Religion & Law

ACLU sues for domestic partnerships in Montana

Posted on July 22, 2010
ACLU of Montana: "Seven committed same-sex couples, with the aid of the ACLU, are suing the state of Montana for failing to provide legal protections for their families in violation of the Montana Constitution's guarantees of equal protection."

Delay for NC lawyers debating anti-bias language

Posted on July 22, 2010
The Sun News (AP): "A decision on whether North Carolina's regulatory body for lawyers should endorse anti-discrimination language has been put off until the fall after some changes were made. ... The panel rejected an amendment that would have removed the words 'sexual orientation' and 'gender identity' from a list of characteristics that could cause bias...

DADT opponent honorably discharged

Posted on July 22, 2010
USA Today: "Army National Guard Lt. Dan Choi has been honorably discharged, almost a year and a half after he came out on national television to join the campaign to overturn the military's 'don't ask, don't tell' policy regarding the sexual orientation of members of the military, The Advocate reported...

UK: One in five girls pregnant by age of 18, government study finds

Posted on July 22, 2010
The Guardian: "Almost one in five girls who are sexually active at the age of 18 say they have been pregnant at least once, according to a major government study published today. ... The statistics ? part of wider research into the experiences of thousands of 18-year-olds in England published by the Department for Education ? found that of all those who had been pregnant, just under half (46%) had given birth, while more than a third (36%) had an abortion...

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GOP lawmaker: WH illegally funding Kenya abortion

Posted on July 22, 2010
CBN: "Citing a report by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., said $23 million has gone to Kenyan groups who are working for passage of a new constitution. ... Smith also said the new constitution was not written by Kenyans, but by U...

Ireland: Abortion travel numbers to UK fall

Posted on July 22, 2010
Irish Times: "The numbers of women travelling to Britain each year for abortions has decreased from more than 6,500 in 2001 to just under 4,500 last year, according to the Crisis Pregnancy Agency."

UK: Baby survives at 23 weeks

Posted on July 22, 2010
CCFON: "A baby has survived child birth after being born at only 23 week old. Amelia Hope Burdon was born in June to Miss Amanda Stapleford, whilst her brother Arthur was born just 10 days later. She initially showed no signs of life when born but doctors were able to revive her...

Rep. Chris Smith to introduce ?No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act?

Posted on July 22, 2010
LifeSiteNews: "Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) is planning to introduce the 'No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act' on July 29. If passed, this bill would establish as permanent many of the pro-life policies that currently rely on regular congressional re-approval, and which are attached as riders to annual appropriations bills...

Pakistan court frees blasphemy accused after 14 years

Posted on July 22, 2010
AFP: "A Pakistan high court on Thursday released a mentally ill woman held without trial for 14 years on allegations of desecrating the Koran, her lawyer and court officials said. Despite 'no evidence' being found against 60-year-old Zaibul Nisa, she had been left to languish in the prison section of a mental asylum since 1996, the court said...

Lords: Drop in religious radio a ?disappointment?

Posted on July 22, 2010
The Christian Institute: "The decline in religious broadcasting on the BBC World Service has been branded a 'disappointment' by members of the House of Lords during a debate on the future of the radio station. The Bishop of Chester said that religious broadcasting has an important role to play by contributing to 'religious understanding...

Fired CA professor exonerated in settlement of lawsuit against San Jose college district

Posted on July 22, 2010
"Professor June Sheldon was fired after objectively answering a student?s in-class question simply because a different student claimed to be 'offended' by her answer, even though it comported with the official class curriculum and a district policy on academic freedom...

Pakistan Christians in fear after double murder

Posted on July 22, 2010
Family Security Matters: "Right after the attack on the Christian brothers, the local administration deployed a heavy contingent of police and enforced Section 144 to control the situation in the town. The tension still remains high. At around 10pm, on July 19, announcements were made from mosques in Waris Pura asking people to come out to fight against Christians...

Poll: Prop. 8 divides religious Latino community in CA

Posted on July 22, 2010
Christian Post: "A majority of Latino Catholics, 57 percent, say they would vote to allow same-sex marriage in their state of California, according to the poll released Wednesday by the Public Religion Research Institute. In contrast, only 22 percent of Latino Protestants say they support allowing gay and lesbian couples to marry...

UK: Muslim drivers barring guide dogs from vehicles

Posted on July 22, 2010
The Christian Institute: "Some Muslim bus and taxi drivers are telling blind passengers that they can?t bring their ?unclean? dogs on board, it has emerged. One blind man, George Herridge, said he had twice been asked by bus drivers to leave their vehicles because of his black labrador guide dog...

UK: Top doc resists attempt to legalise euthanasia

Posted on July 22, 2010
The Christian Institute: "Legalising euthanasia would give a green light to 'hopelessness' and signal that terminally ill people would be better off dead, according to a leading end-of-life care expert. Baroness Finlay of Llandaff, who is a Professor of Palliative Medicine at the University of Cardiff and a Peer, made the warning in wake of a campaign to legalise euthanasia...

Childhood abuse and homosexuality linked in New Zealand study

Posted on July 22, 2010
New Zealand Herald: "The New Zealand Mental Health Survey by the University of Otago in Christchurch has found that people identifying themselves as gay, lesbian, bisexual or having had same-sex encounters are more likely to have experienced events such as sexual assault and violence in the home as children...

