Religion & Law

9th Circuit declines free-speech case

Posted on September 24, 2010
OneNewsNow: "A federal appeals court has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a California college student who claims a professor violated his free-speech rights when he stopped him from finishing his speech defining marriage as between one man and one woman ...

7 Tennessee pastors will ?bait? IRS with pulpit politics

Posted on September 24, 2010
The Tennessean: "On Sunday, a group of Tennessee preachers will step into the pulpit and say the only words they're forbidden by law from speaking in a church . . . 'We're not trying to get politics in the pulpit. We're trying to get (government) out of the pulpit,' said [Erik Stanley], spokesman for the Alliance Defense Fund ...

De Pasquale?s Dozen: Dr. Mike Adams

Posted on September 24, 2010
Lisa De Pasquale interviews Dr. Mike Adams at Human Events. Excerpt from her introduction: "Adams has paid a price for being an outspoken conservative. With the help of the Alliance Defense Fund he is appealing a judge?s decision to dismiss his 2007 suit against UNC-Wilmington...

See what has the IRS stopped in its tracks!

Posted on September 24, 2010
WorldNetDaily: "At least 100, and perhaps as many as several hundred, Christian pastors on Sunday will speak out on biblical issues and the political candidates on the November election ballot in direct violation of Internal Revenue Service regulations ...

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President Obama calls pastors to preach health care

Posted on September 24, 2010
Everyday Christian: "Earlier this week on a conference call, President Obama and his top healthcare officials charged religious leaders across America with spreading a new kind of gospel ? the good news of nationalized healthcare . . . Ironically, or perhaps not, this Sunday September 26 marks the Alliance Defense Fund?s third annual 'Pulpit Freedom Sunday,' during which 100 pastors nationwide will exercise their right to free religious expression...

General Counsel, Baptist Joint Cmte for Religious Liberty: ?Why the campaign for politics in the pulpit is a bad idea?

Posted on September 24, 2010
K. Hollyn Hollman, General counsel, Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty, writing at The Huffington Post: "Each year the issue grabs a larger spotlight partly because of a campaign, coordinated by a consortium of attorneys known as the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), to get pulpit endorsements and provoke a fight with the IRS ...

Pulpit Freedom Sunday coming this weekend

Posted on September 24, 2010
Dakota Voice: "'Pastors and churches shouldn?t live in fear of being punished or penalized by the government?in this case, the IRS,' said ADF Senior Legal Counsel [Erik Stanley]. 'ADF is not trying to get politics into the pulpit; we want to get government out of the pulpit...

Joel Oster: Double standard? Students learn about Islam during mosque field trip

Posted on September 24, 2010
ADF Attorney Joel Oster writing at Speak Up Movement / Church: "So let me see if I can understand the left?s agenda. Holding a secular graduation ceremony in a comfortable church auditorium is unconstitutional because of the mere fact the students have to physically be in a church building...

Pastors to challenge IRS by endorsing candidates

Posted on September 24, 2010
NECN (AP): "ADF Senior Counsel [Kevin Theriot] says participating pastors hope to provoke a court case so they can have the regulation overturned."

Scientists oppose CA Regents? motion to intervene embryonic stem cell case

Posted on September 24, 2010
ChristianNewsWire: "Advocates International (AI), part of the public interest legal team along with the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher (GD&C) who brought the case before the court more than a year ago, joined even the government's opposition and filed their clients' opposition to the University of California Regents' untimely and insufficient motion to intervene in a desperate effort to try to protect their patently pecuniary interest in the unlawful, unethical and unnecessary continuance of federal funding of research involving the destruction of living human embryos pending the government's appeal of the preliminary injunction barring such funding...

Wyoming, nine other states say same-sex ?marriage? not a fundamental right in Perry filing

Posted on September 24, 2010
Star-Tribune: "Wyoming and nine other states will file a legal brief today saying a federal court 'exceeded its judicial authority' when it ruled that the U.S. Constitution requires legal marriage to include same-sex couples. In the amicus brief, which will be filed late this afternoon in the case of Perry vs...

Assisted suicide ad banned in Canada

Posted on September 24, 2010
CBC News: "An Australian-based organization that promotes assisted suicide is considering legal action after Canadian regulators refused to allow one of its advertisements to be broadcast in Canada."

Equality California ads target Whitman, Cooley on Prop. 8

Posted on September 24, 2010
Sacramento Bee / Capitol Alert: "Equality California, the state's leading gay-rights advocacy group, is targeting Republican gubernatorial candidate Meg Whitman and GOP attorney general nominee Steve Cooley with new ads on Proposition 8."

Rep. Splaine fears NH repeal of same-sex ?marriage?

Posted on September 24, 2010
SeaCoastOnline: "Portsmouth-Newington state Rep. Jim Splaine said an effort in the Legislature next session to repeal the state's gay marriage bill is afoot, with three bills already filed."

