Religion & Law

Italian Society being ?Seriously Mutilated? by Negative Fertility Rates: Italian Cardinal

Posted on September 02, 2010
LifeSiteNews: The head of the Italian Catholic bishops? conference said this week that Italian society is being ?seriously mutilated? by its negative growth birth rate. Angelo Bagnasco, cardinal archbishop of Genoa, said at a Mass in Liguria this weekend that Italy, and Italian democracy, is facing a ?serious cultural catastrophe? from its low birth rate.

RI: Hospital Acquired by Boston Catholic Network to Offer Sterilization, Abortion Referral

Posted on September 02, 2010
LifeSiteNews: "Catholics in New England are raising questions after it was announced that Caritas Christi, a network of Catholic hospitals, would allow a newly-acquired secular hospital in Rhode Island to ignore core Catholic medical practices. The move appears to contradict previous statements by Boston?s cardinal that Caritas Christi would remain Catholic despite being sold by the diocese...

365gay.com: ?Oval office gets a gay make-over?

Posted on September 02, 2010
365Gay.com: "Obama appointed designer Michael Smith, who is gay, to the Committee for the Preservation of the White house in February."

Polygamists want immunity from prosecution to testify in Canadian case

Posted on September 02, 2010
"The largest polygamous group in North America only wants to participate in the trial to determine whether Canada's anti-polygamy law is constitutional if its members can provide testimony anonymously, under pseudonyms or behind a screen."

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Should ?Sex Week? worry college leaders?

Posted on September 02, 2010
Washington Post: "Teaching about polyamory but not about monogamy or abstinence? . . . Brooks notes that denizens of the sex industry have been involved in some of the events . . . "

Jennifer Roback Morse: Red Families v. Blue Families

Posted on September 02, 2010
Mercator.net: "This widely-discussed book seems to be about the differences between red states and blue states, between socially conservative and socially liberal America. In fact, it is about the differences between college educated women and everyone else...

Sex and the Dodd-Frank Act

Posted on September 02, 2010
Mirror of Justice: A commentary by Margaret Brooks in today's Chronicle of Higher Education, "Sex Week" Should Arouse Caution Most of All, points out the most powerful cultural force promulgating the permissive sexual norms that concern Rob and Bob -- the sex industry...

Court decision spurs Iowans to action

Posted on September 02, 2010
One News Now: An organization in Iowa is hard at work to get new faces on that state's highest court. An effort is under way to seat some new justices on the Iowa State Supreme Court, some 18 months after the court ruled in favor of same-sex "marriage...

Karzai?s brother calls for U.S. to shore up Kabul Bank as withdrawals accelerate

Posted on September 02, 2010
Washington Post: "As depositors thronged branches of Afghanistan's biggest bank, Mahmoud Karzai, the brother of the Afghan president and a major shareholder in beleaguered Kabul Bank called on Thursday for intervention by the United States to head off a financial meltdown...

William C. Duncan: The More the Merrier

Posted on September 02, 2010
"Canada, which redefined marriage nationwide to include same-sex couples in 2005, against the backdrop of successful provincial lawsuits against the country's marriage law, could be moving on to bigger things -- literally. Specifically, polygamy and polyamory, as this case invokes the question of whether the government can continue to criminalize multiple-partner marriages ...

Overhauled DOJ website pays homage to international socialist?

Posted on September 02, 2010
And prominently placed on virtually every page of the site is a quote credited to a man who facilitated a greater role for socialists and communists at the U.N., and the global "workers rights movement."

Paris mosque slams burger chain?s Muslim outreach

Posted on September 02, 2010
AP: "Note to big companies hoping to tap into France's lucrative but long-neglected Muslim consumer market: Pitfalls may await, and not only in the form of complaints from the far-right."

Church and State and Student Activities

Posted on September 02, 2010
Inside Higher Ed: A news release Monday from the Alliance Defense Fund, which backs the rights of religious students nationally and in this case, said that the court had found that the university "cannot deny funding to Catholic student group." . . ...

AZ Sheriff Joe Arpaio sued by Justice Department in civil-rights probe

Posted on September 02, 2010
AZ Republic: "Last week, an attorney for the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office said he wanted to cooperate with federal investigators, but would not automatically grant access to materials it considers beyond the scope of civil-rights laws . . . Arpaio believes the inquiry is focused on his immigration sweeps, patrols where deputies flood an area of a city ? in some cases heavily Latino areas ? to seek out traffic violators and arrest other offenders...

Appeal likely in Texas same sex ?divorce? case

Posted on September 02, 2010
Texas Lawyer (Law.com): "James 'Jody' Scheske, a partner in the Austin office of Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld who represents J.B., says he is disappointed with the decision and his client will likely appeal."

