Religion & Law

Watch out for Haley Barbour

Posted on August 18, 2010
Susan Estrich writing at Rasmussen Reports: "[A]mong the presidential aspirants on the Republican side, Barbour brings a unique blend of insider experience and outside appeal, of campaign know-how and trial-by-fire credentials in governing. If I had to pick a Republican I wouldn't want to run against, it would be him...

Rick Hasen: Reading the tea leaves on the 9th Circuit?s stay order

Posted on August 18, 2010
Rick Hasen, William H. Hannon Distinguished Professor of Law, Loyola Law School, writing at the American Constitution Society blog: "I believe caution is in order, and that proponents and opponents of gay marriage should read very little into the Ninth Circuit's order as to how that court is likely to decide the Proposition 8 case...

Nevada Senate: Reid (D) 47%, Angle (R) 47%

Posted on August 18, 2010
Rasmussen: "The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in the state shows Democratic Senator Harry Reid and his Republican challenger Sharron Angle tied with 47% of the vote each. Five percent (5%) prefer some other candidate, and two percent (2%) are undecided...

The no-fault-divorce nation

Posted on August 18, 2010
Alicia Cohn writing at her-meneutics ("The Christianity Today blog for women"): "No-fault divorce is now legal in every state, making filing for divorce in America ? whether both parties agree or not ? simply a matter of getting the proper paperwork. New York just became the last state to adopt the legislation, passing a bill in early July that was signed into law this week by Governor David Paterson ...

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?Delay on gay marriage in Calif. gives Democrats room to focus on midterms?

Posted on August 18, 2010
Washington Post: "[The 9th Circuit's decision] came as a huge disappointment to the activists who sought to have Prop 8 declared unconstitutional. But it was a relief for the White House, meaning that a potentially divisive issue would not play out during the fall midterm elections...

Iowa pro-life groups to hold press conference against telemed abortions

Posted on August 18, 2010
LifeNews: "A coalition of pro-life and pro-family organizations will hold a press conference on Friday prior to the afternoon session of the Iowa Board of Medicine. The groups will voice strong opposition to the use of telemedicine for abortions by Planned Parenthood of the Heartland...

Americans must oppose abortions at military bases, pro-life leader says

Posted on August 18, 2010
LifeNews: "The president of a nationwide pro-life group says Americans, regardless of their opinion on abortion, should stand up against a move in the Senate to allow abortions at taxpayer-funded U.S. military base hospitals. Americans United for Life president Charmaine Yoest talked about the coming battle...

Clock ticking down on DOMA cases

Posted on August 18, 2010
"It?s been 40 days since U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Tauro ruled?in two cases?that the federal benefits provision in the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional . . . the government has not yet decided whether it will appeal."

TIME: New legal strategy for Prop 8 supporters

Posted on August 18, 2010
"From the dawn of the American Revolution, which was preached from the pulpits, to the abolitionist preachers who rallied the antislavery cause, to the religious leaders who inspired the civil rights movement, religion and morality have always played a prominent and entirely proper role in American political life,' he wrote...

?Gay or straight, marriage matters?for taxes?

Posted on August 18, 2010
Robert W. Wood writing at Forbes: "[T]he biggest tax issues often come up on the unraveling of a marriage. Whether a couple is heterosexual or gay, the tax aspects of unraveling a relationship are very different inside and outside marriage. You might be shocked how these tax rules work...

Establishment Clause challenge to Illinois capital appropriations bill fails

Posted on August 18, 2010
Religion Clause: "In Sherman v. Quinn, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 83313 (CD IL, Aug. 16, 2010), an Illinois federal district court has dismissed both facial and as-applied Establishment Clause challenges to Illinois 2009 capital appropriations bill . . . After dismissing some of the claims on 11th Amendment grounds, the court held that plaintiff lacks taxpayer standing to mount a broad facial challenge to the legislature's appropriation of $2...

Neb. AG won?t defend law on abortion screenings

Posted on August 18, 2010
Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning will not file an appeal to defend new state law that helps women obtain more information about abortion risks. Planned Parenthood of the Heartland filed a lawsuit against a bill supported by pro-life advocates . ...

10th Circuit: Highway patrol memorial crosses are unconstitutional

Posted on August 18, 2010
"We hold that these memorials have the impermissible effect of conveying to the reasonable observer the message that the State prefers or otherwise endorses a certain religion."

Australia: How anti-Christian is the Green movement?

Posted on August 18, 2010
Catholic Herald: "First, of course, [Cardinal George Pell] said that it wasn?t for him to tell them who to vote for, urging them nevertheless 'to examine the policies of the Greens on their website and judge for themselves how thoroughly anti-Christian they are' ...

India: Karnataka high court wants info on mercy killing practices in various religions

Posted on August 18, 2010
Daily News and Analysis: "The Karnataka high court on Tuesday sought to know the state and central governments? stand on a petition filed by 70-year-old HB Karibasamma who had knocked on the doors of the court seeking mercy-killing or euthanasia."

