Daily Archives: December 18, 2009

AsiaNews.it: “Last night a crowd of angry Muslims, including women and children, attacked the Church of Saint Albert, in Bekasi Regency, about 30 kilometres east of Jakarta. The situation is now under control but the local Catholic community is afraid of an escalation before Christmas.”

Catholic Culture reports on a recent Pew Forum Study: “Nearly 70% of the world’s people live in countries that restrict religious liberty, according to a study by the Pew Forum.”

San Francisco Chronicle: “With time running short for Congress to pass a health care bill by Christmas, Christian Scientists are lobbying lawmakers to include a provision that would ban discrimination against “religious and spiritual” health care and encourage private insurers to cover prayer as medical treatment.”

Southern Gaming: “While Ohio has approved of four of its casinos, Indiana’s casino expansion has raised economic questions regarding Indiana families. President of the Indiana Family Institute, Curt Smith, worries that people will become more financially unstable and addicted to gambling. Lawmakers in Indiana are considering expanding gambling in the state to keep up with neighboring states.”

New York Times: “The authorities say the stricter controls are intended to protect children from pornography; to limit the piracy of films, music, and television shows; and to make it hard to perpetuate Internet scams. But the measures also appear devised to enhance the government’s already strict control of any political opposition.”

Rapid City Journal: “Four words in a proposed Rapid City school district discrimination policy have ignited a passionate debate among community and school board members. A proposed change to add the words ‘sexual orientation’ and ‘gender identity’ to the policy drew a record number of community members and five legislators to the board’s meeting Thursday night.”

Baptist Press: “The Alliance Defense Fund has filed a lawsuit on behalf of eight D.C. citizens calling for approval of an attempt to place an initiative on the ballot to prohibit the unions. An effort to put such a proposal before voters failed when the D.C. Board of Elections and Ethics turned it down Nov. 17.”

LifeNews: “David Cortman, an attorney for the Alliance Defense Fund, told the newspaper he supported the judge’s order. ‘It basically grants us all the relief that we were looking for,’ he said. He also said the order from the judge makes it clear that abortion center staff can’t stand inside the 15-foot zone and harass pro-life advocates. ‘One of the reasons that we challenged the fixed zone is that, on the face of it, it was based on content,’ he said. ‘It allowed some people to speak but not others.’”

Religion News Blog: “In response to a Swiss vote banning the construction of new mosque minarets, a group of Muslims this month went into a church building in eastern Turkey and threatened to kill a priest unless he tore down its bell tower, according to an advocacy group.”

PolitickerNJ: “Five Republican senators today said that it’s unlikely that a bill redefining marriage can pass the Senate and asked their Democratic colleagues to join them in a bipartisan effort to strengthen New Jersey’s civil union law. The five said that while they can’t support the Freedom of Religion and Equality in Civil Marriage Act (S-1967), they will work to ensure that New Jersey civil union law is enforced and provides all rights and benefits that legislators intended.”

Angus Reid: “People in the United States are almost evenly divided on whether same-sex marriage should be allowed in their country, according to a poll by Angus Reid Public Opinion. 43 per cent of respondents favour allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally, while 46 per cent are opposed.”

NewsOK.com:  ”A Capitol preservation group has decided to place a Ten Commandments monument on the north side of the state Capitol after a law was passed last legislative session allowing the Judeo-Christian monument to be installed on the grounds . . . ”

“Today, Wisconsin Right to Life Political Action Committee filed suit in federal court against Wisconsin’s recently enacted public funding scheme for Wisconsin Supreme Court candidates, asserting it is an unconstitutional infringement of their First Amendment free speech rights.”

Christian Institute: “If the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) gets its way, people would regularly be asked if they are heterosexual/straight, gay/lesbian, bisexual or other. The EHRC wants to collate the information into a giant database, which will allow checks on possible ‘inequality’.”

Linda Greenhouse has this commentary on Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission which is currently pending at the U.S. Supreme Court.

myfoxphilly.com: “A protest rally was set for Friday afternoon outside Just Sports in Jamison, Bucks County.”

