Daily Archives: November 5, 2010

Guardian: “This week, the University of Cambridge centre for gender studies hosted a public forum, Making Babies in the 21st Century: the Rise of Reproductive Technologies, in association with the Guardian and supported by Cambridge University Press.”

Christian Post: “Turning Point minister Dr. David Jeremiah painted a picture of a plummeting U.S. economy during a Thursday night mass meeting and urged Christians to remain vigilant and put their houses in order.”

American at the Crossroad: “Considered by many to be the most important election of our time, America at the Crossroad is a special evening to examine the impact of this election cycle on our country and our basic liberties. Dr. William Bennett and Alan Sears will offer unique insight on the direction of America and the crossroads we face.”

Salt Lake Tribune: “In a random survey of 625 registered voters conducted Oct. 25-27, 44 percent said it is possible for those with same-sex attraction to change it, while 25 percent said they were unsure. Nearly a third said change isn’t possible, an opinion consistent with most scientific research.”

Birmingham Mail: “The UK Independence Party (Ukip) is to be taken to the High Court by the West Midlands MEP claiming it discriminated against her because she is gay. Nikki Sinclaire is taking action over Ukip withdrawing the whip from her in the European Parliament and preventing her standing for the Commons as a candidate for the party.”

Main Line Media: “A proposed anti-discrimination ordinance that would add provisions for sexual orientation and gender identity/expression sparked lively discussion at Monday’s work session, when it was reviewed in preparation for the Nov. 8 commissioners meeting.”

At Bench Memos, ADF Attorney David French responds to Robert VerBruggen on tax-credit voucher programs: “Taxpayers give money to nonprofit organizations based upon shared beliefs and shared goals. Arizona has chosen to further incentivize one segment of charitable giving (in the arena of education, which is a public and private function) by giving a relatively modest tax credit.”

ADF attorney David Cortman appeared on NPR’s “All Things Considered”. The report by Nina Totenberg summarizes oral arguments in the Arizona school choice litigation.  | MP3 audio 4:33 mins

Denver Post: “The Douglas County School District is examining starting a voucher program to give students state money to attend private or religious schools.”

USA Today (AP): “Joseph Thai, a professor at the University of Oklahoma’s College of Law, said the ballot measure is ‘an answer in search of a problem.’ ”

Law.com: “Does the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) permit caregivers to accompany sick family members who travel seeking spiritual healing? That was one of two issues before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit on Nov. 4. The other was whether the employee filed adequate certification supporting her leave request. Chief Judge Sandra Lynch and Judges Michael Boudin and Jeffrey Howard heard oral argument in Tayag v. Lahey Clinic Hospital Inc., an appeal of a January 2010 summary judgment ruling for the employer issued by Judge Patti Saris of the District of Massachusetts.”

CBN: “A two-hour journey from the capital city of Kuala Lumpur revealed an isolated encampment where some Christian converts say they’ve been taken in order to be forced back to Islam.” (includes video)

Wicked Local: “Preservationists say it would be a Whopper of a mistake for a Haverhill congregation to sell its 163-year-old church to a developer who wants to tear it down and build a Burger King.”

The Hill: “Soon-to-be Speaker John Boehner (Ohio) is being pressed by taxpayer groups to slash the salaries of House lawmakers.”

OneNewsNow: “Though White Ribbons Against Pornography (WRAP) Week is meant to make a statement about illegal pornography and the lack of enforcement against it, its aim is also to reach out to those affected by the industry.”

“But George Soros knows what he wants: appointed Supreme Court judges recommended by lawyer-driven commissions. Call us knee-jerk, but that may be one good reason why this is not a good idea.”

Associated Press: “Emboldened by the success of a ballot initiative to oust Iowa judges who supported gay marriage, conservative activists are looking for new ways to use the power of the vote to strike back against the courts.”

Associated Press: “A Republican gay rights group is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to allow a California trial judge’s order barring enforcement of the ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy to go back into effect.”

The Chronicle: “Toowoomba father of six Ron Williams is preparing for a David and Goliath style showdown with the Federal Government in the highest court in the land. Mr Williams is challenging the legality of the Federal Government’s funding of the National School Chaplaincy Program.” | Mum backs chaplaincy in schools

UPI: “Iraq should have a referendum to give the Christian community an autonomous region in the north of the country, an advocacy group said.”

KWTX: “Thomas Farr, who was the first director of the State Department’s Office of International Religious Freedom, says President Barack Obama’s administration treats religious rights with indifference.”

Christian Today: “Barnabas Fund is inviting churches in the UK to dedicate one Sunday in November to the issue of persecution around the world – as well as at home. The theme of this year’s Suffering Church Sunday, ‘Be on Your Guard’, reflects Barnabas Fund’s growing concerns over the freedom of Christians in the West.”

CBS: “Keith Olbermann has been suspended indefinitely without pay from MSNBC for making donations to three Democrats in violation of NBC’s ethics policy.” | More from the Washington Post.

