Religion & Law

Killing a church: Review of ?Episcopalians and the Crisis of Mainline Christianity?

Posted on August 03, 2010
The American Spectator's Mark Tooley reviews William Murchison's "Mortal Follies: Episcopalians and the Crisis of Mainline Christianity": "The Episcopal Church's current crisis technically began with its 2003 election of openly homosexual Bishop Gene Robinson, igniting growing tensions with the nearly 80 million member Anglican Communion, especially its increasingly dominant and conservative African members...

2 Christian families in Bangladesh suffer extortion, beatings

Posted on August 03, 2010
Christian Post: "Two Christian women in Bangladesh?s northern district of Jamalpur said village officials extorted relatively large sums of money from them ? and severely beat the husband of one ? for proclaiming Christ to Muslims."

AP surprises with article noting adult stem cell research outpacing embryonic

Posted on August 02, 2010
LifeNews: "The Associated Press surprised readers with a new story on the contrasts between adult and embryonic stem cell research and a headline indicating what pro-life advocates have long known: the use of adult stem cell research is helping patients now and far outpacing embryonic studies...

Adult stem cell research far ahead of embryonic

Posted on August 02, 2010
OneNewsNow: "For all the emotional debate that began about a decade ago on allowing the use of embryonic stem cells, it's adult stem cells that are in human testing today. An extensive review of stem cell projects and interviews with two dozen experts reveal a wide range of potential treatments...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

AZ immigration decision frustrates American people

Posted on August 02, 2010
OneNewsNow: "A Christian law firm is disappointed but not surprised that a federal judge last week threw out most of the Arizona immigration law that was designed to make it easier for state and local law enforcement to apprehend suspected illegal aliens...

Temecula Mosque protest elicits response from Council on American-Islamic Relations

Posted on August 02, 2010
SWRNN: "The Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, CAIR-LA, today denounced a planned anti-mosque protest scheduled during a Friday congregational prayer, or 'Jummah.' The council called on local officials and interfaith leaders to show support for the Islamic Center of Temecula Valley, the target of the July 30 protest that is believed to be organized by the Southwest Riverside County, SWRC, Tea Party group...

Episcopal committee is working on ?gay rite?

Posted on August 02, 2010
New York Times: "The new rite, which will take years to complete, will most likely consist of a series of original prayers, Bible readings and two essays: one on the theological meaning of same-sex blessings, and one advising priests who administer the new rite...

SC: Church plans prayer rally

Posted on August 02, 2010
Aiken Standard: "A local church is reacting to the recent questioning of Aiken City Council's usage of prayer during public meetings by holding a rally. The Aiken Prayer Rally, sponsored by members of the Lakeside Baptist Church in Clearwater, will be held on the same day and in the same building as the next City Council meeting on Aug...

Vatican preparing new document on effects of abortion on women

Posted on August 02, 2010
Catholic News Agency: "The new president of the Pontifical Academy for Life, Archbishop Ignacio Carrasco de Paula, announced that his dicastery is preparing a document on the effects of abortion on women, often called post-abortion syndrome. The document will focus on the study of the 'habit of abortion' and is expected to be published next year...

?The only man who can stop the mosque madness?

Posted on August 02, 2010
Blake Hounshell writes at Foreign Policy / Passport: "That's right, I'm talking about George W. Bush. Much as Muslims around the world may have despised his foreign policy and his interrogation and detention policies, the former president spoke out repeatedly and eloquently against attacks on Muslims, and visited an Islamic center several days after 9/11 to send the message that Muslims were not the enemy...

UK: Huge rise in 11-year-olds on the pill

Posted on August 02, 2010
Telegraph: "More than 1,000 girls in the first year of secondary school have been given prescriptions for the pill, according to figures from GPs, while a further 200 have long-term injectable or implanted contraceptive devices." Unfortunately, this article does not analyze relevant financial motivations.

Thoughts on the federal district court ruling refusing to dismiss the Virginia health care lawsuit

Posted on August 02, 2010
Ilya Somin writing at The Volokh Conspiracy: "Federal District Judge Henry Hudson?s opinion refusing to dismiss Virginia?s lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Obama health care plan has several interesting aspects. The suit focuses primarily on a challenge to the 'individual mandate' element of the plan, which requires most American citizens and legal residents to purchase a government-approved health insurance plan by 2014 or pay a fine for nocompliance...

Split en banc Eleventh Circuit rules child molester?s 17½-year sentence substantively unreasonable

Posted on August 02, 2010
Southern District of Florida Blog: "The 11th Circuit issued United States v. Irey today, with 255 pages of opinions, which are a must read for any criminal practitioner in this Circuit. The question presented is whether a lengthy variance (from 30 years to 17) was reasonable in a horrific case involving multiple acts of child rape...

Senate stalling on judges is like an old family feud

Posted on August 02, 2010
Los Angeles Times: "The Senate's dispute over judicial nominees resembles a family feud that stretches over several generations. Judges are being opposed not because of their records, but because of what happened several years earlier to other nominees...

