Daily Archives: October 7, 2010

ChristianNewsWire: “Christian Coalition President Roberta Combs announced the release of the Coalition’s voter guides for the 2010 general election.”

“Alliance Defense Fund allied attorney Charles S. LiMandri and ADF Senior Counsel Joseph Infranco will be available for media interviews following oral argument in a hearing in the city of San Diego’s appeal of a favorable jury verdict issued in February 2009.”

The Columbus Dispatch: “A Franklin County judge set bond at $500,000 today for a Near East Side man who police say forced his pregnant girlfriend to go to an abortion clinic yesterday morning.”

Gazettes.com: “Long Beach’s City Council, prompted by the city’s Human Relations Commission, came out again Tuesday night in opposition of Proposition 8 and urged in a resolution that Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown not expend any resources opposing the ruling overturning that proposition.”

Israel Today Magazine: “[A] family court judge in Beersheva ruled that the common law partner of a deceased local academic figure was not entitled to his inheritance . . . The legal battle was joined by the deceased man’s sister, to whom all of his possessions were left in his will. But the man’s homosexual partner of more than 20 years claimed that by virtue of their common law marriage, he was entitled to take possession of the deceased’s estate.”

The Times-Tribune: “A Monroe County school district has decided to revoke the charter from the Pocono Mountain Charter School, which district officials say is part of a church.”

The Star-Ledger: “After enduring ‘a firestorm’ of criticism from all factions of Judaism, New Jersey’s oldest Jewish newspaper announced today it overreacted in printing and then rescinding its first published same-sex wedding announcement.”

Reuters: “Minarets and church towers mingle on Cairo’s skyline, but tensions mar Egypt’s record of religious coexistence and a perception of growing intolerance is leading some Christians to shun their Muslim compatriots.”

Deseret News: “Several years ago, a small group of academics and religious leaders began drafting an outline for what they thought freedom of religion should look like in South Africa . . . After several revisions, the document is now ready for public endorsement, which will happen at a ceremony on Oct. 21. The religions will stand together, ‘speak with one voice,’ and ask the government to enact the charter into law, a process allowed and even encouraged by their current constitution . . .”

Independent Catholic News: “The Catholic Bishops of Northern Ireland have issued a statement protesting about the ‘First All-Ireland Conference on Abortion and Clinical Practice’ organised jointly by the Family Planning Association in Britain and Ireland being held today and tomorrow in the Slieve Donard Hotel in Newcastle, Northern Ireland.”

Bruce Hausknecht writing at CitizenLink: “I want to highlight an interesting friend-of-the-court brief [in Perry v. Schwarzenegger] filed by the Becket Fund, a non-profit law firm that specializes in the protection of religious rights . . . Well, says the Becket Fund, there is at least one rational basis for Prop 8 that no one has focused on (including Judge Walker): there is a popular as well as scholarly consensus (based on actual experience in several states) that same-sex marriage negatively affects religious liberties.”

Associated Press: “U.S. Senate candidate Sharron Angle told a crowd of supporters that the country needs to address a ‘militant terrorist situation’ that has allowed Islamic religious law to take hold in some American cities.”

Fox 2 Now: “The Governor of Illinois says he believes civil unions for gay couples will be reality in the Land of Lincoln before the year is out. Governor Pat Quinn’s office confirms the statement, published in Suburban Chicago’s Daily Herald on Wednesday.”

LifeNews: “A new poll of Colorado voters shows the personhood amendment, Amendment 62, likely losing by another large margin in November. The amendment defines unborn children as persons starting at conception and would draw an almost immediate legal challenge from pro-abortion groups.” Ballotpedia: Colorado Fetal Personhood, Amendment 62 (2010)

Jeanne Monahan writing at FRCblog: “Continuing our educational series on ella, the new FDA-approved ‘emergency contraceptive’ that can also cause an abortion, today Dr. Donna Harrison, OB-GYN and president of the American Association of Pro-life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG) continues with a short explanation of ella’s potential impact on the small number (approximately 2%) of babies that will survive despite their mother taking ella.”

