Religion & Law

British pro-life group saddened new figures show teen abortions up in Wales

Posted on August 25, 2010
LifeNews: "The British pro-life group SPUC is saddened to learn that the proportion of recorded teenage pregnancies which end in registered abortions has increased in Wales. More than half of teenage conceptions in Wales end in abortion, new figures show...

Study: Atheist doctors ?more likely to hasten death?

Posted on August 25, 2010
Guardian: "Doctors who are atheist or agnostic are twice as likely to take decisions that might shorten the life of somebody who is terminally ill as doctors who are deeply religious ? and doctors with strong religious convictions are less likely even to discuss such decisions with the patient, according to Professor Clive Seale, from the centre for health sciences at Barts and the London school of medicine and dentistry...

MN: Planned Parenthood backs Mark Dayton and his ?vision for the state?

Posted on August 25, 2010
MinnPost: "In a bit of non-surprising news, Planned Parenthood Minnesota, North Dakota South Dakota Action Fund today swung its support to DFL [Minnesota Democratic?Farmer?Labor Party] gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton."

California legislature officially endorses repeal of Federal DOMA

Posted on August 25, 2010
Equality California press release: "August 23 - Today, the California State Senate approved a joint resolution, AJR 19, calling on the U.S. Congress and President Obama to immediately repeal the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which explicitly forbids the federal government or any federal agency from recognizing state-sanctioned marriages between same-sex couples...

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Alleged anti-Muslim attacker works at pro-mosque group

Posted on August 25, 2010
Politico: "The alleged assailant, Michael Enright, is ? according to his Facebook profile and the website of the left-leaning media organization Intersections International ? a student at the School of Visual Arts and a volunteer for Intersections, which recently produced a statement of support for the Park51 project and is funded by the mainstream, liberal Collegiate Church of New York...

Debate over same-sex adoption in Germany

Posted on August 25, 2010
Junge Freiheit [modified Google translation]: "Outgoing [Minister-President of Hesse, Roland Koch]: 'I am against such an adoption law,' Koch said . . . [Every child has the right to have a man and woman as parents] Such an attitude does not mean that one is intolerant of same-sex couples...

Canada: Court case will examine instances of Mormon, Muslim polygamy

Posted on August 25, 2010
The Globe and Mail: "A court case examining whether Canada's polygamy laws violate religious protection might focus on a fundamentalist Mormon sect in southeastern B.C., but it will also explore rarely discussed polygamy within North America's Muslim community...

Bush campaign chief and former RNC Chair Ken Mehlman: ?I?m gay?

Posted on August 25, 2010
Marc Ambinder writing at The Atlantic: "Ken Mehlman, President Bush's campaign manager in 2004 and a former chairman of the Republican National Committee, has told family and associates that he is gay."

No. 2 Democrat in Senate invokes Bush on mosque debate

Posted on August 25, 2010
Fox News: "Durbin says he's had his differences with former President George W. Bush. But Durbin says Bush showed leadership after Sept. 11, 2001, by making it clear that the war was against terrorists who had perverted the teachings of Islam, not with Muslims...

NY: ?State Sen. Shirley Huntley mailer links death threats to gay marriage supporters?

Posted on August 25, 2010
New York Daily News: "Huntley said she had no idea who might be making the threats. But some blame seems to be assigned in this latest mailer (which is marked 'Shirley Huntley for New York State Senate'). It says, among other things: 'There are forces that have invaded our community who: Have threatened Shirley Huntley, our hardworking state Senator; Have contributed more than $100,000 from outside the district to her opponent; Care about one issue only -- gay marriage...

Why Obama can?t help but promote an Islamic agenda

Posted on August 25, 2010
Jeffrey T. Kuhner writing in the World Tribune: "It is widely known that Mr. Obama is a post-national progressive. Yet he is also a cultural Muslim who is promoting an anti-American, pro-Islamic agenda. This is the real meaning of his warm ? and completely needless ? embrace of the Ground Zero Mosque ...

NY Muslim project spurs support coalition

Posted on August 25, 2010
Reuters: "Muslim, Jewish, Christian and civic groups formed a coalition on Wednesday to back a plan for a Muslim center near the site of the World Trade Center attacks in New York that has sparked heated national debate."

Germany: Bremen vote strengthens same-sex ?marriage?

Posted on August 25, 2010
Radio Bremen [Google translation]: "The Bremen citizenship has taken another step towards equality of registered civil partnerships with marriage. In future, for example, people can in a so-called gay marriage information about the health of the partner in hospitals...

The hidden HIV epidemic of men who have sex with men

Posted on August 25, 2010
Scientific American: "[A]s more and better epidemiological data has become available, the evidence is clear: men who have sex with men (MSM), regardless of whether or not they identify as gay, also are at the core of those generalized epidemics. MSM in developing countries are 19 times more likely to be infected with HIV than the general population, according to a 2007 literature review ...

Planned N.Y. mosque brings Islam?s sharia principles into debate

Posted on August 25, 2010
The Washington Post: "Sharia in Arabic means a 'way' or a 'path.' Muslims agree that sharia is God's law, but there is little consensus on the particulars. To some, sharia is a set of rules that are codified and unchanging. To others, it's a collection of religious principles that shift over time ...

