Religion & Law

Magazine Explores Religion of the Founders and Texas Social Studies Curriculum

Posted on February 12, 2010
Religion Clause Blog: "The New York Times Magazine (in a preview of Sunday's Magazine) has posted a long article titled How Christian Were the Founders? The article's author, Russell Shorto, explores that question largely through the prism of the recent review of the state's social studies curriculum by the Texas State School Board...

Muslim Scholars Rule That Body Scanners Violate Islamic Law

Posted on February 12, 2010
Religion Clause Blog: "According to yesterday's Detroit Free Press, the Fiqh Council of North America, a body of Islamic scholars, has ruled this week that going through airport body scanners would violate Islamic law. The fatwa concludes that the scanners violate Islamic rules on modesty ...

Another Lawsuit Seeks Return of Break-Away Parish Property To Episcopal Church

Posted on February 12, 2010
Religion Clause Blog: "Yesterday's Modesto (CA) Bee reports on a new lawsuit growing out of the Dec. 2007 decision of the Episcopal Diocese of San Joaquin (CA) to break away from the Episcopal Church to join the more conservative Province of the Southern Cone...

Turkmenistan: Work not even begun on new religion law

Posted on February 12, 2010
Forum 18: "More than two years after the Turkmen government announced that the current restrictive Religion Law will be revised, work on a draft text has not even begun, Shemshat Atajanova, a head of department at the government's National Institute for Democracy and Human Rights, admitted to Forum 18 News...

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Abstinence and the left

Posted on February 12, 2010
Robert Rector writing at National Review Online: "Consider what the New York Times had to say. According to its editorialists, the newly evaluated abstinence program succeeded because it was 'freed from the moralistic overtones and ideological restrictions' of prior abstinence education...

Proposition 8: How Many Souls Have You Saved?

Posted on February 12, 2010
Ann Neumann writing at AlterNet: "Not only have supporters of the law gone bonkers over reports that the judge is gay . . . but the Alliance Defense Fund is now screaming that supporters of 'traditional' marriage are being discriminated against for their religion...

Christian group pledges to help challenge NC prayer ruling

Posted on February 12, 2010
The Church Report: "The North Carolina Partnership for Religious Liberty announced Thursday that they will offer their help to restore prayer at Forsyth County Commission meetings. ... The Alliance Defense Fund is backing the county's defense financially, but will not pay judgments awarded to the ACLU should the county ultimately lose...

Feds admit they wronged pro-lifers

Posted on February 12, 2010
OneNewsNow: "Pro-life Wisconsin is raising serious questions about information gathered by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) since information was inappropriately shared with the Middleton (Wisconsin) Police Department. ... The additional problem is that the federal agency destroyed their copy of the report while Middleton police kept theirs, and the latter refuses to release it...

Is this former stay-at-home mom our greatest security threat?

Posted on February 12, 2010
Gary Bauer writing at Human Events: "Peggy Hamill, state director of Pro-Life Wisconsin, is among a group of pro-life activists upon whom a DHS 'threat assessment' was performed last year. ... Early in 2009, University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics announced that the Madison Surgery Center (MSC), a new medical facility that it part-owned, would begin performing late-term abortions...

Microsoft?s Craig Mundie wants driver?s licenses for the internet?

Posted on February 12, 2010
Gerald Warner writing in The Telegraph: "The American blogosphere is going increasingly 'viral' about a proposal advanced at the recent meeting of the Davos Economic Forum by Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer for Microsoft, that an equivalent of a 'driver?s licence' should be introduced for access to the web...

NC: Board weighs prayer issue

Posted on February 12, 2010
Winston-Salem Journal: "The Forsyth County Board of Commissioners will decide on Feb. 22 whether to appeal a U.S. District Court ruling that forbids sectarian references in prayers at the start of board meetings. ... A national group called the Alliance Defense Fund is paying the county's legal bills, but won't cover payments to the plaintiffs for damages or legal expenses should the county lose...

Mike Johnson on Truth Talk Live: The ACLU attack on Forsythe County prayers

Posted on February 12, 2010
ADF attorney Mike Johnson appeared on Truth Talk Live with Stuart Epperson, Jr. (Facebook) to discuss the ACLU attack on prayers in Forsythe County, NC. The MP3 runs just over 40 minutes.

David French on The Hugh Hewitt Show: CLS v. Martinez

Posted on February 12, 2010
ADF attorney David French appeared on the Hugh Hewitt Show to discuss the CLS v. Hastings case currently pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. The MP3 runs approximately 5 minutes. More information about the case: CLS summary: http://www.clsnet.org/center/litigation/christian-legal-society-v-martinez-uc-hastings 2...