WWJ: “Judge George Caram Steeh ruled that Congress did not exceed its authority by requiring people to have insurance by 2014. He also turned down a challenge Thursday to the financial penalty that comes with having no insurance . . . The lawsuit was filed by the Thomas More Law Center, a national public interest law firm based in Ann Arbor. The individual plaintiffs don’t have health insurance and said they object to the federal government demanding that they buy it.”

Thomas More Law Center v. Obama, No. 10-CV-11156 (E.D. Mich. Oct. 7, 2010)

Sacramento Bee: “Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, today announced that it has filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit against the Obama Department of Justice (DOJ) for information regarding the DOJ’s decision to file a lawsuit against Arizona over the state’s tough new illegal immigration law, SB 1070. Judicial Watch seeks documents pertaining to the Obama administration’s contacts with third party organizations, such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), in making the decision to file the lawsuit.”

“Attorneys for Democrat U.S. Rep. Kathy Dahlkemper’s campaign want four Erie radio stations to pull an ad by an anti-abortion group that contends her vote for health care reform resulted in ‘the largest expansion of taxpayer-funded abortions ever.’”

“A pastor from Waukee is wading into the retention election for three Iowa Supreme Court justices, asking religious leaders around the state to inform their congregations about ‘out of control’ judges. But some contend the effort is actually encouraging churches to violate federal tax law.”

The Prague Post: “Charlie, a gay and lesbian students’ association at Charles University, took issue with what they saw as a biased and intolerant treatment of homosexuality in the handbook.”

Sydney Star Observer: “The Gay Dads Alliance is the first national gay dads lobby group in Australia to call for reform of Section 60H of the Family Law Act, which covers children born as a result of artificial conception procedures and doesn’t recognise gay fathers.”

Gillette News Record: “The Park County Commission on Tuesday unanimously approved two permits for a 144,000-square-foot French Gothic-style monastery and coffee roasting barn on a remote, 2,500-acre ranch near Meeteetse.”

Ekklesia: “Following the election of Ed Miliband as Labour Party leader, same-sex civil marriage is now supported by the leaders of the Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green parties, leaving Cameron and the Conservative Party as the main opponents. This is despite growing support for the idea amongst senior Conservatives, including the London Mayor Boris Johnson and former Tory Vice-Chair Margot James MP.”

LifeSiteNews: “An attempt to erase the conscience rights of EU health care workers has been soundly defeated at the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) this evening. In a vote of 56 to 51, the PACE rejected the proposal of Christine McCafferty, a British politician and abortion activist, to “regulate” conscientious objectors to abortion across Europe.”

Center for Reproductive Rights Press Release

AFP: “Abortion has become a big issue in Brazil’s presidential election after religious activists dropped support for leading candidate Dilma Rousseff due to her past support for legalizing it.”

The Christian Institute: “An investigation into a disturbing playground craze involving coloured wristbands and sexual acts between children has uncovered a hidden online world of teenagers, sex and porn, a BBC broadcaster has revealed.”

CCFON: “The EU Council has refused to allow the public to access documents concerning the highly controversial EU Equal Treatment Directive, which is currently being negotiated in secret between European Member States. The refusal follows a public access request by Christian Concern for our Nation (CCFON). The Directive seeks to outlaw discrimination on several grounds, including sexual orientation and religion in the provision of goods and services, and includes a controversial harassment provision which threatens free speech.”

The Virginian-Pilot: “Former WAVY-TV weather forecaster Jon Cash on Wednesday accused the station of religious discrimination, in his most detailed comments since he was fired.”

Americans United for Separation of Church and State: “A Brooklyn church that endorsed Democratic gubernatorial candidate Andrew M. Cuomo should be investigated by the Internal Revenue Service, says Americans United for Separation of Church and State.”

Strategy Page: “One of the many tragedies of the war in Iraq was the expulsion of the native Christian population. Before 2003, there were 1.5 million Christians in Iraq. Now there are fewer than 800,000 . . . Alas, throughout the Moslem world, there is an ancient antipathy against non-Moslems, or Moslems who are different than you. The infidels (non-Moslems) are seen as potentially disloyal, and what happened in Iraq over the last century just confirms that attitude . . . This reveals a fundamental problem in the Islamic world, the belief that combining righteousness with murderous tactics, is often the road to power and spiritual salvation.”

