Daily Archives: August 18, 2010

ABC: “The developers behind the Islamic center planned for a site near Ground Zero won’t rule out accepting financing from the Mideast — including from Saudi Arabia and Iran — as they begin searching for $100 million needed to build the project.”

“The Charity Commission said gay people were suitable parents and religious views did not justify discrimination.”

MSNBC: “The last U.S. combat troops were crossing the border into Kuwait on Thursday morning, bringing to a close the active combat phase of a 7½-year war that overthrew the dictatorial regime of Saddam Hussein, forever defined the presidency of George W. Bush and left more than 4,400 American service members and tens of thousands of Iraqis dead.”

UPI: “A fight over displays in Kentucky courthouses that include the Ten Commandments could be back before the U.S. Supreme Court. A lawyer for Liberty Counsel, a conservative Virginia group involved in First Amendment cases, said the current Supreme Court may issue a different ruling than the one given McCreary and Pulaski counties in 2005, The (Louisville) Courier-Journal reported.”

Yahoo (AP): “[T]he state’s leading anti-abortion group said it expects Bruning’s office to throw its resources behind preserving the other law should it be challenged. That law — the first of its kind in the U.S. — would ban abortions starting at 20 weeks based on assertions from some doctors that fetuses feel pain at that stage of development.”

Catholic News Agency: “In the absence of an official statement from Belgium’s judiciary, the lawyer for the Archdiocese of Brussels-Mechelen announced the court’s decision that the police raids of the archbishop’s offices and Cardinal Danneel’s residence in June were unlawful.”

“Mexico City’s leftist mayor filed a defamation lawsuit Wednesday against a Roman Catholic cardinal for suggesting he bribed the Supreme court to uphold a city law allowing adoptions by same-sex couples.”

The Volokh Conspiracy: “The case is McCauley v. University of the Virgin Islands, decided today. The court holds that the K-12 school cases — ‘Tinker, Fraser, Hazelwood, Morse, and other decisions involving speech in public elementary and high schools’ — ‘cannot be taken as gospel in cases involving public universities.”

The Hill: “Several unions will pivot off expected House passage of the latest jobs bill to rev up their campaign machinery during the August recess . . . The schools funding has big significance for union members, many of whom could lose their jobs if the money doesn’t come through. Labor officials plan an onslaught against those who oppose it.”

Politico: “Romney’s end run around the federal campaign finance rules is rooted in his status: He is a presidential aspirant, a hopeful, a wannabe. In other words, he is not yet an official candidate. And that’s what allows him and his campaign-in-waiting to straddle the boundaries of federal law.”

Time / Swampland: “1. Should the mosque be moved? Ellison: ‘No absolutely not. I fact I think that if it were to be moved that religious liberty would suffer . . . the mosque project needs to move right ahead, clearly, where it is.’ Carson: ‘. . . People certainly have a right to build as they please on private property.’”

Timothy Dalrymple writing at Patheos: “This morning I received a kind message from Tim King, communications manager for Sojourners, confirming that Sojourners has indeed received funding from Soros’ Open Society Institute. ‘This is public,’ King wrote, ‘and not something we’re trying to cover up.’”

Wall Street Journal (Full text via Google News): “High-profile investor George Soros sold its ADR’s of Brazilian state-run energy giant Petroleo Brasileiro (PBR, PETR4.BR), or Petrobras, during the second quarter, amid uncertainties on company’s capitalization plans, according to a regulatory filing posted earlier this week.”

Catholic Culture: “Al-Shabaab, an Islamic insurgent group that controls most of southern and central Somalia, has expelled three Christian aid groups from the southern part of the nation. ‘Acting as missionaries under the guise of humanitarian work, the organizations have been spreading their corrupted ideologies in order to taint the pure creed of the Muslims in Somalia,’ Al-Shabaab said in a statement.”

WBOC: “The Seaford School District Board of Education on Monday evening allowed a prayer meeting before its scheduled meeting. However, federal guidelines state that teachers and school administrators cannot encourage or discourage prayer.”

