Religion & Law

UNC changes health insurance over abortion

Posted on August 12, 2010
WLOS (AP): "The University of North Carolina will let students remove coverage for elective abortions from their university-sponsored health insurance after a national group complained about the coverage."

Goldwater Institute files lawsuit against federal health care bill

Posted on August 12, 2010
Goldwater Institute: "The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Phoenix is a private challenge to the health care bill championed by President Barack Obama. Arizona and 21 other states are pursuing public lawsuits against the federal law, based in large part on preserving their traditional authority to regulate health insurance...

Federal court: Critical aspects of patient safety law in Allen County, Ind. can go into effect

Posted on August 12, 2010
Alliance Defense Fund attorneys representing Allen County say that a court order denying most of an abortion provider?s motion to stop critical aspects of a new Patient Safety Ordinance means those provisions can go into effect and that the door is open for other Indiana counties to enact similar legislation.

The Bible and birth control

Posted on August 11, 2010
OneNewsNow: "Geoffrey Botkin, founder of the Western Conservatory for the Arts and Sciences, and Doug Phillips, president of Vision Forum Ministries, both agree that birth-control pills are just as damaging as abortion . . . 'As the fertilized egg tries to implant, it's not able to do so...

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Homosexual ?marriage? advocates seek to destroy matrimony and society itself: Cardinal Archbishop of Mexico City

Posted on August 11, 2010
LifeSiteNews: "In the face of the 'aberrant' Supreme Court decision declaring constitutional the 'immoral legal reform that permits unions between people of the same sex,' the Church 'cannot cease to call evil, evil,' declared Mexico City's Cardinal Archbishop Norberto Rivera during Sunday mass at the Metropolitan Cathedral...

Mexican Supreme Court imposes homosexual ?marriage? on entire country

Posted on August 11, 2010
LifeSiteNews: "In a 9-2 split between the court's conservative minority and liberal majority, the court voted to require the states to accept gay 'marriage' based on the constitution's article 121, which states that in 'each state of the federation complete faith and credit will be given to the public acts, registrations, and juridical procedures of all the others' ...

Newly identified corporate supporters of Planned Parenthood named

Posted on August 11, 2010
LifeSiteNews: "Life Decisions International (LDI) has released a revised edition of The Boycott List identifying corporations that support of Planned Parenthood, the world's primary abortion-advocacy group."

Leondra Kruger named Acting Principal Deputy Solicitor General

Posted on August 11, 2010
SCOTUSblog: "Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal today named Assistant to the Solicitor General Leondra Kruger to the position of Acting Principal Deputy Solicitor General."

Appointment for Solicitor General not expected soon

Posted on August 11, 2010
How Appealing Extra: "The White House is not likely to rush into appointing a permanent successor to Elena Kagan as solicitor general after her elevation to the U.S. Supreme Court, according to legal sources in Washington . . . The lack of quick action on appointing a permanent successor means acting solicitor general Neal Katyal, one of two frontrunners for the position, will probably remain in his current capacity well into the court's October 2010 term...

57% of likely voters describe Democratic Congressional agenda as extreme

Posted on August 11, 2010
Rasmussen: "A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 57% of Likely U.S. Voters think the agenda of Democrats in Congress is extreme. Thirty-four percent (34%) say it is more accurate to describe the Democratic agenda as mainstream...

Terry Jeffrey: Judge Walker v. the laws of nature and nature?s God

Posted on August 11, 2010
Terry Jeffrey writing at Townhall: "The Founding Fathers understood the laws of nature, the Ten Commandments, the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution to be wholly consistent with one another. Judge Walker and the same-sex marriage movement have declared war on them all...

Arizona sheriffs call ICE chief?s visit a ?stunt?

Posted on August 11, 2010
Washington Times: "Two key sheriffs along the Arizona-Mexico border on Tuesday called a planned visit by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Assistant Secretary John Morton a 'political stunt' and described as 'pathetic' Obama administration attempts to 'cover up its inaction in protecting our borders...

Maggie Gallagher answers three questions

Posted on August 11, 2010
Maggie Gallagher answers three questions from James Withers at 365 Gay. The questions are: "Is there really a groundswell for [a federal marriage amendment] and isn?t that premature considering how the Walker decision hasn?t made it through the entire judicial process? ...

Handel concedes race for GOP Ga. gov nomination

Posted on August 11, 2010
Associated Press: "Former Secretary of State Karen Handel conceded Wednesday in her bid for the GOP nomination to run for governor in Georgia. She's throwing her support behind her opponent, former U.S. Rep. Nathan Deal."

Texas AG: No opinion on same-sex ?marriage? licenses

Posted on August 11, 2010
The Dallas Morning News (AP): "Attorney General Greg Abbott's office has declined to issue an opinion on whether Texas counties can issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples if one of the people had sex reassignment surgery."

