Religion & Law

Prop. 8 trial stirs questions, emotions

Posted on February 08, 2010
Washington Times: "Jordan Lorence, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), which helped defend Proposition 8, said factual testimony about the suffering caused by Proposition 8 may be compelling to a committee of elected legislators, or the voters, but it's irrelevant in a federal legal proceeding ? or at least it should be...

NC: Invocations at meetings disputed

Posted on February 08, 2010
Times-News: Henderson County Commissioner Larry Young said Christians, and Henderson County in particular, need to take a stand. The United States was founded on Christian principals, and a court cannot take religion out of government meetings . . . He is not sure what impact the Forsyth case will have on the board, but he knows that other government bodies say a prayer before a meeting ...

Kathryn Jean Lopez: Losing our religion

Posted on February 08, 2010
Kathryn Jean Lopez writing at National Review Online: This conversation about religious liberty, homosexuality and the definition of rights will be a prominent one this term as the U.S. Supreme Court takes up Christian Legal Society v. Martinez . . . As David French, a lawyer for the Alliance Defense Fund, which specializes in religious-liberty litigation, recently put it: 'If your idea of law is that it is an instrument of domination and exclusion, then, yes, legal disputes between ideological opposites are "zero-sum games...

Abortion revelation amps pro-life protest

Posted on February 08, 2010
OneNewsNow: "Pro-Life Wisconsin and the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) obtained records through the Freedom of Information Act. Peggy Hamill, director of Pro-Life Wisconsin, reports on the findings. 'The documents confirm that UW is already involved in research using aborted baby body parts,' she explains...

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Forsyth County board won?t resist court

Posted on February 08, 2010
"But Plyler said that 'the Christian community' and not the government should 'fight the ACLU.' 'All I need is a promise that the taxpayers won't pay a dime,' Plyler said."

?Iowans rate drivers? texting as more urgent than gay marriage?

Posted on February 08, 2010
Des Moines Register: "Among six hot-button topics, a new Iowa Poll shows a majority of Iowans consider only a ban on text messaging while driving worth the Legislature's time during a session shortened by 20 days to cut costs. Iowans are not enthusiastic about devoting time to debates on gay marriage, puppy mills, gun control, payday loans or gambling ...

German homeschoolers granted asylum in U.S.

Posted on February 08, 2010
Baptist Press: "'The immigration court has clearly recognized that basic human rights are being violated by the German policy of persecuting homeschooling families,' Kiska said. 'Many Americans are simply unaware of just how bad the policy is.'"

Freedom to pray should not be hindered, limited

Posted on February 08, 2010
Steve Corts writes at the Winston-Salem Journal: "The freedom to practice faith (in public and private) according to one's own conscience, without fear of government favoritism or interference, is a national treasure kept in the First Amendment. For most of American history, this has included the freedom to pray publicly and uncensored before government assemblies...

Judge in Prop. 8 litigation is ?gay??

Posted on February 08, 2010
"The biggest open secret in the landmark trial over same-sex marriage being heard in San Francisco is that the federal judge who will decide the case, Chief U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, is himself gay."

Maryland: Pressing for changes to charter school law

Posted on February 08, 2010
EducationNews.org: "Advocates for Maryland's charter schools are gearing up for what they hope will be a watershed year for reform of the state's charter school law."

Innocent-sounding Calif. bill could help legalize ?gay marriage,? some say

Posted on February 08, 2010
Baptist Press: "Mike Johnson, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund -- which opposes 'gay marriage' -- said Leno's bill avoids the real issues that have been raised by concerned Christians. 'This deceptively-named bill is another attempt to confine the liberty argument to a very narrow area...

Dem. lieutenant governor candidate exits Ill. race

Posted on February 08, 2010
AP: "The Democratic nominee for Illinois' lieutenant governor dropped out of the race Sunday night, less than a week after winning the nomination, amid a political uproar about his past."

Nigerian Christians count dead after Jos violence

Posted on February 08, 2010
AP: "A Christian group says 20 of its members died and another 56 remain missing after religious and political violence that consumed central Nigeria last month . . . "

Muslim man wins handshake case in Sweden

Posted on February 08, 2010
AP:  "Sweden's unemployment agency has been found guilty of discrimination for expelling a Muslim man from a job training program because he refused to shake hands with a woman."

Broad support for Christian student group reflected in numerous briefs filed with Supreme Court

Posted on February 08, 2010
The U.S. Supreme Court received 22 friend-of-the-court briefs Thursday in support of a Christian Legal Society chapter?s lawsuit against California?s Hastings College of the Law.

