Religion & Law

?Repeal the 17th Amendment?? Cato Podcast

Posted on July 15, 2010
The 10:45 Min. Cato podcast can be accessed here.  |  Wikipedia: 17th Amend. Text and History

VA: Loudoun County First to Declare War Against Christmas in 2010

Posted on July 15, 2010
Christian Newswire (Public Advocate): "The Loudoun County, Virginia Board seems determined to abolish Christmas during the summer so it can become the first in the nation to attack the holiday in 2010. Members of the public will turn out in the board of supervisors room at a public input session ...

Erik Stanley: Is the Pulpit Initiative a Bad Strategy?

Posted on July 15, 2010
". . . why couldn't ADF file a lawsuit against the IRS and ask the Court for an injunction to stop the IRS from applying the Johnson Amendment to a pastor's sermon from the pulpit? The easy answer to why such a lawsuit would not work is that Congress has prohibited lawsuits against the IRS that seek either a declaratory judgment or an injunction ...

All Joy and No Fun: Why parents hate parenting.

Posted on July 15, 2010
Jennifer Senior write at NY Magazine: "From the perspective of the species, it?s perfectly unmysterious why people have children. From the perspective of the individual, however, it?s more of a mystery than one might think. Most people assume that having children will make them happier...

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Doug Napier on the Mike Gallagher Show: Terminated for teaching Catholicism in Catholicism class

Posted on July 14, 2010
ADF attorney Doug Napier appeared on the Mike Gallagher Show to discuss the case of the Catholic professor terminated for teaching Catholicism in Catholicism class. They also discuss this case: NY high school cancels Christian club, lets 60 others remain...

?Charges dropped against gay veteran protester who subpoenaed Obama?

Posted on July 14, 2010
AP: "Prosecutors have dropped all charges against an openly gay Iraq War veteran who twice chained himself to a White House fence to protest the military's 'don't ask, don't tell' policy."

IL: Anti-abortion activists rally

Posted on July 14, 2010
MySuburbanLife.com: "Dozens of anti-abortion activists lined Randall Road at busy intersections in the Tri-Cities Friday to get their message across in a shocking way.he groups displayed large posters showing pictures of aborted babies. 'When people see what abortion looks like, they can?t forget it,' said Eric Schiedler, director of Pro-Life Action League, which organized the rally...

Daniel Blomberg: ?DADT Repeal: 2, Free Speech and Free Exercise: 0?

Posted on July 14, 2010
Daniel Blomberg writes at the Speak Up Movement Blog: "While homosexual advocacy groups are complaining that Service members who engage in homosexual behavior can?t speak up in support of DADT repeal (as if they needed more advocates with the Commander in Chief, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Secretary of Defense on their side), it?s those who support keeping the current policy who are feeling the real heat...

Dearborn Declares War on the Four Christian Missionaries; They Respond?A Must See Video

Posted on July 14, 2010
Thomas More Law Center: "In an unprecedented and astonishing development, the City of Dearborn, through its mayor and its official website, has personally attacked the four Christian missionaries arrested at the annual Arab International Festival on June 18, 2010...

CDC Finds Most Teens are Virgins, Contrary to Planned Parenthood: ALL

Posted on July 14, 2010
LifeSiteNews: "The Center for Disease Control and Prevention released a new study last month showing that most teens are virgins ? which American Life League (ALL) has said contradicts propaganda disseminated by sex-education giant Planned Parenthood ...

Constitutional Challenge to ?Don?t Ask, Don?t Tell? Reaches Trial

Posted on July 14, 2010
National Law Journal (Law.com): "The case represents the only formal constitutional challenge to Don't Ask, Don't Tell, which allows the discharge of service members who are found to have engaged in a homosexual act, make a statement that demonstrates a 'propensity' to engage in a homosexual act or have entered into a same-sex marriage or attempted marriage...

Foundation for Moral Law encourages school board to restore prayer in face of threats

Posted on July 14, 2010
Foundation for Moral Law: "The Foundation for Moral Law (FML) in Montgomery, Alabama, founded by Judge Roy Moore, sent a letter yesterday to the Hoover City Board of Education in Hoover, Alabama, encouraging the Board to bring back invocations at its meetings, despite a threatening anti-prayer letter from a liberal secularist group in Washington,D...

NRA urges opposition to Kagan

Posted on July 14, 2010
LA Times: "In a new ad, the group cites Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor's recent vote to uphold a handgun ban. Meanwhile, the Senate Judiciary Committee delays its nomination vote a week."

Firing follows anonymous ?hate speech? complaint

Posted on July 14, 2010
One News Now: "The professor is being represented by the Alliance Defense Fund in his quest for reinstatement at the school. Jordan Lorence, senior counsel with ADF, explains his firm's approach in the case. 'We have written a demand letter to the university explaining what the law on freedom of speech is for professors and urging them to restore Dr...

Rick Santorum: ?The Elephant in the Room: Boldly defending marriage?

