Religion & Law

Israel puts off crisis over conversion law

Posted on July 23, 2010
New York Times: "Late Thursday night, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu issued a statement that Natan Sharansky, the head of the Jewish Agency, would lead a committee of the Reform, Conservative and Orthodox movements and that no conversion law would be submitted before January...

Bangladesh unlikely to ban religious parties

Posted on July 23, 2010
DNA India: "Bangladesh is unlikely to ban religious parties or drop the Islamic verse 'Bismillahir Rahmani Rahim' from the preamble of the constitution that will be reviewed by a top parliamentary panel in a bid to restore the 'secular' spirit of 1971 'Liberation War...

RI: Cranston school decides not to fight ACLU prayer banner, cites cost

Posted on July 23, 2010
FOX News: "School officials in Cranston, R.I., say they can't afford a court battle with the American Civil Liberties Union, so they will remove a banner that has been displayed in a high school auditorium for more than half a century -- a mural that calls on 'Our Heavenly Father' to help students conduct themselves appropriately...

?UK weighs religious elements in gay ceremonies?

Posted on July 23, 2010
CBN News: "Now plans are being considered to introduce religious aspects to the ceremonies, causing concern among evangelical Christians in the United Kingdom. ... But Don Horrocks, head of public affairs for the Evangelical Alliance, says no church should be obliged to perform the ceremonies...

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Deaths of Pakistani Christian brothers fuel call for ?blasphemy? repeal

Posted on July 23, 2010
The Christian Post: "The leader of the World Council of Churches is urging Pakistan?s president and prime minister to initiate measures toward the repeal of their controversial blasphemy laws, which critics say are often abused by extremists."

Spanish judge fined for refusing to allow adoption by lesbian couple

Posted on July 23, 2010
Catholic News Agency: "Next month, former Judge Fernando Ferrin Calamita will be forced to pay the Spanish government $127,000 for denying a lesbian couple?s request to adopt a girl. ... In Ferrin?s ruling he ordered a report be obtained from experts on the consequences the adoption would have on the girl?s development...

Jonah Goldberg: An open conspiracy to slant the news

Posted on July 23, 2010
Jonah Goldberg writing at National Review Online: "Many conservatives think JournoList is the smoking gun that proves not just liberal media bias (already well-established) but something far more elusive as well: the Sasquatch known as the Liberal Media Conspiracy...

More Muslim riots in France

Posted on July 23, 2010
Ryan Mauro writing at Pajamas Media: "You probably didn?t hear about it, but Muslim youths rioted in Grenoble, France, on July 16, sparking some of the worst instability the country has faced since the 2005 riots. Now, like then, most of the media declined to mention the religious or ethnic background of the rioters, instead painting them as unruly youngsters and covering the eyes of the public to the slow dissolution of France as we know it...

GOP spoiling for fight over Berwick appointment

Posted on July 23, 2010
Washington Examiner: "The Berwick affair has made an already polarized Senate more divided. Recently North Carolina Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan tried to advance two judicial nominations for debate on the floor, a move that required Republican consent. She didn't get it...

Supreme Court nominations join partisan battleground

Posted on July 23, 2010
Naftali Bendavid, writing in the Wall Street Journal (full text via Google News): "Supreme Court confirmations are now part of the partisan battleground, with groups on both sides aggressively pressuring senators. ... With Ms. Kagan, Democrats say, Republicans are under pressure from the surge of conservative activism leading up to the midterm elections, and have adopted a strategy of opposing whatever Mr...

FRC calls Obama Administration?s defense of the National Day of Prayer inadequate

Posted on July 23, 2010
PR Newswire: "Today Family Research Council and The Liberty Institute announced the filing of a motion for argument in a recent National Day of Prayer (NDP) case citing the Obama Administration's weak defense of the NDP as the cause. Last April, U.S. District Judge Barbara Crabb declared the National Day of Prayer unconstitutional...

WA: Judge?s handling of juror objection to oath becomes primary election issue

Posted on July 23, 2010
Peninsula Daily News: "Davis, a candidate with Pam Lindquist in the Aug. 17 primary, said incumbent Judge Rick Porter had required a potential juror in a DUI trial to pledging to truthfully answer questions about her qualifications to be a juror, 'so help you God...

Jordan Lorence on the Georgene Rice Show: Augusta State Univ. to counseling student: change your beliefs or get out

Posted on July 23, 2010
ADF Attorney Jordan Lorence appeared on the Georgene Rice Show to discuss: Augusta State Univ. to counseling student: change your beliefs or get out | MP3 11:13 mins.

David French on WAFL with John Bryant and Cleve Walker: Augusta State Univ. to counseling student: change your beliefs or get out

Posted on July 23, 2010
ADF Attorney David French appeared on WAFL with John Bryant and Cleve Walker to discuss this: Augusta State Univ. to counseling student: change your beliefs or get out | MP3 12:29 mins.

Doug Napier on the Janet Mefferd Show: Students prohibited from praying outside the U.S. Supreme Court

Posted on July 23, 2010
ADF attorney Doug Napier appeared on the Janet Mefferd Show to discuss the situation involving Arizona students prohibited from praying outside SCOTUS. | MP3 18:21 mins

?My Biblical views won?t change,? declares counseling student

Posted on July 23, 2010
CitizenLink: "What was her crime? 'Jen has voiced disagreement in several class discussions and in written assignments with the gay and lesbian "lifestyle." She stated in one paper that she believes GLBTQ "lifestyles" to be identity confusion,' according to the university's 'Remediation Plan' for Jennifer, which is documented in an Alliance Defense Fund legal complaint...

