Religion & Law

Iowa: Former justice, attorney warn against politicizing judge retention

Posted on September 30, 2010
Iowa City Press-Citizen: "Linda Neuman, an Iowa Supreme Court Justice from 1986-2003, and law professor John Whiston spoke for an hour on the subject Thursday at League of Women Voters forum that was organized with help from Iowans for Fair and Impartial Courts...

Republican Lawyer of the Year honoring Charles J. Cooper

Posted on September 30, 2010
Republican National Lawyers Association: "The Republican Lawyer of the Year recognizes lawyers for outstanding professional accomplishments and years of dedicated service to the Republican Party and its ideals. Charles J. Cooper?s impressive legal career includes clerking to Justice William H...

Immigration Equality Action Fund hails introduction of LGBT-inclusive immigration reform bill

Posted on September 30, 2010
Immigration Equality Action Fund: "The Immigration Equality Action Fund today hailed the introduction of a comprehensive immigration reform bill in the Senate, by Senator Robert Menendez (D-NJ), which includes the Uniting American Families Act (UAFA), a measure to end discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender immigrant families...

Senate confirms local D.C. judge

Posted on September 30, 2010
The Blog of LegalTimes: "The U.S. Senate late Wednesday confirmed Maria Elizabeth 'Maribeth' Raffinan to be a judge on the District of Columbia Superior Court, two months after she was nominated."

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Court dismisses suit challenging display of pledge & national motto

Posted on September 30, 2010
ACLJ / Jay Sekulow's Trial Notebook: "A federal district court dismissed a lawsuit brought by the Freedom From Religion Foundation challenging the engravings of the national motto and Pledge of Allegiance at the Capitol Visitor Center in Washington, D...

NC: Charters sue Durham schools, saying they?re owed $1.2 million

Posted on September 30, 2010
News Observer: "Five charter schools are suing Durham Public Schools for more than $1.2 million they say the district owes them from the past five years . . . The charters claim DPS is using different formulas to determine how much money they receive and how much the district spends, per student...

Michigan Senate passes abortion ultrasound measure

Posted on September 30, 2010
Michigan Radio: "A proposed state law would require doctors to use the most advanced ultrasound equipment available at their office to a woman considering an abortion with images of her fetus . . . Supporters of a bill passed in the Senate Wednesday say women should get the most distinct fetal image possible...

Armenia: ?Lord?s Prayer? is not allowed in Holy Cross Church of Akhtamar

Posted on September 30, 2010
Armenia News: "'September 26-28, I accompanied a small group of Diaspora Armenians to Ani, Bayazet, Van, Bitlis, Mush and Kars. On September 26, Sunday, just a week after the September 19 Mass, Armenians were not allowed to say the ?Lords Prayer? inside the Akhtamar Church of the Holy Cross...

Singapore keeps website ban

Posted on September 29, 2010
Sify News: "Singapore said Wednesday it will continue a ban on 100 websites, rejecting a recommendation from a government-appointed panel to scrap Internet restrictions. The government will block the websites ? which contain pornographic content, incite racial and religious intolerance, or promote terrorism and extremism ? as a symbolic gesture to reflect Singapore's values, the Information Ministry said...

VA: Loopholes could allow strip club in Pittsylvania County

Posted on September 29, 2010
WSLS: "A person could go to the Virginia ABC board to establish a strip club in Pittsylvania County, but the board could cite them for violating a community standard and a judge would decide whether it breaks the law, said Pittsylvania County Administrator Dan Sleeper...

NJ: Despite lawsuit, prayer said at Point Pleasant Beach meeting

Posted on September 29, 2010
Asbury Park Press: "The Lord's Prayer was said at the start of the Borough Council meeting Tuesday night with seemingly more passion and enthusiasm than the blessing had been recited in years . . . Almost two weeks ago, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey filed a lawsuit...

Group charges new religious freedom problems at Air Force Academy

Posted on September 29, 2010
Religion Clause: "The Military Religious Freedom Foundation announced yesterday that it has sent a letter (full text), co-signed by the heads of nine other groups, to the Secretary of Defense making three demands for changes to deal with the allegedly worsening situation involving Christian proselytizing at the Air Force Academy...

Judge refuses to recuse himself over charge of religious bias

Posted on September 29, 2010
Religion Clause: "[In] Palmer v. City of Prescott, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 101136 (D AZ, Sept. 7, 2010) . . . Plaintiff [an evangelical Christian who proselytizes Mormons] moved to disqualify federal district court Judge David Campbell from hearing the case because Campbell is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints ...

Fearing holy site unrest, India bans bulk texting

Posted on September 29, 2010
Associated Press: "India has imposed a nationwide ban on sending bulk text messages amid concerns that a potentially explosive court judgment on who should control a disputed holy site could spark unrest, a top official said Wednesday."

The rise of Europe?s right-wing populists

Posted on September 29, 2010
Spiegel Online: "All across Europe, right-wing populist parties are enjoying significant popular support. Led by charismatic politicians like Geert Wilders, they are exploiting fear of Muslim immigration and frustration with the political establishment -- and are forcing mainstream parties to shift to the right...