Mario Almonte writing at The Huffington Post: “In the movement to legalize same-sex marriages in the United States, the religious right has proven a formidable and unwavering foe, and their victory in delaying the repeal of California’s Proposition 8 is persuasive evidence. Since the same-sex marriage movement began in earnest some 40 years ago, religious leaders have prevented all but five states and the District of Columbus from making it legal, and it took nearly 30 years for the first state to do so, in 2003. They have helped defeat similar bills in every state that has put it to popular vote. If anything, the same-sex marriage movement appears to have lost substantial ground . . . ”

USA Today / The Oval: “President Obama has made his first public comment on the mosque controversy since Saturday — a very short comment. It came when a television reporter in Ohio asked Obama if he had any regrets about weighing in. ‘The answer is no regrets,’ Obama said.”

Americans United for Separation of Church and State: “New York Gov. David Paterson’s proposal to offer public property to relocate the so-called ‘Ground Zero mosque’ raises serious constitutional issues and could spark litigation, says Americans United for Separation of Church and State.”

ACLU Blog of Rights: “Last week, Air Force Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach filed a high-profile lawsuit arguing that the Air Force should be forced to meet the ‘Witt standard’ if it attempts to discharge him from military service under Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell (DADT). The ‘Witt standard’ comes from a significant 9th Circuit Court of Appeals decision (PDF) in an ACLU of Washington case, Witt v. U.S. Air Force, in which the court ruled that the Air Force must prove that dismissing a specific servicemember under DADT is necessary to ensure ‘good order, morale, and discipline’ within the unit he or she served, rather than simply proving in a more general way that DADT broadly advances military readiness. With that requirement of proof, the ‘Witt standard’ was born.”

David Harsanyi writing at Townhall: “Even a newfound reverence for religious liberty on the left does not negate our right to protest and criticize the philosophical disposition of others. And applying public pressure in an effort to shut down a project is as American as protesting the arrival of a new Walmart. Religious institutions, as far as I can tell, are not exempted from these disputes.”

Harlan Yu writing at Freedom to Tinker: “If we compare public access before we had PACER to where we are now, there is clearly much success to celebrate. But the key question is not only whether current users are satisfied with the service but also whether PACER is reaching its entire audience of potential users. Are there artificial obstacles preventing potential PACER users—who admittedly would be difficult to poll—from using the service? The satisfaction statistic may be fine at face value, assuming that a representative sample of users were polled, but it could be misleading if it’s being used to gauge the overall success of PACER as a public access system.” Via Legal Blog Watch.

Blog of LegalTimes: “With a little help from its former dean Elena Kagan, Harvard Law School has edged out Yale Law School in the race for the most Supreme Court clerks this term. The Court today released the official list of clerks and their law schools and prior clerkships, confirming what’s been available at Above the Law and elsewhere.”

Canadian Press: “Republican lawmakers and activists on Wednesday called on the Obama administration to put Vietnam back on a U.S. religious freedoms blacklist. Reps. Frank Wolf and Chris Smith also said at a hearing that the U.S. State Department should avoid deepening ties with the economically vibrant Southeast Asian nation until human rights improve.” | Chris Smith: Investigate and Hold to Account Those Responsible for Murder and Other Human Rights Abuses of Catholics in Con Dau

Dallas Morning News (AP): “A Hindu priest performed the first wedding ceremony in Nepal for a foreign gay couple, a rights group said Wednesday, as activists and tourist agencies increasingly promote the Himalayan nation as a gay-friendly destination.”

“A spokesman for the Archdiocese of Guadalajara yesterday told reporters that the Cardinal Archbishop of that city has proof to back up his contention that the justices of the Supreme Court were in some way ‘fed’ by backers of homosexual ‘marriage’ and adoption in order to gain their votes in favor of the policies.”