Associated Press: “Iowa’s Republican legislative leaders vowed Friday to push the volatile issue of same-sex marriage in the upcoming session, arguing it’s a solid way for them to cut into Democratic majorities in the Legislature.”

JURIST: “US Assistant Attorney General Tom Perez said Thursday that the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) plans to increase its efforts to prosecute hate crimes.”

UPI: “An Oklahoma judge was set to hear argument Friday to block a state law that would post information about women getting abortions in the state, attorneys say.”

UPI: “Five years after marrying in Massachusetts, Angelique Naylor’s spouse is contesting the split, arguing that since Texas doesn’t recognize same-sex marriage, the dissolution shouldn’t be recognized either, KXAN-TV, Austin, reported.”

Religion Clause Blog: “The Louisville (KY) Courier-Journal reports that the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday denied an en banc rehearing in Pedreira v. Kentucky Baptist Homes For Children, Inc.”

National Post: “The Christian tradition has a rather different view about whether producing ‘non-persons’ is the proper means to exercise our obligation to care for creation.”

Religion Clause Blog: “In State of North Carolina v. Demaio, (NC Super. Ct., Dec. 17, 2009), a Chatham County North Carolina trial court dismissed charges against two registered sex offenders who had been indicted for attending church at a congregation that also had a nursery for children on premises.”

“America is not prudish or closed-minded, it is exhausted. It cannot be exaggerated, how much Americans feel besieged by the culture of their own country, and to what lengths they have to go to protect their children from it.”

Religion Clause Blog has this post discussing several cases where local governments are conceding to left wing groups threatening them with litigation over alleged ‘Establishment Clause’ claims.

Religion Clause Blog: “RTE News and IOL News report that a High Court judge in Ireland yesterday upheld the constitutionality of Section 99 of the 2007 Charities Act that bans the sale of any Mass card except pursuant to an arrangement with a bishop of the Church or a provincial of a religious order.”

World Radio Switzerland: “The Federal Court has rejected two legal challenges against the ban on constructing new minarets in Switzerland, which was approved in a nationwide vote last month. It says the challenges are ‘clearly outside the jurisdiction of the court.’”

AP: “A New Jersey senator plans to hold up a trade bill that would benefit Brazil because of a long-running battle over a 9-year-old boy.”

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: “Pittsburgh can ban abortion debates and demonstrations within 15 feet of a medical facility entrance, but it can no longer prevent advocates from walking up to people outside that buffer zone, a federal judge ruled Thursday . . . David Cortman, an attorney for the Alliance Defense Fund, the Christian legal organization representing Brown, commended the judge’s order. ‘It basically grants us all the relief that we were looking for,’ he said.”

The Globe and Mail: “The issue is over plastics such as bisphenol A, a controversial chemical in Canada, and phthalates, used to make plastic soft and flexible. Dozens of studies have shown the chemicals may cause hormonal complications at certain levels of exposure, yet both are common in sex toys, which are classified as ‘novelty’ items in Canada and are therefore removed from almost all oversight, Ms. Sedgwick says.”

Dallas Voice: “With the help of the Alliance Defense Fund, a right-wing legal group that has filed many challenges against equal rights for gays, the clergymen are still pressing forward with an effort to put the issue before voters in the District.”

Catholic News Agency: “‘Christians in the marketplace should not be subject to predatory legal attacks for simply abiding by their beliefs,’ said ADF Senior Counsel Jordan Lorence. ‘The Constitution prohibits the state from forcing unwilling artists to promote a message they disagree with and thereby violate their conscience. Should the government force a videographer who is an animal rights activist to create a video promoting hunting and taxidermy?’”

Imperial Valley News: “‘Judge Walker already rejected the petition of the Alliance Defense Fund to intervene in this case and this is just an end run around that decision using the Imperial County Board of Supervisors as a front for their participation,’ said Molly McKay, MEUSA’s Media Director.”

