Religion & Law

Is New York Ready for No-Fault Divorce?

Posted on June 16, 2010
NY Times: "On Tuesday evening, the State Senate approved legislation that would permit no-fault divorce after a marriage has 'irretrievably' broken down for six months or more, without the need to identify a fault, like adultery or abandonment. The package must still pass the State Assembly, which is considering two bills that would adopt some version of no-fault divorce ...

?Gay and lesbian couples in Arizona can get many of the same rights as straight couples?but the process is expensive?

Posted on June 16, 2010
Mari Herreras writes at Tucson Weekly: "Gummere says that when couples come into her office, she recommends different packages of documents, depending on the couple: Are they just in the beginning of their relationship? Is it long-term? Do they have, or want to have, children together? ...

Closing arguments for historic Proposition 8 trial begin today

Posted on June 16, 2010
Ms. Magazine: "Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) attorney, Jim Campbell, told OneNewsNow that the unusual method of issuing questions to be addressed in the closing arguments, 'show us [that] the judge is carefully grappling with the issues raised in the case and that he is seriously considering the questions before him...

Congress looking into crackdown on Christians in Morocco

Posted on June 16, 2010
WorldNetDaily: "The mass deportation of Christians ordered by authorities in Morocco in recent weeks now is getting attention in Washington. Counsel Roger Kiska of the Alliance Defense Fund said a hearing is scheduled Thursday before the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission...

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Proposition 8 closing arguments to begin in San Francisco

Posted on June 16, 2010
LA Times | L.A. Now: "Jeff Zarrillo, who came to court with his partner, Paul Katami, said: 'All we?re asking the court to do is make sure we?re protected under our Constitution like everyone is supposed to be.' But attorneys for the Alliance Defense Fund, which supports Proposition 8?s ban on same-sex marriage, argued in front of the courthouse that allowing same-sex marriage would be an 'extreme interpretation of the Constitution...

Prop. 8 closing arguments: Battling definitions of marriage

Posted on June 16, 2010
The Bay Citizen: "The federal trial over the state ban on same-sex marriage resumed this morning in the U.S. District Court for Northern California. . . . [Jordan Lorence], of the Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based group of Christian lawyers helping to defend Prop 8, said that the sole purpose of marriage is to produce children...

PA: Ex-student sues district for seizing her nude pics

Posted on June 16, 2010
Philadelphia Inquirer: "[A] recent graduate in northeastern Pennsylvania has filed a federal law suit claiming her former high school principal seized her cell phone and turned it over to prosecutors when he found 'explicit' photographs of her on it. ...

Alameda County, CA: Transgender woman leads race for judge

Posted on June 16, 2010
San Francisco Chronicle: "'If I am elected, I would be the first openly LGBT superior court judge elected in Alameda County, the first openly LGBT person elected countywide, and the first transgender trial court judge in the United States,' it states...

Family of 17-Year-Old Somali Girl Abuses Her for Leaving Islam

Posted on June 16, 2010
Christian Post: ?'When the woman?s family found out that she converted to Christianity, she was beaten badly but insisted on her new-found religion,' said the source on condition of anonymity."

The Constitution and Souter: Let?s hope Kagan feels otherwise

Posted on June 16, 2010
David B. Rivkin Jr. and Lee A. Casey write at USA Today: "In fact, former Justice David Souter set the discussion in motion last month in a Harvard commencement address ? arguing that seeking to resolve difficult constitutional questions based on an honest effort to construe that document's words (whether broadly or narrowly) "has only a tenuous connection to reality" and leads to bad decisions...

ACLU sues federal government for alleged discrimination against Muslim man

Posted on June 16, 2010
LA Times: "The ACLU of Southern California sued the federal government Wednesday for denying the citizenship application of a 50-year-old Egyptian Muslim man based on what the civil rights group calls 'misleading FBI files and questionable tactics.'"

New Zealand: Sikh Council plans legal action over turban ban

Posted on June 16, 2010
New Zealand Herald: "The Sikh Council of New Zealand is taking legal action against the Manurewa Cosmopolitan Club after the club voted against changing a policy that effectively ban's turban-wearing Sikhs from its premises."

NV: Lyon County school board to reconsider sex ed curriculum

Posted on June 16, 2010
Reno Gazette-Journal: "Nevada's teen pregnancy rate is among the highest in the United States, and Lyon County's is among the highest in Nevada. . . . the Lyon County School Trustees voted on June 8 meeting to form a new committee to re-evaluate the district's sex education program...

Canada: Court asked to weigh ?gay rights? and blood policy

Posted on June 16, 2010
The Globe and Mail: "Canadian Blood Services (CBS) is suing Kyle Freeman, a sexually active gay man, for lying about his sexual history in order to donate blood. Mr. Freeman is counter-suing, saying the policy is discriminatory. If the judge rules that the Charter of Rights and Freedoms applies to CBS, and the policy restricts the rights of gay men, the service will have to change it...

UK: Christian couple ?not bitter towards Muslim accuser?

Posted on June 16, 2010
The Christian Institute: "Ben and Sharon Vogelenzang, the Christian couple who were put on trial for defending their faith, have said they hold no bitterness towards the Muslim woman who brought the case against them. . . . In December the couple faced a criminal trial in Liverpool Magistrates? Court following a complaint over a conversation about Christianity and Islam...

First, China. Next: the Great Firewall of? Australia?

