Religion & Law

Obama Nominee for Deputy Attorney General Says 9/11 Attacks Not Acts of War, Likens Them to Domestic Crimes of Murder, Rape

Posted on June 14, 2010
CNSNews: "Despite a resolution by Congress authorizing war against those responsible for the 9/11 terrorist attacks, President Obama?s nominee to be the number two official at the Justice Department, James Cole, wrote an op-ed in 2002 likening the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon to the domestic crimes of murder, rape and child abuse, while arguing that the attackers ought to be treated like domestic criminals...

Lavish Women Deliver Meet Hijacks MDG 5, Delivers Muted but Aggressive Push for Worldwide Abortion

Posted on June 14, 2010
LifeSiteNews: "The 2010 Women Deliver conference in the U.S. capital this week offered a rare glimpse into the heart of the pro-abortion, pro-contraception, and population-control movement in its many facets. The conference drew international UN and political leaders to a 3-day marathon on several topics tied together by one ambitious theme: using Millennium Development Goal (MDG) 5, the reduction of maternal mortality, to promote contraception and the dismantling of pro-life laws around the world...

Merely human? That?s so yesterday

Posted on June 14, 2010
New York Times: "[T]he Singularity ? a time, possibly just a couple decades from now, when a superior intelligence will dominate and life will take on an altered form that we can?t predict or comprehend in our current, limited state. At that point, the Singularity holds, human beings and machines will so effortlessly and elegantly merge that poor health, the ravages of old age and even death itself will all be things of the past...

House Dems yield to NRA on disclosure bill

Posted on June 14, 2010
Breitbart (AP): "Bowing to pressure from the National Rifle Association, House Democrats agreed Monday to exempt the powerful gun owners' lobby from key portions of legislation imposing new disclosure requirements on campaign advertising and other political activity...

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EU instrument for spying on ?radicals? causes outrage

Posted on June 14, 2010
EU Observer: "Political activists labelled as 'Extreme right/left, Islamist, nationalist or anti-globalisation' may in future find themselves under surveillance in line with a new, so-called, EU "data compilation instrument" put at the disposal of police and security forces in member states...

Charter school appeals religious texts ruling

Posted on June 14, 2010
KHQ (AP): "The Alliance Defense Fund, an Arizona-based group of Christian lawyers, filed an appeal Monday on behalf of Nampa Classical Academy in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. . . . An attorney for the academy, [David Cortman], complained that he had never seen such a broad-reaching ban on using the Bible as a resource in public schools...

Law Review: The Evolution of the Right of Individuals to Seize the ECHR

Posted on June 14, 2010
Astrid Kjeldgaard-Pedersen, The Evolution of the Right of Individuals to Seise the European Court of Human Rights (June 1, 2010). Journal of the History of International Law, Forthcoming. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1624467 "Paradoxically, the main reason for both the Court?s success and its current crisis is the right of petition of individuals...

Human Rights Campaign Awards Scholarships to New Generation of Theologians

Posted on June 14, 2010
HRC: "The Human Rights Campaign ? the nation?s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization ? today announced the winners of the inaugural Scholarship & Mentorship Program for Religion and Theological Study.  The program, part of the Human Rights Campaign Foundation?s Religion and Faith Program, provides a sustained investment in the next generation of religion scholars working on LGBT issues, and will change the national conversation about LGBT people and religion...

Law Review: Human Rights and the Empire of (International) Law

Posted on June 14, 2010
Catherine Turner, Human Rights and the Empire of (International) Law (June, 14 2010). Journal of Law and Inequality, Forthcoming. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1624847 "This paper will argue that a fundamental conceptual shift occurred in international law during the 1980s...

Latest health reform mandate suit says religious rights are violated

Posted on June 14, 2010
IFA Web News: "The American Center for Law and Justice (ACLJ), a nonprofit group that focuses on constitutional law, filed the suit in the U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, alleging that the health reform law passed in March also violates the U...

Indians fight for burial rights

Posted on June 14, 2010
The Straits Times: "India's Hindus cremate their loved ones, but the country's Muslim and Christian minorities usually choose burial - and they fear the practice is under threat."

?Behind in polls, Illinois Treasurer extends benefits to gay employees?

Posted on June 14, 2010
AHN: "Employees of the Illinois Treasurer's Office who are in same-sex domestic partnerships now have the same family leave benefits as heterosexual married couples. State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias signed an executive order Sunday giving gay workers in his agency as much as 12 weeks of unpaid time off to take care of a sick partner or other family member...

Law on sexting proposed

Posted on June 14, 2010
The News-Herald: "The ACLU of Ohio is urging legislators to keep sexting teens out of criminal courts. Ohio House Bill 473 seeks to create a new criminal misdemeanor violation for sexting ? when teenagers send or receive nude or partially nude images of other minors electronically ...