Posted on July 14, 2010
Rick Santorum writes at The Philadelphia Inquirer: ". . . when last week's ruling in Boston knocked down the last defense against judicially mandated same-sex "marriage," there was largely silence from the political class. With the exception of a core group of conservatives, most politicians - including the president - continue to publicly back marriage while eagerly awaiting the day when judges will take this issue out of their hands...

U.S. Chamber echoes anti-business attacks on Obama, Democrats

Posted on July 14, 2010
The Hill: "The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is blasting the Obama administration and congressional Democrats for policies it says are expanding government and hindering an economic recovery."

Judge blocks new Neb. abortion screening law

Posted on July 14, 2010
"Plaintiffs have presented substantial evidence that the disclosures mandated by LB 594, if applied literally, will require medical providers to give untruthful, misleading and irrelevant information to patients," Smith Camp said in her ruling.

Political Rifts Reappear in Northern Ireland Riots

Posted on July 14, 2010
NY Times: "Six months after the British government handed control of the police in Northern Ireland to local officials, the worst rioting in years has left 82 police officers injured in Belfast, the provincial capital, including an officer who was hospitalized in stable condition after a concrete slab was dropped on her head from a rooftop...

Montana sex education proposal draws outrage at school board meeting

Posted on July 14, 2010
AP: "More than 300 people attended a school board meeting Tuesday and about 65 people commented on the proposed curriculum." | FRC Blog: Excerpts from proposed Helena, Montana sex ed curriculum

Archbishop Kurtz criticizes rulings against Defense of Marriage Act

Posted on July 14, 2010
CNS: "The chairman of the U.S. bishops' Ad Hoc Committee for the Defense of Marriage July 12 criticized a federal judge's ruling in two Massachusetts cases that a key provision of the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional. 'To claim that defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman is somehow irrational, prejudiced or even bigoted is a great disservice not only to truth but the good of the nation,' Archbishop Joseph E...

A Culture in Denial Cannot Be Healed

Posted on July 14, 2010
Jeff Mirus writes at Catholic Culture: "The rejection of the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) in U.S. District Court on July 8th signals the same flight from reality that led to the firing of two pro-marriage university professors earlier this Summer (see Is Academic Freedom Merely Academic?)...

ACLU: ?Act Now: Tell Kathleen Sebelius to Ensure Access to Abortions at Religiously Affiliated Hospitals?

Posted on July 14, 2010
ACLU: "Please send a letter to Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, asking her to investigate hospitals that refuse to provide emergency abortion care, and issue a bulletin making clear that refusing to provide this care violates federal law...

ACLU: ?Obama Administration Releases AIDS Strategy With Important Anti-Discrimination Policies?

Posted on July 14, 2010
ACLU: "In a critical acknowledgment of the discrimination surrounding HIV/AIDS, the Obama administration today, in its newly released strategy, emphasized the government?s responsibility to enforce nondiscrimination laws and made clear that education about the transmission of HIV is crucial to fighting the stigma that many living with HIV face ...

USA Today: ?Gay-marriage lawsuits escalate?

Posted on July 14, 2010
USA Today: "Lawsuits over gay marriage have escalated on the nation's two coasts, energizing advocates on both sides and bringing the legal battle over same-sex marriage closer to the U.S. Supreme Court . . . Still, resolution of the cases now in lower U...

U.S. Taxpayers to Subsidize New U.N. Agency Promoting Abortion

Posted on July 14, 2010
"The U.S. will subsidize a new $500-million United Nations agency that conservatives say will likely promote an abortion agenda."

Spain?s highest court decides not to suspend new abortion law while it hears appeal

Posted on July 14, 2010
Google News (Canadian Press): "Spain's highest court has rejected suspending a new law allowing abortion without restrictions in the first 14 weeks of pregnancy while it rules on an appeal filed by the conservative opposition."

SD: Rapid City church, Pennington County at odds over property taxes

Posted on July 14, 2010
Rapid City Journal: "A disagreement over when church property becomes tax exempt has led to a $17,000 property tax dispute between the former First Evangelical Free Church of Rapid City and the Pennington County Equalization Department. First E Free Church, which now goes by the name Parkview Evangelical Free Church, has filed an appeal in Seventh Circuit Court of its 2009 property tax bill...

MO: Nixon faces decision on abortion, ethics bills

Posted on July 14, 2010
KOAMTV.com: "Nixon faced a Wednesday deadline to sign or veto bills . . . One would expand Missouri's 24-hour abortion consent law by requiring clinics to give women the chance to view an ultrasound image and listen to the heartbeat of the fetus . . ...

KY: Judges Win Right to Identify Their Political Party, Ask for Campaign Funds

Posted on July 14, 2010
Yesterday, a federal appellate court decided that Kentucky judicial candidates can say what political party they are a member of and personally ask for funds for their campaign. The Court also affirmed that judicial candidates cannot constitutionally be prohibited from stating their views during their campaigns

China seeks to reduce Internet users? anonymity

Posted on July 14, 2010
AP: "A leading Chinese Internet regulator has vowed to reduce anonymity in China's portion of cyberspace, calling for requirements that people use their real names when buying a mobile phone or going online, according to a human rights group."

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