Daily Archives: July 28, 2010

Associated Press: “Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, the senior Republican on the Judiciary Committee, warned senators in unusually dire terms against voting for President Barack Obama’s choice, saying, ‘Be careful about it, because I’m afraid that we have a dangerous, progressive, political-type nominee.’”

LifeSiteNews: “Mary Wagner, the young woman who was jailed earlier this year for entering an abortion clinic and counseling women and abortion workers, has been acquitted of all charges and freed from jail.”

Haaretz: “A gay rights group is suing a local website for NIS 100,000 for publishing an article calling for the indictment of the leaders of a ‘deviant’ center for gay youth rather than of the gunman who killed two people in a shooting at the Tel Aviv Gay and Lesbian Association last summer.”

Minuteman News Center: “The Jewish Home for the Elderly was denied the zoning amendment that it proposed, while St. Pius X Church was granted its request for a ‘special exception,’ when the Town Planning and Zoning Commission met on Tuesday night at McKinley Elementary School.”

Epoch Times: “Egyptian minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research has issued an unofficial decree banning full face niqab veils on Egypt’s University campuses this fall, according to the Egypt Daily News.”

Dallas Morning News (AP): “A southern Utah judge has set an Aug. 18 date for a hearing on a request that polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs be granted a speedy trial.”

LifeSiteNews: “Early-term abortion may be legalized in South Korea, according to a Ministry of Justice committee considering changes to the law, reports the Korean journal JoongAng Daily.”

Raleigh Conservative Examiner: “This month’s Civitas Poll shows that a majority of voters in North Carolina disapprove of the House of Representatives’ policy that forbids the use of the name of Jesus in prayer opening House Session.”

LifeNews: “The Congressional Research Service has released a new report verifying the analysis the pro-life movement gave about the national health care bill President Barack Obama signed into law. The CRS report affirms the national health care program will contain abortion funding despite protests to the contrary.”

David W. Virtue writes at VirtueOnline: “The Synod of the Church of England voted to consecrate women to the episcopacy. They also voted summarily not to allow any sort of delegated episcopal pastoral oversight for Evangelicals and Anglo-Catholics who in conscience do not want to have a woman bishop reign over them . . . So the big question is this, what have women bishops achieved in The Episcopal Church for the last 20 years? . . . 2009 figures, not yet released by the national church, will indicate further decline owing to the emergence on the national scene of the Anglican Church of North America (ACNA) which has siphoned off more than 100,000 Episcopalians in 800 parishes and four dioceses. 2010 will reveal no upward trend . . . ”

The New York Times: “Russia officially celebrated a new holiday on Wednesday marking its conversion to Christianity in 988, the latest Kremlin boost to an Orthodox Church that has grown increasingly powerful since the fall of Communism.”

Boston.com (AP): “The B.C. Superior Court in Vancouver, British Columbia, sentenced Kenneth Klassen on Wednesday to 10 years for 14 counts of sex tourism and one year for one count of importing pornography.” | B.C. Supreme Court recent judgments

KEYC (AP): “The fight over gay marriage played out at the Minnesota capitol on Wednesday, with simultaneous rallies on both sides of the issue.”

Chuck Donovan writing at The Heritage Foundation / The Foundry: “Perhaps the biggest news out of last week’s reaction to a federal judge striking down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) was pundits’ response to the way the Obama Administration ‘threw the fight.’ . . . The collusion boils down to this . . . “ | Via The Engage Family Blog of the Family Policy Council of West Virginia

Medical News Today: “Abortion politics are influencing state races in Georgia, Massachusetts and South Dakota.”

The Christian Post: “Two evangelists said they survived an attack in Balaghat district, Madhya Pradesh, by playing dead last week when suspected Hindu extremists surrounded them and severely beat them. The six assailants accused Mahindra Kharoley, 20, and 30-year-old Munshi Prasaad Bahey of ‘forced conversion.’”

First Amendment Center: “A federal appeals court said universities cannot require a security fee for speaking on campus without any guidelines for what security is needed. The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled yesterday that Southeastern Louisiana University’s free-speech policy is unconstitutionally vague on that point.” | Sonnier v. Crane, No. 09-30186 (5th Cir. July 27, 2010)

NPR: “For 10 years, the Rev. Richard Cizik was the chief lobbyist for the National Association of Evangelicals, which represents roughly 30 million constituents across the United States. But he was forced out of that position in December 2008, after remarks he made on Fresh Air about his support of gay civil unions, among other things.”