J. Christian Adams writing at Pajamas Media: “Instead of aggressive enforcement to protect military voting rights, the DOJ has been cutting deals with states like Wisconsin which ignore the congressional mandate that ballots be mailed at least 45 days before the election. Because DOJ did nothing all year to enforce the 45-day mandate, they cut deals that ignored the numeric minimums in law.”

Pew Research Center: “For the first time in 15 years of Pew Research Center polling, fewer than half oppose same-sex marriage. The shift in opinion on same-sex marriage has been broad-based, occurring across many demographic, political and religious groups.”

“The next printing of a guide designed to educate immigrants applying for Canadian citizenship will contain references to gay rights — ones that Immigration Minister Jason Kenney had vetoed for the current version.”

“The idea of the ACLU battling a private corporation over whether clones are human beings or pieces of property may seem far-fetched. But almost a decade ago, the organization started thinking about how to do it.”

Reuters: “With Christianity dwindling in its Middle Eastern birthplace, Pope Benedict has convened Catholic bishops from the region to debate how to save its minority communities and promote harmony with their Muslim neighbors.”

Reuters interviews Franciscan Father David Jaeger: “The whole discussion of the civic duty of the Christian, the Christian as citizen, the Christian communities as actors in the national lives of the countries where they live, this is totally new for the region as a whole. For 13 centuries, Christians in the Middle East had been made to live strictly in kinds of socio-political ghettos, not a physical ones necessarily, but socio-political and legal ones, and it was a given that general society was something else, in which as Christians they had no part.”

Telegraph: “A group of MPs from the Northern League, part of Silvio Berlusconi’s ruling right wing coalition, proposed the bill, which states that burkas should be banned in Italy, not for ‘religious reasons but for security reasons.’”

Catholic Herald: “Christianity is the most persecuted religion in the world, according to a European commission of Catholic bishops. A report issued this week by the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Community (COMECE) said that at least three-quarters of all religious persecution was directed at Christians.”

Christianity Today: “As a lawsuit over religious displays in Italian public classrooms makes its way up the European Court ladder, Italian evangelicals have joined those opposing the government’s use of crucifixes . . . The Italian Evangelical Alliance (IEA) supports the echr’s religious symbol ban for several reasons, said vice chairman Leonardo De Chirico. The case deals specifically with a Roman Catholic symbol—the cross with a dying Christ on it—not the more general Christian cross. Its public display represents the imposition of Catholicism as the state religion, which ended in 1984. And the IEA is committed to the separation of church and state.”

Yale Daily News: “Evan Wolfson ’78, founder and executive director of Freedom to Marry, and Maggie Gallagher ’82, former president of the National Organization for Marriage, joined about 250 students and guests in Sudler Hall for a YPU debate titled ‘Resolved: Same-Sex Couples Should be Allowed to Marry.’ After they spoke, students and guests in the audience gave philosophical arguments about the institution of marriage and shared personal anecdotes.”

Bloomberg: “Justice Stephen Breyer rejected the notion that the U.S. Supreme Court has a pro-business slant and said the court doesn’t rule in favor of companies any more frequently than it has historically.”

American Jewish Committee: “AJC is urging a federal appeals court to uphold a lower court ruling that the National Day of Prayer is unconstitutional.”

Gallup: “Unemployment, as measured by Gallup without seasonal adjustment, increased to 10.1% in September — up sharply from 9.3% in August and 8.9% in July. Much of this increase came during the second half of the month — the unemployment rate was 9.4% in mid-September — and therefore is unlikely to be picked up in the government’s unemployment report on Friday.”

KVUE: “The State Board of Education is taking a close look at textbooks on Friday and will consider a resolution that says some textbooks favor Islam over Christianity . . . The Plano-based Liberty Institute supports the resolution. ‘I would think every Texan would be against government discrimination against any religion,’ said institute president Kelly Shackelford.”

Associated Press: “France’s constitutional watchdog on Thursday endorsed a divisive law forbidding face-covering Islamic veils anywhere in public, but expressed concern about applying it in places of worship such as a mosque.”

Associated Press: “Young adults with college degrees are now more likely to be married than those who are less educated, a reversal of longtime trends as the struggling economy pushes weddings to all-time lows.” | Pew: The Reversal of the College Marriage Gap

Politico: “Axelrod and Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel mused on what they described as a rising tide of fanaticism and intolerance in American politics . . . Axelrod also offered an impromptu endorsement to Wiesel’s suggestion that a planned Islamic Center near the World Trade Center site be replaced by an interfaith center.”