ADF, Montana Family Foundation letter to MSU-Northern counters ACLU graduation prayer threat

Posted on June 14, 2010
"'Our Founding Fathers regularly opened official public ceremonies with prayer, and federal appellate courts have consistently ruled that universities can do the same at their graduation ceremonies. These prayers have been constitutional for centuries and are still constitutional today,' said ADF Litigation Counsel Travis Barham...

Christian group says it will sit out Iowa governor?s race

Posted on June 14, 2010
"We are looking for candidates who we can support, not for candidates who aren?t quite as bad as their opponent."

LA: Religious bill approved by House committee

Posted on June 14, 2010
The Advocate: "The House Civil Law Committee embraced changes aimed at protecting the health and safety of children and another stopping punitive or exemplary damages from being claimed in lawsuits. . . . [SB606] states that 'government may not substantially burden a person?s exercise of religion even if the burden results from a facially neutral rule or a rule of general applicability, unless it demonstrates that application of the burden to the person is ? essential to further a compelling governmental interest and the least restrictive means of furthering that compelling government interest...

GA: Marines beat ?winking? ?gay? man

Posted on June 14, 2010
"They told police one of the men grew angry because he thought Daly was winking at him and struck Daly in the back of the head with his fist, knocking him unconscious . . ."

ADF files appeal over Western Civilization book ban in Idaho public schools, universities

Posted on June 14, 2010
Commission bans use of any texts it deems ?religious,? even if used solely for objective literary or historical reference

Boehner asks for progress report on implementation of executive order on taxpayer-funded abortion

Posted on June 11, 2010
GOP Leader Blog: "House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH), in a meeting with President Obama and Congressional leaders at the White House today, asked President Obama to provide the American people with a progress report on the implementation of his Executive Order which purports to ban taxpayer-funding of abortions...

Kagan role in Clinton sex harassment suit withheld

Posted on June 11, 2010
AP: "Bill Clinton's presidential library is keeping secret memos and notes Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan wrote in connection with the Paula Jones sexual harassment suit . . . "

Florida governor vetoes abortion ultrasound measure

Posted on June 11, 2010
"Gov. Charlie Crist has vetoed a bill that would have required women seeking an abortion during the first trimester to undergo an ultrasound exam and pay for it."

NV: Lack of signatures will keep personhood amdt off ballot

Posted on June 11, 2010
Las Vegas Review-Journal: "A national leader of the Personhood-USA movement said Thursday the group won't be able to collect the required number of signatures by Tuesday's deadline. The proposed constitutional amendment would halt abortions in Nevada...

Australia: ?Blood service backs gay donor rules?

Posted on June 11, 2010
ABC: "The new guidelines mean people who receive a tattoo, piercing or acupuncture can now donate blood after six months, down from the previous waiting period of 12 months. But the guidelines have remained the same for sexually active gay men - with a 12 month ban after engaging in homosexual intercourse...

?Decision nears on blood donor policy for gays?

Posted on June 11, 2010
Washington Times: "A federal panel on blood safety will make a recommendation Friday about whether the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) should change its blood donation policy for gay men."

?Gay love exhibition opening in Warsaw museum?

Posted on June 11, 2010
Associated Press: "The director of Poland's National Museum says it is opening an exhibition on gay and lesbian love designed to provoke discussion on the place of homosexuals in this conservative and overwhelmingly Catholic country."

Trend Shows National Association of Evangelicals Joining Contraception Bandwagon

Posted on June 11, 2010
LifeSiteNews: "The National Association of Evangelicals appears to be shifting away from its neutral stance on contraception in favor of a qualified endorsement of the practice. A new survey released by the NAE claiming to represent 45,000 evangelical churches reveals that Evangelical pastors overwhelmingly believe in artificial contraception...

UN Leadership in Disarray as New Research Shatters Consensus on Maternal Health

Posted on June 11, 2010
C-Fam on LifeSiteNews: "Deep divisions with top United Nations (UN) officials and abortion activists on one side and maternal health researchers on the other became public this week during the Women Deliver 2 conference in Washington, DC. The dispute threatens to derail hopes of raising $30B for family planning at international development conferences in the coming months...

Chinese crack down on sexual ?licentiousness?

Posted on June 11, 2010
AolNews.: "Chinese authorities have brought a charge of 'group licentiousness' against a 17-year-old girl accused of participating in sex parties with multiple male students, according to a report in the English-language China Daily . . . Sexuality experts say the dusted-off offense is a leap backward for China's modernization drive, reflecting Beijing's effort to maintain social order amid the dizzying social changes brought by a sexual revolution and the Internet explosion in China...

Residents of PA town fear sex club is moving in

Posted on June 11, 2010
KDKA (AP): "Residents of a small eastern Pennsylvania town say they're worried that a so-called 'swingers club' is coming to their community."

South Korea: ?Court addresses issue of gay soldiers?

Posted on June 11, 2010
The Korea Times: "At the Constitutional Court Thursday, tensions were high as the Ministry of National Defense and a local military court walked a tight rope on whether Article 92 of the Military Law subjecting those practicing homosexual intercourse to a year in prison violated the basic human right to seek happiness and live with equality...

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