Daily Archives: September 7, 2010

Ottawa Citizen: “Recent reports indicate that the birth control pill may become available in the United States without a prescription. Proponents will claim this makes women’s lives healthier and easier. Nothing could be further from the truth. The pill is not Tylenol or cough medication. Certainly it’s widely used. However, forever downplayed are the nasty and known side effects . . . ”

Christian Science Monitor: “[Cordoba's] Islamic period and longstanding arguments about its meaning – a symbol of tolerance and hope or an expression of an expansive and aggressive faith? – is an ancient reflection of the current US back and forth over mosques and their meanings, driven by the controversial project, now called Park51 after the project’s location two blocks from the old World Trade Center.”

Notre Dame News: “The keynote speaker is former federal judge Michael W. McConnell, the Richard and Frances Mallery Professor of Law at Stanford University and leading expert on constitutional law. McConnell also directs Stanford’s Constitutional Law Center.”

Telegraph: “Reports of the pregnancy comes only a fortnight after the arrival of Mr Zuma’s 21st child, which was born to the second of his current wives . . . While polygamy is accepted in South Africa, the spiralling cost to the taxpayer of Mr Zuma’s cultural observance has led to bitter clashes between the president’s ruling African National Congress and the leading opposition party. News of yet another child and another marriage is bound to reignite the debate.”

Toronto Sun: “The unusual test case on the constitutional validity of Canada’s anti-polygamy law hasn’t even begun but the pre-trial jousting suggests it will be quite a show . . . Among the groups in the other corner is the Canadian Polyamory Advocacy Association which supports what it describes as ethical non-monogamy — adults involved in multiple committed intimate relationships. The association wants the anti-polygamy law struck down. ‘Polyamory is based on complete equality of the genders,’ explains association director John Ince. ‘It’s what we call a post-modern relationship configuration.’”

Associated Press: “FBI agents and civil rights division investigators also are looking into vandalism and other incidents at mosques or mosque construction sites in Arlington, Texas; Murfreesboro, Tenn.; Madera, Calif., and Waterport, N.Y.”

Mercury News (AP): “The daylong religious event titled, ‘The Call to Conscience,’ was led by Lou Engle as well as other pastors and speakers to protest gay marriage, pornography and abortion. Many of those attending slapped red ‘Life’ stickers over their shirts and set up blankets and folding chairs facing a large stage with banners that read: ‘Only One Hope God.’”

New York Post (video): “Although ‘Big Love’ has already humanized many of plural marriages most confusing practices, there is a lot left to demystify. Thankfully a pair of new projects aim to do just that. On September 13, Lifetime will debut ‘The 19th Wife’ — a TV movie about a murder inside the fundamentalist sect First Church of Latter Day Saints — starring Patricia Wettig, Matt Czuchry, Chyler Leigh and some serious AquaNet. 13 days later we are gifted with TLC’s new docu-series ‘Sister Wives,’ which looks to be a real life ‘Big Love,’ following one family — a single father, three mothers — as they live, learn and prepare to welcome a fourth wife into the mix.”

European Parliament: “MEPs will ask the Commission on Tuesday about its plans to combat discrimination encountered by same-sex couples. Same-sex couples, whether married or in civil partnership, still face discrimination when working, studying and travelling in the EU, since the spouse is not legally recognised as a family member by many Member States. MEPs will quiz the Commission about its lack of concrete proposals in this area.”

The Connacht Sentinel: “Galway City Council has committed to supporting the provision of a facility dedicated to the gay community of the region. In discussing the proposed City Draft Development Plan for 2011-2017, councillors agreed last night that in the interests of social inclusion that a stand-alone facility would be the best option for the LGBT group representing lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgenders.”

Guardian: “The HIV epidemic in Europe, including the UK, is being fuelled by the risky behaviour of young gay men, according to research published today . . . Those infected are almost all white, male, gay and young, they say. These men also tend to have other sexual diseases, such as syphillis, which suggests that they are involved in unsafe sexual behaviour and are not using condoms.”

RT: “Russia’s arbitration court has ruled that the decision to shut down a Moscow gay club was illegal.”

The Reykjavik Grapevine: “Jenis, speaking to Icelandic radio, added furthermore that he would not dine with Jóhanna, because \’to do so would be to show acceptance of gay marriage, which is against the platform of the Centrist party.’”

