Religion & Law

Idaho: Public Charter School Commission says Bible can?t be used

Posted on February 15, 2010
Idaho Press-Tribune: "The Idaho's Public Charter School Commission Thursday approved a definition of religious texts, but a local academy objects to the way the issue was handled . . . The definition answers Nampa Classical Academy's question of what the commission considers to be a religious text...

Atheist seeks to eliminate prayer, moment of silence

Posted on February 15, 2010
OneNewsNow: "School officials are awaiting a federal court decision concerning the 'period of silence' law in Illinois schools . . . David Cortman [said] 'During that time [students] could think about whatever they want to, and heaven forbid they could pray, and some local atheists -- with the help of our friends at the ACLU -- decided to bring a challenge based on the so-called "separation of church and state,"' Cortman explains...

Christian group sues library over rejection

Posted on February 15, 2010
News-Journal: "The Christian Family Coalition claims the politically active group's religious rights were violated after a request to hold a seminar at the New Smyrna Beach Regional Library was denied. ... Joel Oster, a senior attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, said Christian groups should not be denied access to public meeting rooms because of their beliefs...

NC: Prayer plaintiff fights for ?the system?

Posted on February 15, 2010
Winston-Salem Journal: "Constance Lynn 'Connie' Blackmon, the co-plaintiff in the lawsuit to stop Forsyth County commissioners from opening their meetings with sectarian prayer, is a former Southern Baptist who says she got involved in the local fight out of respect for government systems...

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Winston-Salem Journal: Praying for reason

Posted on February 15, 2010
Winston-Salem Journal Editorial: "The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners' fight to preserve sectarian prayer to open their meetings, which seemed close to ending just days ago, roared back this week as supporters trained their fire on Dave Plyler, the swing vote on the issue and the chairman of the board...

?Obscene? U.S. manga collector jailed 6 months

Posted on February 15, 2010
Wired: "A U.S. comic book collector is being sentenced to six months in prison after pleading guilty to importing and possessing Japanese manga books depicting illustrations of child sex and bestiality."

Rutherford Institute urges Supreme Court to restore Christian student group?s access to university campus

Posted on February 15, 2010
Rutherford Institute: "The Rutherford Institute has filed an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez in defense of the right of a Christian university student group to be able to freely associate with fellow believers who subscribe to their religious beliefs about sexual conduct outside of marriage...

Opposing the homosexual agenda: Religious bigotry or science and justice?

Posted on February 15, 2010
Catholic Online: "Homosexual marriage and other gay activism in society is harmful, in part, because it affects sexual preference and gender identity formation of some children, exposing them to the false ideology that all sexual and gender variations are equally healthy and harmless...

AZ: House bill gives married couples adoption preference

Posted on February 15, 2010
East Valley Tribune: "Saying children do better in a home with a mother and a father, the state House voted Monday to give married couples preference when placing children for adoption. HB 2148 would overrule the existing practice of the Department of Economic Security that makes the 'best interests of the child' the primary factor when considering placing a child for adoption...

Unprecedented threat to parental rights in Poland

Posted on February 15, 2010
LifeSiteNews: "A controversial bill that critics say would significantly infringe on the rights of parents to bring up their children according to their values has passed first reading in the Polish parliament. Incorporated into the bill, titled 'On the Prevention of Family Violence,' which deals with a variety of issues, is a clause that says, 'It is forbidden for persons holding parental power over children to implement corporal punishment, cause psychological pain or to humiliate them in any other form...

No opt-out for children from ?pro-gay? classes in Ontario schools

Posted on February 15, 2010
LifeSiteNews: "Public school children in Hamilton, Ontario will not be permitted to withdraw from classes that promote homosexuality, according to the Hamilton Mountain News. At the same time, according to a leaked document obtained by a local journalist, teachers are being instructed to tell parents who object to the curriculum that 'this is not about parent rights...

Polygamous church in Utah names new president

Posted on February 15, 2010
Associated Press: "Wendell Loy Nielsen, 69, was named president in documents filed with the Utah Department of Commerce. He has long been a senior leader in the hierarchy of the southern Utah-based Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints...

Indonesia?s religious council opposes unofficial marriage

Posted on February 15, 2010
Asia News Network: "The Indoneian Ulema Council (MUI) is throwing its weight behind the religious affairs ministry plan to outlaw unofficial marriage (nikah siri), a common practise in the Moslem-majority Indonesia."

Nicaragua refuses to discuss therapeutic abortion

Posted on February 15, 2010
IPS: "Nicaragua slammed the door on any possible debate on the restitution of therapeutic abortion - performed to save the life of the pregnant woman - despite demands that it do so voiced during a United Nations review of human rights in the country ...

