Religion & Law

Supreme Court takes on international child custody case

Posted on June 29, 2009
AP: "The Supreme Court is intervening in a child custody dispute between a Texas mother and a British father that tests the boundaries of an international treaty."

Court rejects Mo. appeal on funeral protest law

Posted on June 29, 2009
AP: "The Supreme Court has left in place a court order barring Missouri from enforcing a law limiting protests near funerals."

FRC Launches Stop Kevin Jennings Campaign

Posted on June 29, 2009
FRC: "Today, Family Research Council announced the launch of the Stop Kevin Jennings campaign. Kevin Jennings is a radical homosexual activist whom President Barack Obama appointed to head the Office of Safe and Drug Free Schools."

Court won?t get involved in Bible club question

Posted on June 29, 2009
"The Supreme Court on Monday declined to stop a school district from blocking a group of Christian students from forming a Bible club on campus . . . "

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Court rules for white firefighters over promotions

Posted on June 29, 2009
AP: "The Supreme Court ruled Monday that white firefighters in New Haven, Conn., were unfairly denied promotions because of their race, reversing a decision that high court nominee Sonia Sotomayor endorsed as an appeals court judge." Ricci, et al. v...

Pro-Life group challenges federal order to sell morning after pill to minor girls

Posted on June 29, 2009
LifeNews reports: "'The life and health of women, especially minors, is more important than the political agenda of pro-abortion activist groups,' [Matt Bowman] said. 'Minors are least of all in a position to make an informed decision about the life or death of a child, or even about their own safety...

Arkansas: ?UA campuses consider benefits for domestic partners?

Posted on June 29, 2009
Tracie Dungan reports at Northwest Arkansas News: "The University of Arkansas System's three largest campuses have resurrected an effort to extend employee health insurance benefits to domestic partners and other nontraditional families."

Homeschooling under pressure all over Europe

Posted on June 29, 2009
J. Michael Smith, HSLDA president, writing in the Washington Times: "While other European countries have not embraced the German methods, there is a move in some countries to crack down on homeschoolers. For example, in Sweden, the government released a suggestion on June 15 that all schools, including homeschools, must provide an education that is acceptable to all pupils regardless of religious or philosophical beliefs, or the beliefs of the parents...

?Doing ?Work Necessary To Win?: Lambda Legal lawyer led fight for gay marriage in Iowa?

Posted on June 29, 2009
ABA Journal: "The red light on Camilla Taylor?s office phone is blinking; she has a voice mail. As lead counsel for one of the country?s most prominent gay rights cases, Taylor?s mystery caller could be anyone?one of the world?s most prominent social scientists or a volun teer leading an equal rights discussion in a small-town church basement...

Frank Rich: ?40 Years Later, Still Second-Class Americans?

Posted on June 29, 2009
Frank Rich writes at NY Times: “Action would be even better. It?s a press cliché that ?gay supporters? are disappointed with Obama, but we should all be. Gay Americans aren?t just another political special interest group. They are Americans who are actively discriminated against by federal laws...

Louisiana Healthcare Conscience Protection Law Passes State Lawmakers

Posted on June 29, 2009
LifeSiteNews: "Louisiana lawmakers Wednesday approved a law affirming the conscience rights of both private and public healthcare workers in the state who object to performing abortion or physician-assisted suicide, or administering abortifacient drugs...

NY Gov marches as grand marshal with other key Dems in NY ?Gay Pride Parade?

Posted on June 29, 2009
NY Daily News: "Gov. Paterson - who remains hopeful the state will pass a pending same-sex marriage bill - marched as grand marshal of the parade alongside Christine Quinn, the first openly gay Council speaker. 'Let's hear it for pride, everyone!' Sen...

U.S. traffickers targeting schools, malls, and internet for prostitution

Posted on June 29, 2009
Allan Johnson and Mike Wagner report in The Columbus Dispatch: "Pimps and their recruiters target girls in schools and shopping malls, on Internet sites and college campuses and elsewhere. They trick or coerce them into prostitution. The U.S. Department of State estimates that 15,000 to 18,000 women and girls are trafficked in the U...

Abortion Proponents See Red after Senator Proposes ?Office of Unborn Children?s Health? in Healthcare Bill

Posted on June 29, 2009
LifeSiteNews: "Abortion proponents are reacting with fury after Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) filed an amendment this month to the President's healthcare reform package authorizing the institution of an Office of Unborn Children's Health."

Boston Catholic Health-Care Agency Withdraws from Abortion-Tainted State Contract

Posted on June 29, 2009
Catholic Culture: "The Archdiocese of Boston has withdrawn from a controversial state contract, just days before the contract would have taken effect. The archdiocese announced on June 26 that the Caritas Christi health agency would not go forward with plans to enter a partnership that would have provided a broad range of state-subsidized medical services, because of concerns about involvement in abortion and other immoral practices...