Grand Forks Herald: “The North Dakota Supreme Court refused Tuesday to order that a proposal to change the state’s pharmacy ownership law be put on the November ballot, but a supporter of the change promised the fight would continue. The voter initiative sought to abolish North Dakota’s requirement that most pharmacies in the state be owned by pharmacists. Industry officials say it is the only law of its kind in the country, and its critics say the law prevents large retailers, such as Walgreen Co. and Wal-Mart Stores Inc., from offering less expensive prescription drugs through pharmacies they own.”

Russell Shaw writing at The Catholic World Report: “The speech was then and remains today among the most important American political utterances of the 20th century . . . Fifty years after the Kennedy speech, his words deserve a close look to see whether they merit such criticism and, if so, why . . . Kennedy’s privatizing of religion operated on two levels: the macro level of politics and public life, and the private level of individual conscience. In both areas, the message was devastating.”

“A federal judge has denied a request by the Obama administration to allow it to force taxpayers to fund embryonic stem cell research while it defends President Barack Obama’s executive order from a lawsuit alleging it violates federal law . . . ”

Greeley Tribune: “The bad news for Planned Parenthood, the National Abortion Rights Action League (NARAL), and their allies is that personhood proponents recently turned in more than 126,000 signatures to put the measure back on the ballot, this time as Amendment 62. Even worse for abortion proponents, since beginning in Colorado in 2008, 40 states have started personhood drives. Personhood isn’t just an amendment; it’s a movement.”

Journal-Sentinel: “A liberal advocacy group is suing Juneau County District Attorney Scott Southworth, saying he did not produce an e-mail he was required to release under the state’s open records law. One Wisconsin Now posted a copy of the lawsuit Tuesday that it was filing against Southworth, who drew criticism this spring when he told area schools teachers could be criminally prosecuted if they followed the state’s new sex education curriculum.”

Telegraph: “Italian Father Piero Gheddo said that the low birth rate among indigenous Europeans combined with an unprecedented wave of Muslim immigrants with large families could see Europe becoming dominated by Islam in the space of a few generations.”

Guardian: “The Legal Services Board (LSB), the body responsible for overseeing the regulation of lawyers in England and Wales, is mulling over plans that would require law firms and chambers to compile and publish comprehensive diversity information about their staff. This would include the seven diversity strands – age, disability, gender, race, religion or belief, sexual orientation and working patterns – plus social mobility.”

The Jerusalem Post: “Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas told interviewers that he would not recognize Israel as a Jewish state, Israel Radio reported on Tuesday.”

Christian Science Monitor: “At a time when some governments are trying – and failing – to combat sex trafficking by legalizing prostitution, Sweden’s innovative approach stands out as an exemplary model of lawmaking that reduces prostitution, penalizes men, and protects women . . . Sweden does not penalize the persons in prostitution but makes resources available to them. Instead it targets and exposes the anonymous perpetrators – the buyers, mostly men, who purchase mainly women and children in prostitution. The key to the law’s effectiveness lies not so much in penalizing the men (punishments are modest) but in removing the invisibility of the buyers and making their crimes public.”

LifeNews: “The Planned Parenthood abortion business has temporarily closed its abortion center in Columbia. That leaves just two functioning abortion businesses in Missouri, with another Planned Parenthood abortion center in St. Louis and the Women’s Care Gynecology abortion clinic in Bridgeton, a suburb near the airport.”

CTV Ottawa: “As public hearings on the controversial topic of dying with dignity get underway in Quebec, the chair of the committee expects debate to become emotional. Quebec Liberal MNA Geoff Kelley says it’s been 17 years since B.C.’s Sue Rodriguez brought the issues of mercy killing to the fore, when she fought all the way to the Supreme Court for the right to kill herself. And though the court eventually ruled against her, the debate has never gone away, he says.”

Courthouse News Service: “Two business groups claim that Wisconsin enacted an unconstitutional law that prohibits employers from ‘conducting mandatory meetings with employees to communicate the employer’s opinion about the advantages or disadvantages of joining or supporting a union.’ The 15-page complaint does not mention any advantages to joining a union.”

LifeNews: “New polling data in the Delaware Senate race has conservatives split as to the better strategy. The poll finds pro-abortion Republican Rep. Mike Castle winning a potential matchup against pro-abortion Democratic candidate Chris Coons while pro-life GOP candidate Christine O’Donnell potentially loses to Coons.”