KSTK: “Alaskan voters will decide this month whether the parents of pregnant teens have to be notified if their minor child is going to have an abortion.” Audio at link. | Alaska Parental Notification Initiative, Ballot Measure 2 (2010)

Florida Baptist Witness: “The Florida Board of Medicine has suspended the license of abortion doctor James Pendergraft for the fourth time but will still allow him to resume his practice.”

Herald-Journal: “Gov. Mark Sanford this morning signed a bill making it mandatory that a 24-hour wait period be established before an abortion is administered in the state of South Carolina.”

The Christian Post: “With the midterm elections coming up in November, the survey found that 61 percent of voters say abortion is at least somewhat important as an issue in terms of how they will vote. A third say it is very important and 37 percent say it is not very or not at all important.”

Bruce Walker writing at The New American: “The Americans of 1789 were overwhelmingly religiously serious Christians who understood the injunctions of Christ and tried to follow them; Jews, the only other religious group of any real size, loved America from the beginning and understood that the practical application of true Christianity did not threaten Jews at all. How did Americans view government? With great suspicion . . . Islam’s Shariah law is not compatible at all really, with ordered liberty and tolerant society. It leaves poverty, fear, and brutality in its wake. The cure for Afghanistan is not more NATO forces but, perhaps, more brave Christian missionaries. Not the politically correct approach, of course, but the real and true approach nonetheless.”

Law.com: “A three-year-old federal law that makes it a crime punishable by up to a year in jail to falsely claim to have received a medal from the U.S. military is unconstitutional, a federal appeals court panel in California ruled Tuesday . . . A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals sided with [Xavier Alvarez] in a 2-1 decision Tuesday, agreeing that the law was a violation of his free-speech rights. The majority said there’s no evidence that such lies harm anybody, and there’s no compelling reason for the government to ban such lies.” USA v. Alvarez, No. 08-50345 (9th Cir. Aug. 17, 2010)

Law.com: “The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has ruled that a religious organization that primarily holds Internet and radio worship services does not meet the U.S. Internal Revenue Service’s definition of a church.”

Foundation of Human Understanding v. United States, No. 2009-5129 (Fed. Cir. Aug. 16, 2010) | Google Viewer

“Alliance Defense Fund attorneys are reviewing all options for appeal of a ruling issued Wednesday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit that struck down roadside memorials to fallen Utah state troopers as unconstitutional.”

“. . . According to a CIA report written in 2003, the Saudis invested at least $2 billion a year over a 30-year period to spread their brand of fundamentalist Islam. The Western response in promoting our own civilization was negligible.”

San Francisco Chronicle: “Hardly anyone noticed when the U.S. Supreme Court said in 1997 that it had ‘grave doubts’ that the sponsors of a ballot measure – in that case, an English-only initiative for government agencies in Arizona – had the right to defend the law in federal court. Now that case could determine the future of same-sex marriage in California.”

Green Bay Press Gazette: “After a sharp debate about religious freedom, the Green Bay City Council agreed Tuesday to allow a mosque in a former bait-and-tackle shop on Velp Avenue.”

Northwest Florida Daily News: “‘I’m totally against it. If I had my way, it would pretty much be over my dead body,’ said Ron McNeil, a candidate for the U.S. House District 2 seat, who was referring to a controversial plan to build an Islamic center and mosque near Ground Zero in New York City. ‘That religion is against everything America stands for. If we have to let them build it, make them build it nine stories underground, so we can walk above it as citizens and Christians.’”

Fox News: “A sign that said ‘Islam is welcome here’ has mysteriously disappeared from the planned site of the Muslim mosque and cultural center near Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan.”

Associated Press: “The State Department says it will spend about $16,000 on a religious outreach trip to the Middle East for the imam behind plans for a mosque near the site of the Sept. 11 attacks.”

“Alliance Defense Fund attorneys together with allied attorneys representing Wisconsin Family Action officers and board members filed suit in state court Wednesday to stop the governor and state legislature from skirting a voter-approved constitutional amendment protecting marriage.”

