Religion & Law

Clinton appointee blocks parts of Arizona immigration law

Posted on July 28, 2010
Associated Press: "A federal judge on Wednesday blocked the most controversial parts of Arizona's immigration law from taking effect, delivering a last-minute victory to opponents of the crackdown. The overall law will still take effect Thursday, but without the provisions that angered opponents - including sections that required officers to check a person's immigration status while enforcing other laws...

Iran?s leader introduces plan to encourage population growth by paying families

Posted on July 28, 2010
New York Times: "The new government effort will pay families for every new child and deposit money into the newborns? bank accounts until they reach 18, Mr. Ahmadinejad said. The program effectively rolled back years of efforts to strengthen the economy by reducing population growth...

Democratic Republic of Congo: Where so many children die bearing children

Posted on July 28, 2010
Toronto Star: "But few countries on Earth are worse to be pregnant in [than the Congo]. Every hour of every day, four females in the Democratic Republic of Congo die from complications of pregnancy and labour, according to statistics from the United Nations Population Fund...

Arrests and bans during Patriarch Kirill?s visit to Ukraine

Posted on July 28, 2010
Asia News: "'Down with the Moscow pope', is the slogan repeated by nationalist demonstrators every time the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia visits Ukraine. In fact it was brandished again today in Kiev, where Patriarch Kirill is on an official visit and were he opened the Synod of the Russian-Orthodox Church...

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Sen. Kerry continues push to end ban on ?gay? men giving blood

Posted on July 27, 2010
Las Vegas TSG Business News: "Today, Senator John Kerry (D-Mass.) renewed his call for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to revise the current lifetime ban that prevents gay men from donating blood."

Mexico: Defense of life is not a religious issue, maintains family leader

Posted on July 27, 2010
Catholic News Agency: "An expert on family issues reminded Mexicans last week that the defense of life is not a religious issue and that it is based on the scientific certainty that life begins at conception."

?Gay illegal immigrant seeks asylum with deportation to Iran pending?

Posted on July 27, 2010
ABC: "Abdollahi, a 24 year-old Iranian who was raised in Ann Arbor, Michigan, came to the U.S. as a child when his parents immigrated to study at a state university. He says he learned of his undocumented status in high school, which is also when he first began identifying as a gay man ...

IN: South Bend council puts off ?gay rights? ordinance

Posted on July 27, 2010
Chicago Tribune: "A divided South Bend City Council has put off a vote on a proposed ordinance extending employment discrimination protection to gays and lesbians."

Study: ?Same-sex couples can thrive as adoptive parents?

Posted on July 27, 2010
The Washington Post / College, Inc.: "A groundbreaking study by researchers at the University of Virginia and George Washington University finds that children adopted by lesbian and gay male couples develop just as well as those adopted by heterosexual parents...

FL: Webb details new Jacksonville council prayer policy

Posted on July 27, 2010
The Florida Times-Union: "In a memo released Monday, Webb outlined his prayer policy and how other faith leaders will be rotated during about two dozen meetings the council will hold over the next year."

Video: ADF Weekly Update ? 2010 June 26

Posted on July 27, 2010
ADF's Weekly Update is on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICYOOeh9k1M

Haskell County settles Ten Commandments lawsuit

Posted on July 27, 2010
Tulsa World: "Haskell County must pay the ACLU of Oklahoma $199,000, covering all costs and attorney fees, Thornton said . . . [Kevin Theriot] of the Alliance Defense Fund, which is representing the Haskell County commissioners, confirmed that the settlement was reached last week, but said they had no comment in regard to the settlement...

Miss. gov says he?ll sue to block tribe?s casino

Posted on July 27, 2010
BusinessWeek: "Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said Monday that he's going to court to block a gaming development proposed by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and will hire an outside attorney."

ACLU: A Mosque in Maine

Posted on July 27, 2010
ACLU: "If all goes well, the Portland Masjid and Islamic Center will receive approval tonight for the establishment of a small mosque in Maine?s largest, and most ethnically diverse, city. It is the culmination of a five-year effort, which has included numerous meetings, one federal lawsuit, and an entire re-writing of the city?s zoning rules for places of worship...

Muslim candidate leads rally in Dearborn for Christian evangelists arrested at Arab Fest

Posted on July 27, 2010
MLive.com: "Republican congressional candidate Majed Moughni on Monday led a small rally on the steps of Dearborn City Hall in support of four Christian evangelists arrested for disturbing the peace last month at the Arab International Festival."