CA: Constitutionality of prayer debate heats up in Pico Rivera

Posted on February 15, 2010
Whittier Daily News: "After a newly appointed mayor took a Bible off the dais and chose not to schedule prayer at each council meeting, the country's 220-year-old debate over church and state has sprung up in Pico Rivera . . . 'It's a very black-and-white situation, clearly defined in the Constitution,' Salcido said after the January meeting...

?Gay clergy vote splits South Dakota Lutheran churches?

Posted on February 15, 2010
Argus Leader: "As congregations across the state consider whether to split from the ELCA over the gay clergy issue, the situation represents more than simply a change in the church. The controversy has the potential to splinter small towns and communities where the Lutheran church has been an important part of the social fabric for decades...

DC: ACLU Looks To Block Central Union Mission

Posted on February 12, 2010
Washington Business Journal: "D.C. is looking for someone interested in leasing the Gales School, a 25,248-square-foot building near Mount Vernon Triangle, and turning it into a homeless shelter." Apparently, the ACLU is arguing that the solicitation for usage of the property was biased in favor of a Christian organization.

China Alarmed by Security Threat From Internet

Posted on February 12, 2010
NY Times: "In the view of both political analysts and technology experts here and in the United States, China?s attempts to tighten its grip on Internet use are driven in part by the conviction that the West ? and particularly the United States ? is wielding communications innovations from malware to Twitter to weaken it militarily and to stir dissent internally...

Polls differ on Republican views on ?Don?t Ask, Don?t Tell?

Posted on February 12, 2010
FiveThirtyEight.com reports on the results of various polls.

English Football: ?Top stars shun gay awareness campaign?

Posted on February 12, 2010
Soccer.espn.go.com."Professional Footballers' Association chief executive Gordon Taylor has defended the game's top players after reports that none were prepared to appear in a video campaign against homophobia."

Prop 8 movie?s distribution rights sold, Mormons targeted

Posted on February 12, 2010
KSL.com (AP): "A film distribution company has bought the rights to a documentary about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' role in a California ballot initiative to ban gay marriage . . . "

More tolerance for ?gay? troops as end of ?don?t ask, don?t tell? is debated

Posted on February 12, 2010
Washington Post: "But even if the current law and policy known as "don't ask, don't tell" is repealed in coming months, gay soldiers are unlikely to come out of the closet in large numbers, service members said. 'An openly gay soldier would have a lot to overcome,' said Matthew Gallagher, a former Army captain and popular blogger who left the Army last year...

R.I. House elects 1st ?openly gay? speaker in the nation?s ?most Catholic State?

Posted on February 12, 2010
The former House majority leader [Gordon Fox] received votes from 51 of the 75 lawmakers in the House . . . "

Planned Parenthood Opens Big New Abortion Center Sunday in Portland, Oregon

Posted on February 12, 2010
LifeNews: "The new abortion business will serve as the headquarters of the Planned Parenthood affiliate Planned Parenthood Columbia-Willamette and was built in the heart of an African-American community."

Missouri Senate approves new strip club restrictions

Posted on February 12, 2010
St. Louis Public Radio (AP): "The Missouri Senate has passed new restrictions on sexually oriented businesses."

A hopeful future for European human rights

Posted on February 12, 2010
Mattias C. Kettemann writing in the Harvard Law Record: "While the details, as mentioned before, will still need to be worked out and the days before the Interlaken conference are sure to be filled with intensive intra-European human rights diplomacy, one conclusion of President Costa is certainly true: Reforms must bear in mind the 'principle of a better sharing of responsibility between the Court and the States...

Post-ABC Poll: ?Views on gay marriage steady, more back civil unions?

Posted on February 12, 2010
Washington Post: "In a new Washington Post-ABC News poll, 47 percent say gay marriages should be legal, with 31 percent saying they feel that way 'strongly.' ... Two-thirds now say they favor allowing gay and lesbian couples to form civil unions that would give them many of the same legal rights as married couples...

Portuguese parliament passes ?gay marriage? bill

Posted on February 12, 2010
The Vancouver Sun: "Portuguese lawmakers Thursday definitively adopted legislation legalising homosexual marriage, although President Anibal Cavaco Silva, a practising Roman Catholic, must give final approval. ... Cavaco Silva could still veto the measure, a move that would mean a new vote in parliament but would merely delay it becoming law...

San Francisco: Same-sex ?marriage? supporters to request marriage licenses en masse

Posted on February 12, 2010
Mercury Newsa: "Supporters of same-sex marriage will demonstrate at San Francisco City Hall today in a mass request at the county clerk's office to receive marriage licenses."

Reid nixes filibuster reform effort

Posted on February 12, 2010
Washington Post: "Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) on Thursday dismissed an effort by some Democrats to eliminate the filibuster, saying the chamber's procedures were designed to prevent the majority party from unilaterally changing the rules...

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