Daily Archives: January 10, 2011

Albert Mohler writing in The Christian Post: “I am willing to accept the authority of science on any number of issues. I am fundamentally agnostic about a host of other scientific concerns – but not where the fundamental truth of the Gospel and the clear teachings of the Bible are at stake. As I have stated repeatedly, I accept without hesitation the fact that the world indeed looks old. Armed with naturalistic assumptions, I would almost assuredly come to the same conclusions as BioLogos and the evolutionary establishment, or I would at least find evolutionary arguments credible. But the most basic issue is, and has always been, that of worldview and basic presuppositions. The entire intellectual enterprise of evolution is based on naturalistic assumptions, and I do not share those presuppositions.”

The Vancouver Sun: “Evidence so far has been overwhelming that polygamy is inherently harmful both to individuals and to society. That’s the bar that government lawyers must leap in order for Chief Justice Robert Bauman of the B.C. Supreme Court to conclude that it’s okay to override the constitutional guarantees of religious freedom and freedom of expression.”

Medical News Today: “Bills proposed in Florida and Nebraska would target health insurance coverage of abortion, while the Kentucky Senate approves a measure that would add requirements before a woman can receive an abortion. Summaries appear below.”

“Canadian appeals court in Saskatchewan ruled Monday that marriage commissioners cannot refuse same-sex couples seeking civil weddings.”

Telegraph: “The Bishop of Nottingham, the Rt Rev Malcolm McMahon, chairman of the CES, criticised secularists, teachers’ leaders and their ‘friends in parliament’ who have called for faith schools to be abolished . . . Bishop McMahon’s criticism came as the CES published new research showing that Catholic state schools consistently outperform state primary and secondaries for exam results, discipline and maintaining low truancy rates.”

eWeek Europe: “BlackBerry maker Research in Motion (RIM) has two weeks to block porn websites from its smartphones in Indonesia or risk being shut down, the Indonesian government has said.”

Washington Examiner: “Decrying the latest abortion numbers, Catholic, Protestant, and Jewish leaders in NYC declared how they are providing practical support for women . . . Religious leaders often see what politicians do not — the long-term effects of abortion on women, men, and society. They did not demand more government funding or bureaucratic programs. They offered themselves and their communities and invited others to help.”

Winnipeg Free Press: “A law professor says polygamy has been defined as a crime in western cultures for centuries because it has been considered ‘unnatural and dangerous.’”

CNN: “Senator Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, has asked the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, a Christian financial accreditation group, to pick up where his office’s review of televangelists and taxes left off . . . Their task is to take a look at the recommendations from the Grassley review, such as evaluating whether churches and houses of worship should file the yearly detailed financial reports that other nonprofits file, called the IRS Form 990.”

Lexington Herald-Leader: “The University of Kentucky has found itself smack in the middle of a religious discrimination case that is being watched nationwide . . . The trial will determine whether a scientist who has posted Internet opinions regarding biblical interpretation of the universe’s creation was not hired because of religious discrimination — and, if so, how much the university owes him for lost wages and emotional distress.”

Catholic News Agency: “Archbishop Jose Martin Rabago of Leon, Mexico recently reflected on the necessity of religious freedom. ‘As he recalled Pope Benedict XVI’s message for the World Day of Peace, the archbishop noted that religious freedom is the foundation for all other rights a society needs in order to live in justice.”

Paul Gottfriend writing in The American Conservative: “Morris and other ‘conservative’ commentators have pushed the established Right leftward on social issues, while brandishing a sword against those with more modest foreign-policy goals . . . The neoconservatives have backed the Religious Right for tactical reasons, because it helps put wind in their sails . . . The problem is that the neoconservatives, who hold the purse strings with their access to corporate wealth, have never cared much for those socially conservative positions they’ve pay-rolled. And now the support for them is drying up . . . Even more significantly, the neoconservatives and their dependents are making a U-turn on gay issues.”

New Zealand Herald: “McDonald’s is under pressure to change the internet access policies at its restaurants because gay websites are not accessible.”

ADF attorney David French writing at National Review Online / Bench Memos: “While I can’t claim to have known Judge Roll as well as many other attorneys at the Alliance Defense Fund did (our headquarters is in Arizona), I did speak with him several times and knew him by reputation. He was a great American — a man of deep faith, a longtime public servant of the highest integrity, and unfailingly kind and humble.”

“Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton has ordered the State Department to amend a bureaucratic change that would have replaced the terms ‘mother’ and ‘father’ with the gender-neutral term ‘parent’ in reports of overseas births.”

“A couple so desperate for a girl that they terminated twin boys want the right to choose the sex of their next child. The couple have three sons but are grieving for a daughter who died several days after birth.”

Telegraph: “Damien Hirst has used an infant’s skull to create his latest work, For Heaven’s Sake. The skull, which is believed to be that of a child who died before it was two weeks old, is cast in platinum and studded with more than 8,000 pink and white diamonds by the royal jewellers Bentley & Skinner.”

LifeSiteNews: “Jennifer Case left the sex industry three years ago by the grace of God, she says, and her message to men is very clear: ‘There is a real person on the other side of the images you are seeing, and you are destroying her life and the lives of her children.’”

Baptist Press: “‘Scores of Christians’ have been detained since Christmas in Tehran, according to a statement protesting the action by Iranian authorities issued by the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom on Jan. 7.”

Last week, ADF allied attorney John Anthony Simmons appeared on the Vicki McKenna Show to provide an update on this case: In the Matter of Kurowski and Kurowski (Voydatch). | MP3 audio 17:50 mins

Palm Beach State College officials agreed Monday to a court order that requires them to permit two members of Young Americans for Freedom to “disseminate leaflets and/or converse with the general public” several days per month while an Alliance Defense Fund lawsuit moves forward.

WorldNetDaily: “The Ivory Coast is on the verge of civil war over an attempt by a Muslim to unseat a Christian president who was ruled the election winner by a constitutional council after it determined there was vote-rigging in the Muslim-dominated regions of the African nation, according to a report from Joseph Farah’s G2 Bulletin.”

Doug Bandow writing at The Center for Vision & Values: “There is more than enough bad news to fill the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom’s latest annual report. Worst of all were the conditions in 13 ‘countries of particular concern.’”

Shane Vander Hart writing at Caffeinated Thoughts: “I started to read over the weekend a new book by Dr. Wayne Grudem, professor of systematic theology at Phoenix Seminary called Politics According to the Bible. In the first chapter he discusses five wrong views about Christians and government. One of those is the view that government should exclude religion. This is the view that is promoted by groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Americans United for Separation of Church and State.”

WANE: “Every year a near life-size nativity scene it set up in the courthouse lawn. Last month, someone in Wabash wrote the national organization Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF). That group then sent Wabash leaders a letter saying the display needed to come down.”

Washington Post: “For more than 200 years, a safety barrier has protected our nation’s courts and our democracy. No matter how controversial the case or unpopular the ruling, no state or federal judge has been impeached for an opinion issued from the bench . . . Impeachments of judges were not designed as a tool for this kind of political disagreement, and the reason is essential to our democracy. If courts can’t make tough calls, they won’t be able to uphold the Constitution and protect our rights.”

Chicago Tribune: “A key Republican legislative leader said Friday that no decision has been made on whether lawmakers will try to impeach the remaining four justices on the Iowa Supreme Court, but if they do, a top Democrat promised ‘a fight of epic proportions.’”

Rebecca Hagelin writing in the Washington Times: “Next month, Ms. Lahl’s award-winning documentary, ‘Eggsploitation,’ will play on college campuses, warning young women about the dangers of egg donation. The film follows several young women who underwent egg donation as a way to pay tuition or dig themselves out of debt — they also welcomed the emotional payoff of helping an infertile couple have a child.”

“Impeachment would be ‘beyond the realm of reasonableness,’ State Rep. Kevin McCarthy, D-Des Moines, told The Cedar Rapids Gazette Editorial Board on Friday.”

Rebecca Hagelin writing in the Washington Times: “Next month, Ms. Lahl’s award-winning documentary, ‘Eggsploitation,’ will play on college campuses, warning young women about the dangers of egg donation. The film follows several young women who underwent egg donation as a way to pay tuition or dig themselves out of debt — they also welcomed the emotional payoff of helping an infertile couple have a child.”

Ed Whelan has a five part analysis of Judge Reinhardt’s memorandum opinion explaining his decision not to recuse himself in Prop 8 case. | Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5

At Public Discourse, Christopher Kaczor reviews The Fetal Position: A Rational Approach to the Abortion Issue by Chris Meyers: “Unfortunately, The Fetal Position fails in its stated goal because it caricatures the most common defenses of the pro-life view. Rather than address the philosophical arguments that all human beings prior to birth should be protected by law and welcomed in life, Meyers misconstrues the mainstream pro-life position as if it were based on a theological belief in the soul.”

