Religion & Law

UK: Marriage rates lowest since 1862

Posted on February 11, 2010
Reuters: "Marriage rates in England and Wales have fallen to their lowest level since records began in 1862 as a rising population increasingly shuns wedlock, government statisticians said on Thursday."

Georgia: ?Recession pushes more women to strip clubs?

Posted on February 11, 2010
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: "But that hasn?t slowed the would-be dancers lining up to apply for the $350 permit to work in the city?s 19 clubs, Atlanta police say. Among the usual aspiring actresses and dancers, there are more college students, single mothers trailing toddlers, health and office professionals and even a few age-defying grandmothers ? all looking for well-paid work in a city with unemployment above 10 percent...

No Valentine?s: Saudi religious police see red

Posted on February 11, 2010
AP: "The Saudi religious police launched Thursday a nationwide crackdown on stores selling items that are red or in any other way allude to the banned celebrations of Valentine's Day, a Saudi official said."

Canadian civil-rights group says racial and religious profiling a fact of life at border

Posted on February 10, 2010
Canadian Press: "[The International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group] says racial and religious profiling has become a fact of life at the Canada-U.S. border. ... It says many travellers with common names such as Smith, Martin and Khan have been victimized by no-fly rosters and other watchlists...

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Prominent journalist tells court how Indonesia?s religion law jailed him

Posted on February 10, 2010
Jakarta Globe: "A prominent senior journalist, author and cultural expert appeared as a witness at the Constitutional Court on Wednesday to speak about his experience with a law that saw him imprisoned for five years. The court was hearing the fourth phase of the judicial review into the 1965 Law on the Prevention of Blasphemy and Abuse of Religion...

Man sues California mall after guard arrests him for having conversation about God

Posted on February 10, 2010
FOX News: "Imagine getting arrested for just striking up a conversation about religion in public. That?s what happened to California resident Matthew Snatchko in 2006 when the youth pastor initiated a conversation about God with three shoppers at the Roseville Galleria mall...

?Will Allowing Gays in the Military Really Impair Unit Cohesion? The Relevance of Allies? Experience?

Posted on February 10, 2010
Ilya Somin joins the discussion at the Volokh Conspiracy.

SD: ?Sexual orientation and gender identity? bill assigned to House committee

Posted on February 10, 2010
South Dakota Family Policy Council email: "Today we received notice HB 1144 is being reassigned to the House Health and Human Services Committee. The rescheduled date for the hearing is Tuesday, February 16" According to the SDFPC, the bill will place "Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity" into state non-discrimination laws.

Church of England concerned by ?religious TV cuts?

Posted on February 10, 2010
BBC News: "The Church of England's general synod has voted to back a motion expressing 'deep concern' at what it believes is a cut in religious TV programming. But the synod drew back from singling out the BBC, instead backing a motion aimed at all mainstream broadcasters...

NC: ?Asheville City Council moves forward on gay benefits?

Posted on February 10, 2010
Asheville Citizen-Times: "The council voted 4-2 to have city staff report March 9 on how workers' same-sex domestic partners could get the same benefits as heterosexual employees' spouses, including health insurance, bereavement leave and prescription drug coverage...

Kazakhstan: Government proposes retaining punishments for exercising religious freedom

Posted on February 10, 2010
Forum 18: "Kazakhstan's proposed new Administrative Code continues current penalties for exercising freedom of religion or belief, Forum 18 News Service notes. The state-approved version being considered by Parliament continues existing fines and bans punishing individuals and religious communities operating without state-granted legal status or who conduct unregistered 'missionary activity'...

NH marriage fight goes to the polls

Posted on February 10, 2010
New Hampshire Union Leader: "A number of towns will be weighing in on an article at town meeting this March that asks if the people should be allowed to vote on a constitutional amendment defining marriage. The resolution complements a bill sponsored by state Rep...

U.S. Senate confirms Judge Joseph Greenaway Jr. to the 3rd Circuit

Posted on February 10, 2010
NJ Star Ledger: "After months of delay, the U.S. Senate today unanimously confirmed a federal judge from New Jersey to fill an open seat on the nation?s second highest court."

Clarence Thomas, Sonia Sotomayor, and the Noble Lie

Posted on February 10, 2010
Michael C. Dorf writes at Findlaw: "Finally, perhaps some sophisticated judges and politicians may speak the language of formalism as a kind of 'noble lie.' In The Republic, Plato provocatively suggests that to keep the lower classes (including slaves) from revolting against their rulers, it would be useful to brainwash the public into thinking that the social order is ordained by the gods...

W.Va. high court justices firm: No appeals court needed

Posted on February 10, 2010
Charleston Gazette: "Members of the House Finance Committee asked Supreme Court Justices Robin Davis and Menis Ketchum for their thoughts on creating an intermediate appeals court in West Virginia -- and got an earful in return Tuesday."

