Religion & Law

Kagan to oversee emergency appeals for 6th and 7th Circuits

Posted on October 07, 2010
Law.com: "The court on Sept. 28 announced Kagan would be assigned as the circuit justice for the 6th and 7th U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals -- the same circuits her predecessor John Paul Stevens handled before retiring in June."

Nigeria: Muslim sect members kill political leader

Posted on October 07, 2010
Associated Press: "Members of a radical Muslim sect shot and killed a political leader in northern Nigeria, the latest attack by a group that engineered a massive prison break last month, a police commissioner said Thursday."

McDonald?s, 29 other firms get health care coverage waivers

Posted on October 07, 2010
USA Today: "Thirty companies and organizations, including McDonald's (MCD) and Jack in the Box (JACK), won't be required to raise the minimum annual benefit included in low-cost health plans, which are often used to cover part-time or low-wage employees...

Ex-Gay Christian ministry pulls support for annual ?Day of Truth?

Posted on October 07, 2010
The Christian Post: "After four years of supporting the 'Day of Truth' initiative and one year spearheading the effort, Exodus International announced Wednesday that it was 'returning the event' to the group that launched it ? the Ariz.-based Alliance Defense Fund...

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GOP rep. wants to defend DOMA in Mass. cases

Posted on October 07, 2010
Keen News Service: "The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) announced Tuesday that it had filed motions on behalf of Smith in the U.S. District Court for Boston, where Judge Joseph Tauro had ruled?in two cases?that one part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional...

Students for Life of America to host national conference before March for Life

Posted on October 07, 2010
LifeNews: "Students for Life of America's national conference has been sold out for the past two years and has grown so large that the 2011 event will be held at a larger facility . . . With the help of the conference?s co-sponsor, the Alliance Defense Fund, the pro-life conference will now be able to accommodate a larger crowd ...

David Cortman: Should the ACLU have a right to make a federal case out of your decision to tithe to your church?

Posted on October 07, 2010
ADF Attorney David Cortman writing at Speak Up Movement / Church: "There are several issues involved in the Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v Winn case that is before the U.S. Supreme Court. One of them that is being argued by ADF is whether the ACLU?s taxpaying plaintiffs have any right to even challenge the program...

Legal coalition fights for traditional marriage

Posted on October 07, 2010
OneNewsNow: "Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) attorney [Jim Campbell] tells OneNewsNow 25 briefs were filed. 'This is a very broad coalition, a very diverse show of support for the people of California and for people all throughout this country who continue to believe that marriage is a union of one man and one woman,' Campbell suggests...

Swedish judge blasts homeschool family?s reunion hopes

Posted on October 07, 2010
WorldNetDaily: "Roger Kiska, counsel in Europe for the ADF, said it appears simply to be an issue of state control over a family. 'The opinions in the Johansson case reflect an underlying attempt by the Swedish state to conform Dominic to the bureaucrats' image of a child, rather than respecting the right of the family and the parents, and even the right of the child to be with his family,' he said in the HSLDA report...

NH: ?Sign for Jesus? plan revived

Posted on October 07, 2010
Concord Monitor: "The Chichester zoning board last night granted the Barnstead man a rehearing on an application for a zoning variance to put an electronic sign along Route 4 that quotes daily Bible passages . . . Michael Tierney, a Manchester attorney representing Cusson and a member of the Alliance Defense Fund ...

?What does Ken Mehlman have to say about his former boss, anti-gay Texas Rep. Lamar Smith??

Posted on October 07, 2010
Dallas Voice: "The Alliance Defense Fund announced Tuesday it had filed motions on behalf of Smith asking to intervene in two cases in which a U.S. district judge in Massachusetts declared DOMA unconstitutional. The ADF argues on behalf of Smith that the Obama administration isn?t doing enough to defend the 1996 law, which some gay-rights activists don?t think the administration should be defending at all...

Exodus International shuts down ?Day of Truth?

Posted on October 07, 2010
Ex-Gay Watch: "Alan Chambers, president of Exodus International, has announced that they will no longer sponsor the annual Day of Truth (DOT) . . . The first DOT was organized by the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) in 2005."

?Sorry, bakery doesn?t have to make pro-gay cupcakes?

Posted on October 07, 2010
David E. Smith, Illinois Family Institute Executive Director, writing at Opposing Views: "This troubling incident epitomizes the problems with 'social justice' as conceived by contemporary universities. Social justice proponents seek to eradicate diversity when it comes to moral beliefs about volitional behavior with which they disagree ...

Jeff Ventrella: Legal Ledgermane, Part 1: Airbrushing History . . .

Posted on October 07, 2010
ADF Attorney Jeffery Ventrella writing at Inside the Issues: "How can we expect the next generation of lawyers to really know about constitutional law unless they understand the context undergirding that precious document? . . . There is a solution: while ideas have consequences, people change cultures?more precisely, changed people change cultures...

