Religion & Law

Have the Feds gone soft on porn?

Posted on June 16, 2010
(Warning graphic images, descriptions, and language) Stephanie Mencimer writing at Mother Jones: "On Tuesday, a group of anti-porn activists and scholars arrived on Capitol Hill to brief members of Congress and their staffs and to call for beefed-up federal enforcement of obscenity laws...

Jordan Lorence in CBN News Video: Plaintiff?s legal theories are far fetched in Prop. 8 litigation

Posted on June 16, 2010
ADF attorney Jordan Lorence appeared on CBN news to discuss the California marriage litigation.| MP4 1:07

A refreshing dose of honesty, Chris Christie: The Day of reckoning is here! Standing today, for our children tomorrow

Posted on June 16, 2010
"Am I crazy, or is an overweight man with a thick New Jersey accent the most effective communicator of commonsense conservative principles in America today?"

Does IVF Promote Objectification of Unborn Life?

Posted on June 16, 2010
Wesley Smith writes at the First Things Blog: "So, we see IVF leading, at least in some cases, to objectification of the life created, as it furthers the contemporary sense of entitlement: I want to be pregnant?make it so! I don?t want to be pregnant, make it not so!"

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The Liberal Mythology of the ?Activist? Supreme Court

Posted on June 16, 2010
Hans A. von Spakovsky writes at Townhall: "Dissatisfied with this logical and accepted definition, liberals have been striving to redefine judicial activism downward. Under one formulation, judicial activism occurs anytime that a statute is struck down, like the federal ban on independent political expenditures in Citizens United v...

Orissa, India: More Anti-Christian Persecution. Hindu Extremists Torture Christian

Posted on June 16, 2010
Catholic Online: "Even if peace is slowly returning to the District of Kandhamal, the State of Orissa continues to be the scene of anti-Christian violence. A young Christian was recently beaten, tortured and dragged into the middle of his village, where his tormentors forced him to undergo a ceremony of reconversion to Hinduism...

France: Paris bans sausage/wine party over Muslim concerns

Posted on June 16, 2010
Reuters: "A giant "sausage and wine" party planned later this week in a Paris neighbourhood with many Muslim residents risks sparking disturbances and will therefore be banned, police in the French capital announced on Tuesday."

UK: ?Into the jaws of hate: Soldiers? parade marred by Muslim extremists and far-Right?

Posted on June 16, 2010
Daily Mail (pics available): "Screaming hate and brandishing vile placards, Muslim extremists and far-Right groups clashed yesterday in ugly scenes that marred a parade by soldiers. Around 40 members of a group called Muslims Against the Crusades (MAC) arrived with inflammatory banners featuring slogans such as 'Butchers return' and 'What are you dying for? £18k'...

India: ?Hindu extremist arrested: new hope in Orissa??

Posted on June 16, 2010
Catholic Culture: "Police in India?s state of Orissa have arrested a Hindu extremist who was one of the men accused of raping a Catholic nun during a burst of violence in August 2008."

ACLU attempts to bluff Montana State University over prayers ? ADF steps in!

Posted on June 16, 2010
Evangelical Examiner: "The Alliance Defense Fund and the Montana Family Foundation sent Montana State University-Northern officials a letter Monday assuring them that they can continue the school?s graduation prayer tradition, despite a contrary letter they received from the American Civil Liberties Union...

Prop 8 supporters want people?s vote respected

Posted on June 16, 2010
Christian Post: "'More than 7 million Californians decided that marriage should be preserved, not fundamentally changed,' said [Brian Raum], senior counsel at Alliance Defense Fund. 'If a handful of activists is allowed to void a constitutional amendment protecting marriage, we have gutted the core of the American democratic system and will deny more children the mom and the dad they deserve...

Jordan Lorence: Elena Kagan and Mrs. Smith

Posted on June 16, 2010
ADF Attorney Jordan Lorence writing at Speak Up Movement / University: "Late last week, we learned about a memo that Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan wrote in 1997 while she worked in the Clinton White House. She urged the President to support the Supreme Court appeal of Evelyn Smith, a widow from Chico, California who lost her religious liberty case at the California Supreme Court...

Joe Martins: It?s about time: UC-Irvine defends free speech by disciplining hecklers

Posted on June 16, 2010
ADF Attorney Joe Martins writing at Speak Up Movement / University: ""[UC-Irvine's] is just the latest in a long line of campus incidents in which student organizations have disrupted or even assaulted speakers to silence their message. . . . What has not been characteristic of such disruptions however, is an appropriate university response...

One more milestone in the Prop. 8 saga

Posted on June 16, 2010
OneNewsNow: "'The people of California . . . decided through Proposition 8 to preserve marriage as the union of a man and a woman,' says [Jim Campbell]. 'That effort has now been brought under legal attack -- and it is [the goal of] the legal team, which includes the Alliance Defense Fund ...

Rasumussen Poll: 80% Rate A Two-Parent Home Very Important for Children

Posted on June 16, 2010
Rasumussen Reports: "While the divorce rate in the United States is one of the highest in the world, 80% of Americans believe it?s Very Important for children to grow up in a home with both their parents . . . "

Pakistani bishop warns of prospect of dhimmitude

Posted on June 16, 2010
Catholic Culture: ". . . there are these Islamic groups who would like to see Pakistan become a purely Islamic state. If Pakistan becomes a purely Islamic state with all Islamic laws, which we don?t have now-- we only have some Islamic laws-- if we have all the Islamic laws, then it means that as non-Muslims we would be something like second class citizens ...