WorldNetDaily: “[Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life] Study coordinator Brian Grim says that of the estimated 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide, most are South Asian, largely in India and Indonesia. The second largest Muslim group comes from the Middle East. But in other parts of the world, such as Western Europe and America, they also are wielding increasing influence, and Grim says it’s simply a flexing of their power through outnumbering other groups.”

Wesley J. Smith writing at LifeNews: “I don’t know what the cause is, but a NYT story seeking to motivate people to demand that the Feds pass a law allowing the NIH to fund ESCR in the wake of the Lamberth decision ruling that doing so violates current federal law, gets a lot of things wrong.”

Gallup: “The U.S. Supreme Court begins its 2010-11 term with 51% of Americans approving of the way it handles its job. This is lower than a year ago, when approval surged to 61%, but is similar to the court’s ratings in 2007 and 2008.”

Christian Science Monitor: “William Brennan was probably the most liberal US Supreme Court justice in the post-World War II era. Embracing a progressive, expansive view of ‘equal protection’ under the law, Brennan rejected discrimination against blacks, women, gays, and the poor . . . Even more controversially, Brennan carved out a constitutionally protected “right to privacy” that would pave the way for 1973’s ‘Roe v. Wade’ decision.”

Canandaigua Messenger Post: “Public prayers won’t be heard at City Council meetings anytime soon, as a motion to continue research on the issue was shot down at Tuesday night’s Planning Committee meeting.” Via Religion Clause.

Washington Times editorial: “In an interview Sunday on ABC’s ‘This Week,’ British radical Muslim activist Anjem Choudary made clear what he and his Islamist brothers have planned for the West. ‘We do believe, as Muslims, the East and the West will one day be governed by the Shariah,’ he said. ‘Indeed, we believe that one day, the flag of Islam will fly over the White House.’”

LifeNews: “Congressman Chris Smith was not happy about the report the inspector general of USAID issued attempting to ‘whitewash’ the Obama administration’s improper, and potentially illegal, use of taxpayer funds promoting a new constitution in Kenya that would allow unlimited abortions.”

Associated Press: “The Nevada Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that U.S. Senate candidate Scott Ashjian’s name should stay on the November election ballot despite challenges to his qualifications.”

NewsMax: “Republicans could keep their promises to stop healthcare reform even if they cannot repeal it, simply by blocking legislation needed to pay for it, one expert argued Wednesday.”

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: “Two of the most prominent figures in America’s legal system will visit Duquesne University next year for the 100th anniversary of its law school: U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.”

Lyle Denniston writing at SCOTUSblog: “When the Supreme Court meets in private Friday to discuss Snyder v. Phelps, a profound question will hang over the discussion: Should we — and can we — set aside our emotional reaction? If the answer, implicit or otherwise, is no, the Justices may then proceed to craft a way to write into the First Amendment a ‘funeral exception’ to the right to speak out in public in outrageous and hurtful ways. It was apparent, throughout an hour of oral argument Wednesday, that emotion was more dominant than law, at least among most of the Justices.”

ADF attorney Daniel Blomberg appeared on the Mike Gallagher Show to discuss ADF’s involvement in defending Arkansas’ adoption law. | MP3 audio 6:11 mins

Law.com: “The court on Sept. 28 announced Kagan would be assigned as the circuit justice for the 6th and 7th U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals — the same circuits her predecessor John Paul Stevens handled before retiring in June.”

Associated Press: “Members of a radical Muslim sect shot and killed a political leader in northern Nigeria, the latest attack by a group that engineered a massive prison break last month, a police commissioner said Thursday.”

USA Today: “Thirty companies and organizations, including McDonald’s (MCD) and Jack in the Box (JACK), won’t be required to raise the minimum annual benefit included in low-cost health plans, which are often used to cover part-time or low-wage employees.”

The Christian Post: “After four years of supporting the ‘Day of Truth’ initiative and one year spearheading the effort, Exodus International announced Wednesday that it was ‘returning the event’ to the group that launched it – the Ariz.-based Alliance Defense Fund.”

