Religion & Law

Britain a ?selfish and hedonistic wasteland?, says Archbishop of Westminster?s adviser

Posted on September 02, 2010
Telegraph: "Edmund Adamus, an adviser to the Archbishop of Westminster, said five decades of liberalising abortion and gay rights laws had made Britain more anti-Catholic than countries where Christians can be subjected to violent persecution."

?Malaysia?s gay community begins to push the limits?

Posted on September 02, 2010
AFP: "Homosexuality remains a social taboo across the racial and religious spectrum in Malaysia, a conservative country which is also home to large ethnic Chinese and Indian communities . . . there is a growing sense of activism among the gay community which is beginning to mobilise to fight for its rights...

?Late-blooming lesbians find different kind of love?

Posted on September 02, 2010
Toronto Star: "Late-blooming lesbians have gained some mainstream visibility in recent years thanks to celebrities like Cynthia Nixon and Portia de Rossi . . . The subject is also starting to garner academic attention, with researchers trying to understand how women?s sexuality ? and capacity for same-sex relationships ? might be different than men's ...

UK: Labour hopeful David Miliband ?seeks votes in gay Soho bar?

Posted on September 02, 2010
PinkPaper.com: "Labour leadership hopeful David Miliband has said government MPs must be made to fear for their seats to stop them cutting services to LGBT people . . . The current forerunner in the race to lead the party was speaking to PinkPaper.com yesterday after making a stop at the gay LoProfile bar in London?s Soho on his campaign trail...

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Freedom coming to the pulpit Sept. 26

Posted on September 02, 2010
Dakota Voice: "The third annual Pulpit Freedom Sunday is coming on September 26, 2010. This nationwide event, also known as the Pulpit Initiative, is sponsored by the Alliance Defense Fund to promote the religious freedom America?s pastors and churches enjoyed throughout our history until it was curtailed in 1954 ...

?Visibility of gay people reflects changes in China?

Posted on September 02, 2010
Howard W. French writing in The New York Times: "It has become a truism to observe that contemporary China is the scene of the most rapid, transformative change of any large country in the world today . . . As this society rapidly grows richer, its social fabric and mores have been changing in ways far more dramatic than even the physical landscape, and sexual choice and expression are arguably in the leading edge of this upheaval ...

VA: Rutherford Institute warns middle school principal against creating hostile workplace environment towards religion, FCA club

Posted on September 02, 2010
Rutherford Institute: "In a letter to Don Curtis, the principal of Wilson Middle School in Fishersville, Va., John W. Whitehead, president of The Rutherford Institute, warns the school administrator against creating a hostile workplace environment towards religion and discriminating against religious student groups such as the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA)...

Dems accuse Fox News of illegal campaign contribution

Posted on September 02, 2010
CBS: "The [Democratic Governors Association] reportedly filed a complaint with the Ohio Elections Commission accusing Fox of giving Ohio candidate John Kasich free political advertising. When Kasich appeared on Fox News earlier this month, the complaint reportedly lays out, he solicited donations on air while Fox added the graphics 'John Kasich (R), KasichforOhio...

Choice of Kansas justice proceeds under legal cloud

Posted on September 02, 2010
The Garden City Telegram (AP): "Kansas moved ahead toward selecting a new state Supreme Court justice on Wednesday, while facing a federal lawsuit alleging that voters' rights are being violated because lawyers unfairly dominate the process. Nine lower-court judges and four attorneys hoping to fill the high court vacancy met a noon deadline for submitting applications to the Supreme Court Nominating Commission...

How free streaming video threatens the porn industry

Posted on September 02, 2010
Scott Fayner writing at Technology Review: "By 2005, the BitTorrent technology gave way to something more manageable and user-friendly: streaming video . . . Suddenly, anybody who wanted to watch a clip could do so almost instantly. You clicked on a video and it played in the browser: no more waiting, no more downloading...

Utah GOP chooses Log Cabin Republican for state race

Posted on September 02, 2010
ABC4.com: "The Utah Republican Party has chosen the head of the Utah Log Cabin Republicans to run in a state Senate race."

Abercrombie & Fitch sued over Muslim scarf

Posted on September 02, 2010
San Francisco Chronicle: "A federal civil rights agency sued Abercrombie & Fitch on Wednesday on behalf of an 18-year-old woman who said she applied for her first job at the company's store at the Great Mall in Milpitas and was turned down because she wore a Muslim headscarf...

Virginia, Minnesota pursue abstinence ed grants

Posted on September 02, 2010
CitizenLink audio available here.

Chinese girls taught to say no to sex

Posted on September 02, 2010
Hindustan Times: "Girls in Yunnan province are being given a booklet that teaches about chastity. The Yunnan provincial education department has asked all local high schools and universities to 'teach girls how to reject sexual requests until marriage', the Global Times reported citing the Chuncheng Evening News ...