Marcia Segelstein writing at OneNewsNow: “It feels as though it’s getting more and more difficult to escape the subject of sex. It’s everywhere! . . . How did we get here? And how do we turn around?”

Breitbart (AP): “If you thought passing the health care overhaul was messy, wait until Republicans try to repeal it if they regain power in Washington this fall. It could come down to who blinks first. Even if Republicans succeed beyond any current predictions and capture both the Senate and the House, they wouldn’t have enough GOP votes to overcome President Barack Obama’s veto.”

Hartford Courant: “Last month, a federal district court judge ruled that sufficient evidence of ‘discrimination against Jewish people’ may exist, warranting a trial over the Borough of Litchfield’s denial of a conservative Hasidic group’s application to build a synagogue on the west end of the green. The ruling virtually guarantees a trial this fall on a controversy that has deeply divided this celebrated tourist town and attracted national media attention.”

Reuters: “Luxury car maker Jaguar has cut its sponsorship of star Australia swimmer Stephanie Rice, a triple Olympic gold medalist, after she sent a tweet using an anti-gay slur.”

Guardian: “According to Geoffrey Robertson QC, whose book The Case of the Pope is published tomorrow: ‘Canon law has been allowed to trump criminal law in countries throughout the world. This is a very serious matter‚ the pope through his pretensions to statehood refuses to acknowledge that child sex abuse is a serious crime as well as a sin’ . . . Robertson also argues that the pope cannot legally be considered a head of state and, therefore, covered by diplomatic immunity. The lawyer is highly critical of the British government, which he accuses of failing to understand the international law surrounding sovereignty.”

The city “suspended” Dr. Michael Campion, a psychologist who performed employment testing for the city, shortly after city officials learned of his affiliation with a conservative Christian organization, the Illinois Family Institute.

The Mission Statement of the Student Free Press Association: “The Student Free Press Associationis an individual membership organization of college-aged writers, bloggers, tweeters, podcasters, and viral video makers. SFPA is run by veteran journalists for the benefit of beginning journalists. We identify and support college students who seek to improve campus journalism, explore careers in the media, and commit themselves to the principles of a free society. This website aspires to become an excellent source of higher-education news. It will showcase outstanding work by both students and professional journalists, with the goal of providing valuable information to readers as well as helping students connect with a national audience.” Via Robert VerBruggen at Phi Beta Cons.

AFP: “US Attorney General Eric Holder was Tuesday to meet with religious leaders from across all faiths to discuss ways to stem a wave of attacks against Muslims and mosques. The talks would examine measures the Department of Justice ‘can take against rising anti-Muslim hate and acts of violence and intimidation against American Muslims,’ the broad coalition said in a press release.”

Becket Fund: “The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty will hold a briefing on Issues of Conscience under Present Law featuring Professor Robin Wilson, expert in health law and Class of 1958 Law Alumni professor of Law at the Washington and Lee University School of Law, and Eric Rassbach, National Litigation Director at The Becket Fund and expert in church-state law. Thursday, September 9th, 2010; 12:00 – 2:00pm.”

LifeSiteNews: “In the latest chapter in a long history of abuse, the state prosecutor’s office in Vienna is attempting to stifle the legal claims of a pro-lifer, whom a local abortionist’s hired thugs were caught on tape cutting, harassing and intimidating outside an abortion mill . . . A case filed in response to the bodily injury and theft inflicted by Fiala’s thugs has reportedly been pending for a year at the prosecutor’s office of Vienna. After the pro-lifer’s attorney took the case to the Superior Court of Vienna, the prosecutor’s office moved to stay the lawsuit, according to Gloria.tv. Dietmar Fischer, executive director of Human Life International (HLI) Austria, confirmed that the state prosecutor was seeking to dismiss the pro-lifer’s case against the thugs.”

Mercury News: “Oakland Pride, a daylong music, food and culture event drew at least 50,000 people, organizers said, to celebrate the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community. The last such Oakland event was held in 2004.”

Marketwire: “The One School System Network (OSSN), a coalition of teachers, civil rights, secularist and religious groups, will hold a rally calling for the end of tax-payer funding to the Roman Catholic public school system.”

Miami Herald: “South Carolina voters who support abortion rights have no choice in November’s gubernatorial election. For the first time in recent history both the Democratic and Republican nominees for governor are anti-choice.”