O?Connor fears cash will flood judicial races

Posted on February 10, 2010
Detroit Free Press: "Warning that escalating campaign contributions in judicial elections will breed arms races between deep-pocket donors, retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor reiterated Tuesday her call for merit selection of state judges...

Reversing a wrong? repealing ?don?t ask, don?t tell? (Rep. Barney Frank)

Posted on February 10, 2010
Rep. Barney Frank writes at the Hill: "Finally, the argument that we should not repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" because we are in the midst of two wars is badly flawed. Ironically, the religious fundamentalist terrorists we are fighting generally agree with the defenders of this discriminatory policy in their opposition to the principle that gay men and lesbians should be treated fairly ...

Ten GOP Health Ideas for Obama

Posted on February 10, 2010
Newt Gingrich and John C. Goodman write at the Wall Street Journal: "'If you have a better idea, show it to me.' That was President Barack Obama's challenge two weeks ago to House Republicans regarding health-care reform . . . If the president is serious about building a system that delivers more quality choices at lower cost for every American, here's where he should start ...

Moroccan Authorities Raid Bible Study, Arrest Christians

Posted on February 10, 2010
Christian Post: "A large, military-led team of Moroccan authorities raided a Bible study in a small city southeast of Marrakech last week, arresting 18 Moroccans and deporting a U.S. citizen, area Christian leaders said."

NH: Bill to remove judge who presided over controversial home school case

Posted on February 10, 2010
Gavel to Gavel: "The first such effort (HA 1) is against marital master Michael Garner. Garner, according to the bill of address, 'recommended to the presiding justice an order removing a child from an educational setting on the basis of religious prejudice...

Wisconsin pro-life groups illegally investigated by the government and by police

Posted on February 10, 2010
Hot Air, The Green Room: "A pro-life group in Wisconsin was recently investigated by police and the government for literally no reason at all ... 'The Department of Homeland Security admitted today that it improperly conducted a threat assessment on pro-life and pro-abortion groups in Wisconsin ...

Appeal filed to give D.C. voters right to vote on ?gay marriage? law

Posted on February 10, 2010
LifeSiteNews: "Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund and Stand4MarriageDC appealed to the D.C. Superior Court, which previously upheld the BOEE?s decision to reject a pro-family marriage initiative banning same-sex 'marriage.' ADF attorneys also filed an additional motion last Friday to prevent the law from going into effect March 2...

Penna Dexter: Marriage is worth protecting

Posted on February 10, 2010
Penna Dexter writing at Baptist Press: "In a few places, courts and legislatures have upset the traditional definition of marriage. Nowhere has this bucking of the democratic process been more blatant than in California, where the people have voted, twice, on ballot initiatives stating that marriage remains the union between one man and one woman, and where that definition is being challenged in federal court ...

White House Faith Office Director: Still Working on Plan to Reduce Abortions

Posted on February 10, 2010
LifeNews: "In a new interview, the director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships contends the Obama administration sis still working on a plan to reduce abortions. In the 13 months since Barack Obama became president, he's promoted abortion and the office has produced nothing...

?Zero tolerance? relieves public schools of the burden of common sense

Posted on February 10, 2010
Ashley Herzog writes at Townhall: "Unsurprisingly, zero tolerance horror stories rarely come out of private schools. Only a union-protected public school principal can display outrageous incompetence and then say 'that's just our policy,' as Alexa Gonzalez's principal did...

NY governor says he?ll step aside only ?in a box?

Posted on February 10, 2010
AP: "New York Gov. David Paterson, defying calls from even fellow Democrats to drop out of the race for a full term, said Tuesday that he would leave only if the voters turned him out through the ballot box, or he's carried out 'in a box.'"

China jails young man for joining political party

Posted on February 10, 2010
AP: "A 20-year-old factory worker who joined a banned political party because he was unhappy with one-party rule in China was sentenced to jail for 18 months Wednesday, his mother said."

Big Changes for DSM-V, the Psychiatrist?s ?Bible?

Posted on February 10, 2010
ABC: "Substantial changes are in the offing for the "psychiatrist's bible," the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, according to a draft of the forthcoming fifth edition . . . Creating a 'behavioral addictions' category that will include addictions to gambling but not to the Internet or sex ...

Wyoming Public Schools Resist Promotion of Homosexuality

Posted on February 10, 2010
Citizen Link: "A dispute is brewing in Wyoming over an anti-bullying program called "No Place for Hate," produced by the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) . . . "

Harvard Law adjusts its public service incentives

Posted on February 10, 2010
National Law Journal: "The new Public Service Venture Fund will divide $1 million per year among qualified graduates who start their own nonprofit organizations or seek jobs at government agencies or public interest groups."

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