Pakistani Christians reject revision to proposal in blasphemy law

Posted on February 08, 2010
Pakistan Christian Post: "Dr. Nazir S Bhatti, President of Pakistan Christian Congress PCC clarified that Shahbaz Bhatti, Federal Minister for Minorities is not elected by voters as member of National Assembly of Pakistan but selected by Pakistan Peoples Party PPP and speaks voice of his Muslim masters...

Coalition seeks repeal of Klan-era ban on religious garb in Oregon schools

Posted on February 08, 2010
Catholic News Agency: "Religious freedom advocates have asked the Oregon legislature for an immediate repeal of a decades-old law that bars Oregon teachers from wearing religious dress in public schools. The law, originally an anti-Catholic measure, was implemented with the support of the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s...

German cultural appeasement

Posted on February 08, 2010
Wall Street Journal: "Just when the murderous lessons of political Islam?from the numerous terror attacks to "honor killings" and hate preachers?were thought to be inculcated into Germany's media, a wide swath of journalists and academics suffered a collective relapse into appeasement...

Cities, churches tussle over landmark status

Posted on February 08, 2010
The Christian Century: "Catholic dioceses in Ohio and Massachusetts are resisting moves by local officials to apply landmark designations to shuttered churches, saying such moves raise issues of religious freedom and expression. Landmark advocates, meanwhile, say they are preserving the historic character of neighborhoods?a concern that isn't always shared by bishops preoccupied with shrinking budgets and dwindling numbers of priests...

Planned Parenthood pushes intensive sex education for kids as young as 10

Posted on February 08, 2010
FOX News: "A new report by the International Planned Parenthood Federation is advocating that children as young as 10 be given extensive sex education, including an awareness of sex's pleasures. The report, 'Stand and Deliver,' charges that religious groups, specifically Catholics and Muslims, deny their young access to comprehensive sexual programs and education...

Lao officials force Christians from worship at gunpoint

Posted on February 08, 2010
Compass Direct News: "About 100 local officials, police and villagers put guns to the heads of Christians during their Sunday morning service in a village in Laos last month, forcing them from their worship and homes, according to an advocacy organization...

Gary McCaleb on KTVK 3 Phoenix: The battle over church bells

Posted on February 08, 2010
ADF attorney Gary McCaleb appeared on KTVK 3 Phoenix to discuss pending prosecutions of churches for ringing church bells in Phoenix. The MP4 runs just over 4 minutes.

Sikh ?ceremonial daggers? should be allowed in schools, says judge

Posted on February 08, 2010
Telegraph: "Sikh pupils should be allowed to carry ceremonial daggers, Britain's first Asian judge has said, following a case in which a 14-year-old was excluded for insisting on bringing his Kirpan blade to school."

?FCC instructor teaching anti-gay views,? ACLU says

Posted on February 08, 2010
Fresno Bee: "The American Civil Liberties Union is charging that a health instructor at Fresno City College is presenting religious-based and anti-gay views as science and fact."

ADF, Stand4MarriageDC appeal decision to redefine marriage without voter approval

Posted on February 08, 2010
Alliance Defense Fund and Stand4MarriageDC attorneys have appealed an opinion and order issued by the District of Columbia Board of Elections and Ethics last week that denied the district?s voters the right to vote on a marriage redefinition law passed by the D...

Liberty Counsel Files to Protect the Legal Rights of Personhood in Mississippi

Posted on February 08, 2010
"Liberty Counsel has filed a federal lawsuit against the state of Mississippi seeking an emergency injunction on behalf of Personhood Mississippi, an organization working to prevent abortions by amending the state Constitution to include the unborn in the definition of a person...

Va. delegate hopes to repeal same-sex ?marriage? ban

Posted on February 08, 2010
The Gainsville Times: "Delegate David Englin, D-Alexandria, wants Virginia to repeal its constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages . . . To repeal that amendment, Englin is sponsoring House Joint Resolution 55. It is similar to proposals he carried in 2007 and 2009...

U.S. House Rep. John Murtha dies at 77 (D-Penn.)

Posted on February 08, 2010
The Hill: "The 77-year-old Democrat was a close friend of Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and had been a strong voice on military matters in Congress."

NRO Symposium on Geert Wilders: Western Civilization on trial

Posted on February 08, 2010
The NRO Symposium includes contributions from Bat Ye?or, author of Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis; Paul Marshall, senior fellow at Hudson Institute?s Center for Religious Freedom; Clifford D. May, president of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies; Daniel Pipes, director of the Middle East Forum and Taube distinguished visiting fellow at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University; Nina Shea, director of the Hudson Institute?s Center for Religious Freedom; and Robert Spencer, director of Jihad Watch and author of The Complete Infidel?s Guide to the Koran.

Candidates for RI gov promise ?gay marriage? support

Posted on February 08, 2010
Associated Press: "Three candidates running for Rhode Island governor are promising to sign a gay marriage bill should it reach their desk if they are elected."

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