Chicago Tribune: “Berwynites — from the mayor to Paul to everyday citizens — are trying to alter that view, using an aggressive marketing campaign in Chicago neighborhoods such as Lakeview and Andersonville to convince people that their suburb is both affordable and amenable to people in the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community . . . The broader, $70,000-a-year campaign — titled ‘Why Berwyn?’ — targets people of all walks of life and features billboards and radio advertisements across the Chicago area. But part of it is directed specifically at the LGBT community.”

Associated Press: “The continuous fighting started Aug. 23 after the militant group al-Shabab threatened a ‘massive’ war against government forces, who are backed by African Union peacekeepers . . . . Militants, some of whom have pledged allegiance to al-Qaida, are trying to overthrow Somalia’s weak, U.N.-backed government and install a harsh interpretation of Islamic law.”

Associated Press: “The president of a Montana tea party group has been kicked out of the organization for an exchange on his Facebook page that appeared to condone violence against homosexuals.”

Christian Post: “An evangelical megachurch in the former Soviet Union state of Azerbaijan has been kept from meeting for worship since January because of a string of bureaucratic obstacles. The Cathedral of Praise church in the capital city of Baku could not re-register with the state by the Jan. 1, 2010, deadline and was barred from renting facilities, including from other churches, for worship, reported religious freedom watchdog Forum 18.”

Family PAC” wanted to make advertisements that would encourage voters in Washington State to vote “Yes” on a question on their ballot that would support traditional family values. To do that, Family PAC wanted to raise contributions so that it would have money to make its ads. However, Washington law banned contributions greater than $5,000 during the twenty-one days before the election—the very time period when many people are most inclined to listen to political ads. A donor offered Family PAC a large sum of money to fund their advertisements, but Family PAC was not able to accept the donation because of Washington’s law.

Fox News / Live Shots: “Fab Cusson says the Bible helped him beat an addiction to the painkiller Oxycontin five years ago. Now he wants to share the Scripture passages he says saved his life . . . the town’s [Chichester, NH] planning and zoning boards have turned him down twice . . . Cusson has hired a lawyer from the Alliance Defense Fund, which deals with freedom of religion cases. Cusson’s attorney, Michael Tierney says like the Bible, Chichester’s laws are open to interpretation. ‘My client has the right to proclaim a Biblical message in line with the variance and zoning ordinance criteria. We believe that the zoning ordinance was not correctly applied in this case.’”

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OneNewsNow: “An organization dedicated to persecuted Christians worldwide believes life for believers in Iraq will only get worse now that American combat troops are being pulled out of the country . . . Dr. Carl Moeller, president and CEO of Open Doors USA, believes the decision to yank the combat troops was premature.”

Eric Yoffie (Union for Reform Judaism) and Steven Wernick (United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism) writing at JTA: “We are saddened by the contempt that Rabbi Shlomo Amar, the Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel, expresses for Reform and Conservative Judaism at this High Holidays season. The Reform and Conservative movements in Israel are small but vibrant, and growing rapidly. This growth comes despite longstanding Israeli government policy that funnels taxpayers’ money only to Orthodox institutions, forcing Conservative and Reform Jews to fend for themselves. Government recognition and equitable funding of Reform and Conservative rabbis and synagogues would lead to even faster growth, and polls consistently show that an overwhelming majority of Israelis favor such recognition.”

OneNewsNow: “Maggie Gallagher, chairman of the board for the National Organization for Marriage (NOM), explains that while her organization respects the former RNC chairman’s right to his personal life, his active support for homosexual marriage is a different matter as it is now very public . . . She says Mehlman is part of a larger group of elitist Republicans who want to support efforts to make homosexual ‘marriage’ legal throughout the land.”

Irish Times: “Tomorrow marks the launch of a groundbreaking report from the organisation Marriage Equality called Voices of Children. The report documents for the first time the experiences of children growing up in Ireland with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) parents. The often complex social and legal issues raised in the report will be discussed at a one-day conference being held as part of the launch. Like the other young people interviewed for the report – there were 12 participants, all of them the children of lesbian couples, in what is a modest qualitative research study – Barry believes it is important that awareness is raised about their legally precarious status.”

Hurriyet Daily News (Sofia News Agency): The bishop of a Bulgarian city has bestows decorations for ‘defending’ Christian values to a controversial mayor and a notorious prosecutor, who were recently involved in anti-gay policies . . . He praised them for their contribution to ‘standing up for Christian values, defending Orthodox Christian morality and spirituality, the sanctity of marriage, family, and statehood.’”