Graduate student sues over attempt to impose remediation plan to change her LGBT beliefs

Posted on July 23, 2010
Religion Clause: "A graduate student in the counseling program at Augusta State University in Georgia filed a civil rights lawsuit Wednesday alleging that her free speech, free exercise, equal protection and due process rights were infringed by conditions imposed on her in order for her to remain in the University's program...

?ACLU, gay couples sue Montana for discrimination?

Posted on July 23, 2010
Edge Boston: "[S]even same-sex families, together with the Montana branch of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), have brought suit against the state, seeking the establishment of state-recognized domestic partnerships. ... Last year, Montana?s supreme court upheld the parental rights of Michelle Kulstad, the former long-term life partner of Barbara Maniaci, the biological mother of the children that the two women were rearing until their relationship ended...

Legal challenges to prayer on the rise

Posted on July 23, 2010
"'Religious liberties are under attack across the country,' Kellum says. 'My sense is that there's some type of knee-jerk reaction, almost an allergic reaction, if someone sees the expression of religion,' he says."

Video: US University tells Christian to change beliefs

Posted on July 23, 2010
The Christian Institute: "A Christian student in the US has been told she will not be permitted to graduate unless she changes her beliefs. ... 'Jennifer Keeton has not been accused of mistreating a client,' pointed out ADF Senior Counsel [David French]...

?Professor fired for gay comments settles lawsuit?

Posted on July 23, 2010
Pacific Justice Institute Press Release via Standard Newswire: "A former professor at San Jose City College has received a favorable settlement of a federal lawsuit against the school. The former professor, June Sheldon, was represented by attorneys for Pacific Justice Institute as co-counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom...

San Jose college district settles free-speech suit

Posted on July 23, 2010
San Francisco Chronicle: "A San Jose community college district has agreed to pay $100,000 to settle a free-speech lawsuit by a professor who was fired after allegedly telling students that male homosexuality is caused by stress during pregnancy and that true lesbians don't exist...

?Lose Christianity or face expulsion?

Posted on July 23, 2010
WorldNetDaily: "School officials Mary Jane Anderson-Wiley, Paulette Schenck and Richard Deaner demanded student Jen Keeton, 24, go through a 'remediation' program after she asserted homosexuality is a behavioral choice, not a 'state of being' as a professor said, according to the complaint...

ADF urges four SC, Fla. governments to resist activist demands to drop prayer practices

Posted on July 23, 2010
"The Freedom From Religion Foundation sent letters to the cities of Aiken and Woodruff, S.C., and Spartanburg County, S.C., demanding that they discontinue the prayers, which they falsely claim are unconstitutional. The group Atheists of Florida has gone so far as to file a lawsuit to stop the practice in the city of Lakewood, Fla...

CA: Professor fired over offensive views of homosexuality gets $100,000 ? but not her job back

Posted on July 23, 2010
Mercury News: "A San Jose City College professor fired for classroom comments about the origins of homosexuality will get $100,000 from the school in a legal settlement announced Thursday. ... 'Professors shouldn't be fired simply for doing their jobs as educators,' ADF litigation staff counsel [David J...

Ga. school forces Christian student to alter beliefs to graduate

Posted on July 23, 2010
The Christian Post: "An Augusta State University student filed suit Wednesday after she was told to change her Christian beliefs or otherwise be expelled from the school's graduate counseling program. 'A public university student shouldn?t be threatened with expulsion for being a Christian and refusing to publicly renounce her faith, but that?s exactly what?s happening here,' said David French, senior counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund...

U. of IL says Catholic prof ?Not Fired? ? Just can?t teach

Posted on July 23, 2010
LifeSiteNews: "'While he continues to hold his appointment as adjunct professor, that title is virtually meaningless if he has no classes to teach,' wrote ADF attorney David Hacker in a letter to UIUC. The attorney also expressed suspicion that the promised 'review' of Howell's censure could be skewed by prejudice among UIUC administration: according to correspondence published by the Champaign News-Gazette, Ann Mester, associate dean for UIUC's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, told the head of UIUC's Religion Department that she believed Howell's emails 'violate university standards of inclusivity, which would then entitle us to have him discontinue his teaching arrangement with us...

China may move away from dollar as benchmark

Posted on July 23, 2010
Market Watch: "A top Chinese central bank official suggested switching away from the U.S. dollar as a benchmark for the yuan's foreign-exchange rate, switching instead to a basket of currencies, according to remarks published Thursday."

ASU students react to aspiring counselor?s beliefs

Posted on July 23, 2010
WJBF-TV: "An Augusta State University student says her religious beliefs about homosexuality are being questioned as she tries to get a degree in counseling. A legal group is defending her and filed a complaint on the student's behalf. ... Students at ASU had mixed reactions...

Electrolux to accommodate Muslims during Ramadan

Posted on July 23, 2010
The Oklahoman (AP): "Freezer maker Electrolux says it will accommodate Muslim employees during Ramadan, the upcoming monthlong religious holiday."

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