LifeSiteNews: “With the Vatican reeling from another sex scandal, this time in the heart of the Eternal City, the Vicar of Rome is sending an unequivocal message to homosexual priests: come out of the closet, and get out of the priesthood. Cardinal Agostino Vallini, the prelate in charge of administering the Rome diocese, the episcopal see of Pope Benedict XVI, made the statements in response to an exposé by Panorama.”

LifeSiteNews: “Bishop Jaime Soto of Sacramento also said that there is a need for the Catholic Church to correct the pervasive ‘confusion about sexuality in general’ in order to rekindle an appreciation of true marriage as a positive message for Catholics and non-Catholics alike . . . ‘Particularly in the environment that we’re in right now, the proponents of same-sex marriage have been vociferous in terms of labeling anyone who supports traditional marriage as a bigot or as intolerant, or as unreasonable,’ he noted. He added that ‘many people are quite frankly intimidated by the anger that has come out after a majority of California voters supported traditional marriage.’”

LifeSiteNews: “A new documentary, ‘Eggsploitation,’ just released by The Center for Bioethics and Culture Network (CBCN) reveals shocking information about the infertility industry. The documentary exposes what the makers of the film label the ‘deceptive advertising, large monetary incentives and appeals to altruism’ that are used by the infertility industry to entice college women to engage in human egg donation, a practice that the CBCN claims exploits them and puts them at ‘considerable’ health risk.”

LifeSiteNews: “This month’s appointment of High Court Judge Liam McKechnie to the Irish Supreme Court has alarmed some Irish pro-life advocates who have compared him to the ‘unjust judge’ of the New Testament parable, who ‘neither feared God nor had respect for people.’ The Life Institute’s Dr. Seán Ó Domhnaill cited McKechnie’s ruling in the 2007 ‘D’ case of an anencephalic child in which barristers argued that the child did not deserve the protection of Ireland’s pro-life law because she did not qualify as an ‘unborn person.’”

LifeNews: “The head of the Archdiocese of St. Louis says it is ‘clear and unambiguous’ that Catholics who want to remain in good standing with the Church can’t support abortion. Archbishop Robert J. Carlson also says those who support legalized abortion should voluntarily opt out of receiving community.”

LifeNews: “Larry Klayman, the judicial watchdog who is the founder of Judicial Watch and Freedom Watch USA, says he is filing papers to have Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan disbarred. He says he wants to see that happen because he believes Kagan misled the Senate Judiciary Committee during her hearings.”

Associated Press: “Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe says she plans to vote to confirm Elena Kagan as a Supreme Court justice. The Maine lawmaker’s announcement makes her the fourth Republican to break with her party to back President Barack Obama’s high court nominee.”

Associated Press: “Senate leaders tried Wednesday to break a legislative logjam over a proposed gambling expansion in Massachusetts, offering two options to their House counterparts.”

Liberty Counsel: “In a 3-0 decision, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in Washington, DC, ruled that the National Motto, ‘In God We Trust,’ is constitutional and does not violate the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. Quoting the 1970 decision in Aronow v. United States, the Court wrote: ‘It is quite obvious that the national motto and slogan on coinage and currency “In God We Trust” has nothing whatsoever to do with the establishment of religion.’” | Related: DC Circuit OKs “In God We Trust” on U.S. currency

Associated Press: “Architectural plans have been unveiled for the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate, which will sit adjacent to his brother’s presidential library in Boston.”

. . . If states have authority under the 10th Amendment to define marriage, why are federal courts, like the one in San Francisco, not immediately upholding state constitutional definitions of marriage, such as the one currently under attack in California? Is it because California voters chose to define marriage the ‘wrong’ way as one man and one woman? . . .

Associated Press: “A federal judge on Wednesday blocked the most controversial parts of Arizona’s immigration law from taking effect, delivering a last-minute victory to opponents of the crackdown. The overall law will still take effect Thursday, but without the provisions that angered opponents – including sections that required officers to check a person’s immigration status while enforcing other laws.” | USA v. Arizona, No. CV 10-1413-PHX-SRB (D. Ariz. July 28, 2010)

New York Times: “The new government effort will pay families for every new child and deposit money into the newborns’ bank accounts until they reach 18, Mr. Ahmadinejad said. The program effectively rolled back years of efforts to strengthen the economy by reducing population growth.”

Toronto Star: “But few countries on Earth are worse to be pregnant in [than the Congo]. Every hour of every day, four females in the Democratic Republic of Congo die from complications of pregnancy and labour, according to statistics from the United Nations Population Fund. For every woman who dies giving birth, between 20 and 30 suffer serious health problems such as obstetric fistula.”