China urges US to cancel meeting with Dalai Lama

Posted on February 12, 2010
AP: "China urged the United States on Friday to immediately cancel plans for President Barack Obama to meet with the Dalai Lama next week, warning the move could further hurt ties."

US missionaries may spend weekend in Haiti lockup

Posted on February 12, 2010
AP: "Ten U.S. missionaries arrested trying to leave earthquake-crippled Haiti with a busload of children may be spending the weekend in jail despite a judge recommending their provisional release . . . "

Administration may abandon civilian 9/11 trial

Posted on February 12, 2010
AP: "City and state officials and many congressional Republicans argue that the high-security trial would put New Yorkers at risk of further attacks, cost taxpayers hundreds of millions of dollars in security expenses and take a staggering toll on nearby businesses...

West Virginia Family Group Seeks to Protect One-Man, One-Woman Marriage

Posted on February 12, 2010
Citizen Link: "The Family Policy Council of West Virginia has released its final online video on the importance of one-man, one-woman marriage."

Kenya police stop gay wedding, make arrests

Posted on February 12, 2010
Reuters: "Kenyan police halted a gay wedding on the Indian Ocean coast on Friday and arrested several suspected homosexuals, police said. Homosexuality illegal in the east African country . . . "

Freedom of Inquiry

Posted on February 12, 2010
Alan Pell Crawford writes at the Wall Street Journal: "The only societies in which true science has ever thrived are those based on classical liberalism."

Poll: No consensus on legalized euthanasia

Posted on February 12, 2010
UPI: "The online survey found 42 percent of respondents favored legalizing euthanasia while 36 percent opposed its legalization, results released by Angus Reid from New York Wednesday showed."

Atlanta group opposes abortion bill

Posted on February 12, 2010
WABE: "The bill was introduced as the Prenatal Non-Discrimination Act and the main framework of the bill would make it a crime to coerce or solicit an abortion based on race. Penalties would include jail time and fines depending on the severity of the offense...

Critics decry Quebec plan on religious schools

Posted on February 12, 2010
The Globe and Mail: "A proposed change to Quebec's school calendar has sparked a fiery debate, with critics charging that it will open the door to an increase in private, subsidized, religious schools. ... according to documents obtained by the Montreal daily Le Devoir, the school calendar was being changed so that 'illegal' orthodox Jewish schools could operate within the law by allowing them to teach compulsory subjects on Sundays...

Church of England?s pension move for same-sex partners

Posted on February 12, 2010
Digital Journal: "The Church of England?s rule-making body's decision to extend pension rights beyond the legal minimum for same-sex partners has been welcomed. The motion, in the General Synod, was carried by a large majority. It has been welcomed by the Inclusive Church network and others working for equality...

NM: Group fined over adult film festival

Posted on February 12, 2010
KOB: "An Albuquerque judge has fined a group responsible for organizing a Nob Hill adult film festival. After three years, the judge decided the theatre that has hosted the Pornotopia film festival is not zoned for adult entertainment, but organizers say the show will go on...

Wisconsin: Bill would require birth control instruction in schools

Posted on February 12, 2010
The Reporter: "Wisconsin public schools must teach birth control methods and how to use them under a bill ready to be signed by Gov. Jim Doyle."

San Francisco: Marriage licenses requested, and denied

Posted on February 12, 2010
San Francisco Chronicle, City Insider: "One couple after another entered the county clerk's office to politely request a wedding license. One couple after another was denied. A similar scenario was playing out in government offices nationwide in states that exclude same sex marriages...

UK: British Airways staff worker loses cross case

Posted on February 12, 2010
The Christian Institute: "A Christian who was told by her bosses at British Airways to hide a small cross she wore around her neck has lost her case for religious discrimination at the Court of Appeal today."

Christian loses crucifix appeal against British Airways

Posted on February 12, 2010
Christian Post: "A devout Christian woman lost her appeal Friday that she was discriminated against by British Airways (BA) after the airline suspended her for wearing a crucifix to work four years ago."

Push for Islamic Courts in Kenya Alarms Christians

Posted on February 12, 2010
Christian Post: "A constitutional battle to expand the scope of Islamic courts in Kenya threatens to ignite religious tensions at a time when authorities are on high alert against Muslim extremists with ties to Somalia."

Church of England Declares Evolution, Faith Are Compatible

Posted on February 12, 2010
Christian Post: "The Church of England's governing body on Friday approved a motion that emphasizes the compatibility of belief in both God and science . . . The compatibility, or lack thereof, of evolution and faith remains a hot debate among Christians...

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