Religion & Law

?IRS Should Investigate South Dakota Church That Endorsed Gubernatorial Candidate, Says Americans United?

Posted on June 10, 2010
Americans United for Separation of Church and State: "The Rev. H. Wayne Williams, pastor of Liberty Baptist Tabernacle, endorsed state Sen. Gordon Howie, who was seeking the Republican nomination for governor. Williams? May 16 endorsement from the pulpit was reported in a press release by the Howie campaign and in the Rapid City Journal ...

India: Divorce may now get easier for Hindus, Sikhs demand the same

Posted on June 10, 2010
The Times of India: "With amendments on the anvil to make divorce easier for Hindus, a similar move may be underway for Sikhs. The Cabinet on Thursday cleared amendments to the Hindu Marriage Act and the Special Marriage Act, allowing the provision of 'irretrievable breakdown of marriage' to be included as ground for divorce...

CT: State awards $9.8 million in stem cell research grants

Posted on June 10, 2010
NorwalkPlus.com: Governor M. Jodi Rell today announced that the state has awarded $9.8 million in grants to support nearly two dozen stem cell research projects by scientists at the University of Connecticut and at Yale. The grants are part of the $100 million Stem Cell Research Fund, which was created by legislation that Governor Rell signed into law in 2005 making Connecticut just the third state in the nation to offer public funding for human stem cell research...

India: ?Irretrievable breakdown of marriage will be ground for divorce?

Posted on June 10, 2010
NewKerala.com: "The irretrievable breakdown of a marriage will be made an additional ground for divorce under an amendment to the Hindu Marriage Act and the Special Marriage Act approved by the cabinet Thursday."

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Saudi convicts young man for kissing woman in mall

Posted on June 10, 2010
AP: "A Saudi court convicted a man and sentenced him to four months in prison and 90 lashes for kissing a woman in a mall, a government-owned daily reported Thursday."

Center for Reproductive Rights: ?India and Poland Urged to Improve Reproductive Rights?

Posted on June 10, 2010
Center for Reproductive Rights: "On June 4, 2010, during the 14th session of the Human Rights Council, the United Nation's Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health, Anand Grover, presented reports on Poland and India. The report called on both countries to improve the situation for sexual and reproductive health and rights...

FL: Crist cuddles with trial lawyers, criticizes abortion bill ? decision by the weekend

Posted on June 10, 2010
Orlando Sentinel: In the Orlando area today, Gov. Charlie Crist again all but pledged to veto a bill that would require women seeking abortions to first pay for an ultrasound . . . Lawmakers sent the bill, HB 1143, to the governor?s desk on Monday, giving him 15 days to sign it ...

Erik Stanley: The Johnson Amendment is a ?fat opossum?

Posted on June 10, 2010
ADF Attorney Erik Stanley writing at Speak Up Movement / Church: "[At a recent CLE presentation] I spoke on the history of the Johnson Amendment and how Lyndon Johnson got his amendment to the tax code passed with no legislative analysis, no committee hearings, and no debate...

Surprise SC Senate candidate has charge pending ? obscenity

Posted on June 09, 2010
AP: "South Carolina's surprise Democratic nominee to challenge U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint is facing a pending felony charge. Court records show 32-year-old Alvin Greene was arrested in November and charged with showing obscene Internet photos to a University of South Carolina student...

DC: Marriage could be issue in straw poll

Posted on June 09, 2010
Washington Post: "Same-sex marriage opponents are gearing up to try to influence Saturday?s D.C. Democratic Committee straw poll, Tim Craig reports at D.C. Wire."

Sotomayor votes reliably with Supreme Court?s liberal wing

Posted on June 09, 2010
LA Times: "The early returns are in, and Justice Sonia Sotomayor is proving herself to be a reliable liberal vote on the Supreme Court."

California stem cell research: Were voters duped?

Posted on June 09, 2010
LA Times: "It has been six years since California voters, awed by Proposition 71's list of potential cures for cancer, diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer's and more than 70 other conditions, approved $3 billion in funding for stem cell research in the state ...

Pro-Life Women Win Big in Tuesday Primary Elections in California, Nevada

Posted on June 09, 2010
LifeNews: "Tuesday's primary elections saw the political landscape in a few states move in the direction of pro-life women and one pro-life organization is delighted by the results. With Carly Fiorina's Senate victory in California and Sharron Angle's in Nevada, pro-life women are now on center stage...

Roger Scruton on pessimism and transhumanism

Posted on June 09, 2010
Roger Scruton writing at New Humanist: "In the world that we are now entering there is a striking new source of false hope, in the 'trans-humanism' of people like Ray Kurzweil, Max More and their followers. The transhumanists believe that we will replace ourselves with immortal cyborgs, who will emerge from the discarded shell of humanity like the blessed souls from the grave in some medieval Last Judgement...

Marriage debate is about government approval not civil rights violations

Posted on June 09, 2010
One News Now: "Instead, says the PJI attorney [Brad Dacus], at issue is whether people want government to place its 'endorsement and formal blessing and encouragement' upon homosexual relationships. 'And clearly the stats show that such relationships do not further the public interest in terms of health, safety, [or] stability, or the development of healthy rearing of children and family life,' he adds...