Posted on June 16, 2010
TIME: "Plans for a mandatory Internet filter have been a long-term subject of controversy since they were first announced by Stephen Conroy, the Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy, in May 2008 as part of an $106 million 'cybersafety plan...

Over 800 Rabbis Urge Filibuster to Prevent Homosexualization of the Military

Posted on June 16, 2010
Christian Newswire: "Passage of such evil legislation would expedite our hurdling towards Sodom and Gommorah. It would also threaten to repel Divine Grace from our military's struggles, and beyond. We call upon the Senate to unapologetically filibuster this legislation...

So. Baptists Adopt Major Changes to Tackle ?Lostness?

Posted on June 16, 2010
Christian Post: "After nearly two hours of debate, Southern Baptists on Tuesday overwhelmingly adopted major changes to tackle shrinking membership and to penetrate the 'lostness' of the world . . . 'We are at a critical point, with an aging and declining membership, and I think this whole conversation is birthed because Southern Baptists want to be faithful in evangelism and church planting for decades to come...

Bryant Wright Named New SBC President

Posted on June 16, 2010
Christian Post: "Atlanta-area pastor Bryant Wright was elected Tuesday to serve as the new president of the Southern Baptist Convention, the largest Protestant denomination in the country . . . After his election, he said he wants to see every Southern Baptist pastor and church take at least one mission trip and experience what it's like to be in another culture, sharing the Gospel, according to Florida Baptist Witness...

Malawi: Christian sect in measles vaccine standoff

Posted on June 16, 2010
Breitbart (AP): "More than 100 members of a Christian religious sect have barricaded themselves in an abandoned building in southern Malawi over their refusal to give their children the measles vaccine, a regional health official said Wednesday. Members of Seventh Day Apostolic Church say their doctrine forbids them from taking medication when they fall sick, as they believe prayer will bring divine healing...

UK: Home Secretary announces LGBT policies

Posted on June 16, 2010
Home Office Press Release: "Theresa May today announced the start of an ambitious cross-government programme to tackle prejudice against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGB and T) people. . . . [They include] a commitment to remove historical convictions for consensual gay sex from criminal records; new work to end the blight of homophobic bullying in schools' work to allow same-sex couples to register their relationships in a religious setting; lobbying other countries to repeal homophobic legislation and recognise UK civil partnerships; ending the removal of asylum seekers who have had to leave particular countries because their sexual orientation or gender identification puts them at proven risk of imprisonment, torture or execution...

India: Pressure builds to send ?child goddess? to school

Posted on June 16, 2010
NDTV: "Sambhavi was proclaimed and celebrated as a child goddess. Her parents claimed she was Dalai Lama's friend in an earlier incarnation, but the Andhra Pradesh State Human Rights Commission has ordered that the eight-year-old child from Kurnool district must go to school so her right to education is not violated...

Law Review: The Right to Life between Absolute and Proportional Protection

Posted on June 16, 2010
Kai Möller, The Right to Life between Absolute and Proportional Protection (June 4, 2010). LSE Legal Studies Working Paper No. 13/2010. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1620377 "One of the puzzles of human and constitutional rights law is whether there are any rights which are absolute...

Uzbekistan: Samarkand ? city of closed Protestant churches

Posted on June 15, 2010
Forum 18: "The seventh in a series of Protestant churches stripped of state registration in the central Uzbek city of Samarkand in the past four years is still battling to regain it. Without registration, all religious activity is illegal."

Health Care?s Roe v. Wade Challenge

Posted on June 15, 2010
NPR: "That's right: The 1973 Supreme Court decision declaring a woman's right to an abortion could be a key weapon against Obamacare. The Mississippi lawsuit (Bryant et al. v. Holder) is the first to highlight the inherent contradiction between the new law's individual mandate and the 'zone of privacy' first introduced in Roe...

PA: Diocese of Scranton receives tax assessments on 4 former Hazle Township worship sites

Posted on June 15, 2010
Standard Speaker: "The Diocese of Scranton has received property tax assessment notices on four vacant church properties in Hazle Township. . . . The diocese on June 2 filed an appeal in Luzerne County Court of Common Pleas objecting to the proposed taxation of vacant church property...

President bowing to unions in failing to waive Jones Act in Gulf cleanup

Posted on June 15, 2010
Fox News: ?Cause this is a big thing for unions,? Carafano said. ?The unions see it as ? protecting jobs. They hate when the Jones Act gets waived, and they pound on politicians when they do that. So ? are we giving in to unions and not doing everything we can, or is there some kind of impediment that we don't know about?

Paris bans ?anti-Islamisation? pork-and-wine street party

Posted on June 15, 2010
AFP: "Paris police on Tuesday banned a controversial 'pork sausage and wine' street party planned by extremist groups to combat what they saw as the 'Islamisation' of a city neighbourhood. The event was planned for Friday evening at a time when the district's streets are usually jammed with Muslims coming out of mosques and just before Algeria were due to play England in the football World Cup.

Muslim hijab to be allowed in Norwegian courts

Posted on June 15, 2010
Europe News: "Norwegian judges and other court officials are to be allowed to wear religious dress including the Muslim headscarf or hijab during court sessions, the board of the National Courts Administration said Monday."

Time to lift monopolistic barriers to entering the legal profession?

Posted on June 15, 2010
George Leef has this post at the National Review Phi Beta Cons Blog: "Prof. Brian Tamanaha points out here that for many law students, the costs are far, far out of line with the prospective benefits of getting into the legal profession."

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