Religion & Law

Austin R. Nimocks on the Zeb Bell Show: Normalization of homosexual behavior in the military, chaplains, and religious freedom

Posted on July 19, 2010
ADF attorney Austin R. Nimocks appeared on the Zeb Bell Show to discuss normalization of homosexual behavior in the military, chaplains, and religious freedom  | MP3 10:55 mins | related ADF Media Information page

Jordan Lorence on the Catholic Connection: Update on the case of Prof. Ken Howell at the U. of Illinois

Posted on July 19, 2010
ADF attorney Jordan Lorence appeared on Catholic Connection at Ave Maria Radio with Teresa Tomeo to discuss this: Ill. prof. fired for teaching about Catholic beliefs in class on Catholicism. | MP3 13:28 mins

Pro-life picketers rights violated when ordered to put down graphic signs

Posted on July 19, 2010
Religion Clause: "In Lefemine v. Davis, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 68725 (D SC, July 8, 2010), a South Carolina federal district court enjoined Greenwood County (SC) sheriff officials from imposing content-based restrictions on graphic anti-abortion depictions on signs carried by a Christian anti-abortion group...

Home-school ban in Sweden forces families to mull leaving

Posted on July 19, 2010
Washington Times: "The Swedish Liberal Party pushed a new 1,500-page schooling law through last month one paragraph of which will make home schooling as an expression of religion or philosophy effectively impossible for Swedish families, other than in 'exceptional circumstances' such as health issues or distance from a public school...

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Obama gains Evangelical allies on immigration

Posted on July 19, 2010
New York Times: "At a time when the prospects for immigration overhaul seem most dim, supporters have unleashed a secret weapon: a group of influential evangelical Christian leaders. Normally on the opposite side of political issues backed by the Obama White House, these leaders are aligning with the president to support an overhaul that would include some path to legalization for illegal immigrants already here...

Scholars: Westboro message at Marine?s funeral offensive, but protected

Posted on July 19, 2010
York Daily Record: "The writers of all seven amicus briefs filed this week with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of the Westboro Baptist Church noted two things: The protest by the Rev. Fred Phelps and members of his family was terribly offensive and presented a worldview with which they disagreed greatly...

OK: Legislator?s proposal would ban use of Sharia law

Posted on July 19, 2010
Tulsa World: "A proposed amendment to the Oklahoma Constitution that would ban Sharia law in the state court system is either a pre-emptive strike against encroaching Islamic law in the U.S. or an expression of Islamophobia, depending on who you ask. State Rep...

Conscientious objection after DADT repeal

Posted on July 19, 2010
New York Times: "Answering the G.I. Rights Hotline for the last 11 years, J. E. McNeil has counseled thousands of soldiers who want to become conscientious objectors and get out of the service. ... Ms. McNeil got a hot-line call that raised a new issue: the caller said he considered homosexuality an abomination and wanted to be a conscientious objector because he could not serve in the military alongside gay soldiers...

U.S. to fund radical feminist group

Posted on July 19, 2010
OneNewsNow: "The United Nations has created a super agency for feminists, but one female leader thinks it's unnecessary. The U.N. General Assembly recently voted to consolidate four different groups into a single one that could eventually be fueled by a $1 billion a year, and many of those dollars would come from the U...

California conservatives welcome chief justice resignation

Posted on July 19, 2010
OneNewsNow: "After serving California for more than a decade as chief justice, Ronald M. George is finally resigning -- news that has conservatives breathing a sigh of relief. ... 'He is a judicial activist and pulls his own views and political opinions,' Huey explains...

C. Everett Koop urges senators to block Kagan

Posted on July 19, 2010
USA Today / On Politics: "Former surgeon general C. Everett Koop is urging a no vote on Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan in a letter that will be delivered today to senators who soon will be deciding to confirm her. ... In the letter, Koop accuses Kagan of lobbying successfully to change the language of a 1997 statement by American College of Obstetrics and Gynecologists on a controversial procedure that critics call 'partial-birth abortion...

Jobless in Cuba? Communism faces the unthinkable

Posted on July 19, 2010
Associated Press: "President Raul Castro has startled the nation lately by saying about one in five Cuban workers may be redundant. At the work site on Obispo street, those numbers run in reverse. It's a common sight in communist Cuba. Here, nearly everyone works for the state and official unemployment is minuscule, but pay is so low that Cubans like to joke that 'the state pretends to pay us and we pretend to work...

Spanish parliament to debate ban on public burqas

Posted on July 19, 2010
Associated Press: "Spanish lawmakers will debate barring burqas in public, joining other European countries considering similar moves on the grounds that the body-covering garments are degrading to women, the leading opposition party said Sunday."

Erik Stanley: Appeals Court decision shows need for churches to update their by-laws

Posted on July 19, 2010
ADF Attorney Erik Stanley writing at Speak Up Movement / Church: "The Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision recently that demonstrates why churches should be updating their by-laws to protect against potential litigation that can threaten the constitutional right of the church to select its ministers free from government interference...

University officials act like kindergarteners

Posted on July 19, 2010
Commentarama blog: "Just when I think academic idiocy, political correctness, and group-victimology can't get any sillier or more destructive to free thinking, they do. The University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign has relieved a professor of his duties for teaching the Catholic view on homosexuality, in a course on Catholic teaching...