Vatican rejects resignations of 2 Dublin bishops

Posted on August 11, 2010
Associated Press: "Dublin Archbishop Diarmuid Martin has told priests that the Vatican has rejected the resignations of his two auxiliary bishops following their reported involvement in the Roman Catholic Church's cover-up of child abuse."

Philippine Muslim terrorists brace for war

Posted on August 11, 2010
Associated Press: "Hundreds of Muslim guerrillas have undergone combat training and sought more weapons in the southern Philippines to bolster their military muscle in case planned peace talks with the government falter, a military report said Wednesday...

Costa Rica court blocks civil union referendum

Posted on August 11, 2010
"The Constitutional Court's 5-2 decision released Tuesday says such a referendum would put a minority at a disadvantage in a largely Roman Catholic country. It also says gay civil unions is a legislative issue and not an electoral one."

Phoenix bishop: Is marriage a ?hang up? or God?s plan?

Posted on August 11, 2010
Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted writing in The Catholic Sun: "The misguided decision of Judge Vaughn Walker, striking down as unconstitutional the California Marriage Law called Proposition 8, cannot be passed over in silence . . . We have great need to rediscover the good news of God?s plan for marriage; and we need to resist in the public square all efforts to label this plan as a 'hang up' of the past...

America is ?bankrupt Mickey Mouse economy?: CIO

Posted on August 11, 2010
CNBC: "America is a 'Mickey Mouse economy' that is technically bankrupt, according to Jochen Wermuth, the Chief Investment Officer (CIO) and managing partner at Wermuth Asset Management. 'America today looks like Russia in 1998. Consumers, companies and the government are all highly indebted...

Californians? income falls for first time since WWII

Posted on August 11, 2010
The Sacramento Bee: "Government statisticians have put a number on Californians' paycheck pain last year: about $40 billion. The federal Bureau of Economic Analysis said personal incomes of Golden State workers fell by that amount in 2009 compared with the previous year – the state's first year-to-year decline since World War II...

Congressman calls vote on $26 billion jobs bill a sign ?we?re not bankrupting the country fast enough?

Posted on August 11, 2010
CNSNews: "'Many people are asking why Congress is here today,' Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) said on Tuesday. 'I think the answer?s pretty simple: We?re not bankrupting the country fast enough and so we need to come back and spend more.'"

GA: HSLDA says extra form unauthorized

Posted on August 11, 2010
HSLDA: "As Home School Legal Defense Association member families approach the beginning of the 2010?11 school year, they may be asked by local public school officials to complete and submit various unauthorized forms. An example from the 2009?10 school year was an 'Affirmation of Understanding' form sent to homeschooling parents in the Jefferson City Schools...

Joel Oster: Americans United for Separation of Church and State exposed!

Posted on August 11, 2010
ADF Attorney Joel Oster writing at Speak Up Movement / Church: "A federal district court rejected a lawsuit filed by Americans United for the Separation of Church and State, and in so doing, exposed their true anti-Christian agenda . . . [K]nowing that they couldn't stop the prayers, they then sought to challenge prayers 'in Jesus' name...

National Catholic Bioethics Center: Judge Walker?s opinion on Prop 8

Posted on August 11, 2010
ChristianNewsWire: "The National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC) joins reasonable people everywhere who were dismayed that Proposition 8, which defines marriage in California as between a man and a woman, was overturned and declared unconstitutional by a federal judge on Aug 4, 2010...

Canada: ?Gay man wins refugee status?

Posted on August 11, 2010
Toronto Sun: "A openly gay man who is married to his partner has won a bid for refugee status due to concerns his life may be in jeopardy if he is deported to his native Jamaica."

Ft. Wayne schools ending Bible program

Posted on August 11, 2010
IndyStar.com (AP): "The School Board voted unanimously Monday to end the weekday religious education program run by Associated Churches of Fort Wayne since 1944. The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana last month filed a lawsuit for the parents of a third-grader who said she was sent to Bible classes in trailers on school property without their permission...

Prayer on solid ground in South Carolina

Posted on August 11, 2010
OneNewsNow: "Alliance Defense Fund has helped three government entities in South Carolina with prayer policies . . . 'They received a letter from the Freedom From Religion Foundation demanding that they stop opening up with prayers,' [ADF Attorney Brett Harvey] explains, 'and asking that they either do a moment of silence or ban prayers altogether during the city council meetings...

Louisiana College announces new law school

Posted on August 11, 2010
"The school's Board of Trustees has named Shreveport attorney J. Michael Johnson as founding dean of the school, which will be named after Judge Paul Pressler III, a retired justice of the Texas Court of Appeals and key leader of the Southern Baptist Convention...

Free-speech right covers national parks

Posted on August 11, 2010
Philadelphia Daily News: "'The only permit we need to speak to our fellow citizens is the First Amendment,' said [Nate Kellum], a Memphis, Tenn., attorney for the Alliance Defense Fund, who argued the winning case. 'We don't need to go through the bureaucratic nightmare of securing a governmental permit just to hand out literature, hold up a sign or engage in conversation...

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