Washington Supreme Court upholds Internet gambling ban

Posted on September 24, 2010
The Olympian: "In a unanimous ruling issued this morning, the Washington state Supreme Court denied a challenge to the state ban on Internet gambling. Two lower state courts came to the same conclusion . . . Justice Richard Sanders wrote the 9-0 opinion which is posted here...

?In God We Trust? to be displayed in Chino Hills, CA city hall

Posted on September 24, 2010
OneNewsNow: "A California city voted 4-0 this week in favor of displaying the national motto in its city hall. With the help of Mayor Bill Kruger, Chino Hills will proudly display the words "In God We Trust" on a wall behind the council dais. The aluminum lettering will soon be on display in the octagonal room that seats about 100 people, so an audience facing council members will be able to see the motto...

MI: FFRF targets Dearborn, Troy for meeting prayers

Posted on September 24, 2010
The Detroit News: "The Freedom From Religion foundation is going after two more local communities for using prayers during public meetings. The group announced today that it recently sent the cities of Dearborn and Troy asking city officials to stop including prayers during city council meetings...

Contrary to erroneous reports, NJ abortion clinics still open

Posted on September 24, 2010
LifeSiteNews: "Erroneous reports of closed abortion clinics in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, have threatened to derail the 40 Days for Life effort in that city, with some pro-lifers being led to believe that there is no functioning abortion facility to protest against...

WA: Air Force ordered to reinstate officer ousted by DADT

Posted on September 24, 2010
"Judge Ronald Leighton ruled that Witt?s constitutional protections, and evidence that her unit did not suffer any loss of morale until she was discharged for being a lesbian, trump the general reasons set down by Congress for that policy."

Texas ed board adopts resolution limiting references to Islam in textbooks

Posted on September 24, 2010
Associated Press: "The Texas State Board of Education adopted a resolution Friday that seeks to curtail references to Islam in Texas textbooks, as social conservative board members warned of what they describe as a creeping Middle Eastern influence in the nation's publishing industry...

With federal support, number of charter schools grows across California

Posted on September 24, 2010
PressDemocrat.com: "Public charter schools in California are skirting the worst impact of the state's budget crisis, even as traditional public schools shorten the school year, increase class sizes and lay off teachers and staff by the thousands."

IN: ?Group for gay teens sues over denial of license plate?

Posted on September 24, 2010
IndyStar.com: "Hoosiers can buy specialty license plates supporting breast cancer awareness, juvenile diabetes research and Special Olympics. Now a group that serves gay teens is asking a federal judge to force the Bureau of Motor Vehicles to grant it a special plate...

Phoenix congregation leaves Lutheran Church over ?gay ministers?

Posted on September 24, 2010
The Arizona Republic: "La Casa de Cristo Lutheran Church, one of northeast Phoenix's largest churches and one of the state's largest Lutheran congregations, is pulling out of its denomination because the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America's policy allowing congregations to hire gay and lesbian ministers who are in committed relationships...

Christian human rights group urges Indonesia to protect religious freedom

Posted on September 24, 2010
Christianity Today: "Christian Solidarity Worldwide has called upon the Indonesian Government to safeguard religious freedom and pluralism in the wake of attacks on Christians and Ahmadiyya Muslims in the country."

Most Britons still identify as Christian

Posted on September 24, 2010
Christian Post: "New figures from the Office for National Statistics has found that most British people still consider themselves to be Christian. The number of homosexuals, meanwhile, is far lower than previously estimated. According to the office, 71 percent of the population is Christian...

Australian Greens press to legalize euthanasia

Posted on September 24, 2010
BioEdge: "The recent cliffhanger Australian Federal election returned a Labor government led by Prime Minister Julia Gillard, but in coalition with the Greens. With the balance of power firmly in their hands, Greens leader Senator Bob Brown has demanded that a vote on euthanasia become a top priority for the new government...

France bans plastinated body exhibits

Posted on September 24, 2010
BioEdge: "France has become the first country to ban the controversial Our Body exhibits, which displays plastinated corpses stripped of their skin in grotesque poses.?The Cour de Cassion, the nation?s highest judicial authority, has ruled that 'the exposure of corpses for commercial purposes' violates the Civil Code, which states that 'the remains of deceased persons should be treated with respect, dignity and decency...

Do abortions cause depression?

Posted on September 24, 2010
The Washington Post / The Checkup: "Teenagers who have abortions do not appear to be at increased risk for depression or low self-esteem, according to the first nationally representative study to examine the issue."

Harvard links ROTC return to end of DADT

Posted on September 24, 2010
The Boston Globe: "Harvard University, which expelled ROTC four decades ago, will welcome the military training program back to campus only when the ban on openly gay and lesbian service members is repealed, the university?s president said yesterday."

UK: Catholic school ?could be run by mosque?

Posted on September 24, 2010
Telegraph: "Sacred Heart primary in Blackburn could become the first Catholic school in Britain to be converted into an Islamic faith school following a dramatic change in the pupil population. More than nine-in-10 of the school's pupils were Catholic a decade ago but that number plummeted to just three per cent this year...

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