Asia News: “‘Down with the Moscow pope’, is the slogan repeated by nationalist demonstrators every time the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia visits Ukraine. In fact it was brandished again today in Kiev, where Patriarch Kirill is on an official visit and were he opened the Synod of the Russian-Orthodox Church. Eight people were arrested for demonstrating against the leader of the Russian Orthodox Church. In Dnipropetrovsk, however, the authorities have even banned any kind of street protests against Kirill, on this his third trip to the country since being elected in 2009.”

Catholic Culture: “Only 22% of white Catholics and 23% of Latino Catholics oppose the legal recognition of homosexual unions. 37% of white Catholics and 44% of Latino Catholics support same-sex marriage, while an additional 41% of white Catholics and 28% of Latino Catholics support homosexual civil unions. In contrast, 53% of Latino Protestants oppose the legal recognition of homosexual unions.”

The Boston Globe: “[Massachusetts] lawmakers have generated little data to estimate the downside of casinos, the toll that crime and addiction would take on individuals and the expense of additional government services to combat those problems. Now, as the state Senate begins debate today on casino legislation, opponents are seizing on a study done by neighboring New Hampshire in which researchers went to great lengths to calculate the tradeoffs of expanding gambling. By comparison, the opponents argue, Massachusetts legislators have not done enough to consider the fallout from casinos.”

Courthouse News Service: “Ghanaian police were ‘unable or unwilling’ to protect a Baptist preacher from being persecuted by Muslims, the 9th Circuit ruled, reinstating the Christian convert’s bid for protection in the United States.” | Via Religion Clause (links to ruling)

ACLU: “The American Civil Liberties Union today is asking the FBI field offices in 29 states and Washington, D.C. to turn over records related to the agency’s collection and use of race and ethnicity data in local communities . . . While some racial and ethnic data collection by some agencies might be helpful in lessening discrimination, the FBI’s attempt to collect and map demographic data using race-based criteria for targeting purposes invites unconstitutional racial profiling by law enforcement, says the ACLU.” | Law.com: FBI Defends Guidelines for Domestic Surveillance

Associated Press: “Al-Qaida’s No. 2 has slammed France’s push to ban the Islamic full-face veil and urged Muslim women to be ‘holy warriors’ in the defense of their headdress against the ‘secular Western crusade’ in a new audio message released Wednesday on militant websites.”

USA Today: “Centenary College, in New Jersey, is shutting down an M.B.A. program in Asia to contain a plagiarism epidemic. About 400 students are currently enrolled in the program at locations in Beijing, Shanghai and Taiwan.”

American Constitution Society / ACSblog: “President Barack Obama today urged Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and others in the Senate to fill the vacancies ‘that continue to plague our judiciary’ . . . Reform of the parliamentary procedure that ‘infiltrates policy discussion at every step,’ the filibuster rule, may be imminent, The Huffington Post reports.”

The Heritage Foundation / The Foundry: “In reality, there is nothing conservative about national standards, which will further tie schools to the demands of Washington bureaucrats but do little to improve student achievement. National standards create a one-size-fits-all, centralized approach to education. And while proponents will say that these standards are ‘voluntary,’ the significant amount of federal funding that would be tied to their adoption makes them anything but.”

NCPA: “On Aug. 3, all eyes in the nation will turn toward Missouri, as voters in the Show-Me State become the first anywhere to cast a ballot concerning the federal health care plan foisted upon them. A ‘yes’ vote on Proposition C — the Health Care Freedom Act — will tell the nation that Missourians have looked at this expensive, ill-conceived and unhealthy measure and reject it, says Carl Bearden, executive director of United for Missouri, a Springfield-based organization.”

ChristianNewsWire: “Black pro-life leaders in Georgia today strongly opposed Governor Palin’s endorsement of gubernatorial candidate Karen Handel. ‘It is with a heavy heart that we express our profound disappointment with Governor Sarah Palin’s endorsement of Planned Parenthood’s benefactor, candidate Karen Handel,’ said Dr. Alveda King, (niece of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.) pro-life advocate and leader in the Black Pro-life Movement.”

Atlanta Journal Constitution: “An online site, YouWager.com, is allowing people to wage money and opinions on possible outcomes of the federal lawsuit Keeton filed against Augusta State last week.”

Religion Clause: “In Ward v. Wilbanks, (ED MI, July 26 2010), a Michigan federal district court upheld Eastern Michigan University’s dismissal of a student from its graduate program in counseling because of her objections to counseling clients on their same-sex relationships, in violation of professional counseling standards . . . [T]he court rejected Ward’s free exercise and Establishment Clause claims: ‘Plaintiff was not required to change her views or religious beliefs; she was required to set them aside in the counselor-client relationship – a neutral, generally applicable expectation of all counselors-to-be under the ACA standard’ . . . Alliance Defense Fund which represented the student said in a release yesterday that it would appeal the decision.”

