Religion & Law

NC: Johnston County school denies nose ring appeal

Posted on October 05, 2010
WCNC (AP): "Johnston County school officials have upheld the suspension of a 14-year-old student who says her nose piercing is an article of faith."

SBC?s Richard Land in favor of Tennessee mosque

Posted on October 05, 2010
Associated Baptist Press: "Richard Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission, recently signed on as a charter member of the Interfaith Coalition on Mosques, an initiative sponsored by the Jewish Anti-Defamation League...

Secularism is back in Bangladesh, rules High Court

Posted on October 05, 2010
IBN Live: "Ruling that Bangladesh is now a secular state, the country's High Court has said that the constitution of 1972 has automatically been restored by a landmark judgement of the apex court that nullified a controversial amendment earlier this year...

ME: School must oblige transgender 6th-grader

Posted on October 04, 2010
OneNewsNow: "The Maine Human Rights Commission recently ruled that Orono Middle School erred by assigning a separate bathroom to the boy, who wants to live as a girl. The decision comes after the child's parents filed a complaint with the Commission, claiming their son -- who no longer attends school in the district -- experienced anxiety and depression during the 2008-2009 school year...

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Lawyer in TN Mosque Zoning Case says Islam is political movement and Shariah is sedition

Posted on October 04, 2010
Religion Clause Blog: "In his opening statement, Smyrna (TN) attorney Joe Brandon, Jr. argued: 'Shariah law is pure sedition.' Local officials disagree and say the mosque should be treated like any other house of worship."

Kagan?s recusals take her out of action in many of the Supreme Court?s cases

Posted on October 04, 2010
Washington Post: "Kagan, 50, has recused herself from 25 of the 51 cases the court has accepted so far this term, all as a result of her 14-month tenure as solicitor general, the government's chief legal representative in the Supreme Court and the nation's lower appellate courts...

ACLU and Brennan Center reports expose resurgence of debtors? prisons

Posted on October 04, 2010
ACLU: "Poor defendants are being jailed at increasingly alarming rates for failing to pay legal debts they can never hope to afford, according to two new reports released today by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Brennan Center for Justice."

SC: Abortionist pulls gun on pro-life witnesses

Posted on October 04, 2010
LifeSiteNews: "A Tennessee abortionist was arrested, but released on $25,000 bail Saturday after brandishing a gun at pro-lifers peacefully witnessing outside a Charleston clinic."

Senators introduce bill to permanently cut federal abstinence education funding

Posted on October 04, 2010
LifeNews: "Two pro-abortion senators introduced a bill on Wednesday that would permanently cut federal abstinence education funding. Despite the evidence showing abstinence programs reduce sexual activity and help teens make positive decisions, Senator Frank Lautenberg and Representative Barbara Lee introduced the bill...

Eye-popping power grab: Licensing of U.S. colleges

Posted on October 04, 2010
WorldNetDaily: "President Obama's Department of Education . . . now is proposing to force colleges and universities to submit to a political agenda, according to critics . . . Under the proposed federal rule change, institutions of higher education 'would be required to have a document of state approval ? to operate an educational program, including programs leading to a degree or certificate,' explained an analysis by Shapri D...

Survey finds corruption tainting legal profession

Posted on October 04, 2010
Associated Press: "A worldwide survey shows that lawyers in many countries think corruption has tainted their profession, with more than one in five saying they have been asked to take part in possibly shady transactions, according to results released Monday...

Funeral protests could upend common view of free speech

Posted on October 04, 2010
Los Angeles Times: "Shirley Phelps-Roper and her two daughters are determined to go where they are not wanted and to spread their message that U.S. soldiers are fighting to promote tolerance of homosexuality. Their funeral pickets have prompted new laws across the nation to keep them away from grieving families...

Free speech cases at top of Supreme Court?s agenda

Posted on October 04, 2010
Newsmax (AP): "The court will look at provocative anti-gay protests at military funerals and a California law banning the sale of violent video games to children. These cases worry free speech advocates, who fear the court could limit First Amendment freedoms...

New Supreme Court term opens with Kagan aboard

Posted on October 04, 2010
Associated Press: "The Supreme Court opened its new term with Justice Elena Kagan on the bench."

Report tries to clear Obama Admin on promoting pro-abortion Kenya Constitution

Posted on October 04, 2010
LifeNews: "A new report issued by the inspector general for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) claims the Obama administration did not improperly use taxpayer funds to promote the new constitution in Kenya, which contains provisions essentially legalizing virtually all abortions...

Methodist preacher to sue his own church over claim of anti-Israel bias

Posted on October 04, 2010
Telegraph: "The legal dispute has been prompted by a controversial resolution passed at the Methodist Conference which called for a boycott of some Israeli goods. If the legal action is successful, it would likely bring to an end all similar campaigns that boycott Israeli goods and services ...