“‘What the court does ultimately could impact future litigation because we know just about everything put on the ballot and passed by voters ends up before a judge,’ said David McCuan.”

New York Times: “In reality, and based on every other source of information, Mr. Wallerstein and a generation of J.D.’s face the grimmest job market in decades. Since 2008, some 15,000 attorney and legal-staff jobs at large firms have vanished, according to a Northwestern Law study. Associates have been laid off, partners nudged out the door and recruitment programs have been scaled back or eliminated.”

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: “Newly elected GOP Sen. Ron Johnson [from Wisconsin] said Friday he should have been consulted before the White House resubmitted the nominations of Louis Butler and Victoria Nourse for federal judgeships and is at this time opposed to their confirmation.”

TIME: “The fact that such an individual could be assigned to keep the governor safe may be an indication of the degree to which radical Islamists have compromised Pakistan’s military and police apparatus.”

The Globe and Mail: “The bodies of 15 men, all but one of them headless, were found on a street outside a shopping center in Acapulco on Saturday as police reported 27 people slain in the Pacific resort in less than a day.”

Bluegrass Policy Blog: “In a historic vote, the Kentucky Senate approved legislation on January 7, 2011 to create charter schools in Kentucky. This historic event marks the first time charter school legislation has met the approval of either chamber of the Kentucky Legislature. It is an important step forward in an effort long supported by the Bluegrass Institute to provide the commonwealth’s students and parents more educational options and control.”

Religion Clause: “In Ginsburg v. Concordia University, (D NE, Jan. 5, 2011), a Nebraska federal district court held that that a Lutheran university sued under title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act is entitled to the exemptions provided by the statute for religious-based hiring by religious educational institutions (42 USC 2000e-1) and by religious colleges (42 USC 2000e-2).”

Religion Clause: “In Mount Vernon, Ohio on Friday, a referee appointed pursuant to an Ohio Revised Code 3319.16 has recommended that middle school science teacher John Freshwater’s contract be terminated because of Freshwater’s repeated violations of the Establishment Clause. (Full text of referee’s findings.)”

Religion Clause: “The New Hampshire Supreme Court last week heard oral arguments (video of full arguments) in a divorce case that has gained national attention through the publicity given to it by groups that see it as an important religious freedom test.”

Religion Clause: “The U.S. Supreme Court today denied certiorari in Thunderhorse v. Pierce, (Docket No. 09-1353, cert. denied 1/10/11) (Order List). In the case, the 5th Circuit rejected a RLUIPA claim by a Native American inmate, upholding prison restrictions denying him permission to grow his hair, prohibiting him from performing pipe ceremonies in his cell, and limiting vendors from whom he could buy a headband.”

Associated Press: “The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a lawyer who has been in the forefront of the challenge to President Barack Obama’s citizenship.”

LifeNews: “The Knights of Columbus, a prominent Catholic group know for its pro-life work, is today mourning the death of one of the victims of the Arizona shooting Saturday . . . Roll had been a member of the Knights of Columbus for 24 years and members of the Fourth Degree will provide an honor guard at his funeral next week.”

Associated Press: “Police say that four gunmen killed an officer guarding a church in the latest northeastern church attack since Christmas Eve.”

Associated Press: “Pope Benedict XVI urged Pakistan to reverse its blasphemy laws, saying Monday they were a pretext for violence against non-Muslims, and demanded that all governments do more so Christians can practice their faith without fear.”

Kyle Olson writing at Townhall: “The Grand Rapids Education Association, a local affiliate of Michigan’s largest teachers’ union, is attempting to pick off one-by-one 90-some members that have refused to pay their dues.”

Rasmussen: “A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 45% of Americans now at least somewhat favor unions for public employees, while the identical number (45%) are opposed to them. These findings include 21% who Strongly Favor such unions versus 30% who are Strongly Opposed to them.”

Paul Jacob writing at Townhall: “To economist John Lott, the current push for a quick increase in the debt level is yet another example of the Obama administration’s ‘overused tactic of claiming crises to push legislation.’ Lott explains that Congress has voted not to raise the debt ceiling before, numerous times, and that a default is not an immediate outcome of the federal government’s credit card being removed from its wallet.”

Associated Press: “The Supreme Court on Monday refused to hear a challenge against a federal law making it illegal for criminals to own bulletproof vests. The appeal had questioned Congress’ lawmaking ability under the Commerce Clause . . . Justice Clarence Thomas and Antonin Scalia said they would have heard the case.”