Jonathan Capehart writing at Washington Post / PostPartisan: “Gay men, lesbians and bisexuals who self-identified to exit pollsters made up 3 percent of those casting ballots in House races on Tuesday, and 31 percent of them voted Republican.”

Margaret Datiles, Associate Fellow in Law at the Culture of Life Foundation: “This essay shall discuss (1) the definitions and legal history of wrongful birth and wrongful life lawsuits; (2) the influence of Roe v. Wade on wrongful birth/life cases; (3) philosophical and practical questions relevant in the wrongful birth/life instance; and (4) wrongful conception and other related legal claims.”

The Christian Institute: “Kids from broken families are suffering poor outcomes and it is costing the nation up to a staggering £100 billion a year, a Government minister says . . . Speaking yesterday the Work and Pensions Secretary slammed Labour for undermining the role of the family, warning it had led to more crime, more poverty and poorer prospects for children.”

E. Christian Brugger writing at Public Discourse: “A much-discussed new law in the state of Nebraska has banned abortion after the 20th week of pregnancy, citing the contested notion of fetal pain . . . how do we approach the possibility of fetal pain when the science remains uncertain?”

The Hill: “Though Republicans are rattling their sabers with threats to repeal the new healthcare and financial regulatory laws, the White House feels safe with its buffer in the Democratic Senate.”

Religion Clause: “The U.S. Region V Office of Fair Housing and Equal Opportunity has found no reasonable cause to believe there was a violation of the Fair Housing Act in the case of a woman who posted an ad for a ‘female Christian roommate’ on her church bulletin board.”

Religion Clause: “On Wednesday, the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral arguments in International Church of the Foursquare Gospel v. City of San Leandro. An audio recording of the oral arguments is available from the court’s website.”

National Law Journal: “Efforts to retain the military’s ban on openly gay service members scored two big wins this week when a federal appeals court on Monday halted an injunction barring its enforcement and voters on Tuesday replaced members of Congress who had pushed for legislative repeal of the law.”

The Boston Globe: “Governor Deval Patrick nominated a court veteran yesterday, Associate Justice Roderick L. Ireland, to lead the Supreme Judicial Court, an appointment that would make Ireland the first black chief justice of the nation’s oldest appeals court.”

Los Angeles Times: “Iowa’s rejection of three state supreme court justices who ruled in favor of same-sex marriage underscored the growing electoral vulnerability of state judges as more and more are targeted by special interest groups, legal scholars and jurists said Thursday.”

Family Research Council: “Family Research Council today released an analysis of the military’s survey regarding the effects of allowing homosexuals to serve openly in the Armed Forces showing that the military’s survey is deeply flawed, according to FRC President and Marine Corps veteran Tony Perkins.”

Washington Post: “There are no perfect alternatives, but a merit selection system is preferable and would better shield judges from the most corrosive aspects of political elections. Governors could select a nominee who is then confirmed by the legislature.”

USA Today: “It would be hard to overstate the importance of the principle of judicial independence. Few scenes in American history are uglier than those written when public opinion, sometimes vicious, has ruled the courts.”

Reuters: “The United States defended its human rights record on Friday from criticism from foes including Cuba and Iran, who called for it to close Guantanamo prison and investigate alleged torture by its troops abroad.”

BBC: “At least 55 people have been killed and nearly 100 injured in a suicide bomb attack on a mosque in north-west Pakistan, local officials say . . . The Pakistani Taliban have claimed responsibility for such attacks in the past and have been particularly active in recent years in and around Peshawar.”

Compass Direct: “For the first time in Bhutan’s history, the Buddhist nation’s government seems ready to grant much-awaited official recognition and accompanying rights to a miniscule Christian population that has remained largely underground.”

ADF Attorney Joel Oster appeared on The Georgene Rice Show to discuss this: Christian woman allowed to seek female Christian roommate…for now | MP3 audio runs 8:59 mins

ADF Attorney Matt Bowman appeared on In the Market with Janet Parshall to discuss this: Parents stopped from forcing Texas teen to have abortion | MP3 audio runs 9:01 mins

Associated Press: “The awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to a jailed democracy activist is a political attack on China, a Chinese leader said Friday, warning that countries acknowledging the honor would ‘bear the consequences.’”

LifeNews: “Leading pro-life organizations . . . want the pro-life leaders who are expected to run the Congressional chamber to take up a bill that would prohibit taxpayer funding of abortions across the board with respect to all federal government departments and programs.”

John Fund writing at the Wall Street Journal: “The most significant long-term political consequences of Tuesday’s elections have nothing to do with GOP House or Senate gains. What matters for the shape of politics over the next decade is that Republicans will hold more seats in the 50 state legislatures than at any time since before the Great Depression. ”

AFP: “President Barack Obama will not be protected by a vast armada of 34 US warships when he visits Mumbai this weekend, officials said, calling reports from India on security preparations ‘comical.’”

Lyle Denniston writing at SCOTUSblog: “Two Kentucky counties that want to include the Ten Commandments in a courthouse wall display along with historic plaques — a plea turned down by the Supreme Court five years ago — are back with a new appeal, aimed at a changed Court.”