Arsonists torch mosque, Korans in West Bank village

Posted on October 04, 2010
Associated Press: "Arsonists torched a mosque in a West Bank village Monday, scrawling 'revenge' on a wall in Hebrew and charring copies of the Muslim holy book in an attack that threatened to stoke new tensions over deadlocked Mideast peacemaking."

The officially approved British Muslim schools where every pupil is forced to wear the veil

Posted on October 04, 2010
Daily Mail: "At least three Muslim faith schools are forcing girls as young as 11 to wear face-covering veils with the blessing of Ofsted inspectors, it emerged yesterday . . . The schools' dress codes yesterday provoked anger among mainsteam Muslims, who warned that pupils were in danger of being 'brainwashed'...

Casino owner, state senators, lobbyists indicted in Ala. vote buying scheme

Posted on October 04, 2010
Associated Press: "Federal officials have indicted the owner of Alabama's largest casino, four state senators and several top lobbyists in a scheme to buy and sell votes to get electronic bingo legalized."

Supreme Court won?t hear appeal of NJ religious song ban

Posted on October 04, 2010
Associated Press: "The high court on Monday refused to hear an appeal from Michael Stratechuk. He sued in 2004, saying the South Orange-Maplewood school district's ban violated the First Amendment's freedom of worship provision."

Heritage Foundation: The Obama experts vs. the rule of law

Posted on October 04, 2010
Conn Carroll writing at The Heritage Foundation / The Foundry: "Last week President Barack Obama?s most recently minted czar, Special Advisor to the President for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Elizabeth Warren, spoke to 400 bankers at the swanky Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Washington, DC...

Erik Stanley: Voter guides and churches

Posted on October 04, 2010
ADF Attorney Erik Stanley writing at Speak Up Movement / Church: "During election season churches frequently desire to educate their members on the positions of the candidates running for office. It is permissible under the Internal Revenue Code for churches to distribute non-partisan voter guides...

Log Cabin Republicans win constitutional ruling against military ban

Posted on October 04, 2010
October 2010: Log Cabin Republicans Win Constitutional Ruling Against Military Ban Lesbian/Gay Law Notes, Lesbian and Gay Law Association of Greater New York "Based on the evidence submitted, the court concluded that LCR proved the Act does not further military readiness, but also that the Act: contributes to recruiting shortages; causes discharge of otherwise qualified servicemembers with critical skills; contributes to lower admission standards; that the delays in investigations until servicemembers return from combat deployment show that the Policy is not necessary to further military readiness or unit cohesion; that it harms rather than furthers unit cohesion and morale; and that military housing already provides sufficient protection of privacy of servicemembers...

?Pulpit Freedom? event is badly masked power play

Posted on October 04, 2010
Ted Rayburn, for the Editorial Board of The Tennessean: "Attempts by some church leaders to use the pulpit to change the outcome of elections this fall not only flout restrictions in the federal tax code; they are an abuse of power . . . ADF is trying to defeat candidates for public office who they believe are pro-choice and who support rights for gays and lesbians...

NY: Judge backs 2004 arrest of protesters

Posted on October 04, 2010
New York Times: "A lawyer for Mr. Marcavage and Mr. Lefemine, [Brian W. Raum], senior counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund, in Scottsdale, Ariz., said his clients were considering their options. 'Charging Christians with a crime simply because they choose to share their faith in public is unconstitutional,' he said...

Judge upholds arrests of GOP convention pro-life protesters

Posted on October 04, 2010
New York Post: "A judge has upheld the arrests of two anti-abortion activists for protesting near Madison Square Garden during the 2004 Republican National Convention . . . 'Charging Christians with a crime simply because they choose to share their faith in public is unconstitutional,' said [Brian Raum] of the conservative Alliance Defense Fund...

Interfaith Alliance wants clergy to pledge not to endorse politicians from the pulpit

Posted on October 04, 2010
Virtue Online: "Interfaith Alliance President Rev. Dr. C. Welton Gaddy criticized the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) for once again asking members of the clergy to violate the Constitution and IRS regulations by endorsing political candidates from the pulpit...

Dutch politician on trial on hate speech charges

Posted on October 04, 2010
"Prosecutors say Wilders incited hatred against Muslims with remarks comparing Islam to Naziism and by calling for a ban on the Quran."

Kenya: ?Churches want Murugi sacked over gay remarks?

Posted on October 04, 2010
Daily Nation: "More than 74 churches have petitioned President Kibaki to sack Cabinet minister Esther Murugi over her last week remarks on gay rights in the country . . . The minister, while speaking last week in Mombasa, asked Kenyans to learn to co-exist with homosexuals and lesbians saying this is 21st century...

?Gay rights movement in Germany follows path of reunification?

Posted on October 04, 2010
Deutsche Welle: "As Germany celebrates the 20th anniversary of reunification, the former East-West divide in the country's gay and lesbian rights movement has all but disappeared."

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