Latin American Herald Tribune: “A total of 398 marriages have been registered, of which 53 percent were between men and 47 percent between women.”

Associated Press: “Residents are scheduled to speak out against a recommendation from a Loudoun County board subcommittee to ban religious holiday displays on the grounds of the county courthouse.”

Washington Post: “More than 160 Muslims have enlisted the federal government in two discrimination lawsuits against JBS Swift meatpacking plants, where they allege blood and bones were hurled at them, bathroom walls were covered with vile graffiti and company supervisors disrupted their efforts to worship during Ramadan, ultimately firing many Islamic employees. The two Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuits filed last week allege a pattern of religious and national origin discrimination and a hostile work environment at two plants – in Greeley, Colo., and Grand Island, Neb.” EEOC Press Release

Paul Jacob writing at Townhall: “Democrats are in trouble. With control of the White House and Congress, they personify ‘the man.’ No one wants to work for the man . . . The problem for Democrats isn’t merely the estimated 9.6 percent of Americans unemployed, but the percentage of us who remain working while seeing our future and our country frittered away in corruption and for various utopian schemes . . . Yes, a divide exists. There are two Americas. Those who believe in the ‘wisdom of crowds’ and those who believe in the wisdom of Washington elites. It is a much more meaningful dichotomy to examine than the two parties.”

Columbus Dispatch: “Both [Paul E. Pfeifer, author of more than 1/3 of all dissents, and Maureen O'Connor, most often in the majority] are on the ballot in November, along with Justice Judith Ann Lanzinger and Chief Justice Eric Brown . . . The dissent numbers provide the only statistical view of how often individual justices stray from the majority, but they don’t tell the whole story. They don’t indicate where a justice in the minority on a case persuaded one or more colleagues to join him or her, turning a dissent into the majority position. O’Connor, who is challenging Brown for chief justice, says her lack of dissents shows she’s in the mainstream of legal opinion.”

San Diego Union-Tribune: “The county is attempting to get into the case, utilizing the pro bono services of Advocates for Faith and Freedom, a conservative legal group based in Murietta that advocates for religious causes. But the county faces an uphill battle, legal experts say. It has to show that it has a particular legal interest in the case, and that allowing the decision to stand would cause the county some kind of recognizable harm. That may be hard. But there are questions about whether the sponsors of the proposition, who defended the measure in court, have the legal basis to pursue an appeal.”

OneNewsNow: “Craigslist appears to have surrendered in a legal fight over erotic ads posted on its website, shutting down its adult services section Saturday and replacing it with a black bar that simply says ‘censored.’”

Amity Shlaes in the Wall Street Journal, “How government unions became so powerful” (full text via Google News): “Early 20th-century strikes by police and other public employees were effective but proved politically damaging. Over time, the unions opted for a more quiet form of coercion—what might be called compensation coercion. Their success in this area brought them to the privileged ground they hold today . . . Another factor leading to the rise of the public unions is the decade-over-decade increase in the size of government.”

Frost Illustrated: “Historically, severe economic downturns draw many people to turn to their faith, praying for the strength to hold on just a little bit longer. But now, where people pray or worship is also being affected by foreclosures. From California, to Tennessee, Georgia and other states, houses of worship are struggling to avoid foreclosure, especially in areas where residential foreclosures are particularly high.”

WAtoday.com: “Australia’s school chaplaincy program will soon face a constitutional challenge in the High Court as opposition grows to having government funding paying for God’s representatives in state schools. With both sides of politics pledging $220 million to fund an extra 1000 chaplains, the Australian Psychological Society has slammed the program as ‘dangerous’ to children’s mental health.”

Robert P. George, Yuval Levin, and Matthew J. Franck writing at National Review Online: “[I]t is the president who fails to be open to the inconvenient truth about the human embryo, namely, that from the single-cell stage of development onward, the human embryo is a distinct, determinate, self-directing, integrated human organism — a living member of the human species who, if given a suitable environment, will move along the seamless trajectory of biological development toward maturity. At the so-called ‘blastocyst stage,’ when the embryo might be destroyed to derive embryonic stem cells, he or she is already a living individuated organism . . . Is our humanity alone enough to merit protection and regard, or are we required to prove we have some other set of qualities or capacities to qualify for respect and protection?”