Colombian senator hopes to revive same-sex ?marriage? bill

Posted on July 19, 2010
Colombia Reports: "In the wake of the legalization of gay marriage in Argentina Thursday, Senator Piedad Cordoba hopes to draw up a gay marriage bill for Colombia. The Liberal Party senator is leading an effort to legalize same-sex marriage. Although Congress has twice shot down similar proposals in the past, she hopes to begin work on the bill on July 20, when the next legislative period begins...

?Gay groups in Peru seek election alliance in wake of Argentina law?

Posted on July 19, 2010
Living in Peru: "After the approval of gay marriage in Argentina, two homosexual organizations in Lima announced they are seeking for political allies among the candidates running in Peru's 2011 presidential elections, in order to promote gay marriage in Peru...

?Thousands march for gay rights in Poland?

Posted on July 19, 2010
AFP: "Thousands of gays, lesbians, bisexuals and supporters of equal rights for sexual minorities marched in Poland's capital Saturday in the first annual EuroPride march in Eastern Europe. The colourful parade wound through Warsaw in sweltering heat of close to 40 degrees Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), urging the government in conservative and deeply Roman Catholic country to give homosexual partnerships legal status...

Hawaii: Gubernatorial candidate would veto civil unions

Posted on July 19, 2010
Honolulu Star-Advertiser: "Hannemann said that if he were to be elected governor in November, he would work with state lawmakers on expanding the state's reciprocal beneficiaries law so gay couples could have additional benefits. But he said he would use his veto power if lawmakers sent him an identical civil unions bill...

Same-sex ?marriage? has judges on electoral hot seat

Posted on July 19, 2010
Des Moines Register: "At least one group that tried to impeach a Polk County judge in 2007 over a same-sex marriage ruling is considering an effort this fall to boot judges off the bench. Others who opposed that decision say they will encourage supporters to vote 'no' on all judges who appear on the November ballot...

Ireland: Civil Partnership Bill signed into law

Posted on July 19, 2010
Irish Times: "The Civil Partnership Bill, which provides legal recognition for same-sex couples in Ireland for the first time, has today been signed into law. The Bill was signed into law by President Mary McAleese at Áras an Uachtaráin this morning."

Syria bans full Islamic face veils at universities

Posted on July 19, 2010
Associated Press: "Syria has forbidden the country's students and teachers from wearing the niqab - the full Islamic veil that reveals only a woman's eyes - taking aim at a garment many see as political."

Jordan Lorence on the Vicki McKenna Show to discuss the firing of Dr. Kenneth Howell

Posted on July 19, 2010
ADF Attorney Jordan Lorence appeared on the Vicki McKenna Show to discuss the firing of Dr. Kenneth Howell by the University of Illinois. | MP3 16:21 mins

Will Europe admit to being Christian?

Posted on July 19, 2010
Gerald J. Russello writing in the National Catholic Register: "The [Italian crucifix-in-the-classroom] case explicitly confronts the central issue facing Europe: whether it will acknowledge its Christian heritage, or surrender to a false 'neutrality' that really means uniform submission to a certain understanding of secularization...

?What pro-lifers are missing in the stem-cell debate?

Posted on July 19, 2010
Michael Kinsley writing at Slate: "If you believe that embryos a few days after conception have the same human rights as you or me, killing innocent embryos is obviously intolerable. But do opponents of stem-cell research really believe that? Stem cells test that belief, and sharpen the basic right-to-life question, in a way abortion never has...

Welsh gov?t wants ?presumed consent? for organ donations

Posted on July 19, 2010
The Christian Institute: "The Welsh Assembly Government wants to allow doctors to harvest organs from the dead without their consent. Supporters say it will result in more life-saving organ transplants, but critics say it treats human bodies like state property and may encourage a slippery definition of death...

Christians unfairly targeted for hate crime prosecutions

Posted on July 19, 2010
The Christian Institute: "Christians in Britain are being unfairly targeted for hate crime prosecutions, according to a new report by the Civitas think-tank. The report, entitled A New Inquisition: Religious Persecution in Britain Today, also warns that existing hate crime legislation poses a danger to freedom of speech...

Lambda Legal urges Congress to pass ?Uniting American Families Act?

Posted on July 19, 2010
Lambda Legal Press Release: "Today, Lambda Legal joined a coalition of over 30 organizations and leaders from the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT), immigrants' rights, civil rights and faith communities to urge Congress to pass the Uniting American Families Act and end discrimination against LGBT binational families...

?Gay-lesbian group overcomes opposition at U.N.?

Posted on July 19, 2010
Reuters: "The United Nations on Monday accredited a major gay and lesbian organization that Egypt, Russia and others had tried to keep out as a group permitted to lobby at the world body. The International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, a U...

Nate Kellum on the Don Kroah Show: Students prohibited from praying outside the U.S. Supreme Court

Posted on July 19, 2010
ADF Attorney Nate Kellum appeared on the Don Kroah Show to discuss the situation involving Arizona students prohibited from praying outside SCOTUS. | MP3 7:51 mins

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