Religion & Law

Phil Gramm: Echoes of the Great Depression

Posted on October 01, 2010
Phil Gramm writing in The Wall Street Journal: "This may not be your grandfather's Great Depression, but many aspects of today's situation would remind him of the 1930s. If the recession that officially ended a year ago feels uncomfortably surreal to you yet familiar to him, it's probably because the recovery went missing...

David Hacker: ADF asks Ninth Circuit to rehear Lopez v. Candaele ruling

Posted on October 01, 2010
ADF Attorney David Hacker writing at Speak Up Movement / University: "Last night, the ADF Center for Academic Freedom filed a Petition for Rehearing or Rehearing En Banc with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in Jonathan Lopez?s case against the Los Angeles Community College District...

National organization calls for investigation into Edmond church

Posted on October 01, 2010
news9.com: "The Americans United for Separation of Church and State is asking the IRS to investigate a Church in Edmond after the church's pastor declared his support for a gubernatorial candidate from the pulpit . . . According to Americans United the annual event is sponsored by the Alliance Defense Fund, a religious right legal group founded by preachers who chose to ignore the law by opposing candidate from the pulpit...

IRS asked to investigate pastor?s pulpit endorsement

Posted on October 01, 2010
OneNewsNow: "Americans United for Separation of Church and State wants the Internal Revenue Service to investigate an Edmond, Oklahoma, pastor . . . According to the Alliance Defense Fund, about 100 pastors from 30 states participated in that program on September 26 -- and an ADF attorney says the legal group is "looking forward to what may come" in the aftermath...

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Pastors defy prohibition on politicking

Posted on October 01, 2010
USA Today: "The campaign was sponsored for the third straight year by the conservative Christian group Alliance Defense Fund . . . 'Our goal always has been to empower pastors to speak freely from the pulpit without government censorship or control,' said the Scottsdale, Ariz...

ADF asks 9th Circuit to rehear ?Ask God what your grade is? ruling

Posted on October 01, 2010
"Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund are asking a full panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit to rehear a ruling issued last month by a three-judge panel that threw out an injunction against a problematic Los Angeles Community College District speech code challenged by a student...

At Harvard, Groupthink About Islam

Posted on October 01, 2010
'So, yes, I wonder whether I need honor these people and pretend that they are worthy of the privileges of the First Amendment which I have in my gut the sense that they will abuse.'

Dissent Breaks Out Over ABA Fees for Ethics Opinions

Posted on October 01, 2010
National Law Journal (Law.com): "The American Bar Association is under fire from attorneys who argue that the organization should stop charging fees for access to its ethics opinions."

Judges, Abortion Foes Want Supreme Court to Weigh In on Judicial Campaign Speeches

Posted on October 01, 2010
National Law Journal (Law.com): "A group of state judges, judicial hopefuls and an anti-abortion organization has taken its challenge to a broad range of restrictions on campaign speech by judicial candidates to the U.S. Supreme Court. A longtime foe of those restrictions, James Bopp Jr...

Put more homosexuals on TV, says BBC

Posted on October 01, 2010
The Christian Institute: "Homosexuals and bisexuals should be portrayed more frequently and more authentically on the BBC, according to a controversial new report commissioned by the broadcaster. However, the report also revealed that almost one in five viewers is either 'uncomfortable' or 'very uncomfortable' with homosexual scenes...

FL: 8 face charges after raid at Cocoa strip club

Posted on October 01, 2010
Florida Today: "Capping an undercover operation Thursday, SWAT units arrested seven women and the manager of a strip club after residents complained that illegal sex often ended up in the parking lot."

The EU is an antidote to democratic governments, argues President Barroso

Posted on October 01, 2010
Daniel Hannan writing at his Telegraph blog: "The President of the European Commission, José Manuel Durrão Barroso, has offered one of the few utterly honest arguments for European integration. The reason we need the EU, he suggests, is precisely because it?s not democratic...

Dutch politicians revolt over burka plans

Posted on October 01, 2010
Telegraph: "Christian Democrats are in revolt against their party leaders over plans to ban the burka as part of a deal to create a Dutch liberal-conservative coalition government with the support of Geert Wilders, a far-Right leader."

Pastor Paul Blair featured in News 9 video: ?Politics in the Pulpit?

Posted on October 01, 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0Zem263sLo

Los Angeles LGBT center wins $13-million federal grant to help ?gay foster youth?

Posted on October 01, 2010
Los Angeles Times: "The L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center will receive a $13-million federal grant over five years to provide services for gay youths in the foster system, officials announced Friday."

A closer look at reproductive rights in Moldova

Posted on October 01, 2010
Center for Reproductive Rights: "On September 23, 2010, the Center co-hosted a roundtable discussion with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the Institute for Human Rights (IDOM) in Chisinau, Moldova on Reproductive Rights: Opportunities and Constraints in the Republic of Moldova...

