Religion & Law

2009 charitable giving falls 3.6 percent in U.S.

Posted on June 09, 2010
AP: "Americans donated $303.75 billion during 2009, the second-worst year since 1956, when the Giving USA Foundation started conducting its surveys. The worst year was 1974, when giving fell an inflation-adjusted 5.5 percent . . . "

Lincoln won with Clinton and anti-union message

Posted on June 09, 2010
AP: "In winning the Senate primary Tuesday, Lincoln overcame a flood of outside money from labor unions and liberal groups that had backed Lt. Gov. Bill Halter's challenge. She'll fight for her seat against Republican Rep. John Boozman in the fall."

Can Public Schools Constitutionally Punish Students? Off-Campus Speech? The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Will Decide

Posted on June 09, 2010
Julie Hilden writes at Findlaw: "On June 3rd, an en banc panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit re-heard two First Amendment cases that involve speech by public-school students. In each case, the speech occurred off campus, but it still resulted in the school's suspending the student involved...

Fiorina wins GOP Senate primary in California

Posted on June 09, 2010
AP: "The 55-year-old Fiorina rolled to victory Tuesday after a campaign that focused on convincing conservatives she is one of them - opposing abortion, gay marriage and steps the government has taken to prop up the economy . . . "

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GOP picks NV tea party candidate in Reid battle

Posted on June 09, 2010
AP: "Nevada Republicans Tuesday picked tea party insurgent Sharron Angle to take on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid . . . "

Poll: Crist has small lead in Fla. US Senate race

Posted on June 09, 2010
AP: "A survey by Quinnipiac University of 1,133 registered Florida voters shows Crist's independent bid slightly ahead of Republican Marco Rubio. Crist received 37 percent to Rubio's 33 percent while Democrat Kendrick Meek received 17 percent . . . "

Pa. House Passes Bills to Check Immigration Status

Posted on June 09, 2010
WHTM.com: "House Bill 1502 would require all state contractors use the database called E-Verify, while House Bill 1503 would mandate that all construction employers use the federal program. E-Verify allows employers to check on employees and applicants with data in the Social Security Administration?s database and a Department of Homeland Security database...

Canada: ?9 out of 10 women agree: Sex before marriage is fine?

Posted on June 09, 2010
Canada.com: "Fewer than one in 10 Canadian brides-to-be believes in abstaining from sex until their wedding night, despite a 'save yourself' drumbeat that in recent years has reverberated through everything from school programs to pop-culture phenols such as Twilight and Glee...

San Diego Christian lawyers lose bids to be judges

Posted on June 09, 2010
AP: "Four Christian lawyers who vowed to be God's ambassadors on the bench have lost their bids to oust four San Diego Superior Court judges."

Lincoln survives while Boxer and Reid learn their challengers

Posted on June 09, 2010
The Hill: "Tuesday could mark a turning point in the midterm campaign season as two incumbents avoided going down in defeat despite facing a still-simmering electorate. On the Republican side, conservative candidates prevailed, showing the Tea Party?s strength in this election cycle ...

Lincoln wins Arkansas runoff

Posted on June 09, 2010
The Hill: "Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D-Ark.) survived a hard fought primary against Democratic challenger Bill Halter . . . With 80 percent of precincts reporting, Lincoln had 51.7 percent of the vote to Halter?s 48.3 percent."

Rockefeller to join GOP to vote against EPA climate rules

Posted on June 09, 2010
The Hill: "'I intend to vote for Senator Murkowski?s Resolution of Disapproval because I believe we must send a strong message that the fate of West Virginia?s economy, our manufacturing industries, and our workers should not be solely in the hands of EPA,' Rockefeller said in a statement...

Surrogate twins? fate to be decided by French court

Posted on June 09, 2010
Hindustan Times: "The fate of a French homosexual?s twins, born to a surrogate mother in Mumbai, rests with the judiciary in France. The French researcher has been stranded in Mumbai with his twins as he is facing difficulty in getting permission to take them home...

Study finds teens raised by lesbians are well-adjusted

Posted on June 09, 2010
Washington Times: "A study that shows favorable outcomes for teens raised by lesbian mothers is strengthening calls for acceptance of gay families, while opponents say such research is too flawed to be believed . . . The study is 'inherently unreliable' and 'does nothing to undermine other studies which prove the common-sense idea that kids need both a mom and a dad,' countered [Brian Raum], senior legal counsel at the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), which defends traditional marriage in lawsuits...

UK: Church poster showing Jesus in the womb criticised as seeming ?pro-life?

Posted on June 09, 2010
Guardian: "Drawn up by ecumenical charity, Churchads.net, the 'Ultrasound Jesus' campaign is backed by a number of Christian organisations including the Church of England, the Baptist Union, the United Reformed Church, the Anglican and the Methodist churches ...

NY: Activists slam archdiocese for banning sex education at Clinton school

Posted on June 09, 2010
DNAinfo: "Civil liberties activists criticized the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York on Tuesday for not allowing a public school in Chelsea to teach sex education in a building owned by the church. The Clinton School for Writers and Artists recently agreed to move from 21st Street to a building owned by the Catholic church at the St...

