Daily Archives: August 20, 2009

“This is is not some kind of weird side argument drummed up by folks who don’t like gay people. It has been at the heart of America’s marriage tradition . . . Dozens of courts have ruled that procreation is a key purpose of marriage . . . ”

“This church . . . acknowledges that consensus does not exist concerning how to regard same gender committed relationships . . . We do not have agreement on whether this church should honor these relationships . . .”

10 News: “A local law enforcement agency that fights online sexual exploitation of minors will receive a $708,000 federal grant, city officials announced Thursday.”

Baptist Press: “Two proposals in Congress are being promoted as abortion-reduction measures, but one actually would increase the number of unborn children killed by the procedure in the United States, according to major pro-life organizations.”

Greg Lukianoff writes at the Huffington Post: “But the final reason why the HLR comment was so frustrating to us was that it relied on shoddy, unforgivably incomplete research to reach a conclusion that limits the rights of their fellow students. That is more than ironic, it’s more than frustrating; frankly, it’s unworthy of such a venerable publication.”

Related:

Harvard Law Review speech code comment ignites FIRE-storm

ADF attorney David Cortman appeared on the Michael Medved Show to discuss school choice for special needs children.

The MP3 runs just over 33 minutes.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit has reversed a federal judge’s order to remove all religious displays from a church-run contract postal unit in Manchester, Conn.

Chronicle-Telegram: “With the start of the new school year well under way at the high school, a new lunch system is being piloted that will use student fingerprints instead of cards or personal identification numbers to access lunch accounts.”

Washington Post: “Classes in D.C. public schools start Monday, and 216 students are hoping they won’t have to go back. About 70 parents, children and activists joined Thursday in front of the U.S. Department of Education to encourage Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to award vouchers to help the students pay for private school.”

“A federal judge upheld part of a South Dakota law that requires women to be told abortion ends a human life, but struck down disclosures that the procedure increases the likelihood of suicide and that they have an existing relationship with the fetus.”

Newsday: “Gov. David A. Paterson ‘simply does not have the authority’ to name a lieutenant governor, a four-judge Appellate Division panel said Thursday, voiding last month’s appointment of Richard Ravitch to the post.”

Jan LaRue writes at Townhall: “Obama on the Second Amendment, marriage, and health care—it all makes sense if you’re into plastic ponies and cardboard trucks.”

Wall Street Journal Washington Wire blog:”President Barack Obama joined a health care conference call with religious organizations just past 5:30 p.m. this evening, and didn’t waste a moment before putting the debate onto a higher plane: . . . ‘It is a core ethical and moral obligation that we look after each other. In wealthiest nation on earth, we are neglecting to live up to that call.’”

LifeNews: “A physician who works for the prestigious Mayo Clinic has written a new factsheet that admits abortions harm women. Roger W. Harms, M.D., a Mayo Clinic obstetrician and medical editor-in-chief, also says abortions can cause women problems with subsequent pregnancies.”

Vermont Right to Life has filed suit to strike down three Vermont campaign finance laws which violate the First Amendment by regulating VRLC as a political committee, requiring identification on electioneering communications, and requiring reporting of mass-media activities.

Independent Online: “Studies suggest that as many as 80 percent of men watch porn on TV or the Internet, and many of them are so addicted to it that it’s been called the new cocaine. Why is it so powerful? Pornography taps into intense emotional, biological and chemical connections throughout the brain and body. Arousal through pornography leads to the release of the naturally occurring chemicals dopamine, norepinephrine, oxytocin and serotonin.”

Catholic News Agency: “Dr. Esteban Rodriguez, spokesman for the organization Right to Life (Derecho a Vivir) in Spain, responded yesterday to comments by the country’s Minister of Justice, Francisco Caamano, who said there was no room for a conscience clause in the new law on abortion. ‘We are willing to go to jail rather than following a criminal law,’ Rodriguez said, ‘and we are willing to commit the supposed crime of disobedience before the crime of abortion.’”

Steve Chapman writes at Townhall: “I contacted three serious conservative thinkers who have written extensively about the dangers of allowing gay marriage and asked them to make simple, concrete predictions about measurable social indicators — marriage rates, divorce, out-of-wedlock births, child poverty, you name it. You would think they would react like Albert Pujols when presented with a hanging curveball. Yet none was prepared to forecast what would happen in same-sex marriage states versus other states

The Daily: “Marion is optimistic proposed changes to Queensland law regarding altruistic surrogacy, expected to be introduced in the parliament by the end of the year, will allow both members of same-sex couples to become recognised as legal parents if they choose to have a child.”

Christian Post: “Two Christian psychologists who have advised a number of churches and community groups on the sex-related problems that plague society have released a book that chronicles the problem of addiction to Internet pornography among Christians, including pastors, and describes problems that this type of addiction can create. Behind Closed Doors, written by Drs. Robert. J. Baird and Ronald Vanderbeck, also provides solutions for how people can break the cycle of addiction.”

News Observer: “A three-judge panel of the state Court of Appeals this week unanimously upheld Sen. Julia Boseman’s 2005 adoption of her partner’s child, entitling Boseman to joint custody. Boseman, a Wilmington Democrat, adopted the child in Durham because it is one of only two counties in the state where judges have allowed such adoptions. ‘Now I think it’s very clear that if a couple of the same sex choose to go out and adopt the child … that homosexual couples can adopt children,’ said Jim Lea, a Wilmington domestic law specialist who was one of Boseman’s attorneys in the custody case.”