Hatch, Kyl respond to Baucus non-profit letter to IRS

Posted on October 07, 2010
The Hill: "In response to Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) requesting the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) investigate certain non-profit organizations, Republican Sens. Orrin Hatch (Utah) and Jon Kyl (Ariz.) have asked IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman to ensure that the examinations will be free from political interference...

Christian Coalition announces release of 2010 election voter guides

Posted on October 07, 2010
ChristianNewsWire: "Christian Coalition President Roberta Combs announced the release of the Coalition's voter guides for the 2010 general election."

Fire alarm in San Diego: ADF-allied attorney argues for firefighters on appeal

Posted on October 07, 2010
"Alliance Defense Fund allied attorney Charles S. LiMandri and ADF Senior Counsel Joseph Infranco will be available for media interviews following oral argument in a hearing in the city of San Diego?s appeal of a favorable jury verdict issued in February 2009...

OH: Bond set for man accused of forcing woman to go to abortion clinic

Posted on October 07, 2010
The Columbus Dispatch: "A Franklin County judge set bond at $500,000 today for a Near East Side man who police say forced his pregnant girlfriend to go to an abortion clinic yesterday morning."

Long Beach Council supports overturning Prop. 8

Posted on October 07, 2010
Gazettes.com: "Long Beach?s City Council, prompted by the city?s Human Relations Commission, came out again Tuesday night in opposition of Proposition 8 and urged in a resolution that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown not expend any resources opposing the ruling overturning that proposition...

Israel: Family court denies same-sex couple?s common law ?marriage?

Posted on October 07, 2010
Israel Today Magazine: "[A] family court judge in Beersheva ruled that the common law partner of a deceased local academic figure was not entitled to his inheritance . . . The legal battle was joined by the deceased man?s sister, to whom all of his possessions were left in his will...

PA: Monroe County school district revokes school?s charter

Posted on October 07, 2010
The Times-Tribune: "A Monroe County school district has decided to revoke the charter from the Pocono Mountain Charter School, which district officials say is part of a church."

NJ Jewish newspaper says it overreacted in rescinding first same-sex ?wedding? announcement

Posted on October 07, 2010
The Star-Ledger: "After enduring 'a firestorm' of criticism from all factions of Judaism, New Jersey?s oldest Jewish newspaper announced today it overreacted in printing and then rescinding its first published same-sex wedding announcement."

Egypt Christians say intolerance grows, close ranks

Posted on October 07, 2010
Reuters: "Minarets and church towers mingle on Cairo's skyline, but tensions mar Egypt's record of religious coexistence and a perception of growing intolerance is leading some Christians to shun their Muslim compatriots."

South African charter spells out specific religious freedoms

Posted on October 07, 2010
Deseret News: "Several years ago, a small group of academics and religious leaders began drafting an outline for what they thought freedom of religion should look like in South Africa . . . After several revisions, the document is now ready for public endorsement, which will happen at a ceremony on Oct...

Northern Ireland Bishops protest over abortion conference

Posted on October 07, 2010
Independent Catholic News: "The Catholic Bishops of Northern Ireland have issued a statement protesting about the 'First All-Ireland Conference on Abortion and Clinical Practice' organised jointly by the Family Planning Association in Britain and Ireland being held today and tomorrow in the Slieve Donard Hotel in Newcastle, Northern Ireland...

Becket Fund argues religious freedom in Prop 8 filing

Posted on October 07, 2010
Bruce Hausknecht writing at CitizenLink: "I want to highlight an interesting friend-of-the-court brief [in Perry v. Schwarzenegger] filed by the Becket Fund, a non-profit law firm that specializes in the protection of religious rights . . . Well, says the Becket Fund, there is at least one rational basis for Prop 8 that no one has focused on (including Judge Walker): there is a popular as well as scholarly consensus (based on actual experience in several states) that same-sex marriage negatively affects religious liberties...

Angle: Muslim law taking hold in parts of US

Posted on October 07, 2010
Associated Press: "U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle told a crowd of supporters that the country needs to address a 'militant terrorist situation' that has allowed Islamic religious law to take hold in some American cities."

Gov. Quinn predicts civil unions in Illinois before year?s end

Posted on October 07, 2010
Fox 2 Now: "The Governor of Illinois says he believes civil unions for gay couples will be reality in the Land of Lincoln before the year is out. Governor Pat Quinn's office confirms the statement, published in Suburban Chicago's Daily Herald on Wednesday...

Colorado poll shows Personhood Amendment 62 likely losing by large margin

Posted on October 07, 2010
LifeNews: "A new poll of Colorado voters shows the personhood amendment, Amendment 62, likely losing by another large margin in November. The amendment defines unborn children as persons starting at conception and would draw an almost immediate legal challenge from pro-abortion groups...

What happens to the babies who survive ?Ella??

Posted on October 07, 2010
Jeanne Monahan writing at FRCblog: "Continuing our educational series on ella, the new FDA-approved 'emergency contraceptive' that can also cause an abortion, today Dr. Donna Harrison, OB-GYN and president of the American Association of Pro-life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) continues with a short explanation of ella?s potential impact on the small number (approximately 2%) of babies that will survive despite their mother taking ella...

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