Mark Crutcher writing at CNSNews: “With a mountain of documentation, Maafa 21, is proving to audiences all across America that the real motivation behind the legalization of abortion was eugenics and racial genocide. In just over two hours, the documentary shows that the legalization of abortion was part of a campaign that had been created, promoted, and financed by a small cartel of ultra-wealthy elitists.”

Baltimore Sun: “In one of the cases kicking off its fall term, Maryland’s highest court is being asked whether a judge violated an Orthodox Jew’s right to religious freedom by holding a medical malpractice trial without him and his lawyer during a major Jewish holiday.” Neustadter v. Holy Cross Hospital of Silver Spring, Inc. | Via Religion Clause.

Jerusalem Post: “The Jerusalem District Labor Court last week rejected a temporary appeal by a Muslim teacher at a private Christian school to allow her to continue working after she decided to wear a hijab in class after teaching without one for 27 years . . . the court found that the fact that Schmidt was a private school and that studying there was voluntary and not compulsory made the difference.” Via Religion Clause.

Drew Zahn writing at WorldNetDaily: “[S]tatistics show the number of homeschooled students in the U.S. has nearly doubled over the past 10 years, making learning at home the fastest growing form of education in country. ‘Homeschooling grew from 1.7 percent of the school age population in 1999 to 2.9 percent in 2007, a 74 percent relative increase over 8 years,’ states Dr. Brian D. Ray of the National Home Education Research Institute.”

Radio Free Europe: “Even as the Tajik government maintains tight control on religion, the majority Muslim population is increasingly turning to Shari’a law — the sacred law of Islam, which is not sanctioned by the state — to resolve disputes, family affairs, and personal matters.” Via Religion Clause.

Associated Press: “The European Union on Tuesday condemned the stoning to death sentence passed against an Iranian woman convicted for adultery, saying it was ‘barbaric.’”

Associated Press: “Organizers are planning Serbia’s first gay pride march in nearly a decade next month – after the one last year was canceled amid threats of violence by extremists.”

Findlaw (AP): “The United States expects to spend about $6 billion a year training and supporting Afghan troops and police after it begins withdrawing its own combat troops in 2011.”

Associated Press: “Philanthropist George Soros has announced a 10-year, $100 million grant to Human Rights Watch.” More from Human Rights Watch: “The grant is intended to support the internationalization of Human Rights Watch, enabling it to staff advocacy offices in key regional capitals around the world and to deepen its research presence on countries of concern. Human Rights Watch plans especially to increase its capacity to influence emerging powers in the global South to push a pro-human rights agenda.”

FindLaw (AP): “The delaying tactics have proved so successful, despite the Democrats’ substantial Senate majority, that fewer than half of Obama’s nominees have been confirmed and 102 out of 854 judgeships are vacant.”

OneNewsNow: “Pastor Mark Holick of Spirit One Christian Center was one of those passing out the packets to people leaving the mosque. Holick tells OneNewsNow that when local police officers arrived on the scene, he was handcuffed then detained in a patrol car, where he repeatedly asked what crime he had committed . . . Holick says serious free-speech rights are in question, so he is asking the Alliance Defense Fund to represent him. There has been no decision on that so far.”

The Tech (MIT): “Many stem cell researchers have been left uncertain about their own future and the future of their field as they wait for a federal judge to decide whether to allow the NIH to fund human embryonic stem cell research, within and without of its walls . . . According to an article in Thursday’s Wall Street Journal, Sherley and Deisher were ‘recruited separately’ by lawyers looking to challenge the federal policy. They had never met until last week, the Journal said . . . Gibson & Dunn referred inquiries to the Alliance Defense Fund. The Alliance Defense Fund and Human Life Advocates have both not returned inquiries.”

OneNewsNow: “A federal appeals court has ruled that officials at the University of Wisconsin-Madison violated the First Amendment by refusing to fund events of a student Catholic organization while providing funding for the events of other student organizations . . . ‘This is a great victory for religious freedom,’ says [Jordan Lorence], senior counsel with the Alliance Defense Fund and the attorney who argued before the Seventh Circuit last fall on behalf of the Catholic student group.”

Minneapolis Star-Tribune: “A psychologist who screened potential Minneapolis police officers will receive a $210,000 settlement from the city over his firing, which stemmed from his affiliation with the Illinois Family Institute and his support for treating the ‘problem’ of homosexuality . . . [Jim Campbell], of the Alliance Defense Fund of Arizona, said the settlement ‘reinforces that the government cannot penalize Christian contractors for their beliefs.’”