ADF Attorney Casey Mattox writing at Speak Up Movement / University: “No student can hand another student anything in writing on campus at Palm Beach State University. Of course, some are willfully allowed to slip through the cracks. A blood drive just occurred on campus and students handed out literature advertising it (and evidently the educational mission of the school escaped unscathed). But the official policy, applicable at least to YAF, is that all written words are verboten. When you couple this with the fact that the school also prohibits ‘the sending of offensive . . . messages,’ (where it decides whether your message is ‘offensive’), and it’s not a sunny picture for free speech on campus at Palm Beach State University.”

ADF Attorney Jordan Lorence writing at Speak Up Movement / University: “[A]udio recording of an ADF attorney arguing before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on November 1, 2010 in Pasadena, California. This was the first appellate court to hear a case on the right of campus religious groups to select their own members and officers since the Supreme Court’s disappointing decision last June in Christian Legal Society v. Martinez.”

ADF Attorney Gregory S. Baylor writing at Speak Up Movement / University: “The Washington Post editorial board agrees with ADF that Arizona’s school choice tax credit is constitutionally permissible . . . The key line in the Post editorial: ‘The program is driven by a series of private choices that do not involve the government.’”

Fox News: “‘Clearly this woman has a right to pick and choose who she wants to live with,’ [ADF Attorney Joel Oster] said. ‘Christians shouldn’t live in fear of being punished by the government for being Christians. It is completely absurd to try to penalize a single Christian woman for privately seeking a Christian roommate at church — an obviously legal and constitutionally protected activity.’” | ADF News Release

Winston-Salem Journal Editorial: “We’d recommend caution to any municipality that considers entering into a partnership with the ADF. It’s a conservative Christian organization with causes, such as opposing same-sex marriage and abortion, that divide taxpayers. The ADF is defending the Forsyth County commissioners’ board in its wrongheaded fight for sectarian prayer to begin its meetings. But if the ADF can help craft a fair policy that saves King a costly legal fight, so be it.”

OneNewsNow: “‘This time the furor was over a Christian flag that was part of a veterans memorial, and it was a much beloved symbol with the residents of the town,’ [ADF Attorney Joe Infranco] explains. ‘They did not view this as an establishment of Christianity. But of course the ACLU, always willing to be offended by any kind of religious expression, threatened them and said that some people could take it that way.’”

OneNewsNow: “‘They had tried to argue that this was somehow government money,’ [ADF Attorney David Cortman] explains. ‘But, of course, the argument we made [was that] it was private people making private donations to private organizations — and simply because religious schools participate [in the program], it doesn’t violate the Constitution.’”

The Grand Rapids Press: “‘When it comes to a federal law, the individual’s constitutional rights trump all,’ HUD spokeswoman Laura Feldman said. “That’s the highest power’ . . . ‘It’s good news they’re dropping the complaint,’ ADF attorney [Joel Oster] said. But he called the document (PDF) he received from HUD a ‘head-scratcher,’ because of mixed messages. While HUD dismissed the case, it gave the complainant the ability to file a personal lawsuit within the next two years.”

Yakima Conservative Examiner: “Alliance Defense Fund (ADF) Senior Legal Counsel [Joel Oster] called the attempt to criminalize Rowe’s effort to seek a Christian roommate ‘nothing short of absurd’ . . . ADF attorneys sent a letter on behalf of the single woman. They asserted that the complaint was groundless and that any government interference would be a blatant violation of Rowe’s First Amendment rights to freedom of association.”

The Christian Institute: “[Joel Oster], from the Alliance Defense Fund legal group, welcomed the decision, saying it was right that the ‘frivolous complaint’ had been dismissed. ‘Anti-religious groups wanting to confine Christians and their beliefs within the four walls of their church or home cannot also invade those very walls by forcing their own ideas upon Christians through threats of severe punishment’, Mr Oster said.”

Iowa State Daily: “The extremely controversial campaign to vote “No” on judicial retention cost $1 million. Funds came from anti-gay organizations such as Mississippi-based American Family Association, Washington, D.C.-based Family Research Council, Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund, Georgia-based Faith & Freedom Coalition and New Jersey-based National Organization for Marriage. Notably, none of these are directly affected by decisions made in Iowa courts.”

CBN News: “‘This attempt to criminalize the legal and constitutionally protected activity of a single Christian woman privately seeking a Christian roommate at church is nothing short of absurd,’ said ADF Senior Legal Counsel [Joel Oster].”

WZZM: “In a press statement, the ADF says that after investigating, HUD sent a letter formally dismissing the complaint, stating that there was no reasonable cause for the allegation and that no discriminatory housing practice had occurred.”

Christian Post: “The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development recently dismissed a civil rights complaint that charged a woman seeking a Christian roommate of housing discrimination . . . ADF pointed out that the city pays the Fair Housing Center of West Michigan for filing a specific number of housing discrimination complaints, according to a contract signed between the two entities. ‘There is real concern when a special interest group like this center has a financial incentive from the city to file various complaints,’ said [ADF Attorney Joel Oster].” | ADF News Release