Global Nation: “A majority of Danes fear Islam is an obstacle for social cohesion, despite one in two believing that immigration is positive for Danish society, according to a study published Tuesday. In a survey by the Ramboell institute, some 54.9 percent believe that Islam hinders social harmony, while 39.9 percent disagree and 5.2 percent did not comment.”

David J. Theroux writing at Patheos: “For decades, some Christians, both ‘conservative’ and ‘liberal,’ have unfortunately embraced an ill-conceived ‘progressive’ (i.e., authoritarian) vision to wield intrusive government powers as an unquestionable and even sanctified calling for both domestic and international matters, abandoning the Christian, natural-law tradition in moral ethics and economics. In contrast, the Oxford/Cambridge scholar and best-selling author C. S. Lewis did not suffer such delusions, despite the gigantic and deeply disturbing advances and conflicts of total war, the total state, and genocides that developed during his lifetime.”

Religion News Blog (Compass News Direct): “A Coptic Christian blogger arrested in Egypt on false charges of insulting Islam, then held for almost two years without charge under the country’s Emergency Law, has been released from prison.”

Susan Estrich writing at Rasmussen Reports: “[A]mong the presidential aspirants on the Republican side, Barbour brings a unique blend of insider experience and outside appeal, of campaign know-how and trial-by-fire credentials in governing. If I had to pick a Republican I wouldn’t want to run against, it would be him.”

Rick Hasen, William H. Hannon Distinguished Professor of Law, Loyola Law School, writing at the American Constitution Society blog: “I believe caution is in order, and that proponents and opponents of gay marriage should read very little into the Ninth Circuit’s order as to how that court is likely to decide the Proposition 8 case. But the Ninth Circuit’s decision to issue a stay could increase the chances that the Supreme Court ultimately will side with gay marriage supporters . . . This case already has had more than its share of twists and turns. But for those who want to predict what will happen in the appellate courts, there’s really very little to go on so far. Certainly we should not rely on a procedural order containing no written rationale offered by a different set of decisionmakers than the judges who will decide the merits of the appeal.”

Rasmussen: “The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Likely Voters in the state shows Democratic Senator Harry Reid and his Republican challenger Sharron Angle tied with 47% of the vote each. Five percent (5%) prefer some other candidate, and two percent (2%) are undecided.”

Alicia Cohn writing at her-meneutics (“The Christianity Today blog for women”): “No-fault divorce is now legal in every state, making filing for divorce in America — whether both parties agree or not — simply a matter of getting the proper paperwork. New York just became the last state to adopt the legislation, passing a bill in early July that was signed into law this week by Governor David Paterson . . . Opposition to the legislation has created unlikely allies out of the Roman Catholic Church, the New York chapter of the feminist group National Organization for Women (NOW), and the nonprofit Marriage Savers, founded by evangelical Mike McManus.”

Washington Post: “[The 9th Circuit's decision] came as a huge disappointment to the activists who sought to have Prop 8 declared unconstitutional. But it was a relief for the White House, meaning that a potentially divisive issue would not play out during the fall midterm elections. Democratic pollster Geoff Garin, who is close with top White House officials, said Obama has ‘suffered through a season of distractions. He didn’t need one more distraction.’”

LifeNews: “A coalition of pro-life and pro-family organizations will hold a press conference on Friday prior to the afternoon session of the Iowa Board of Medicine. The groups will voice strong opposition to the use of telemedicine for abortions by Planned Parenthood of the Heartland.”

LifeNews: “The president of a nationwide pro-life group says Americans, regardless of their opinion on abortion, should stand up against a move in the Senate to allow abortions at taxpayer-funded U.S. military base hospitals. Americans United for Life president Charmaine Yoest talked about the coming battle.”

“It’s been 40 days since U.S. District Court Judge Joseph Tauro ruled—in two cases—that the federal benefits provision in the Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional . . . the government has not yet decided whether it will appeal.”