ChristianNewsWire: “This morning, Thomas More Society attorney Peter Breen entered a ‘not guilty’ plea to the charge of disorderly conduct on behalf of Joseph Holland, the first person arrested under the new Chicago ‘Bubble Zone’ ordinance, which prevents certain types of picketing activity outside local abortion clinics.”

The Eastern Echo: “Alliance Defense Fund attorneys are planning to appeal the dismissal of the case involving a former master’s student in Eastern Michigan University’s counseling program . . . In a press release, ADF Senior Counsel [David French] said Christian students shouldn’t be expelled for ‘holding to and abiding by their beliefs.’” | ADF News Release

The Journal Gazette: “The Allen County commissioners are now defendants in a lawsuit filed by an abortion provider challenging new regulations for doctors who don’t live in the area and who do not have privileges at area hospitals . . . County Attorney Bill Fishering said the change in the complaint does not change the defense team, which includes the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund.”

Tulsa World: “The American Civil Liberties Union of Oklahoma and Haskell County have reached a settlement in a lawsuit over a Ten Commandments monument placed on county property . . . [Kevin Theriot] of the Alliance Defense Fund, which has represented the Haskell County commissioners, confirmed that the settlement was reached last week, but he said the group had no comment with regard to it.”

The Washington Post / College Inc.: In a pair of recent court cases, a university’s interest in enforcing anti-bias rules collides with the rights of individual students to follow their Christian beliefs . . . ‘A public university student shouldn’t be threatened with expulsion for being a Christian and refusing to publicly renounce her faith,’ said ADF Senior Counsel [David French], in a statement. ‘Simply put, the university is imposing thought reform.’”

Detroit Free Press: “A lawyer for a national religious liberty group said Tuesday it plans to appeal a federal judge’s decision to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a woman who said she was kicked out of a master’s program at Eastern Michigan University because she refused on religious grounds to counsel a homosexual client. ‘There are aspects of the decision that present appealable issues, and we disagree with the court on his conclusions,’ said [David French], a lawyer for the Alliance Defense Fund.”

Fox News: “The decision, according to Julea Ward’s attorneys, could result in students across the country being expelled from public universities for similar views . . . ‘It’s a very dangerous precedent,’ [Jeremy Tedesco], legal counsel for the conservative Alliance Defense Fund, told FOX News Radio. ‘The ruling doesn’t say that explicitly, but that’s what is going to happen’ . . . ‘Christian students shouldn’t be expelled for holding to and abiding by their beliefs,” said ADF senior counsel [David French]. ‘To reach its decision, the court had to do something that’s never been done in federal court: uphold an extremely broad and vague university speech code.’” | ADF News Release

AolNews.: “‘The university has told Jennifer Keeton that if she doesn’t change her beliefs, she can’t stay in the program,’ [David French], senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, told FoxNews.com. ‘She won’t even have a chance to counsel any students; she won’t have a chance to get a counseling degree; she’ll be expelled.’”

Jim Wilson writing at The Record Searchlight: “Some people want to talk and some don’t. Telling them apart is not always easy – because political correctness can dictate identification in defiance of the facts – but it is certainly essential . . . I was invited to speak to the issue of the trauma women experience – physically, mentally, and emotionally – when they abort a pregnancy . . . The problem is that while I was speaking the spokespersons for the pro-choice position were leaving the hearing room as fast as they could . . . The Pacific Justice Institute and the Alliance Defense Fund recently partnered to negotiate a favorable settlement for a former professor at San Jose Community College who was terminated for citing studies that indicated homosexuality might be connected to maternal stress during pregnancy . . . Professor June Sheldon was terminated not because of disagreement with the theory – it is, after all, one of many theories – but for the thought crime of treating homosexuality as though it might be an issue with a pathology, rather than a gift.”

GetReligion.org: “A news release sent out by the Alliance Defense Fund identifies Keeton as a “Christian” and indicates that she holds ‘mainstream Christian beliefs.’ However, given that 78 percent of Americans identify with some form of Christianity, according to Gallup, more specific information on Keeton’s religious background and affiliation would be extremely helpful.”

Inside Higher Ed: “[David French], a senior counsel to the Alliance Defense Fund, said that in the Supreme Court case and the Eastern Michigan ruling, ‘a disturbing trend’ is emerging of ‘what I would call excessive deference to university administrators’ to define limits around ‘the market place of ideas.’ French said that, in contrast to the view that academe should feature ‘a freewheeling exchange of ideas,’ these rulings ‘permit restrictions’ on religious students and groups. And he said that the Eastern Michigan ruling may create a new way for public universities to enforce speech codes — simply by making them into curricular requirements.”