Stem cell ruling ?poured sand into the engine of discovery?

Posted on August 25, 2010
Chicago Sun-Times: "22 projects that were due to get yearly checks in September, $54 million worth, 'will be stopped in their tracks,' said NIH Director Francis Collins . . . 'The American people should not be forced to pay for experiments -- prohibited by federal law -- that destroy human life,' said [Steven H...

Key Senate Democrat suggests that he didn?t read entire healthcare reform bill

Posted on August 25, 2010
The Hill: "Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), one of the chief authors of the healthcare law, suggested Tuesday he did not read the entire piece of legislation . . . 'I don?t think you want me to waste my time to read every page of the healthcare bill,' Baucus said, according to the Flathead Beacon...

Not forsaken: reaching sex slaves in mid-America

Posted on August 25, 2010
CBN News: "Today, [Kristy Childs] works to rescue other women and girls who are trapped in the commercial sex trade through her organization Veronica's Voice. It is named for a friend of Childs who was killed on the streets.Ministries in the Kansas City area are stepping up to answer the call ...

Catholic council encourages boycott over same-sex ?marriages? in Mexico

Posted on August 25, 2010
Catholic News Agency: "The Council of Catholic Analysts of Mexico issued a statement yesterday rejecting same-sex 'marriage' and the ruling by the Supreme Court allowing gay couples to adopt children in Mexico City. The council also demanded that civil registration officials who oppose the 'marriages' be allowed to exercise conscientious objection...

Democratic Senator Bombshell: Trillions in debt, ?nothing to show for it?

Posted on August 25, 2010
Michael Sandoval writing at National Review Online / Battle '10: "Sen. Michael Bennet?s recent appearance in Greeley, Colorado is sure to set political tongues wagging?Bennet is quoted as saying that though trillions of dollars of Federal debt has been incurred through spending since he was appointed to the Senate in January of 2009, 'we have nothing to show for it...

New Lutheran group likely to rise from ?gay? discord

Posted on August 25, 2010
Associated Press: "Mahan and other critics of the decision plan to gather this week in Columbus, Ohio, for another Lutheran convention. Leaders of 18 former ELCA churches are expected to vote Friday to create a brand new Lutheran denomination that they claim will follow the Scriptures more faithfully: the North American Lutheran Church...

Tajikistan urges parents to recall children from foreign religious schools

Posted on August 25, 2010
Radio Free Europe: "The president of Tajikistan has asked parents of students attending religious schools abroad to bring their children back home, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports . . . The president requested that students go to study religion within Tajikistan instead, because those studying abroad 'are all becoming terrorists and extremists...

Former editor of Indonesian Playboy magazine faces jail

Posted on August 25, 2010
The Jakarta Globe: "The former editor in chief of the short-lived Indonesian edition of Playboy magazine is just one piece of paper away from starting a jail term after a 2009 Supreme Court ruling convicting him of indecency charges was revealed this week...

NY: Regents exam ?slams? Christianity, lauds Islam

Posted on August 25, 2010
New York Post: "Teachers complain that the reading selections from the Regents exam in global history and geography given last week featured glowing passages pertaining to Muslim society but much more critical essay excerpts on the subject of Christianity...

Janine Turner: Federalist Paper No. 85

Posted on August 24, 2010
Janine Turner writing at Constituting America: "It is our duty to get involved in the preservation of our Republic. Times heed not the lazy participant, leaving America to the few. Patriots must prohibit the silent slippery slope that always precedes tyranny...

SC attorney general: New ?I Believe? license plates are legal

Posted on August 24, 2010
Associated Press: "Attorney General Henry McMaster says the plate designed by a nonprofit group is legal. That opinion comes nine months after a federal judge barred the state from making legislatively approved plates with the religious message."

?The Pope is not a pedicurist?

Posted on August 24, 2010
Eugene Volokh writing at The Volokh Conspiracy: "From Judge Kleinfeld?s concurrence in the judgment in Spencer v. World Vision: 'The core of Judge Berzon?s dissent is the idea that performance of activities that are often performed in a secular context cannot be religious...

Militant Islam versus the West

Posted on August 24, 2010
Steve Jalsevac writing at LifeSiteNews: "Militant Islam's rapidly growing influence within Western democratic nations has become a worrisome issue . . . Most Westerners do not realize Islam is not only a religious belief system, but also one that demands an all encompassing Islamic form of government and, in some Islamic societies, harshly enforced rules for daily living and thought ...

Life Legal Defense Foundation gets loitering charges against sidewalk counselor dismissed

Posted on August 24, 2010
ChristianNewsWire: "The San Marcos City Attorney's office confirmed yesterday that it has dismissed all criminal charges against Elena Di Ventra that arose out of a loitering citation she received in May 2010. The sidewalk counselor was represented by Life Legal Defense Foundation staff attorney Allison K...

Law school graduates are hungry with rage

Posted on August 24, 2010
Nathan Koppel writing at the Wall Street Journal Law Blog: "On blogs with names like 'Scammed Hard' and 'Shilling Me Softly', law graduates are blaming their alma maters for luring them into expensive programs by overstating their chances of landing a job upon graduation, the USA Today reports...

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