Religion & Law

Push for ?comprehensive sex ed? in North Dakota

Posted on June 21, 2010
Tom Fiebiger, member of the legislative Interim Human Services Committee, writing in the Grand Forks Herald: "When the data about teenagers and abortion in North Dakota was released last week during testimony as part of this study, one thing was clear: We have to do more to reduce the rate of unintended pregnancy in the state of North Dakota...

Ghana: Minority Leader calls for criminalization of abortion

Posted on June 21, 2010
Graphic Ghana: "The Minority Leader in Parliament, Mr Osei Kyei-Mensah-Bonsu, has called for the criminalisation of abortion and urged the Attorney General and Minister of Justice to initiate measures in pursuit of that."

Biden Promises Kenya ?Money to Flow? if Pro-Abort Constitution Passes

Posted on June 21, 2010
"U.S. Vice President Joe Biden travelled to Kenya to personally urge the country to pass a new constitution that would legalize abortion - and to assure Kenyans that such a change would 'allow money to flow' from foreign aid treasuries."

Nazi salute case to help define free speech limits

Posted on June 21, 2010
Mercury News: Robert Norse's Nazi salute lasted fewer than five seconds before he was removed from the Santa Cruz City Council meeting in handcuffs. But the Santa Claus-bearded gadfly's free speech lawsuit against the city has lasted more than six years and may be destined for the U...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

President Obama launches next phase in fatherhood efforts with The President?s Fatherhood and Mentoring Initiative

Posted on June 21, 2010
White House: "Today, President Obama spoke in Washington, D.C. to discuss the importance of responsible fatherhood and mentoring to build healthy families and communities. At the event, the President announced the next steps in his longstanding agenda on fatherhood and personal responsibility: The President?s Fatherhood and Mentoring Initiative...

Presidential Proclamation?Father?s Day

Posted on June 21, 2010
President Obama: "Nurturing families come in many forms, and children may be raised by a father and mother, a single father, two fathers, a step father, a grandfather, or caring guardian."

David French: Arab money trumps diversity

Posted on June 21, 2010
ADF Attorney David French writing at Phi Beta Cons: "NYU is sending students to a country that not only bans homosexual sodomy, it vigorously enforces that ban and reportedly subjects imprisoned men to involuntary hormone treatments. ... Why would NYU tout a new school in a place that is officially racist and reportedly engages in mandatory and bizarre forms of medical 'treatment' for homosexual prisoners? It couldn?t possibly be that our university culture is addicted to Arab money, could it? It can?t be that the university world has different levels of tolerance for Christians and Muslims, right? I mean, they certainly can?t tolerate pervasive anti-Semitism, can they?"

Tocqueville Meets the Speech Police

Posted on June 21, 2010
Jeff Milyo has this post at the Volokh Conspiracy discussing legislative and administrative efforts to bully the Catholic Church in Connecticut.

Tom McClusky: How Mitch Daniels Can Be The Most Pro-Life, and Fiscally Conservative Too

Posted on June 21, 2010
Tom McClusky writes at Life News: "The best response I have seen to the ridiculousness of a 'truce' was written by prominent conservative activist (and FRC Action board member) Phil Burress, president of Citizens for Community Values . . . Unless he knows something we don't, using the word ?truce? when family values are under increasing attack can only mean surrender...

Missouri Could Be 5th State to Opt Out of Abortion Funding Under Health Care

Posted on June 21, 2010
LifeNews: "Missouri could become the fifth state to opt out of at least some of the abortion funding under the health care bill President Barack Obama signed if Governor Jay Nixon signs a bill the state legislature approved. Four states -- including Arizona, Tennessee, Mississippi and Louisiana have passed similar bills ...

Conservative Spotlight: Americans United for Life

Posted on June 21, 2010
Christopher Guzman writes at Human Events: "Americans United for Life (AUL) is devoted to exactly what the name implies: safeguarding the lives that the pro-life movement so valiantly seeks to keep sacred. AUL began its work in 1971, playing some role in every pro-life case before the Supreme Court since Roe v...

Thomas Fleming on abortion: An argument from rationality

Posted on June 21, 2010
Thomas Fleming writing at Chronicles: "Most modern schools of philosophy base morality on the principles of reason, and the principal accounts of moral development emphasize growth in moral reasoning rather than moral behavior.To be a human person in this sense would mean that an individual is conscious of his own existence and capable of making rational decisions, including the decision to remain alive...

Sperm donation: The US regulatory vacuum and its ethical ramifications

Posted on June 21, 2010
Professor Vardit Ravitsky writing at BioNews: "With no central registry and no federal or state regulation requiring long-term record keeping, information about donors is kept by individual sperm banks and fertility clinics according to various standards and for different lengths of time...

Hijacking the marriage debate: Loving v. Virginia is about the unconstitutionality of racial classifications ? not the articulation of a radical new understanding of marriage.

Posted on June 21, 2010
"[Activists] routinely invoke specters from America's past such as white supremacism and state-sponsored racism, and argue that supporting marriage as the union of husband and wife is somehow similar. ... Defending marriage is not similar to defending racism...

Time to Stand Up to the National Standards Agenda

Posted on June 21, 2010
Heritage Foundation The Foundry: "National standards would also further remove parents from their children's education. Instead of being able to petition their local school boards or state leaders for changes in academic content, parents would have to lobby bureaucrats in Washington, DC, if they wish to see changes in what their child is learning...