Queerty: “The Alliance Defense Fund, which is representing the Huguenins, has promised to appeal. And we actually agree with ADF senior counsel Jordan Lorence’s argument: ‘Christians in the marketplace should not be subject to predatory legal attacks for simply abiding by their beliefs. The Constitution prohibits the state from forcing unwilling artists to promote a message they disagree with and thereby violate their conscience. Should the government force a videographer who is an animal rights activist to create a video promoting hunting and taxidermy? American small business owners do not surrender their constitutional rights at the marketplace gate, nor can the government make people choose between their faith and their livelihood.’”

CitizenLink: “Jordan Lorence, senior legal counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), said it exposes the threat such laws pose to religious liberty. ‘The court showed very little respect for that,’ he said, ‘and said that this was no different than a caterer serving food and was liable to this same-sex couple.’”

AP: “The bill must pass a 30-day period of Congressional review.”

San Diego Gay and Lesbian News: “Tuesday the Imperial County Board of Supervisors, in a 3-2 vote, moved to intervene in the Federal court case challenging Prop 8’s constitutionality . . . Mr. Wally also informed me that he was approached by the Alliance Defense Fund (the anti-equality guys with money) to bring the issue to the board with the promise that they would pay all of the county’s expenses with regards to the case. This, I must mention, is a good sign for our side. Our opposition is so desperate for support that they sought out a small county to help add legitimacy to their case.”

David Limbaugh writes at Townhall: “I’m wondering whether there’s anyone out there with the guts to pretend that it’s insignificant that President Barack Obama keeps appointing radical after radical to his czar positions. Can anyone honestly say Obama’s appointments don’t tell us a great deal about Obama himself — as if we needed any further proof he is a left-wing extremist?”

The Hill: “‘If the majority leader wants to schedule a vote Christmas Eve, that’s unfortunate, but Senate Republicans will not make it easier for them to try and pass this historic mistake,’ McConnell said in a statement to The Hill.”

Investigators said because the mother and baby were still connected by the umbilical cord and placenta, state law does not consider the baby to be a separate life. Therefore, the mother cannot be charged.”

Carson Holloway writes at Public Discourse: “As we celebrate the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of the Origin of the Species, it is time to realize that the best way to honor his legacy is to fight its over-extension and misapplication into the realm of politics. The second in a two-part series.”

ADF attorney Doug Napier appeared on the Michael Medved Show to discuss Cenzon-DeCarlo v. The Mount Sinai Hospital involving a pro-life nurse forced to participate in an abortion.

The MP3 runs just over 33 minutes.

Related ADF Information Page

LifeNews: Senator’s Amendment Would Protect Conscience Rights of Pro-Life Medical Staff

Law.com (The Recorder): “The Judicial Council of the 9th Circuit authorized television cameras in certain district court proceedings Thursday, reviving a national controversy just weeks before a groundbreaking trial over same-sex marriage is slated to begin in San Francisco.”

Christianity.ca: “The Divisional Court will be asked to assess whether there is a hierarchy of rights with sexual orientation superseding the religious freedom of a community united in non-discriminatory service to people with exceptional needs, as the OHRT found, or whether a religious community continues to have the right to define membership as stated by the SCC prior to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms in the Hofer case.”

The Hill: “I would have less of a voice and I would have less respect if I voted for things I didn’t believe in because of pressure from the leadership,” DeFazio told The Hill in an interview. Obama himself has taken notice. ‘Don’t think we’re not keeping score, brother,’ Obama told DeFazio during a closed-door meeting of the House Democratic Caucus, according to members afterward.”

Robert M. Weaver, Queer Law for the Straight Guy: The Affect of Lawrence on Fornication and Adultery Statutes (December 15, 2009). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1523702

“This Article inteprets the 2003 Lawrence v. Texas case on the majority’s own terms and in the context of the Court’s struggle to justify judicial review for unenumerated substantive rights. It argues that Lawrence is just as much of a “fundamental rights” case as the Court’s other cases recognized as ‘fundamental rights’ cases (Cruzan, Casey, Roe). It gives an identity-centered interpretation of the Court’s unenumerated substantive rights cases based on the majority’s focus on autonomy, human dignity, and liberty.”

Peter L. Strauss, Our Twenty-First Century Constitution (December 16, 2009). Vanderbilt Law Review En Banc, Vol. 62, No. 121, 2009. Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1524560