Religion & Law

Cal. Marriage and Family Therapists ponder denial of membership to counselors engaged in ?Sexual Orientation Change Efforts?

Posted on June 30, 2010
Anglican Mainstream: "The California Association of Marriage and Family Therapists (CAMFT) considers a proposal to deny membership to therapists and religious counselors who conduct Sexual Orientation Change Efforts (SOCE), and considers proclaiming SOCE to be unethical...

Christian Legal Society loses right to remain Christian

Posted on June 30, 2010
CCFON: "[David French], senior counsel at the Alliance Defense Fund, warned in his comments on the decision that this could leave unpopular student groups vulnerable to a takeover from those who do not agree with their beliefs."

Supreme Court affirms viewpoint discrimination

Posted on June 30, 2010
Dakota Voice: "[David French] has some helpful light to shed on this odd matter at the National Review. French is a senior counsel at the Alliance Defense Fund and the director of its Center for Academic Freedom, and the ADF was co-counsel for CLS, so he has considerable grasp of the case...

OR: Sign ban shows signs of content-based restriction

Posted on June 30, 2010
OneNewsNow: "Alliance Defense Fund has filed a lawsuit over a ban against a pro-life effort in Stayton, Oregon. ... 'He went to the police station and had a long conversation with some police officials there,' [Jonathan Scruggs] accounts. 'The police officials basically said, "We don't allow any signs that are offensive, and your signs with the images of aborted fetuses are offensive...

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OR: Stayton blocked display of anti-abortion images, federal lawsuit says

Posted on June 30, 2010
Statesman Journal: "An Oregon man has filed a lawsuit in federal court against the city of Stayton for allegedly violating his right to display anti-abortion signs featuring images of aborted fetuses. ... 'Pro-life advocates shouldn't be kept from expressing their beliefs simply because city officials or others may oppose their viewpoint or find it offensive,' ADF Senior Counsel [Nate Kellum] said in a statement...

David French: Supreme Court deals blow to liberty

Posted on June 30, 2010
"Underlying the court?s reasoning is a dangerous view of the enormous breadth of government power. In the court?s eyes, students who want to meet in empty classrooms (rooms their tuition and tax dollars pay for) are receiving a government benefit, not exercising a fundamental right...

UK: Transsexual to sue over breast augmentation

Posted on June 30, 2010
The Sun: "Jobless Miranda Lee, 40, says she has been left 'half man, half woman' after she underwent £60,000 of gender changing surgery but was refused an £8,000 breast augmentation."

Specter unhappy with Kagan?s answers

Posted on June 30, 2010
Blog of LegalTimes: "'You have followed the pattern which has been in vogue since Bork,' he said, referring to conventional wisdom that Supreme Court nominees have been hesitant to say much about their legal views after the nomination of the very substantive Judge Robert Bork failed in 1987...

Republicans press Kagan on social issues at hearing

Posted on June 30, 2010
New York Times: "Republicans on Wednesday stepped up their pressure on Elena Kagan to defend her decisions involving abortion and the ban on gays and lesbians serving openly in the military, trying to knock her off her stride even as some of them conceded that her confirmation to the Supreme Court appears all but assured...

As Republicans despair, ?[c]onfirmation all but sure, Kagan ending hearings?

Posted on June 30, 2010
Washington Post: "'Solicitor General Kagan will be confirmed,' Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the panel chairman, confidently declared during a break in the hearings."

Trafficking in Persons Report 2010

Posted on June 30, 2010
U.S. Department of State: "Secretary Clinton (June 14, 2010): 'The 10th annual Trafficking in Persons Report outlines the continuing challenges across the globe, including in the United States. The Report, for the first time, includes a ranking of the United States based on the same standards to which we hold other countries...

Infertility treatments and the problem of ?multifetal pregnancy reduction?

Posted on June 30, 2010
The Elliot Institute Post-Abortion Review: "In increasing numbers, however, these pregnancies are 'higher order' with three or more implanted fetuses. 'The international rates of triplet or higher order pregnancies after assisted reproduction are 7.3 percent at conception...

USCCB committee: The truth of marriage is crucial to Evangelization

Posted on June 30, 2010
USCCB: "The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops? Ad Hoc Committee for the Defense of Marriage has launched a new initiative for the protection of marriage, entitled Marriage: Unique for a Reason. The initiative is to help catechize and educate Catholics on the meaning of marriage as the union of one man and one woman ...

?Serbian President supports Belgrade gay pride?

Posted on June 30, 2010
All Voices: "Serbian President Boris Tadic met with the representatives of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender organizations and expressed his support for the organization of the Gay Pride parade in Belgrade."

Christian views on homosexuality deemed ?hate speech? by European Rights Agency

Posted on June 30, 2010
LifeSiteNews: "When a European Christian pro-family group applied to join the Fundamental Rights Platform (FRP) of the EU?s Human Rights Agency, they did not expect to be denounced as promoters of 'hate.' The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) objected to a statement by the Alliance of Romania?s Families (ARF) calling same-sex 'marriage' an example of 'human degeneration,' and denied their request for membership...

