...

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Philosophers debate abortion at Princeton conference as baby in audience cries

Posted on October 22, 2010
Terrence McKeegan, J.D. writing at LifeNews: "'An infant has no moral status because he is not self-aware,' said Peter Singer, a professor of bioethics. Singer argued this point at an historic [conference] he co-organized at Princeton University last weekend, seeking new dialogue on the heated issue of abortion ...

Australia: Push for same-sex ?marriage? conscience vote

Posted on October 22, 2010
The Age: "Prime Minister Julia Gillard is facing a new push for a conscience vote on same-sex marriage, with community groups spurred on by a poll that shows 78 per cent support for the move."

OR: Student-teacher ousted over same-sex ?marriage? discussion with 4th grader is back in the classroom

Posted on October 22, 2010
The Oregonian: "The Beaverton School District and Lewis & Clark Graduate School of Education leaders announced this afternoon that they jointly agreed to return Stambaugh to his original student teaching placement in Beaverton starting late next week, according to a press release from both schools ...

Developmental psychologist on NPR: ?There is certainly no gay suicide epidemic?

Posted on October 22, 2010
NPR: "NPR's Robert Siegel talks to Ritch Savin Williams, a professor of developmental psychology at Cornell University . . . Prof. WILLIAMS: 'So from a scientific perspective, there is certainly no gay suicide epidemic. But the more problematic aspect for me is that I worry a great deal about the image that we are giving gay-identified youth...

Video: ?Barack Obama video supports gay teenagers?

Posted on October 22, 2010
Guardian: "Barack Obama has released a video to draw attention to the pressures facing gay teenagers, lending his weight to a campaign that has attracted more than 2,000 video contributions and 10m views on YouTube."

?Gay? US diplomat presses LGBT issues at int?l conference

Posted on October 22, 2010
Washington Blade: "Michael Guest, former U.S. ambassador to Romania, headed a delegation of about 25 U.S. diplomats during the human rights portion of an annual review conference for the Organization for Security & Cooperation in Europe. The review conference took place between Sept...

St. Petersburg, Russia: Petrogradsky district court rules ?gay pride? parade ban illegal

Posted on October 22, 2010
The St. Petersburg Times: "A third St. Petersburg court ruled Tuesday that City Hall?s ban of a gay pride event last summer was illegal, two days before the European Court of Human Rights ordered Russia to pay damages to a gay rights activist."

Woman seeks ?Christian roommate,? state cites her for discrimination

Posted on October 22, 2010
WorldNetDaily: "ADF spokesman [Joel Oster] confirmed the organization sent a letter to the state explaining that such housing rules don't apply to people living in their own homes and wanting to share their resources. '[Tricia] is a single lady looking for a roommate...

Daid French: Christianity, stigma, and suicide

Posted on October 22, 2010
ADF Attorney David French writing at Patheos: "According to some, the 'fundamentalist' or 'evangelical' (those terms are often used interchangeably) Christian community has created a 'cultural climate' that stigmatizes gay people. Allegedly, this stigma 'contribute[s] to the atmosphere' that makes suicide more likely ...

Supreme Court asked to review religious employment case

Posted on October 22, 2010
Becket Fund: "Today the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty asked the U.S. Supreme Court to review a decision that could require a Lutheran elementary school to re-hire a teacher it dismissed for religious reasons. At issue in the case is the scope of the 'ministerial exception'?a First Amendment doctrine that protects the right of religious organizations to select employees who perform religious functions...

Christian roommate seeker accused of discrimination

Posted on October 22, 2010
The Christian Post: "'Christians shouldn?t live in fear of being punished by the government for being Christians,' said ADF Senior Legal Counsel [Joel Oster] in a statement Thursday. 'It is completely absurd to try to penalize a single Christian woman for privately seeking a Christian roommate at church ? an obviously legal and constitutionally protected activity...

NY: Roman Catholic diocese sues Troy over taxing closed churches

Posted on October 22, 2010
The Times Union: "Local officials, seeing a green light in state law, want to tax churches after they've been closed for a year. 'A church can be deemed taxable by the assessor if the church is not being used for purposes of the religious organization,' according to state Tax Department spokesman Geoff Gloak...

House GOP could force vote on defunding NPR

Posted on October 22, 2010
The Hill: "House Republicans announced Friday they would take action that could force a vote on defunding NPR in the wake of the firing of news analyst Juan Williams."