California Lawmakers Push ?Harvey Milk Day? to Honor Slain Homosexual Leader

Posted on June 29, 2009
CNSNews: "California lawmakers are pushing a bill to authorize an official day in honor of the late-homosexual activist Harvey Milk. The bill would require California?s public schools to ?conduct suitable commemorative exercises? on Harvey Milk Day, which conservative activists see as a means to promote a homosexual agenda to a captive audience in the classroom...

SPUC challenges Northern Ireland?s abortion guide

Posted on June 29, 2009
The BBC reports: "Liam Gibson of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children said the law in Northern Ireland 'not only safeguards the lives of unborn children but also protects women from the terrible damage which abortion can cause. By issuing guidance that distorts the law, the department of health has created a grave threat to unborn children, to the safety of women and to the rights of medical professionals...

Britain has 85 Islamic sharia courts

Posted on June 29, 2009
Steve Doughty reports in the Daily Mail: "The tribunals, working mainly from mosques, settle financial and family disputes according to religious principles. They lay down judgments which can be given full legal status if approved in national law courts...

?Sexting? can be a sex offense

Posted on June 29, 2009
Kathie Basset reports in The Telegraph: "'Any image of someone under 18 is illegal to possess,' [said Sgt. Dave Vucich of the Madison County Sheriff's Department]. 'The person who has taken the photo, even if it's of themselves, is involved in the possession and manufacturing of child pornography...

?The sex vote?

Posted on June 29, 2009
James Poulos, doctoral candidate in Government at Georgetown and blogger at First Things, writes at AFF Doublethink: "Alas, ours is not the most sexually transgressive age by far, though it is assuredly one of the more permissive and remissive. . . . Even in its details, we have extremely vague sexual politics...

India: ?Gay rights march calls to legalize gay sex?

Posted on June 29, 2009
Sam Dolnick reports in the Washington Post (AP): "Hundreds of gay rights supporters waved flags and danced past traffic during marches through three Indian cities Sunday to celebrate gay pride and call for the decriminalization of homosexuality in this deeply conservative country...

WA Supreme Court hears library censorship case

Posted on June 29, 2009
Chelsea Kopta reports at KEPTR TV: "State supreme Court Justices are considering whether it is constitutional for public libraries to refuse to disable their Internet filters for adults who want access to sites that have been blocked. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is suing the North Central Regional Library District (NCRL) for refusing to unblock legal sites like You Tube and a magazine site about women and guns...

Chief Justice Roberts Speaks on Too-Long Briefs, Too Many Questions

Posted on June 29, 2009
Blog of the Legal Times: “Speaking at the conference of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit on Saturday, Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. said briefs before the high court are running too long, while the justices themselves are asking too many questions at oral argument ...

Texas school says religious issues were handled

Posted on June 29, 2009
Houston Chronicle (AP): "The ACLU says it has received complaints that Gideon Bibles were distributed in Navasota schools and that teachers displayed crosses." Related: ACLU checks schools, religious freedom violations

Canadian Supreme Court imposes medical treatment over 16 year old?s religious objections

Posted on June 29, 2009
Religion Clause Blog: "In a 6-1 decision Thursday, Canada?s Supreme Court upheld Manitoba?s law that allows a court to order medical treatment for a child under 16 that it considers to be in the child?s best interest, despite the child?s religious objections...

Ave Maria Law School Claims Ministerial Exception

Posted on June 29, 2009
Religion Clause: AveWatch earlier this month reported on the unusual defense mounted by Ave Maria University in a lawsuit against it by a law professor Stephen Safranek whose tenure and employment were terminate

Michiganders flock to Web site for flings with married cheaters

Posted on June 29, 2009
Detroit Free Press: "AshleyMadison -- named after two of the most popular baby names for girls -- was born in 2001. And if the site's growing popularity offers a clue, the Michigan economy's swoon means boom times for infidelity. In Michigan, the site has grown from 38,000 members as of June 1, 2008, to 110,000 twelve months later...

ADF seeks to challenge order requiring FDA to disregard parental rights

Posted on June 29, 2009
Alliance Defense Fund attorneys together with attorney Charles Holster of Mineola have filed a motion to intervene to challenge a federal court order that requires the Food and Drug Administration to allow the Plan B drug, which many doctors believe can cause an abortion, to be sold over the counter to minors.

??Gays? in the military ? bad idea then, bad idea now?

Posted on June 29, 2009
Matt Barber writes at One News Now: "In general court-martial orders dated March 14, 1778, Washington, through his designs, addressed the disposition of a homosexual soldier 'tried for attempting to commit sodomy': '[We] do sentence him to be dismiss'd [from] the service with infamy...

Homosexual Duke Univ. official attempts to sell adopted son for sex

Posted on June 29, 2009
Zoe Ortiz reports at NewsBusters: "Frank Lombard is an associate director at Duke University's Global Health Institute and a homosexual who was charged last week with the molestation of his adopted 5-year-old black son and actively trying to sell him for sex on the internet...

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