MI: 4 missionaries arrested at Dearborn Arab festival

Posted on June 21, 2010
Detroit Free Press: "Four Christian missionaries trying to convert Muslims were arrested and jailed Friday for disorderly conduct at the Arab festival in Dearborn, police said. 'We did make four arrests for disorderly conduct,' Dearborn Police Chief Ron Haddad said Saturday...

Austin R. Nimocks on the Zeb Bell Show: The Prop. 8 Trial ? Do wealthy activists run America?

Posted on June 21, 2010
ADF attorney Austin R. Nimocks appeared on the Zeb Bell Show to discuss the Proposition 8 trial.  | MP3 14:43 mins

Supreme Court Bingo predicts the author of the CLS opinion

Posted on June 21, 2010
ADF Attorney Jordan Lorence writing at Speak Up Movement / University: "With all of the caveats that Supreme Court Bingo is not an absolutely 100% accurate prediction tool, I am going out on a limb here to predict that Chief Justice John Roberts is writing the decision in the Christian Legal Society v...

Sunday declared ?Statewide Day of Prayer? in LA

Posted on June 21, 2010
KSLA: SR 145 states that 'citizens are urged to pray for a solution to this crisis, each according to his or her own faith, to pray for God's continued guidance and protection and to join in the observance of a day of prayer, seeking God's blessings upon both our state and nation...

ACLU Releases Report On Supreme Court Nominee Elena Kagan

Posted on June 21, 2010
ACLU: A copy of the report is available online at: www.aclu.org/organization-news-and-highlights/report-american-civil-liberties-union-nomination-elena-kagan.

Blackstone Legal Fellowship

Posted on June 21, 2010
Parish the Thought: "Over the past two weeks I?ve had the honor of offering Mass for the Catholic participants in the Blackstone Legal Fellowship, which is a ministry of the Alliance Defense Fund. The Blackstone fellowship is an intensive nine week program for law students to equip them for facing the moral and ethical challenges in today?s legal system...

RLUIPA Lawsuit Filed By Hasidic Group Against New York Village

Posted on June 21, 2010
Religion Clause Blog: "A lawsuit has been filed against the village of South Blooming Grove, New York by a Satmar Hasidic group that wants to restore an old club house at a former resort on Lake Anne. Today's Hudson Valley Times Herald-Record reports that the lawsuit, originally filed in state court but transferred to federal court on the judge's order, claims that the village's refusal to consider Sheri Torah's application violates RLUIPA...

USCIRF Urges Obama To Publicly Raise Human Rights Concerns With Russian Leader

Posted on June 21, 2010
Religion Clause Blog: "Last week, Leonard Leo, recently re-elected chairman of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, wrote President Obama urging him to publicly raise religious freedom and other human rights issues with the Russian leader...

America?s Road to Serfdom

Posted on June 21, 2010
Terry Paulson writes at Townhall: "Hayek?s book remains a wakeup call to apathetic citizens who take for granted that the improvements achieved through democracy, individual freedom and capitalism have been 'acquired once and for all.' Hayek knew what history confirms; freedom must be earned and reearned in every generation ...

Planned Parenthood?s missing millions: New GAO report reveals disturbing financial discrepancies

Posted on June 21, 2010
"Planned Parenthood Federation of America's (PPFA) audits show the organization spent just $657.1 million between 2002 and 2008 from federal government grants and programs, but the abortion behemoth's own annual reports show that it took in $2.3 billion ...

Raul Castro suits up for Vatican envoy in Havan

Posted on June 21, 2010
AP: "A meeting between the Vatican's foreign minister and President Raul Castro sparked hopes Sunday that more of the island's political prisoners may be released or transferred to jails closer to home."

Bork to publicly oppose Kagan for Supreme Court

Posted on June 21, 2010
AP: "Bork plans to detail his criticisms of Kagan during a Wednesday news conference organized by Americans United for Life." Christian Newswire: Judge Bork to Weigh in on Kagan Nomination in Exclusive RSVP-Only News Event

Judge to hear bid to overturn halt on drilling

Posted on June 21, 2010
AP: "Several oil service companies are asking a federal judge to block the Interior Department from enforcing a six-month moratorium on new deepwater drilling projects in the Gulf of Mexico."

Reflections on the Trial Challenging California?s Proposition 8, the Ban on Same-Sex-Marriage

Posted on June 21, 2010
Vikram David Amar writes at Findlaw: "My first observation is that as significant as Judge Walker's ruling will be, in many ways it will serve primarily as a placeholder . . . the way that Judge Walker has framed, and will in his opinion frame, the issues; the findings of fact he makes; and his important decision to hold a trial (with witnesses and cross-examination) in this case in the first place, rather than resolve the dispute on papers alone, will all affect the Ninth Circuit's (and potentially the Supreme Court's) review of the case...

Top Senate Republican Leaves Door Open to Potential Elena Kagan Filibuster

Posted on June 21, 2010
LifeNews:  "The leading Republican in the Senate left the door open for a potential filibuster of pro-abortion Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan. In a weekend interview with 'Fox News Sunday' Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said the initial information on Kagan has been 'quite troubling...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.