“From the dawn of the American Revolution, which was preached from the pulpits, to the abolitionist preachers who rallied the antislavery cause, to the religious leaders who inspired the civil rights movement, religion and morality have always played a prominent and entirely proper role in American political life,’ he wrote.”

Robert W. Wood writing at Forbes: “[T]he biggest tax issues often come up on the unraveling of a marriage. Whether a couple is heterosexual or gay, the tax aspects of unraveling a relationship are very different inside and outside marriage. You might be shocked how these tax rules work.”

Religion Clause: “In Sherman v. Quinn, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 83313 (CD IL, Aug. 16, 2010), an Illinois federal district court has dismissed both facial and as-applied Establishment Clause challenges to Illinois 2009 capital appropriations bill . . . After dismissing some of the claims on 11th Amendment grounds, the court held that plaintiff lacks taxpayer standing to mount a broad facial challenge to the legislature’s appropriation of $2.23 billion for the governor to distribute to community-based human services providers.”

Nebraska Attorney General Jon Bruning will not file an appeal to defend new state law that helps women obtain more information about abortion risks. Planned Parenthood of the Heartland filed a lawsuit against a bill supported by pro-life advocates . . . ”

“We hold that these memorials have the impermissible effect of conveying to the reasonable observer the message that the State prefers or otherwise endorses a certain religion.”

Catholic Herald: “First, of course, [Cardinal George Pell] said that it wasn’t for him to tell them who to vote for, urging them nevertheless ‘to examine the policies of the Greens on their website and judge for themselves how thoroughly anti-Christian they are’ . . . So, what’s Cardinal Pell on about? The fact is that campaigning, political Greens are often intensely anti-Catholic. In 1996, says Cardinal Pell, the Australian Green leader Bob Brown co-authored a book called The Greens with the notorious philosopher Peter Singer who rejects the unique status of humans and supports infanticide, as well as abortion and euthanasia: this Green ethic, says the cardinal, is designed to replace Judaeo-Christianity.”

Daily News and Analysis: “The Karnataka high court on Tuesday sought to know the state and central governments’ stand on a petition filed by 70-year-old HB Karibasamma who had knocked on the doors of the court seeking mercy-killing or euthanasia.”

Religion Clause Blog: “The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom yesterday issued a release applauding the U.S. Senate’s Aug. 5 adoption of S. Res. 322, expressing concern about the plight of religious minorities in Iraq. The House of Representatives adopted a similar resolution, H.Res. 944, last February.”

El Heraldo de Chihuahua [Google translation]: “According to a survey by the publisher, 85% Chihuahua does not agree with the approval issued by the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJN) for same-sex couples to adopt children under age in the Federal District.”

OneNewsNow: “Because Idaho doesn’t have a specific law about assisted suicide, euthanasia activists are now focusing on that state.”

The Christian Institute: “Even primary school children are being affected by Britain’s hypersexualised society and it is a problem we’re not tackling, two feminist authors have said. Speaking at the Edinburgh International Book Festival, Kat Banyard and Natasha Walter hit out at the shear amount of pornography in society.”

The Christian Institute: “Christians were subjected to discrimination and exclusion from public life by the former Labour Government, according to an influential Conservative website. Writing on the Conservative Home blog former aid worker Dr Martin Parsons also cautioned that the Conservative Party’s attitude towards Christianity may have cost them an overall majority in this year’s election.”

National Review Online editorial: “In other words, it’s not simply that Walker was overriding the votes of the more than 7 million Californians who voted for Proposition 8. He also tried to make himself essentially a one-man federal judiciary by preventing meaningful review of his ruling by the Ninth Circuit and the Supreme Court . . . We won’t venture a prediction here whether the Supreme Court will ultimately misinterpret the Constitution and invent a right to same-sex marriage. But under the orderly appellate review that the Ninth Circuit order allows, we hope very much that Walker endures a fourth and final reversal.”