Oregon: State wants St. Helens to revise sex-ed program to include contraception

Posted on June 09, 2010
South County Spotlight: "The Oregon Department of Education is asking the St. Helens School District to alter its proposed middle school sex education curriculum because the state agency says it violates state law by not adequately teaching about contraceptives...

?Most Evangelical Leaders OK with Birth Control?

Posted on June 09, 2010
"The National Association of Evangelicals, which represents more than 45,000 churches in the United States, released a report Tuesday showing that nearly 90 percent approve of contraception . . . 'Our leaders indicate that contraception can be utilized if all biblical purposes of sex are upheld and that it may actually aid in keeping the balance,' [Leith] Anderson noted...

Turkey: Bishop?s murderer motivated by Islamic fundamentalism not homosexual advances

Posted on June 09, 2010
Catholic World News quoting Asia News:  "Bishop Louis Pelātre, vicar apostolic of Istanbul, described as 'calumnies' the assertions attributed to Murat Altun, the bishop?s driver and admitted murderer, that he had killed Bishop Padovese because he was defending himself from the bishop?s homosexual advances ...

Conservatives v. Libertarians on judicial activism

Posted on June 09, 2010
Damon W. Root writing at Reason: "Libertarians typically favor an aggressive judiciary that is willing to overturn mistaken precedents and strike down unconstitutional state and federal statutes. The Georgetown law professor Randy Barnett, for instance, has argued that the courts should adopt a 'presumption of liberty,' meaning that the government should be required 'to justify its restriction on liberty, instead of requiring the citizen to establish that the liberty being exercised is somehow "fundamental...

Study: School based sex education classes have little effect

Posted on June 09, 2010
Zimbabwe Star: "Researchers have revealed that school based sex education classes have had little effect on reported sexual behaviours among African adolescents and no effect on the prevalence of HIV and genital herpes 9 years after the start of the intervention...

NY: Local man?s child porn case goes to U.S. Supreme Court

Posted on June 09, 2010
WHEC: "When Khammanivong [originally from Laos] pled guilty he thought he was going to jail for two to three months. In fact, the deal was 10 years in federal prison. His case before the U.S. Supreme court says his 5th, 6th and 14th amendment rights were violated when he couldn't understand his interpreter...

Steve Aden: What hath Nebraska wrought?

Posted on June 09, 2010
ADF Attorney Steven H. Aden writing at Baptist Press: "By the overwhelming margin of 44-5, Nebraska's unicameral legislature passed a bill April 13 that bans abortions after 20 weeks of gestation, except when the abortion would preserve the life or physical health of the mother...

Canada: Anti-polygamy case gives rise to all kinds of family forms

Posted on June 09, 2010
"While others -- such as Surreybased Wiccan priest Sam Wagar . . . contend that they have a religious right to practise polygamy, the polyamorists say that for them it's a matter of freedom of expression . . . "

UK: Inmates are converting to Islam for the perks

Posted on June 09, 2010
The Christian Institute: "Prisoners are converting to Islam to gain better food and the protection of fellow Muslims, according to an official report released today . . . Muslim Prisoners? Experiences, which is written by Dame Ann Owers the Chief Inspector of Prisons, reveals that 30 per cent of the nation?s 10,300 Muslim inmates have taken up the faith whilst in prison...

Northern Ireland Charity Commission under fire over guidance on ?open membership criteria?

Posted on June 09, 2010
"The Commission?s draft guidance indicated that the charitable status of churches and Christian charities could be threatened if their membership rules were not 'sufficiently open'."

Scotland: Pro-lifers? fury over assisted suicide committee adviser

Posted on June 09, 2010
The Christian Institute: "An assisted suicide advocate has been appointed as the sole adviser to the Holyrood committee responsible for examining a bill that would legalise assisted suicide in Scotland. The End of Life Assistance (Scotland) Bill, proposed by Margo MacDonald MSP, would allow the terminally ill and people who are 'permanently physically incapacitated' to seek assistance in ending their lives...

MA: New team to target civil rights violations

Posted on June 09, 2010
Boston Globe: "US Attorney Carmen M. Ortiz announced yesterday that she is forming a team of prosecutors to focus on civil rights cases, including hate crimes, human trafficking, police misconduct, damage to religious property, and employment discrimination ...

?EU commission shows pride in gay rights rulebook?

Posted on June 09, 2010
EU Observer: "The European Commission's internal gay rights policy has been described as 'quite impressive' by campaigners. But activists would like to see more EU policing of homophobia in member states. The commission, which employs around 25,000 people in Brussels, and which sees itself as a model 'modern working environment' outlined its staffing policy in a statement prepared for EUobserver in June...

Canada: BC rights hearing pits same sex couple vs. B&B

Posted on June 09, 2010
"In an application to have the complaint dismissed, Les Molnar said 'to allow a gay couple to share a bed in my Christian home would violate my Christian beliefs and would cause me and my wife great distress.'"

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