?Abortions Via Remote Medicine: Needed Step or Unethical??

Posted on June 09, 2010
ABC: "Abortions provided via video conference have raised new questions in a contentious debate. As reported in today's New York Times , after a video consultation, abortion doctors in an Iowa Planned Parenthood clinic are providing women in far-flung parts of the state with the drugs needed to end their pregnancies...

Recent Michigan Prosecutions for ?Seducing an Unmarried Woman?

Posted on June 09, 2010
Eugene Volokh write at theVolokh Conspiracy: "Reader Jeff Semenak, who lives in Lansing, reports that the Lansing State Journal courthouse notes occasionally mention that someone has been convicted of 'seducing an unmarried woman.' I checked and indeed found over 30 such notes from 2002 to 2008...

Suit against Bash Back! temporarily on hold while group looks for a new attorney

Posted on June 09, 2010
City Pulse: "It has been more than a year since an Arizona-based Christian legal defense fund sued the 'radical queer' Lansing activist group Bash Back! for a 2008 protest at a Delta Township church, but the case is not close to being resolved, and City Pulse has been subpoenaed for records relating to coverage of the protest ...

Joe Infranco on Radio: Litigation on behalf of NASA specialist demoted over intelligent design

Posted on June 09, 2010
ADF attorney Joe Infranco appeared on radio to to discuss this: Specialist for NASA mission demoted, threatened with termination for sharing views on intelligent design. | The Georgene Rice Show, MP3 13:05 mins | AFR Focal Point with Bryan Fisher, MP3 11:14 mins.

Korea?s Constitutional Court Says Pre-Embryos Are Not Humans

Posted on June 09, 2010
Religion Clause Blog: "Various aspects of the decision are reported on by The Hankyoreh (May 28); Korea Times (May 27); JoongAng Daily (May 28); and CathNews (May 31)."

Pro-Lifers Worry Kagan Could Push Supreme Court on Assisted Suicide

Posted on June 09, 2010
LifeNews: "A memo the Clinton presidential library turned out last week showing Elena Kagan opposed a ban on assisted suicide gave pro-life groups even more reason to oppose her nomination."

Enfield School Board Votes To Appeal Ruling That Bars Graduations At Church

Posted on June 09, 2010
Hartford Courant: "Board member Donna Szewczak said she voted Tuesday night to approve the appeal ? after voting against it last week ? because 'we needed to take a strong stance' and strengthen the district's defense against a May lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State...

ACLU Seeks Judgment In Challenge To Sex-Segregation In Kentucky Public School

Posted on June 09, 2010
ACLU: "The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Kentucky today asked a judge to rule without trial that implementing sex-segregated classes in Breckinridge County Middle School is illegal and discriminatory."

Group urges end to limits on use of meeting facilities for religious purposes

Posted on June 09, 2010
Religion Clause: "Alliance Defense Fund announced yesterday that it has written to 151 governmental entities operating libraries, parks, schools and community centers urging them to end policies that restrict or exclude groups from using their public meeting rooms and facilities for religious purposes...

IN: County may accept legal help in suit

Posted on June 09, 2010
The News-Sentinel: "The Allen County commissioners appear willing to accept free help from a Christian legal group in defense of a new patient-safety ordinance challenged in court. The Washington, D.C.-based Alliance Defense Fund two years ago offered to defend the county should it pass an ordinance seeking to provide additional emergency safeguards for patients of out-of-town doctors who lack admitting privileges at local hospitals...

Christian librarian loses suit vs. OSU

Posted on June 09, 2010
The Columbus Dispatch: "U.S. District Judge William Bertelsman ruled Monday that Scott Savage didn't prove that Ohio State had made his working conditions intolerable. The judge noted that at least two of Savage's superiors supported his right to his views ...

Groups support Forsyth in prayer appeal

Posted on June 09, 2010
Winston-Salem Journal: "A number of foundations and other nonprofit groups have filed statements of support for Forsyth County as it appeals a federal judge's decision in May to ban prayers that mention Jesus or make other sectarian references at county meetings ...

Cities warned to stop cutting out Christians

Posted on June 09, 2010
WorldNetDaily: "[L]etters have gone out from ADF to more than 150 other government jurisdictions across the nation asking them also to correct policies that illegally target the religious content of community activities. 'I think it's finally gotten to a head,' ADF senior legal counsel [Joel Oster] told WND today...

Worker demoted for discussing intelligent design

Posted on June 09, 2010
CitizenLink: "The Alliance Defense Fund has filed a complaint against Cal Tech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in a case involving freedom of speech in the workplace. A NASA specialist working for JPL was demoted and threatened with termination for discussing Intelligent Design with willing co-workers...

SC Dem upset: Jobless vet to face GOP?s Jim DeMint

Posted on June 09, 2010
AP: "An unemployed military veteran who raised no funds and put up no campaign website shocked South Carolina's Democratic Party leadership by capturing the nomination Tuesday to face Republican U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint in November . . . "

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