Senate follows House in adopting resolution on religous minorities in Iraq

Posted on August 18, 2010
Religion Clause Blog: "The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom yesterday issued a release applauding the U.S. Senate's Aug. 5 adoption of S. Res. 322, expressing concern about the plight of religious minorities in Iraq. The House of Representatives adopted a similar resolution, H...

85% in Chihuahua, Mexico reject same-sex adoption decision

Posted on August 18, 2010
El Heraldo de Chihuahua [Google translation]: "According to a survey by the publisher, 85% Chihuahua does not agree with the approval issued by the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJN) for same-sex couples to adopt children under age in the Federal District...

Idaho site for euthanasia debate

Posted on August 18, 2010
OneNewsNow: "Because Idaho doesn't have a specific law about assisted suicide, euthanasia activists are now focusing on that state."

Authors hit out at Britain?s ?pornification?

Posted on August 18, 2010
The Christian Institute: "Even primary school children are being affected by Britain?s hypersexualised society and it is a problem we?re not tackling, two feminist authors have said. Speaking at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, Kat Banyard and Natasha Walter hit out at the shear amount of pornography in society...

Tory blog slams Labour?s attack on Christian liberty

Posted on August 18, 2010
The Christian Institute: "Christians were subjected to discrimination and exclusion from public life by the former Labour Government, according to an influential Conservative website. Writing on the Conservative Home blog former aid worker Dr Martin Parsons also cautioned that the Conservative Party?s attitude towards Christianity may have cost them an overall majority in this year?s election...

National Review Online: ?Gay marriage on hold?

Posted on August 18, 2010
National Review Online editorial: "In other words, it?s not simply that Walker was overriding the votes of the more than 7 million Californians who voted for Proposition 8. He also tried to make himself essentially a one-man federal judiciary by preventing meaningful review of his ruling by the Ninth Circuit and the Supreme Court ...

ND: Magistrate judge recommends dismissal of Fargo Ten Commandments suit

Posted on August 18, 2010
InForum: "Magistrate Judge Karen K. Klein said the Red River Freethinkers are raising similar issues already decided by the court and they fail to meet the necessary criteria to bring the lawsuit." | Report and Recommendation in Red River Freethinkers v...

Demography and economic destiny

Posted on August 18, 2010
Phillip Longman writing at Big Questions Online: "Europe's demographic problems are not only forcing startling cutbacks in the welfare state but also are damaging the Continent?s prospects for sustained growth and economic recovery. Worse, Europe's today is the rest of the world's tomorrow...

ID: State board votes to close Nampa Classical Academy

Posted on August 18, 2010
KHQ (AP): "The state Board of Education has voted to uphold the closure of a charter school that tangled with Idaho officials over use of the Bible in the classroom and is now being shuttered over money problems."

Sharia in Aceh: Eroding Indonesia?s secular freedoms

Posted on August 18, 2010
The Jakarta Globe: "Despite Indonesia having a secular Constitution, devoutly Muslim Aceh was allowed to adopt parts of Shariah law, presumably to prevent the Acehnese from joining the rebellious Free Aceh Movement (GAM) . . . Five years later, the obvious question has yet to be asked: why was Shariah rammed through the national legislative system and 'given' to Aceh when neither the populace nor the GAM guerrillas ever asked for it and perhaps few people, with the exception of the provincial ulema council, actually want it?"

Moderate Muslims oppose location of Cordoba Mosque on religious grounds

Posted on August 18, 2010
The Daily Caller: "Some moderate Muslims agree that the proposed location of the Cordoba Mosque near Ground Zero in lower Manhattan should be reconsidered. Stephen Schwartz, executive director of the Center for Islamic Pluralism, told The Daily Caller that despite their relative silence on the issue, many Muslims question the placement of the mosque...

Islamic center backers won?t rule out taking funds from Saudi Arabia, Iran

Posted on August 18, 2010
ABC: "The developers behind the Islamic center planned for a site near Ground Zero won't rule out accepting financing from the Mideast -- including from Saudi Arabia and Iran -- as they begin searching for $100 million needed to build the project."

UK: Catholic charity?s appeal over same-sex adoption fails

Posted on August 18, 2010
"The Charity Commission said gay people were suitable parents and religious views did not justify discrimination."

U.S. ending combat operations in Iraq

Posted on August 18, 2010
MSNBC: "The last U.S. combat troops were crossing the border into Kuwait on Thursday morning, bringing to a close the active combat phase of a 7½-year war that overthrew the dictatorial regime of Saddam Hussein, forever defined the presidency of George W...

KY: Counties may try new Commandments appeal

Posted on August 18, 2010
UPI: "A fight over displays in Kentucky courthouses that include the Ten Commandments could be back before the U.S. Supreme Court. A lawyer for Liberty Counsel, a conservative Virginia group involved in First Amendment cases, said the current Supreme Court may issue a different ruling than the one given McCreary and Pulaski counties in 2005, The (Louisville) Courier-Journal reported...

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