GOP says compromise not on the agenda if they retake the House

Posted on October 22, 2010
The Hill: "'Look, the time to go along and get along is over,' said Rep. Mike Pence (Ind.), the chairman of the House Republican Conference. 'House Republicans know that. We?ve taken firm and principled stands against their big government plans throughout this Congress, and we?ve got, if the American people will send them, we?ve got a cavalry of men and women headed to Washington, D...

Prop. 8 hearing set Dec. 6

Posted on October 22, 2010
SCOTUSblog: "A hearing in the Ninth Circuit Court on the constitutionality of California?s Proposition 8 ? a state constitutional amendment that banned same-sex marriage ? has been set for 10 a.m. (Pacific time) on Monday, Dec. 6, the Court announced Thursday...

Amar and Brownstein: Does it matter that the Constitution never uses the phrase ?the separation of church and state??

Posted on October 22, 2010
Vikram David Amar and Alan Brownstein writing at FindLaw: "Is it important that the Constitution never uses the phrase 'the separation of church and state' in its text? Not really, or more accurately, not nearly as much as some people think. The phrase 'the separation of church and state' is a metaphor...

Boehner offers plum committees to GOP challengers

Posted on October 22, 2010
FindLaw (AP): "Minority Leader John Boehner promised this week that if southwest Georgia residents unseat Democratic Rep. Sanford Bishop, he will support placing GOP challenger Mike Keown on the House Agriculture Committee."

NPR cans Juan Williams for addressing reality

Posted on October 22, 2010
Islamist Watch: "Based on the history of Islamists targeting passenger airliners ? decades of hijackings, Pan Am 103, the Bojinka plot, the 9/11 attacks, the shoe bomber, suicide bombings on Russian planes, the transatlantic airline plot, the underwear bomber, etc...

Explanation of arguments heard by the Justices last Tuesday in vaccination case

Posted on October 22, 2010
Lisa McElroy writing at SCOTUSblog: "Let?s start with Bruesewitz v. Wyeth, a case about whether vaccine manufacturers can be held liable for design defects in their vaccines. In 1986, Congress passed the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act (NCVIA), providing that vaccine manufacturers cannot be sued for injuries from vaccines if the injuries resulted from side effects that were 'unavoidable' ...

Heritage Foundation: When will our Progressive Corporatism nightmare end?

Posted on October 22, 2010
Conn Carroll writing at The Heritage Foundation / The Foundry: "$154 billion. That is the amount of taxpayer money that will be needed to bail out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac according to a new 'stress test' performed by the Federal Housing Finance Agency ...

Egypt?s emboldened press now feeling the backlash

Posted on October 22, 2010
Associated Press: "[The Egyptian press] grew confident that growing press freedoms were irreversible. Now the backlash has come, with a media crackdown in this top U.S. ally that included the ousting of a prominent, muckraking editor."

Dutch retrial ordered for Wilders hate speech case; judges dismissed

Posted on October 22, 2010
Associated Press: "A Dutch court ordered a retrial Friday for anti-Islam lawmaker Geert Wilders, sending the closely-watched hate speech case back to square one before a whole new panel of judges."

Germany?s multicultural failure

Posted on October 22, 2010
David P. Goldman writing at First Things / On The Square: "Today, [Merkel's] party offered a position paper stating that while Germany had benefited from immigrants, it had problems 'with a minority which will not integrate itself, doesn't learn our language and shields its children from participation and advancement in our society...

Should it be illegal to post ad seeking Christian roommate?

Posted on October 22, 2010
The Grand Rapids Press: "[ADF Attorney Joel Oster] said the law protects his client's rights and allows her to 'seek a roommate of similar faith.' 'That's insane to think that a person cannot request and seek out a Christian roommate,' Oster said. 'Each statute protects the right of a person to have a roommate of their own choosing...

IL: Atheist activist says Moment of Silence Act fight is far from over

Posted on October 22, 2010
Buffalo Grove Patch: "Buffalo Grove atheist activist Rob Sherman says 'the war continues' to keep prayer out of public schools . . . [David Cortman], Senior Legal Counsel of the Alliance Defense Fund, which filed a friend-of-the court brief in the case, said the opinion is on sound legal footing...

Roommate hunt turns into civil rights case

Posted on October 22, 2010
OneNewsNow: "'Unfortunately, the Michigan Department of Civil Rights processed this complaint and is going after my client, claiming she violated the law simply by posting an ad or seeking a roommate who is Christian,' [ADF Attorney Joel Oster] laments...

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