SCOTUSblog: “Two Justices of the Supreme Court, in a dissent that may reveal a new division in the Court over Congress’s power to pass legislation under the Commerce Clause, on Monday accused the Court majority of silently accepting ‘the nullification’ of the Court’s recent rulings on that power — especially, the decision in 1995 in Lopez v. U.S.” | SCOTUSblog case page for Alderman v. United States.

“As the State Legislature begins its 2011 session, the New York State Bar Association today called on lawmakers to provide greater access to the justice system for the indigent, to ensure that marriage equality is afforded to same-sex couples, and to reform government ethics.”

Associated Press: “The Supreme Court has rejected an appeal from a Texas woman who wants to sue the federal government for sending her U.S. citizen baby to Mexico with the child’s illegal immigrant father.”

ADF attorney Matt Bowman writing at CatholicVote.org: “Judge Roll hired me in 2003 fresh out of the first class of Ave Maria School of Law to work in his chambers as a law clerk. I found him among the judges I applied to work for because he listed Knights of Columbus in his biography . . . For what it’s worth, I believe Judge Roll displayed literally heroic virtue in his serving of God in his profession and his consistent, daily display of care and courtesy for the value of every person he encountered. Judge Roll lived his life’s vocation in a way truly worthy of comparison to Saint Thomas More’s daily example.”

The Hill: “Rep. Robert Brady (D-Pa.) reportedly plans to introduce legislation that would make it a federal crime to use language or symbols that could be perceived as threatening or inciting violence against a federal official or member of Congress.”

Joel Klein writing in the Wall Street Journal [full text via Google News]: “We live in a funny world. Bernie Madoff pretended he was getting 8% returns on his clients’ investments—and he’s in jail for running a Ponzi scheme. But in the public sector that kind of make-believe is common. As former chancellor of the New York City public schools, I learned that one of the options the city pension plan offered teachers and administrators guaranteed an 8.25% return, regardless of what the investments actually earned in the market . . . Whether the investment returns are there or not, defined-benefit pensions require the government to pay retirees a predetermined amount for life.”

Neomi Rao, assistant professor at George Mason Law School, writing in the Wall Street Journal: “So who, precisely, is supposed to protect the Constitution? Article VI provides that all of our elected and appointed officials in both federal and state government ‘shall be bound by Oath or Affirmation, to support this Constitution’ . . . Contrary to popular belief, and the beliefs of some lawyer-congressmen, the Supreme Court does not maintain a monopoly on constitutional interpretation.”

Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe: “At the occasion of the OSCE/ODIHR Human Dimension Implementation Meeting on Freedom of Religion (Vienna, Dec 9 – 10), The Observatory on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians in Europe releases a five-year report. For your convenience, please [find the embargoed report attached].”

Glenn Reynolds writing in the Wall Street Journal: “To be clear, if you’re using this event to criticize the ‘rhetoric’ of Mrs. Palin or others with whom you disagree, then you’re either: (a) asserting a connection between the ‘rhetoric’ and the shooting, which based on evidence to date would be what we call a vicious lie; or (b) you’re not, in which case you’re just seizing on a tragedy to try to score unrelated political points, which is contemptible. Which is it?”

LifeNews: “Speaker John Boehner, the pro-life Republican who heads the House of Representatives, has postponed votes originally planned for next week on repealing the ObamaCare health care law and stopping funding of the pro-abortion group Planned Parenthood.”

New York Post: “The US Second Circuit Court of Appeals has vacated the $1.21 million worth of fines that the FCC levied against ABC after alleging that the network violated broadcast indecency standards for daring to show actress Charlotte Ross’ naked behind during a 2003 episode of ‘NYPD Blue.’”

Fox News: “Washington D.C. lawyer [Matt Bowman] did a two-year clerkship for Roll from 2003-2005. He applied on the hope that their common membership in the Knights of Columbus might work to his advantage. They first met during Bowman’s job interview . . . Bowman called Roll an excellent lawyer but more importantly, ‘a Christian, husband and father.’”

Wall Street Journal: “‘He would sit at a table with them, eat with them, answer endless questions. He would give all of himself,’ said [Alan Sears], a longtime friend and the president of the Alliance Defense Council, a conservative legal organization based in Arizona. ‘You can imagine how many questions law students would have for a federal judge, and he didn’t duck the hard ones.’”