Germany: Same-sex couples will be able to ?marry? in Thuringia in the future

Posted on June 30, 2010
OTZ [Google Translation]: "Homosexual couples should be able to marry [according to] the future plans of the state government [in Thuringia's state offices]. 'We [will] end the Thuringian exceptionalism,' said Interior Minister Peter Huber (CDU) on Wednesday in Erfurt...

TX: San Marcos CISD could change sex ed program

Posted on June 30, 2010
San Marcos Local News: "The board may approve or reject 'abstinence plus' curricula for the district?s middle school and high school students. The goal of the abstinence plus program is to reduce the number of students who have sexual intercourse and increase condom use among those who have sex...

Kagan: latitude needed in religion cases

Posted on June 30, 2010
Baptist Press: "Without saying how she would rule on any specific church-state case, Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan said Wednesday that governments should have some freedom 'to make religious accommodations' in matters involving the Constitution's Establishment Clause...

Belarus: Contradictory court rulings for conscientious objectors

Posted on June 30, 2010
Forum 18: "The three conscientious objectors to compulsory military service sentenced under the Criminal Code since such prosecutions resumed in November 2009 have faced different outcomes, Forum 18 News Service has learnt."

Critics blast Scottish ?home abortion? plan

Posted on June 30, 2010
The Christian Institute: "Doctors in Scotland are giving women abortion-inducing drugs in hospital before sending them home to have the abortion in a scheme critics have described as 'grotesque'."

Meet the modern sperm donor

Posted on June 30, 2010
"Houben has biological offspring in Australia, Israel, Canada, Cyprus, Germany and Luxembourg, as well as at home in the Netherlands. His current tally of donor-conceived children stands at an eye-watering 62, with the 63rd on the way . . . "

Jordan Lorence: The CLS case and the mirage of the ?all comers? policy

Posted on June 30, 2010
ADF Attorney Jordan Lorence writing at The Washington Examiner: "UC-Hastings claims that for the last 20 years it has required CLS and all student organizations to accept any student who desires to join under an 'all comers' policy. But this is a mirage...

Robert George: Is Obama a bigot or liar on marriage?

Posted on June 30, 2010
"Has the president embraced bigotry? Or has he lied to the American people about his position on what marriage is and how it should be defined? ... For what it?s worth, I think he is lying."

Former Justice Department lawyer accuses Holder of dropping New Black Panther case for racial reasons

Posted on June 30, 2010
FOX News: "J. Christian Adams, now an attorney in Virginia and a conservative blogger, says he and the other Justice Department lawyers working on the case were ordered to dismiss it. ... Adams also accused Assistant Attorney General Thomas Perez of lying under oath to Congress about the circumstances surrounding the decision to drop the probe...

ACLU affiliates issue alerts to individuals traveling to Arizona

Posted on June 30, 2010
ACLU: "In response to civil liberties threats caused by the recent passage of Arizona's racial profiling law, state-based American Civil Liberties Union affiliates across the country are issuing travel alerts informing individuals of their rights when stopped by law enforcement when traveling in Arizona...

Ban on crucifixes in Italian schools is appealed

Posted on June 30, 2010
Associated Press: "A European ruling banning crucifixes in Italian schools should be overturned, nine European governments said in an appeal Wednesday. ... The decisions of the court -- an arm of the Council of Europe, the continent's premier human rights watchdog -- are binding on the council's 47 member states and therefore have an impact far beyond Italy...

Decade after Vt. civil unions, issue reverberates

Posted on June 30, 2010
Associated Press: "A decade after Vermont became the first state to recognize same-sex couples, it is one of five states that have expanded beyond civil unions to offer full-fledged same-sex marriage. But it's still a hotly debated issue in many parts of the country...

Lambda Legal Argues before Court to Block Elimination of Domestic Partner Benefits for Gay and Lesbian State Employees

Posted on June 29, 2010
Lambda Legal: "Lambda Legal today presented oral arguments in U.S. District Court in Phoenix to block a law stripping domestic partner benefits from gay and lesbian state employees. Arizona lawmakers included a provision eliminating domestic partner health benefits for gay state employees as part of a last-minute budget deal signed by Governor Jan Brewer last September, while retaining spousal health benefits for heterosexual workers ...

Eugene Volokh: ?On free association, the Court makes the right call?

Posted on June 29, 2010
NY Daily News: "We have many constitutional rights. But we generally aren't constitutionally entitled to get subsidies for those rights. ... Constraints on religious discrimination stem from a judgment about conduct, not about speech: The judgment that treating people worse based on their religion is especially unfair and especially socially corrosive...

MA: ?Help for needy seniors promised in Senate gambling bill?

Posted on June 29, 2010
Boston Globe: "State senators passed an amendment to the casino bill this afternoon, on a 33-5 vote, that would set aside about $3 million to help needy senior citizens with their property taxes."

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