LifeNews: “A pro-life legal group has filed a lawsuit seeking to overturn the controversial guidelines the National Institutes of Health used to implement President Barack Obama’s decision to force taxpayers to finance embryonic stem cell research . . . According to Thomas G. Hungar, one of the lawyers for the plaintiffs, which includes the Alliance Defense Fund and the Christian Medical Association, ‘the language of the [Dickey-Wicker] statute is clear’ that it ‘bans public funding for any research that leads to the destruction of human embryos.’”

LifeSiteNews: “A lawsuit filed yesterday in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia seeks to overturn the controversial guidelines for public funding of embryonic stem cell research that the National Institutes of Health issued on July 7, 2009 . . . The Alliance Defense Fund, a legal alliance of Christian attorneys and like-minded organizations defending religious freedom and the sanctity of human life, is also serving as co-counsel on the case and providing financial support.”

LA Times: “Two foundations will register their concerns with California’s workplace safety agency. They allege that failure to require condom use endangers performers’ health.”

Religion Clause Blog: “Now that the Des Moines, Iowa Area Regional Transit Authority has finally decided to allow an atheist group to run its ads on twenty local buses (see prior posting), transit officials face a different issue. Bus driver Angela Shiel refuses to drive a bus which carries the ad.”

Wall Street Journal Editorial: “Voters aren’t stupid. The true reason ObamaCare is in trouble isn’t because ‘folks aren’t listening,’ but because they are.”

NY Times: “While advocates of abortion rights celebrated the victory in court, they acknowledged the fight against one of the most sweeping anti-abortion laws in the country was likely to continue for months in the Legislature and before the State Supreme Court.”

“Alliance Defense Fund Senior Counsel and former FIRE president David French opines that the comment ‘could have been ghost-written by Temple’s attorneys.’” (Law Librarian Blog)

Elm City Beat: “The city of New Haven has agreed to a court order issued Monday that will allow a man to resume expressing his Christian faith on public sidewalks . . . ‘Christians shouldn’t be penalized for expressing their beliefs,’ said ADF Litigation Staff Counsel Jonathan Scruggs.”

OneNewsNow: “An Idaho charter school is being threatened by the ACLU over its decision to use the Bible in the school curriculum . . . NAMPA is planning to open in early September, but is facing a court date just before that. David Cortman is with the Alliance Defense Fund, which is representing the school. ‘And we certainly defend the principle that it is constitutionally permissible to study the Bible in an objective manner in public schools, and I think it’s important that we do so,’ he contends. ‘I mean, it’s certainly a sad day in America when the government decides that it’s appropriate to ban the Bible in public schools.’”

KXnet.com (AP): “An Idaho charter school’s plan to teach about the Bible has been blocked . . . The Alliance Defense Fund, which represented the school, argued that the writers of Idaho’s Constitution ‘sought assurances that the right of public schools to use the Bible as a teaching tool would be protected.’”

Christian Post: “According to the Alliance Defense Fund’s announcement on Tuesday, attorneys reached a favorable settlement with Broome Community College on behalf of North Pointe Church. The church can now access campus facilities. ‘Churches shouldn’t be discriminated against for their beliefs,’ said ADF Litigation Counsel Daniel Blomberg. ‘We are pleased that Broome Community College now recognizes the constitutional right of churches and other religious groups to meet in public meeting facilities on the same terms as other groups.’”

Catholic News Agency: “Cecile Richards, President of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, has criticized the U.S. Catholic bishops’ work to exclude abortion coverage from health care legislation. In response, an official with the conference insisted that taking human life is not health care and warned that pro-abortion politics are endangering the entire proposal.”

This case raises an Establishment Clause challenge to religious displays in a contract postal unit operated by a church in Manchester, Connecticut.

USA Today: “John Reed Sr., president of the National Funeral Directors Association, says 50% of Americans today say they don’t belong to a church and don’t see value in a religious funeral. But ‘they still want ceremony and celebration at the end of life.”

AP: “About 1 percent of people are born with some kind of sexual ambiguity, sometimes referred to as intersexuality.”

One News Now: “One of the most conservative members of the U.S. Senate believes that a system in which the loser pays in civil suits would go a long way to dissuade organizations like the ACLU from intimidating Christians and conservative groups.”

AP: “Text of a letter from Sen. Edward Kennedy to Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick, House Speaker Robert DeLeo and Senate President Therese Murray asking they change state law to allow a speedy replacement if it becomes necessary for him to surrender his seat . . . ”

NJ Law Journal: “A three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the verdict, saying the research was for “informational” purposes only and was not the basis for Shwartz’s decision.”

NY Daily News: “The IAAF has given new meaning to the term ‘governing body.’ The organization, which oversees track and field internationally, has asked the South African athletics federation to conduct a gender verification exam on the nation’s running sensation, Caster Semenya, who Wednesday won the 800-meter event at the World Championships in Berlin.”

Religion in the Pharmacy: A Balanced Approach to Pharmacists’ Right To Refuse To Provide Plan B
Catherine Grealis, 97 Geo. L.J. 1715 (2009)

“Part I of this Note discusses the history of freedom of conscience protection in the United States. Part II then addresses the current controversy surrounding pharmacists’ freedom of conscience. Part II first presents two competing viewpoints of pharmacists’ role in society, which may affect their freedom of conscience protection. It then discusses Plan B, the emergency contraception that helped instigate the debate, and provides an overview of federal and state legislation in this area.”