Muslim extremists murder Christian lawyer, family in Pakistan

Posted on October 01, 2010
Christian Post: "Islamic extremists killed a Christian lawyer, his wife and their five children in northwestern Pakistan this week for mounting a legal challenge against a Muslim who was charging a Christian exorbitant interest, local sources said."

Janice Shaw Crouse: Who says marriage is obsolete?

Posted on October 01, 2010
Janice Shaw Crouse writing in The American Spectator: "Now it goes without saying that there are good marriages and there are bad marriages, depending upon the values and virtues of the persons involved. But marriage does provide a framework with a tremendous potential and incentive for learning how to work together...

Iowa Chief Justice defends decision to redefine marriage

Posted on October 01, 2010
Radio Iowa: "During a speech on Thursday, the chief justice of the Iowa Supreme Court defended the court?s 2009 ruling that cleared the way for same-sex marriages in Iowa. Chief Justice Marsha Ternus is up for a retention vote in this fall?s election and critics of the ruling want her voted off the court...

Campaigning for the Manhattan Declaration

Posted on October 01, 2010
Christianity Today: "A group of charities, colleges, and churches wrote a letter to the Senate which stated that they opposed efforts to 'dilute the right of faith-based social service organizations to stay faith-based through their hiring' . . . The Alliance Defense Fund also took on the issue of religious liberty through its third annual 'Pulpit Freedom Sunday' ...

VA: Adult store protest planned in Manassas

Posted on October 01, 2010
News & Messenger: "Jennifer Basinger said she?s expecting about 50 people to show up at Manassas City Hall on Saturday to rally against an adult store set to open Oct. 20 on Battle Street in Old Town." VA: Manassas pursues rules for sexually oriented businesses

Colo. Senate hopeful trips over abortion measure

Posted on October 01, 2010
Yahoo (AP): "Buck . . . endorsed a proposed amendment to the state constitution to set up a direct challenge to the federal government over rights for fetuses. But Buck changed his position after doctors and lawyers pointed out that the amendment would also ban some types of fertility treatments and emergency contraception...

Lambda Legal applauds court decision upholding Cleveland domestic partner registry

Posted on October 01, 2010
Lambda Legal: "In a unanimous decision, the Court of Appeals of Ohio, Eighth Appellate District, upheld a lower court's dismissal of a lawsuit brought by an antigay group that attempted to strip away the newly enacted domestic partnership registry for same-sex couples and their families...

SD: Former Ellsworth sergeant to sue city after police ?outed? her to Air Force

Posted on October 01, 2010
Rapid City Journal: "A former Ellsworth Air Force Base sergeant is preparing to sue the city of Rapid City over the police department's role in her discharge from the military earlier this year." More from Bob Ellis at Dakota Voice: Rapid City Taxpayers to Pick up Tab for Homosexual Agenda

Alliance Defense Fund weighs in with Pentagon repeal panel

Posted on October 01, 2010
Center for Military Readiness: "The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) has released submissions it has made to the Pentagon Comprehensive Review Working Group (CRWG), the ad hoc panel charged by Secretary of Defense Robert Gates to assess the impact of repeal of the law on gays in the military on the armed forces...

Elena Kagan takes her place on high court bench

Posted on October 01, 2010
Boston.com (AP): "Justice Elena Kagan took her seat at the Supreme Court for the first time Friday in front of a packed courtroom that included President Barack Obama."

Why is college so expensive?

Posted on October 01, 2010
Insider Online: "Soft consumer demand in a weak economy has led many businesses to cut prices. But this is not the case in the market for higher education. Entering college freshmen and returning students face ever-higher tuition and fees. In fact, tuition at American universities has been increasing faster than inflation for the past 30 years...

ECLJ tells UN: Protect Christians from religious hatred

Posted on October 01, 2010
ACLJ: "The ECLJ has just filed an important document with The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) at the UN - a follow-up to testimony we provided nearly three years ago when we began challenging the dangerous, anti-Christian concept known as 'defamation of religions...

7th Circuit: SOB crime study does not support hours-of-operation ordinance

Posted on October 01, 2010
Annex Books v. City of Indianapolis, No. 09-4156 (7th Cir. Oct. 1, 2010) SOB crime study does not support hours-of-operation ordinance Before Easterbrrok, Chief Judge, and Flaum and Rovner, Circuit Judges. Per Curiam. The 7th Circuit held that the study, Do 'Off-Site' Adult Businesses Have Secondary Effects? Legal Doctrine, Social Theory, and Empirical Evidence, 31 L...

Russia: ?Gay? demonstration gets green light in Moscow

Posted on September 30, 2010
The Moscow News: "Following Yury Luzhkov?s dismissal, gay activists have been allowed to stage a demonstration. On Oct. 1 they will picket Swissair, the airline that removed Gay Pride organiser activist Nikolai Alexeyev from their flight as he tried to go to Geneva before he was reportedly abducted and harassed by police...

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