Christians must rise to the challenge of Islam, says Italian cardinal

Posted on June 16, 2010
Catholic Culture: "The murder of Bishop Luigi Padovese in Turkey is a reminder of the dangers facing Christians in Turkey and elsewhere in Europe, said Cardinal Dionigi Tettamanzi at a Mass for the slain prelate in his native Milan. Cardinal Tettamanzi said that Italian Catholics need ?to heed the cry?or better, the lament? from Turkey after the death of Bishop Padovese ...

Is America still free? California marriage case is key test

Posted on June 16, 2010
Brian Raum: ?. . . Just imagine how our country would change if every state constitutional amendment could be eliminated by small groups of wealthy activists. It would no longer be America, but a tyranny of elitists. . ."

Capital serves humans, not vice versa, Pope reminds European bankers

Posted on June 16, 2010
Catholic Culture: "Economy and finance are not ends unto themselves," Pope Benedict XVI reminded a group of European bankers at a private audience on June 12. He stressed that economic systems must serve human persons and families, reminding the financiers that human capital is ?the only capital worth saving...

MA: City lifts ban on Bible program

Posted on June 16, 2010
The Boston Globe: "A children?s Bible study group can return to class in the Roxbury community center that banned religious study, reversing a decision that Christian rights lawyers called unconstitutional and Boston officials acknowledged was an error in enforcement...

Prop. 8 spending found to have swayed no voters

Posted on June 16, 2010
San Francisco Chronicle: "The warring sides in the 2008 battle over same-sex marriage in California may have spent a combined $83 million for nothing, according to an academic study released Tuesday. The study by Patrick Egan of New York University . ...

Banning text deemed ?religious? in Idaho schools gets challenged

Posted on June 16, 2010
CitizenLink: "'It goes to the heart of not only education, but the teaching of the history of our country and in fact western civilization indeed,' said [David Cortman], senior legal counsel with ADF. 'Does that mean students can no longer study the documents from our Founding Fathers? Many of these writings have religious basis to them...

SD: Pastor tests IRS by endorsing candidate

Posted on June 16, 2010
Washington Times: "The Rev. H. Wayne Williams, pastor of Liberty Baptist Tabernacle in Rapid City, last month endorsed GOP state Sen. Gordon Howie in the South Dakota governor's race . . . in hopes of producing a landmark constitutional test case. . ...

Key Calif. ?gay marriage? trial drawing to a close

Posted on June 16, 2010
CBN: "Closing arguments in the landmark trial challenging California's ban on same-sex marriage will begin Wednesday. . . . [Jordan Lorence] of the Alliance Defense Fund told CBN News there's a possibility the case could end up in the Supreme Court. 'I think that the legal theories are so far-fetched that they should be rejected by the lower court, but if it gets up the Supreme Court, there is a possibility of an adverse ruling,' he explained...

Piero Tozzi on Currents: Forced abortion at Mount Sinai hospital

Posted on June 16, 2010
ADF Allied Attorney Piero Tozzi discusses Cenzon-DeCarlo v The Mount Sinai Hospital on Currents: "Six years ago, Catherina Cenzon de Carlo went to work at Mount Sinai hospital, and told her employers that ? because of her religious beliefs ? she could not assist with abortions...

ADF Allied Attorney Success Stories: June 2010

Posted on June 16, 2010
Congratulations to allied attorneys Philip Clarke, Kevin Clarkson, Michael Cork, Brad Dacus, Kevin Snider, Rita Dunaway, Leah Farish, and Dorothy Yeung for their recent accomplishments and successes listed below. Please take time to congratulate them!

Abortion Drug Has Killed 29 Women, European Maker Tells Italy?s Government

Posted on June 16, 2010
LifeNews: "The world may never know how many thousands of women have been injured, or even killed, by the dangerous RU 486 abortion drug. The best worldwide guess is that 13 women have been killed as a result of the mifepristone abortion pill, but the maker of the drug in Europe is saying 29 women have died ...

OK ? Teens Branded Sex Offenders

Posted on June 16, 2010
Sex Offender Issues Blog: "Your son or daughter could be having sex and consenting to it with another teen. Fox 23?s Abbie Alford discovered about Oklahoma law may surprise parents who may end up with a teenager branded for life as a registered sex offender ...

National Right to Life Committee Urges U.S. House to Reject ?Disclose Act? as ?Unprincipled, Unconstitutional? Political Attack

Posted on June 16, 2010
Christian Newswire: "In a new letter to members of the U.S. House of Representatives, the National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the federation of right-to-life organizations in all 50 states, said that its 2010 congressional scorecard would report a vote for the so-called 'DISCLOSE Act' (H...

CWA to Testify at FDA Hearing on Abortion Drug

Posted on June 16, 2010
Christian Newswire: "A Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Advisory Committee will meet on Thursday, June 17, to discuss if Ella, a drug that is similar to the abortion drug RU-486, should be available in the U.S. Ella blocks the hormone progesterone, interfering with the lining of the uterus so an embryo cannot implant or, if implanted, will not survive...

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