GA: Abortion divides GOP gubernatorial rivals

Posted on July 27, 2010
News4Jax.com: "Just days into the Republican runoff for governor in Georgia, abortion has emerged as a polarizing issue in a race where social conservatives will hold sway. Karen Handel -- on the defensive over a 2005 vote to funnel $425,568 to Planned Parenthood -- has been feuding with Georgia Right to Life and has called for the anti-abortion group's leaders to step down...

AZ: ?Meet Josie, 9: No secret she?s transgender?

Posted on July 27, 2010
Arizona Daily Star: "Josie Claudine Romero was born Joseph Manalang Romero in Colorado in April 2001. Her twin sister died shortly after being born. Though biologically male, "Joey" was diagnosed with a condition called gender identity disorder at the age of 5 by a U...

U.K. embryo authority to be terminated

Posted on July 27, 2010
FRC Blog: "The U.K. is reorganizing and consolidating a number of health-related quangos, as part of the remodeling of the National Health Service. One group slated to have its authority consolidated into a new agency is the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, the HFEA (motto: 'we never met an embryo experiment we didn?t like')...

Iranian Christian convert granted asylum in U.S.

Posted on July 27, 2010
ACLJ / Jay Sekulow's Trial Notebook: "I want to share with you an important victory for religious freedom involving one of our clients - a woman from Iran who left Islam and converted to Christianity . . . One of our legal teams worked with her and her family and ultimately succeeded in getting the United States government to grant her asylum in this country...

National pro-life leaders to confront Catholic hospital with abortionist on staff

Posted on July 27, 2010
ChristianNewsWire: "LifeGuard will hold a press conference on Thursday, July 29, to divulge the details of the ongoing relationship between Catholic hospital Mercy Regional Medical Center and abortion provider Grossman."

Personhood Colorado announces Amendment 62 campaign strategy

Posted on July 27, 2010
ChristianNewsWire: "Colorado's Personhood Amendment 62, sponsored by Colorado Right to Life and Personhood Colorado, has announced their strategy to promote the life-affirming Personhood Amendment 62 . . . The official 62 campaign strategy includes the groundbreaking website, mycampaigntracker...

?No leverage? in Newt Gingrich?s Ground Zero mosque argument

Posted on July 27, 2010
The Christian Post: "Newt Gingrich, a Republican former Speaker of the House, wrote on his blog last week that there should be no mosque near Ground Zero if there are no churches or synagogues in Saudi Arabia.The term Cordoba, Gingrich stressed, refers to Cordoba, Spain, 'the capital of Muslim conquerors who symbolized their victory over the Christian Spaniards by transforming a church there into the world?s third-largest mosque complex...

Robert George: God and Gettysburg

Posted on July 27, 2010
"The American Constitution Society had omitted Lincoln?s reference to the United States as a nation under God from the address he gave at the dedication of the burial ground at Gettysburg."

Pornography and women

Posted on July 27, 2010
Marcia Segelstein writing at OneNewsNow: "[W]hile most people may think of men when they picture purveyors of pornography, women are joining their ranks in droves. A big part of the problem ? for both men and women ? is the easy accessibility of porn...

Creativity, the last American skill

Posted on July 27, 2010
Education News: "According to a recent Newsweek article titled 'The Creativity Crisis,' research shows that American creativity is declining for the first time. If this trend continues, the nation?s economic and national security will be at risk . . ...

House Democrats refuse hearing on pro-rationing Obama czar Donald Berwick

Posted on July 27, 2010
LifeNews: "Like their counterparts in the Senate, House Democrats are refusing to hold a hearing on the recess appointment of rationing advocate Donald Berwick, whom President Barack Obama named to become the director of the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services...

Judge debates government during closing arguments on ?Don?t Ask, Don?t Tell?

Posted on July 27, 2010
The National Law Journal: "The military's 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' policy fails to set forth a government interest that warrants intruding on the constitutionally protected rights of openly homosexual members to serve, the Log Cabin Republicans argued as the trial in the organization's challenge to the policy wound down on Friday...

?America?s gay buying power projected at $743 billion in 2010?

Posted on July 27, 2010
SDGLN (San Diego Gay & Lesbian News): "The total buying power of the U.S. lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) adult population in 2010 is projected to be $743 billion, according to the recently updated analysis."

Levin: Senate to take up ?Don?t Ask? in September

Posted on July 27, 2010
Washington Blade ("the lgbtq community news source"): "Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) told the Blade on Thursday he?s expecting the full Senate to take up 'Don?t Ask, Don?t Tell' repeal in September after lawmakers return from August recess...

DoD needs completed ?Don?t Ask, Don?t Tell? surveys

Posted on July 27, 2010
Army.mil: "Only about 10 percent of the 400,000 servicemembers asked to complete a survey about possible repeal of the 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell' law have responded so far, and DoD officials said they need to hear from the rest."

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