InForum: “Magistrate Judge Karen K. Klein said the Red River Freethinkers are raising similar issues already decided by the court and they fail to meet the necessary criteria to bring the lawsuit.” | Report and Recommendation in Red River Freethinkers v. City of Fargo, No. 3:08-cv-32 (D.N.D. Aug. 16, 2010)

Phillip Longman writing at Big Questions Online: “Europe’s demographic problems are not only forcing startling cutbacks in the welfare state but also are damaging the Continent’s prospects for sustained growth and economic recovery. Worse, Europe’s today is the rest of the world’s tomorrow. We have now entered a radically new phase in human affairs. Due primarily to the global decline in birthrates, such population growth as remains is mostly in the form of increasing numbers of old people. The absolute supply of children is already in steep decline, not only in Europe but even in once highly fertile places like Russia, China, Mexico, and Iran . . . Perhaps there is an economic system that can preserve prosperity even in the face of an aging, stagnating population, but it has not yet been devised.”

KHQ (AP): “The state Board of Education has voted to uphold the closure of a charter school that tangled with Idaho officials over use of the Bible in the classroom and is now being shuttered over money problems.”

The Jakarta Globe: “Despite Indonesia having a secular Constitution, devoutly Muslim Aceh was allowed to adopt parts of Shariah law, presumably to prevent the Acehnese from joining the rebellious Free Aceh Movement (GAM) . . . Five years later, the obvious question has yet to be asked: why was Shariah rammed through the national legislative system and ‘given’ to Aceh when neither the populace nor the GAM guerrillas ever asked for it and perhaps few people, with the exception of the provincial ulema council, actually want it?”

The Daily Caller: “Some moderate Muslims agree that the proposed location of the Cordoba Mosque near Ground Zero in lower Manhattan should be reconsidered. Stephen Schwartz, executive director of the Center for Islamic Pluralism, told The Daily Caller that despite their relative silence on the issue, many Muslims question the placement of the mosque.”

Associated Press: “The pale wood cross about four meters (13 feet) high was erected in front of the presidential palace by Boy and Girl Scouts days after the April plane crash in Russia that killed President Lech Kaczynski, his wife and 94 others . . . Now, with a new president installed and the country returning to normal, the question of whether the cross should stay or go has set off wider disputes that underscore the deep divisions between traditional and modern Poles, conservatives and liberals, and even rich and poor.” | Reuters | For more information, see this ADF Alliance Alert compound tag: http://www.alliancealert.org/tag/country-poland+topic-monuments/

“Should the Supreme Court step unwarily into the firestorm of the same-sex marriage issue, with a ruling that upholds the radicalism of Judge Walker (even if rewritten in less inflammatory terms), it will go down in history not as Brown-like ‘statesmanship,’ but as Roe-like usurpation. And this for the simple reasons that no plausible connection can be made between same-sex marriage and the principles of the Constitution . . . ”

Associated Press: “The Siena College poll showed 63 percent of New York voters surveyed oppose the project, with 27 percent supporting it. That compares with 64 percent opposed and 28 percent in favor two weeks earlier, results that are within the polls’ sampling margins.”

NBC New York: “The developers of an Islamic cultural center that would include a mosque near Ground Zero have rejected Gov. David Paterson’s offer to help them find a different site. Paterson said today the group is apparently committed to building in the proposed site. ‘I think they would like to stay where they are, and I certainly respect that and I certainly respect them,’ Paterson said.”

Washington Times: “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, California Democrat, called for an investigation of those who are protesting the building of the Ground Zero Mosque on Tuesday. She told San Francisco’s KCBS radio: [Audio] ‘There is no question there is a concerted effort to make this a political issue by some. And I join those who have called for looking into how is this opposition to the mosque being funded.’”

The Christian Institute: “[T]he Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), a religious liberty organisation which is involved in the case, welcomed the ruling. ADF’s [Jim Campbell] said: ‘It made no sense to impose a radical change in marriage on the people of California before all appeals on their behalf are heard, so the Ninth Circuit’s decision is clearly the right call.’”