Iranians in Europe are converting to Christianity

Posted on July 22, 2010
Christian Examiner: "Forty Iranian converts to Christianity were recently baptized together in an unprecedented ceremony in Hanover, according to the Farsi Christian News Network. ... Although conversions to Christianity are not rare, the network said 'this incident in Hanover is the first of its kind where a large group have together converted and been baptized as Christians...

The Common Core Curriculum

Posted on July 22, 2010
Chester E. Finn, Jr. and Michael J. Petrilli, president and vice president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, writing at National Review Online: "After votes yesterday in Massachusetts and the District of Columbia, 28 states have now embraced the new 'Common Core' standards for primary and secondary education...

Newt Gingrich statement on the proposed ?Cordoba House? mosque near Ground Zero

Posted on July 22, 2010
NEWT.org: "There should be no mosque near Ground Zero in New York so long as there are no churches or synagogues in Saudi Arabia. The time for double standards that allow Islamists to behave aggressively toward us while they demand our weakness and submission is over...

Federal judge dismisses pending motions in R-71 public records case

Posted on July 22, 2010
Seattle Post-Intelligencer / Strange Bedfellows: "The secretary of state's office said [Protect Marriage Washington] is again taking their arguments to Judge Benjamin Settle, who last September blocked release of the names of people who signed Referendum 71 petitions...

Elena Kagan wins second GOP vote: Richard Lugar

Posted on July 22, 2010
Christian Science Monitor: "Sen. Richard Lugar (R) of Indiana said on Wednesday that he would vote to confirm Ms. Kagan. The announcement came one day after the Senate Judiciary Committee voted 13 to 6 to endorse her nomination and send it to the full Senate for a vote before the August recess...

Obama?s electronic health records czar: HIV status and abortions need not be included

Posted on July 22, 2010
CNSNews: "Dr. David Blumenthal, the Obama administration's National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, said on Tuesday that patients can choose to omit procedures such as abortions and positive HIV tests from the electronic health records (EHR) that every American is supposed to have by 2014 under the terms of the economic stimulus law that President Barack Obama signed last year...

Alliance Defense Fund goes head to head with the University of Illinois over Howell case

Posted on July 22, 2010
Adam Kissel writing at FIRE's The Torch: "Today we examine the University of Illinois' reply and ADF's response to the reply. ... As FIRE's letter to UIUC stated, the harm at UIUC has already occurred and is ongoing; an investigation of a professor's protected expression violates his or her rights...

Free speech?s death by a thousand cuts

Posted on July 22, 2010
Donald A. Downs writing at the The John William Pope Center: "An important free speech and academic freedom case merits attention because it appears to portend an erosion of the protection professors have traditionally enjoyed for their writings. The case is serious enough that the plaintiff, Michael Adams, has won the support of several free-speech groups: the American Association of University Professors, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, and the Thomas Jefferson Center for the Protection of Free Expression, in addition to the Alliance Defense Fund, which is representing him...

US University bars prof for teaching RC beliefs

Posted on July 22, 2010
The Christian Institute: "Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) Senior Counsel David French said that it is outrageous for a professor to be punished for teaching the actual subject matter of his course. The ADF has now issued a deadline for the University to fully reinstate Prof Howell...

University of Illinois says professor ?has not been fired? for teaching Catholic doctrine on homosexuality in Catholicism class ? he?s just not teaching classes

Posted on July 22, 2010
CNSNews: "In a letter to the Alliance Defense Fund, Steven Veazie, deputy counsel for the University of Illinois, said that Howell is still on staff. ... In its response to Veazie?s letter, the ADF reiterated that Howell's First Amendment and 14 Amendment rights were violated when the university relieved the professor of his duties, due to the content of his speech...

IN: County defends regs on doctors

Posted on July 22, 2010
The Journal Gazette: "Klopfer?s lawsuit argues the ordinance violates constitutional privacy rights by giving health officials unlimited access to patient medical records. The county?s response calls this a 'straw man argument' because, it says, no provision of the ordinance could be construed as authority for a search of Klopfer?s or the clinic?s offices...

Kevin Theriot: Fantastic victory for church schools

Posted on July 22, 2010
ADF Attorney Kevin Theriot writing at Speak Up Movement / Church: "Every once in a while, a judge will write an opinion demonstrating the vital importance of religious freedom. The Honorable William C. Lee in the Federal District Court for the Northern District of Indiana did just that in a July 15, 2010 ruling where he rejected a former employee?s request that the court meddle in the affairs of Indiana Wesleyan University...

Americans United urges IRS to investigate Oklahoma political rally

Posted on July 22, 2010
Associated Baptist Press: "Americans United for Separation of Church and State wrote the IRS July 21 requesting an investigation about whether Reclaiming Oklahoma for Christ violated tax law by hosting a rally for a Southern Baptist candidate. ... Paul Blair, pastor of Fairview Baptist Church in Edmond, Okla...

Augusta State Univ. to counseling student: change your beliefs or get out

Posted on July 22, 2010
"The student, Jennifer Keeton, has been told to stop sharing her beliefs with others and that she must change her beliefs in order to graduate from the counseling program."

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