Conservative Group Throws Hail Mary Pass on Prop 8

Posted on September 02, 2010
Ginny LaRoe writes at the Recorder: "A new legal effort to force California's governor and attorney general to defend Proposition 8 in court may have some political potency, but is unlikely to win in court, legal observers say."

Rasmussen: 62% Want to Elect Judges Instead of Having Them Appointed

Posted on September 02, 2010
"Rasmussen, which discovered that 62 percent of the voters favor electing judges during a national telephone survey of 1,000 likely voters on Aug. 26 and 27, explained the finding by tying it to the fact that 53 percent believe judges have their own political agendas...

Marine Commandant Repeats ?Gay? Bunking Concerns

Posted on September 02, 2010
Military.com: "In what was likely his last appearance in the Pentagon briefing room, soon-to-be retiring Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Conway once more waded into the 'don?t ask, don?t tell' waters with his straight-shooter candor by suggesting that 'very religious' Marines with 'moral concerns' about homosexuality might not be forced to live with their gay battle buddies...

Rasmussen: 57% in Colorado Say Most Members of Congress Don?t Care What Voters Think

Posted on September 02, 2010
Rasmussen: "A majority of voters in Colorado believe most members of Congress neglect the views of their constituents, and even more voters are furious with the current policies of the federal government . . . . These findings are roughly in line with those found nationally ...

Murkowski: Country would be far different if I only voted for things explicitly authorized by the Constitution

Posted on September 02, 2010
John Fund writes at the Wall Street Journal: "In their only debate last week, Mr. Miller pounded home his view that Senator Murkowski had voted for bills that lacked any Constitutional justification. She lamely responded that it would be a far different country if she only voted for things explicitly authorized by the Constitution...

AP highlights how Alaska Senate vote challenges system that rewards incumbency

Posted on September 02, 2010
The AP carries this report: Senate upset erases Alaska seniority.

FL: Lakeland Commission to vote on funds for atheists? lawsuit

Posted on September 02, 2010
The Ledger: "In the coming weeks, Lakeland city commissioners will vote on whether to accept money from outside groups to help pay for a lawsuit between the Atheists of Florida and the Commission. Conservative legal groups, including Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit litigation and policy organization affiliated with the Rev...

Louisiana College picks Shreveport for site of law school

Posted on September 02, 2010
Thetowntalk.com: "LC officials announced Wednesday that the Judge Paul Pressler School of Law will locate in the 10-plus-story United Mercantile Building in downtown Shreveport, which was counted as a $3.1 million in-kind donation by LC officials. It is located at 509 Market St...

Is Islam Indoctrination in American Schools?

Posted on September 02, 2010
Texas Insider: "In recent months the American public has been made increasingly aware of a secretive foreign network of Islamic radicals that operates dozens of charter schools on U.S. soil. These schools are linked to an extreme Islamist, Fethullah Gülen, who was charged with trying to create an Islamic state when he tried to overthrow his own Turkish government and enforce Sharia Law...

Why are Alabama schools going broke?

Posted on September 02, 2010
EducationNews: "Alabama made national headlines this week when 25 more schools reported they will likely have to extend lines of credit to remain open, in addition to the five schools that borrowed from banks last year."

South Sudan lawmakers may vote to secede, Shariah law a key issue

Posted on September 02, 2010
AP: "Southern Sudan's parliament may vote to secede from the Khartoum-based north if an independence reference scheduled for January is delayed, a former top Southern Sudan official said Thursday."

Sterilize the unfit says British professor

Posted on September 02, 2010
LifeSiteNews: "The mentally and morally 'unfit' should be sterilized, Professor David Marsland, a sociologist and health expert, said this weekend. The professor made the remarks on the BBC radio program Iconoclasts, which advertises itself as the place to 'think the unthinkable...

Schwarzenegger urged to defend same-sex ?marriage? ban

Posted on September 02, 2010
ChristianWebNews: "Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is being urged by republican lawmakers to defends California's gay marriage ban, Prop. 8. There were 37 members of the Assembly's Republican caucus who wrote to him asking for an appeal on a federal ruling that struck down Prop 8...

NY school changes policy on religious necklace

Posted on September 02, 2010
"A New York school district has voted to amend a discriminatory policy that led to the repeated suspension of a Christian student over his Rosary beads. The American Center for Law and Justice filed suit on behalf of Raymond Hosier in an effort to change the dress code at Oneida Middle School, which labeled rosary beads as a prohibited 'gang-related' item...

Tasmania moves to recognize same-sex unions registered in other states or countries

Posted on September 02, 2010
ABC: "Tasmania's Lower House of Parliament has approved laws recognising same-sex marriages and civil unions registered in other states or countries . . . Attorney-General Lara Giddings says the changes will remove discrimination for same-sex couples in registered relationships...

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