Bryan Berry writes at the National Catholic Register: “Some of the professors teaching Islam are practicing Muslims. But unlike the Muslims, who also believe that homosexual sex is wrong, Howell was ‘penalized for believing in what he’s teaching,’ said [David Hacker], litigation staff counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund Center for Academic Freedom, which is defending Howell . . . Although the issue that led to Howell’s dismissal was Church teaching on homosexual sex and Howell’s belief in that teaching, Howell, the Alliance Defense Fund and many of Howell’s supporters have been taking their stand on another principle: freedom of speech, protected by the First Amendment, and academic freedom.”

The Chronicle of Higher Education: “The Alliance Defense Fund, a coalition of Christian lawyers that is helping to represent the student, Julea Ward, issued a statement on Tuesday saying it plans to appeal the judge’s decision. ‘Christian students shouldn’t be expelled for holding to and abiding by their beliefs,’ said [David French], a senior counsel for the group, which helped out in a similar lawsuit filed against Augusta State University, in Georgia, this month.” | ADF News Release

The Underground: “[David French], senior counsel said, ‘Jennifer Keeton has not been accused of mistreating a client. She’s being told, “You must change your beliefs or we’ll deny you a degree,”‘ The Augusta Chronicle said.”

Special consultative status will allow ADF to monitor, shape issues affecting religious freedom

ADF attorney Jordan Lorence appeared on the Zeb Bell Show to discuss this: Augusta State Univ. to counseling student: change your beliefs or get out. |
MP3 19:34 mins

ADF attorney Jordan Lorence and Dr.Kenneth Howell appeared on KFUO with Roland Lettner to discuss his case. | MP3 24:11 | Related ADF press release

AP: “Statistics obtained by The Associated Press show that the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office was responsible for deportations or forced departure of 26,146 immigrants since 2007. That’s about a quarter of the national total of 115,841 sent out of the U.S. by officers in 64 law enforcement agencies deputized to help enforce immigration laws, some since 2006, under the so-called 287(g) program.”

ADF attorney David French appeared in several radio programs to discuss several cases including the Jennifer Keeton case reported in this ADF press release: ADF attorneys file suit after university officials require counseling student to abandon her beliefs to get a degree. | Point of View Radio – MP3 9:50 mins | Don Kroah Show on WAVA Radio – MP3 11:25 mins | Showgram with Jim Richards – MP3 13:10 mins | Victoria Taft Show KPAM 860 – MP3 16:57 mins

OnlinePRNews.com: “Tuesday a two-million-dollar, 70-ton, 77’7″ red-brown contemporary sculpture named The Empty Cross™ was erected by The Coming King Foundation (TCKF) overlooking Interstate 10, half-way between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, on the transcontinental highway that connects California and Florida. The purpose, according to TCKF Vice President Jim McKnight, is to ‘draw people to God and to bless all those who visit the 23 acre Sculpture Prayer Garden in Kerrville, which will be free to the public.’ The week-long cross erection process began on Monday morning, July 26th. Eagle Bronze of Lander, WY supervised the raising of the massive cross sculpture with the help of local welders, steel erectors, and crane companies. This historic event caps a 9-year epic struggle to raise the cross which included several financial “miracles”, as well as threats and attacks by atheists and others opposed to the cross, numerous letters to the media and city government, and a lawsuit filed by neighboring landowners.”

More reports via Google News

Pacific Justice Institute: “PJI has filed an amicus brief on behalf of the Catholic League and Ignatius Press in Association of Christian Schools International v. Stearns. This brief asks the Supreme Court to review a recent Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision, which approved actions by the University of California system that effectively prevent private Christian, Catholic, and Jewish high schools from teaching courses in accordance with their faith traditions.”

Boston Globe: “The Massachusetts Legislature has approved a new law intended to bypass the Electoral College system and ensure that the winner of the presidential election is determined by the national popular vote.”

Christian Newswire: “A new West Virginia prolife organization, PersonhoodWV, is springing to life in West Virginia this week. PersonhoodWV will hold their first meeting in Hampshire County, with PersonhoodUSA co-founder Cal Zastrow introducing the mission of the statewide personhood amendment and answering questions. The meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, July 27th at 5:30 pm at the Augusta Church of Christ on Route 50 . . . ”

The Hill: “The Open Government Initiative has a lot to do with telling people what’s going on in Washington and providing way better return for the taxpayer dollar. One next step is the Federal Register 2.0, a site that communicates what’s going on in ways that make for a more natural read. They say it’s like USA.gov meets USAToday.com”