New lesbian parenting study makes claims unsupported by the evidence

Posted on August 02, 2010
"[A] cursory review of this study (funded by the Gill Foundation and the Lesbian Health Fund of the Gay, Lesbian Medical Association) demonstrates significant flaws that most first-year graduate students would quickly recognize."

Adios, Mexico City Policy?

Posted on August 02, 2010
Family Research Council: "Sen. Frank Lautenberg (D-N.J.), a big proponent of the State Department's team of family planning" globe trotters, slipped an amendment into the foreign appropriations bill that would make overseas abortion funding a steady fixture of U...

No review of SB 1070 ruling before Nov.

Posted on August 02, 2010
Arizona Daily Star: "The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected a request by Gov. Jan Brewer for an expedited review of a judge's decision to enjoin the state from enforcing five sections of the law that were supposed to have taken effect Thursday...

Obama?s remake of U.S. courts bogged down by Republican delays in Senate

Posted on August 02, 2010
Bloomberg: "President Barack Obama, on the verge of winning confirmation of his second U.S. Supreme Court appointment in two years, is having limited success shaping the lower federal courts that handle thousands more cases."

Center for Arizona Policy: 2010 legislative session summary

Posted on August 02, 2010
Center for Arizona Policy: "This report provides a summary of Center for Arizona Policy?s (CAP) work during the 2010 legislative session."

Obama backs International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission at U.N.

Posted on August 02, 2010
OneNewsNow: "It took the help of the United States, but the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC) has gained official status at the U.N., which is an 'important step forward for human rights,' according to President Obama."

Kagan presents a test for the NRA as court confirmation assured

Posted on August 02, 2010
The Hill: "[F]ive Republican senators have pledged to vote for Kagan, making her a shoo-in for confirmation. This puts the NRA in the tricky position of having to decide how much political capital to spend against Kagan."

Elena Kagan on rare path: first a Supreme Court clerk, later a justice

Posted on August 02, 2010
Christian Science Monitor: "If, as expected, the Senate votes to confirm Elena Kagan to a seat on the US Supreme Court, she will become only the sixth former Supreme Court law clerk to rise to become a justice. Kagan worked as a clerk for Thurgood Marshall in the 1987-88 term...

ABA delegates to weigh judicial finance training, same-sex ?marriage?

Posted on August 02, 2010
Law.com: "Also at the ABA conference this week, delegates will consider a same-sex marriage proposal that would urge state-level governments to eliminate all legal barriers to civil marriage between two persons of the same sex and oppose a federal constitutional amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman...

Arizona immigration clash headed for controversial appeals court

Posted on August 02, 2010
Mercury News: "The epic legal struggle over Arizona's immigration crackdown has landed in a San Francisco-based federal appeals court that is all too familiar with being the center of the nation's attention ? and its inevitable label as the nation's most liberal court...

The Catholic Church in Cuba

Posted on August 02, 2010
National Catholic Register: "Welcome to Cuba and the careful existence of the Roman Catholic Church. It?s a healthy Church ? functioning in a terribly unhealthy country . . . 'The Catholic Church in Cuba is absolutely the only national institution functioning independently from the regime...

Backing of Geert Wilders? party is key to new coalition government agreement in Netherlands

Posted on August 02, 2010
Bloomberg: "Geert Wilders, whose anti-immigrant party more than doubled its vote in June?s elections, forced his way to the center of Dutch politics by agreeing to back a minority government of Liberals and Christian Democrats." | Via Religion Clause

Fed chief sees long road back to economic health

Posted on August 02, 2010
Associated Press: "'But we have a considerable way to go to achieve a full recovery in our economy, and many Americans are still grappling with unemployment, foreclosure and lost savings,' the Fed chief said in a speech to an annual meeting of Southern lawmakers in Charleston, S...

Lakeland to decide whether to fight for prayer

Posted on August 02, 2010
Tampa Humanism & Freethought Examiner: "City Commisioners in Lakeland, in their meeting last Thursday, asked the Mayor to schedule a 'shade' meeting to discuss whether or not to fight the lawsuit filed by the Atheists of Florida . . . Mayor Gow appears ready to fight and recently received a letter from the Alliance Defense Fund urging him to fight the lawsuit...

Will there be friction between the chief justice and Elena Kagan on the Supreme Court?

Posted on August 02, 2010
Dahlia Lithwick writing at Slate: "Kagan already has some history at the court. And it didn't go unremarked by court watchers last term that Kagan's six outings before the Roberts Court as President Obama's solicitor general were sometimes uneasy. Some of us suggested that Kagan?who'd never argued a case until she argued the blockbuster Citizens United campaign finance case last September?was still just finding her footing at the court...

Va. health care challenge clears 1st hurdle

Posted on August 02, 2010
Associated Press: "Virginia's lawsuit challenging the Obama administration's health care reform law cleared its first legal hurdle Monday as a federal judge ruled the law raises a host of complex constitutional issues."

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.