Religion & Law

Church in Indonesia accepts gov?t proposal to change venue after attack

Posted on September 29, 2010
Christian Post: "The Batak Christian Protestant Church (Huria Kristen Batak Protestan, or HKBP) in Ciketing village, Bekasi, decided in a congregational meeting on Sunday to accept a government offer to move worship services to the former Organization and Political Party (OPP) building on the condition that local officials will keep a promise to build a new house of worship for them within two years in the Mustika Sari district...

Roberts-led Supreme Court marks 5 years

Posted on September 29, 2010
CNN: "The Supreme Court under Chief Justice John Roberts is marking its fifth year under his leadership, with a high-powered bench that has been invigorated with four new members in that time to make for a shaky, divided conservative majority."

Kindlerotica: The strange but inevitable rise of e-reader pornography

Posted on September 29, 2010
James Ledbetter writing at Slate: "There's no point in dancing around it: Amazon is distributing men's erotic fiction, and its bargain-basement Kindle pricing?in many cases, this material, too, is given away for free?means that some of it shows up on 'best-seller' lists ...

Canada: Tories to appeal prostitution ruling

Posted on September 29, 2010
CBC: "The federal Conservatives will appeal an Ontario court ruling that struck down key parts of Canada's prostitution laws, Justice Minister Rob Nicholson said Wednesday."

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Council of Europe report seeks to curtail conscience rights of health workers

Posted on September 29, 2010
Iona Institute: "The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will vote next week on a report which could drastically weaken freedom of conscience for healthcare professionals across Europe. The report says that conscientious objection should be limited to doctors and nurses but not to medical institutions like hospitals, that doctors and nurses with an objection to a procedure such as abortion must refer the patient to someone who does not have such an objection, and that in ?emergencies? they must carry out the procedures themselves...

Charter school group to raise $160M

Posted on September 29, 2010
Associated Press: "The Charter School Growth Fund is announcing a $160 million fundraising campaign Wednesday ? the largest-ever aimed at helping start more of the nontraditional public schools nationwide. The goal is to establish 335,000 more spots for children at charter schools in the next decade...

Serbian Orthodox Church ceremony highlights complex Serbian-Kosovo ties

Posted on September 29, 2010
Reuters: "Serbian Orthodox Church and political leaders gather on Sunday to enthrone a new patriarch to guide a religion embodying the spirit of Serbia, but the once a generation ceremony will take place on foreign soil in Kosovo. Kosovo declared independence from Serbia in 2008, but many Serbs still see Kosovo and the monasteries there as the cradle of their Orthodox religion...

Ireland: Iona Institute conference examines rise of aggressive secularism

Posted on September 29, 2010
Independent Catholic News: "Dublin was the setting for this year's Iona Institute conference, which examined freedom of conscience and religion in Europe. Speakers dealt with the rise of of 'aggressive secularism' and the growing legal threat to religious freedom in Ireland and other Western countries...

UK: Is modern life a bar to marriage?

Posted on September 29, 2010
BBC: "New Labour leader Ed Miliband has said he intends to marry partner Justine Thornton but that political events have prevented them setting a date. So, does modern life get in the way of marriage? . . . Modern history lecturer Dr Marcus Collins says the cohabiting arrangements that would once have barred Mr Miliband from high-office are now 'not much of an issue' ...

Nebraska school rejects ACLU warning, will hold assembly

Posted on September 29, 2010
Omaha World Herald: "A small northeast Nebraska school district plans to hold an assembly Wednesday, despite a warning from the American Civil Liberties Union of Nebraska . . . Students at Lyons-Decatur Northeast High School are scheduled to hear Wednesday from Keith Becker, who has referenced Scripture during his presentations that urge students to make good decisions...

Egyptian Coptic Pope Shenouda III fined for stand against divorce

Posted on September 29, 2010
LifeSiteNews: "The Egyptian Supreme Administrative Court has issued a decision requiring Orthodox Coptic Pope Shenouda III to pay damages of approximately 19,500 Egyptian pounds to church member Magdi William who sued the Coptic Church over its refusal to issue a certificate to re-marry after he divorced his wife...

Sen. Mary Landrieu resists pressure to release hold on appointment

Posted on September 29, 2010
Times Picayune: "With Congress heading toward the exits for the election recess, Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., maintained her hold Tuesday on the appointment of a key administration official until the Obama administration lifts its drilling moratorium, which Sen...

UK bishops support for homosexual agenda based on Vatican-rejected 2005 policy

Posted on September 29, 2010
LifeSiteNews: "Last Monday, when the head of the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales (CBEW) told a BBC interviewer that the U.K. bishops had not opposed the creation of legal civil partnerships for homosexuals, he was speaking from a longstanding policy that was published in 2005...

Jesuit Loyola Marymount University launches LGBT office

Posted on September 29, 2010
LifeSiteNews: "California's Loyola Marymount University (LMU) has become the third Jesuit institution of higher education in the U.S. to establish an office dedicated to ministering to gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) students."

Boehner surprise: Dems barely get votes to adjourn after floor speech

Posted on September 29, 2010
The Hill: "House Democrats on Wednesday barely won a 210-209 vote to adjourn the House without extending the Bush tax cuts. Thirty-nine House Democrats voted against adjournment after Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) urged opposition to the motion in a floor speech that said it would be irresponsible for Congress to leave without providing certainty on the tax issue...