Christie proposes changes in how teachers are paid, promoted

Posted on September 29, 2010
EducationNews.org: "In a town meeting in Mercer County, Christie outlined a plan to jettison seniority, advanced academic degrees, and tenure as automatic steps toward higher pay . . . the New Jersey School Boards Association embraced Christie's ideas - particularly tenure reform - calling them 'long overdue' and consistent with the negotiating trends in local districts...

Danish book about Muhammad cartoon controversy to go ahead despite threats

Posted on September 29, 2010
New York Post: "A book about the publication of cartoons in Denmark that angered Muslims by showing images of the Prophet Muhammad will be released despite recent terror threats, the publisher said Wednesday. 'The book will come out as planned,' said Karsten Blauert, of Jyllands-Posten Editions...

Pro-family organization no longer barred from Mont. employee giving program

Posted on September 29, 2010
The Montana Family Foundation will no longer be singled out for exclusion from a state employee giving program in the wake of a lawsuit filed by the Alliance Defense Fund. Because the state agreed to include the organization in the program and permanently change the problematic policy that led to the lawsuit, ADF attorneys voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit Wednesday.

Americans divided over whether U.S.-China interests outweigh differences

Posted on September 29, 2010
Rasmussen Reports: "Speaking at a dinner of American and Chinese businessmen in New York last week, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said the China-U.S. relationship 'enjoys a bright future because common interests between our two countries far outweigh our differences...

Scholars debate funeral-protest Supreme Court case at Kansas University event

Posted on September 29, 2010
Lawrence Journal-World: "The First Amendment and free speech will be at the center of an argument next week before the U.S. Supreme Court in a case involving a Kansas church?s protests outside a soldier?s funeral in Maryland. Two constitutional scholars Monday night disagreed on how the nation?s highest court should rule during a Constitution Day forum at Kansas University?s Dole Institute of Politics...

CEOs less willing to hire, sales a worry

Posted on September 29, 2010
Yahoo Finance (Reuters): "U.S. chief executive officers' view of the economy darkened in the third quarter, with top executives saying they were less willing to hire new workers as they fear sales growth will slow."

Gates, Buffett host banquet for China?s super rich

Posted on September 29, 2010
Breitbart: "Bill Gates and Warren Buffett hosted a banquet Wednesday for China's super rich that sparked debate about Chinese philanthropy, amid reports that wealthy invitees had been reluctant to attend."

Obama fires up supporters at University of Wisconsin-Madison rally

Posted on September 29, 2010
Wisconsin State Journal: "President Barack Obama served as the closing act Tuesday for a rock-n-roll, fire-up-the-troops extravaganza on the UW-Madison campus ? a giant rally meant to recapture the excitement of the campaign trail and bridge the so-called "enthusiasm gap" among younger, Democratic voters...

Alan Sears: Pulpit Freedom Sunday marks pastors? stand against IRS intrusion

Posted on September 29, 2010
ADF President and CEO Alan Sears writing at Inside the Issues: "This tacit agreement on the part of Christians to stay out of the political sphere ignores both the priority of protecting our religious freedom and the noble, centuries-old tradition of American pastors bringing moral context to the most volatile, far-reaching political questions of their day...

AU asks IRS to investigate church?s political endorsement on Pulpit Sunday

Posted on September 29, 2010
Religion Clause: "Reaction is now beginning to activities of churches which last Sunday participated in Alliance Defense Fund's Pulpit Sunday challenging tax code restrictions on non-profits, including churches."

Jordan Lorence: Bush, Rove weren?t behind the state marriage amendments in 2006

Posted on September 29, 2010
ADF Attorney Jordan Lorence writing at the Washington Examiner: "I happen to have worked as legal counsel to many of those [state marriage] amendments? primary supporters, who weren?t Karl Rove or George Bush . . . The American people initiated these marriage amendments as a massive grassroots response to two events in ...

Pulpit fiction

Posted on September 29, 2010
David Waters writing at The Washington Post / On Faith: "ADF's widely (and often breathlessly) reported campaign to 'bait the IRS with pulpit politics' seems to have been more of a bait and switch . . . It's possible that some of the promised 'nearly 100' dissenting pastors did endorse someone from the pulpit Sunday, but I have scoured the Web and can't find any reports of such ...

OR: City of Stayton civil-rights lawsuit is settled

Posted on September 29, 2010
Statesman Journal: "A settlement has been reached in the case of Frederick Pearson v. the city of Stayton regarding a civil-rights violation. Pearson of Oregon filed the lawsuit . . . for violating his right to display anti-abortion signs featuring images of aborted fetuses...

Pro-Prop. 8 briefs show ?wide-ranging concerns? about federal case, supporter says

Posted on September 29, 2010
Catholic News Agency: "While the case would directly affect the 61 million Americans under the jurisdiction of the Ninth Circuit, ADF senior council [Brian Raum] said what is at stake is 'bigger than California and bigger even than marriage.' 'These briefs demonstrate the wide-ranging concerns about marriage, voter rights, judicial activism, religious liberty, and other issues and how they will be affected nationwide if this lawsuit is allowed to prevail,' he commented...

European Court of Human Rights: German Catholic church can?t terminate employment of adulterous musician

Posted on September 29, 2010
"The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has dealt the Roman Catholic Church in Germany a blow over its employment practices by saying that the church cannot dismiss an employee because of an inappropriate personal relationship."

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