Keen News Service: “The Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) announced Tuesday that it had filed motions on behalf of Smith in the U.S. District Court for Boston, where Judge Joseph Tauro had ruled—in two cases—that one part of the federal Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA) is unconstitutional.”

LifeNews: “Students for Life of America’s national conference has been sold out for the past two years and has grown so large that the 2011 event will be held at a larger facility . . . With the help of the conference’s co-sponsor, the Alliance Defense Fund, the pro-life conference will now be able to accommodate a larger crowd . . . It will feature speakers such as Scott Klusendorf, Alveda King, [David French] from the Alliance Defense Fund . . .”

ADF Attorney David Cortman writing at Speak Up Movement / Church: “There are several issues involved in the Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v Winn case that is before the U.S. Supreme Court. One of them that is being argued by ADF is whether the ACLU’s taxpaying plaintiffs have any right to even challenge the program. We think not.”

OneNewsNow: “Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) attorney [Jim Campbell] tells OneNewsNow 25 briefs were filed. ‘This is a very broad coalition, a very diverse show of support for the people of California and for people all throughout this country who continue to believe that marriage is a union of one man and one woman,’ Campbell suggests.”

WorldNetDaily: “Roger Kiska, counsel in Europe for the ADF, said it appears simply to be an issue of state control over a family. ‘The opinions in the Johansson case reflect an underlying attempt by the Swedish state to conform Dominic to the bureaucrats’ image of a child, rather than respecting the right of the family and the parents, and even the right of the child to be with his family,’ he said in the HSLDA report.”

Concord Monitor: “The Chichester zoning board last night granted the Barnstead man a rehearing on an application for a zoning variance to put an electronic sign along Route 4 that quotes daily Bible passages . . . Michael Tierney, a Manchester attorney representing Cusson and a member of the Alliance Defense Fund . . . had pointed to a public hearing notice published in the Suncook Valley Sun in November 2005. The notice . . . failed to mention that the proposed amendment would prohibit electronic signs.”

Dallas Voice: “The Alliance Defense Fund announced Tuesday it had filed motions on behalf of Smith asking to intervene in two cases in which a U.S. district judge in Massachusetts declared DOMA unconstitutional. The ADF argues on behalf of Smith that the Obama administration isn’t doing enough to defend the 1996 law, which some gay-rights activists don’t think the administration should be defending at all.”

Ex-Gay Watch: “Alan Chambers, president of Exodus International, has announced that they will no longer sponsor the annual Day of Truth (DOT) . . . The first DOT was organized by the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) in 2005.”

David E. Smith, Illinois Family Institute Executive Director, writing at Opposing Views: “This troubling incident epitomizes the problems with ‘social justice’ as conceived by contemporary universities. Social justice proponents seek to eradicate diversity when it comes to moral beliefs about volitional behavior with which they disagree . . . The city of Indianapolis is now considering evicting the Just Cookies bakery from the location in the City Market where they have operated for twenty years . . . Organizations like IFI . . . [and the] Alliance Defense Fund . . . have tried to warn conservatives about the serious threat posed to First Amendment speech and religious liberty by . . . anti-discrimination policies.”

ADF Attorney Jeffery Ventrella writing at Inside the Issues: “How can we expect the next generation of lawyers to really know about constitutional law unless they understand the context undergirding that precious document? . . . There is a solution: while ideas have consequences, people change cultures—more precisely, changed people change cultures. And that is the fundamental mission actuating the Blackstone Legal Fellowship. By a rigorous curriculum fueled by a top-notch faculty, our country’s best and brightest Christian law students are transformed.”

The Hill: “In response to Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) requesting the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) investigate certain non-profit organizations, Republican Sens. Orrin Hatch (Utah) and Jon Kyl (Ariz.) have asked IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman to ensure that the examinations will be free from political interference.”

Bob Unruh writes at WorldNetDaily: Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn., proclaims on its website that it is “a church-related, residential liberal arts college firmly rooted in its Swedish and Lutheran heritage” and its core values are excellence, community, justice, service and faith. But one senior is wondering just where in those values he can fit a presentation to incoming freshmen that introduces them to the etiquette of having sex in dorm rooms without being interrupted by roommates and a “lesbian” who proclaims, “I like sex. No, I love sex” and tells students, “I am normal.”