Wesley J. Smith: Contraception is not a ?basic human right?

Posted on September 29, 2010
Wesley J. Smith writing at First Things / Secondhand Smoke: "Too many policy advocates these days attempt to elevate what they consider to be desirable public polices to the status of basic human rights . . . [S]hould birth control be considered a basic right akin to the rights to life, speech, and personal autonomy, such as freedom from rape? Is access to birth control really so central to the minimum level of human existence that everyone should be legally required to have access to it? Nope...

Iowa: House candidates spar over marriage ruling, budget

Posted on September 29, 2010
WCF Courier: "Rep. Bob Kressig, D-Cedar Falls, and Barmuda Cos. CEO Darin Beck, a Republican, discussed their stances on a variety of issues during a civil half-hour exchange hosted by the Cedar Falls Rotary Club. It was their first public appearance together...

Pro-lifers boot Planned Parenthood from Michigan counties

Posted on September 29, 2010
LifeSiteNews: "The Branch-Hillsdale-St. Joseph Community Health Agency board on Thursday defeated a motion to renew the abortion giant's lease in the three counties' health system with a 3-3 vote. A majority would have been needed to renew the lease, which expires next month, for Planned Parenthood's four locations...

Canada?s prostitution laws unconstitutional, court rules

Posted on September 28, 2010
"'These laws, individually and together, force prostitutes to choose between their liberty interest and their right to security of the person as protected under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms,' Justice Susan Himel of Ontario?s Superior Court of Justice said ...

?[F]ight back against death threats by Islamic extremists?: Treat them like pro-lifers

Posted on September 28, 2010
Ayaan Hirsi Ali and Daniel Huff, writing in The Sacramento Bee: "A federal law would do two things. First, it would deter violent tactics, by focusing national attention on the problem and invoking the formidable enforcement apparatus of the federal government...

College campuses are abortion battleground

Posted on September 28, 2010
LifeSiteNews: "College campuses today are the abortion battleground. Forty-six percent of all abortions are performed on college age women and on top of this, Planned Parenthood directly targets the youth in order to further its abortion agenda. At the same time that students are being targeted by Planned Parenthood, more and more young people between the ages of 18-29 identify themselves as pro-life...

Video ? Alliance Defense Fund Weekly Update ? 2010 September 27: School Choice at the Supreme Court

Posted on September 28, 2010
ADF?s Weekly Update is on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3l-tD8G2g4E

More Fed action: How would it work?

Posted on September 28, 2010
Washington Post / Political Economy: "Some of this talk is a little premature: It is not a given that the Fed will take action at all at its the Nov. 2-3 meeting . . . But here is a guide to the range of technical and strategic questions that Fed leaders will need to resolve, should they choose to act, on how to ease monetary policy and stimulate growth...

?Sister Wives? polygamist under investigation

Posted on September 28, 2010
KansasCity.com: "Police in Lehi, Utah are investigating the polygamist family in TLC's new reality show, 'Sister Wives,' for possible charges of felony bigamy - something that is rarely investigated in Utah."

Unions count on 100,000 protesters at EU

Posted on September 28, 2010
Boston.com (AP): "Labor unions are preparing what they say will be a march of 100,000 workers on European Union institutions in Brussels on Wednesday, as well as a general strike in Spain to protest the budget-slashing plans and austerity measures of governments seeking to control debt...

Gallup poll finds 30 percent of Americans now support Tea Party

Posted on September 28, 2010
CNSNews: "A recent Gallup Poll (taken Aug. 27-30), finds that 30 percent of Americans say they are supporters of the Tea Party movement, while 27 percent say they are opponents ? a 2 percent increase in support since March. The remainder were neutral or did not have an opinion...

Mississippi Supreme Court proposes mandatory pro bono

Posted on September 28, 2010
Law.com: "The Mississippi Supreme Court is considering requiring attorneys to perform 20 hours of pro bono service or else pay a $500 fee. If adopted, Mississippi would be the only state to require pro bono service, according to the American Bar Association...

?They?re gay, conservative and proud?

Posted on September 28, 2010
Politico: "GOProud is the tea party of the gay rights movement, with well-tailored dark suits in place of revolutionary war garb. The event, complete with lithe young men in black 'Freedom is Fabulous' t-shirts guiding guests to the elevator, marked a new high tide in the shift of the Republican Party away from 'social issues' and toward a broader complaint about Democratic management of the economy, national security, and the idea of America...

?The GOP?s dilemma: Winning over ?gay rights? advocates could mean losing part of its base?

Posted on September 28, 2010
Washington Post: "As polls show that growing numbers of Americans back greater rights for gay men and lesbians, some well-known Republican figures, such as former party chairman Ken Mehlman,who recently came out, are calling for the party to shift its stances on such issues...

Democrats to push bill after elections allowing abortions at military base hospitals

Posted on September 28, 2010
LifeNews: "Democrats are expected to push a bill in the Senate after the elections that would authorize abortions at taxpayer-funded military base hospitals. The bill is one of a couple dozen measures they plan to seek votes on during the lame-duck session after an election that is expected to result in gains for pro-life advocates...

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