Conservative group throws Hail Mary pass on Prop 8

Posted on September 02, 2010
Law.com: "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 . . . There's a high standard to win a writ of mandamus...

Arizona now has a ?whopping 30? National Guard troops and 15 billboard signs warning citizens about drug cartels operating on public lands

Posted on September 02, 2010
CNSNews: "Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu said requests by Arizona law enforcement personnel and Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) for 3,000 National Guard troops along the state?s border with Mexico have been answered so far with 1 percent of that number deployed there this week...

Army accommodates third Sikh recruit

Posted on September 02, 2010
Religion Clause: "According to a release yesterday by the Sikh Coalition, the U.S. Army, for the third time in less than a year, has agreed that a Sikh recruit may enlist and continue to wear his religiously-mandated turban along with unshorn hear and a beard...

Sen. Murkowski?s defeat marks major tea party win

Posted on September 02, 2010
Yahoo: "In arguably the biggest political upset of the year, Joe Miller claimed the Republican nomination for U.S. Senate when incumbent GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski conceded Tuesday evening. Murkowski gave up after failing to gain much ground in an count of outstanding absentee ballots ...

State Bar Offers Website to Help Teachers and Students Observe ?Constitution and Citizenship Day?

Posted on September 01, 2010
NY State Bar Association: "As we approach 'Constitution and Citizenship Day' ? created by an act of Congress in 2004 and celebrated each year on September 17th ? The New York State Bar Association, its Law, Youth and Citizenship (LYC) Committee and other partners, have created a website (www...

7th Circuit: U. of Wis.-Madison cannot deny funding to Catholic student group

Posted on September 01, 2010
"The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit ruled Wednesday that University of Wisconsin-Madison officials violated the First Amendment by refusing to fund events of a student Catholic organization while providing funding for the events of other student organizations...

7th Circuit: U. of Wisconsin must fund prayer activities

Posted on September 01, 2010
"A federal appeals court has upheld a lower court's ruling that the University of Wisconsin-Madison must pay for student activities involving prayer, worship and proselytizing."

Planned Parenthood honors Peru?s minister of health

Posted on September 01, 2010
CNA: The International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) has awarded Peru?s Minister of Health, Oscar Ugarte for his ?efforts in support of reproductive health.? Several months ago, Ugarte ignored a ruling by Peru?s Constitutional Court and went forward with the distribution of the morning-after pill.

Utah Sen. Hatch backs Ground Zero Mosque

Posted on September 01, 2010
Boston Globe (video): "Senator Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, said mosque proponents ?have every right?? to carry out their plans in New York, just as Mormons had a right to build their temple, despite neighborhood opposition."

UK: Longford Muslims to get new Mosque

Posted on September 01, 2010
Longford Leader: Muslims living in the greater Longford area look set to get their very own place of worship after leading figures clinched a deal to secure a premises on the outskirts of the midlands town . . . It's (new centre) about 3,500 sq ft and can fit about 300 to 400 people together...

NY: Five charged with disrupting Muslim prayer service

Posted on September 01, 2010
Buffalo News: "Car horns were honked and obscenities yelled as Muslims tried to pray in the mosque, a converted farmhouse on Fuller Road in the Town of Carlton. One of the teens also was accused of firing a shotgun outside the gathering."

Montana seeks extension in ACLU lawsuit seeking marriage redefinition

Posted on September 01, 2010
KULR8.com: "The state of Montana is asking for more time to respond to a lawsuit brought by seven same sex couples in the state." | ACLU information and filings

Robert Knight: Uprooting crosses, one by one

Posted on September 01, 2010
One News Now: "While the furor over the proposed mosque at Ground Zero has New York Gov. David Paterson offering public land as a peace offering, a more familiar symbol -- the cross -- is systematically being uprooted around the country."

RNC chairman subverted marriage amendment

Posted on September 01, 2010
One News Now: "A pro-family activist who is working to expose the truth about homosexuality finds it absolutely appalling that former Republican National Committee (RNC) chairman Ken Mehlman was able to "beat back" Republican efforts against homosexual "marriage" while hiding his own homosexual lifestyle...

Unions gearing up to support Dems in November ? spend $50 million

Posted on September 01, 2010
AP: "The nation's largest labor federation plans to spend more than $50 million targeting 70 House races and 18 Senate races with television ads, phone banks and leaflets."

NY Muslim groups decry hostile atmosphere

Posted on September 01, 2010
AP: "More than 50 leaders of Muslim organizations in New York City are defending plans by developers to build an Islamic community center near ground zero."

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