LifeNews: “Federal Judge John Roll, 63, was among those killed, and he was stopping by the event on the way back from attending Mass. He had been appointed by pro-life President George Bush in 1991 at the recommendation of Sen. John McCain . . . Meanwhile, the Alliance Defense Fund, a pro-life legal group, condemned the shooting death of Judge John Roll: ‘Chief Judge Roll was a great lawyer, sound jurist, and a long-time friend,’ ADF general counsel [Alan Sears] told LifeNews.com.”

Ashby Jones and Nathan Koppel writing at WSJ Blogs / Dispatch: “Judge Roll often visited law schools to give guest lectures. His presentation might end mid-afternoon, but he would invariably stick around campus until late at night, talking with students. ‘He would sit at a table with them, eat with them, answer endless questions. He would give all of himself,’ said Alan Sears, a longtime friend and the president of the Alliance Defense [Fund], a conservative legal organization based in Arizona.”

Wall Street Journal: “John Roll, the Arizona federal judge killed Saturday by a gunman at a political event, was seen in the legal community as a conservative and even-handed jurist and to those who knew him personally, a man devoted to his family and his Roman Catholic faith . . . Judge Roll went to the Giffords event immediately after Mass, which he attended almost daily, said [Alan Sears], a friend and the president of the Alliance Defense [Fund], a conservative legal group based in Arizona.”

ADF Attorney Erik Stanley writing at Speak Up Movement / Church: “ADF filed a lawsuit on behalf of Tree of Life Christian Schools against the City of Upper Arlington, Ohio. The lawsuit is the result of the City’s denial of zoning approval for Tree of Life to operate its ministry at its building in Upper Arlington . . . RLUIPA turned ten years old last year and Tree of Life’s case against the City of Upper Arlington demonstrates just how important RLUIPA is to protect the rights of religious institutions.”

WORLD: “Had U.S. District Judge John M. Roll not been following his daily habit of attending Mass at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in North Tucson, it is unlikely he would have lost his life . . . No doubt many who knew Roll hold fast to the same confidence his friend [Alan Sears] had. ‘One consolation we have in our grief is that because of John’s fervent love for the Lord, he is right now rejoicing in the loving presence of his Creator,’ said Sears, who is the president of the Alliance Defense Fund.”

ADF Attorney Casey Mattox writing at Speak Up Movement / University: “It’s official. The First Amendment has triumphed this bowl season. With 34 games played and only the BCS National Championship Game left to go the school with the better (or less poor) treatment of the First Amendment rights of students and faculty is 19-15.”

Speak Up Movement / University: “‘Chief Judge Roll was a great lawyer, sound jurist, and a long-time friend. Our hearts are deeply grieved over this tragedy. His untimely death is a huge loss for America’s judicial system and for all of us, personally. One consolation we have in our grief is that because of John’s fervent love for the Lord, he is right now rejoicing in the loving presence of his Creator. We will keep the judge’s family and his countless friends and students in our prayers.’”

ADF attorney David French writing at Patheos: “Here’s a prediction: The new congress will land in Washington and discover the same reality that faced their ‘revolutionary’ predecessors, pass budgets that don’t differ dramatically from the budgets that came before, and pray fervently that the mighty American economy pulls their chestnuts out of the fire . . . A majority of Americans do not want to see their own government benefits cut, limited, or eliminated, and since a majority of Americans receive one or more tangible government benefits, the entitlement majority may be the most enduring majority in American politics.”

Andrew Cohen writing at Politics Daily: “Unfolding Thursday in Concord, N.H., was yet another chapter in the sad story of a family involved in a high-conflict divorce. It is the frustrating example of two parents fighting one another for control of their child’s education. And it is a compelling lesson about home schooling and public education, religion and the role of the courts, in determining a child’s course of learning . . . The judge had applied the wrong legal standard, the ADF attorneys argued, and the guardian was biased against Brenda and Amanda because of their deeply held religious beliefs.”

Alliance Defense Fund President, CEO, and General Counsel Alan Sears offered the following comments Sunday regarding the shooting death Chief Judge John McCarthy Roll of the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona . . .

Lael Daniel Weinberger, Enforcing the Bill of Rights in the United States (January 6, 2011). JURISPRUDENCE OF LIBERTY, pp. 93-113, Suri Ratnapala, Gabriël A. Moens, eds., LexisNexis, 2011 . Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1736343

“Before the American Civil War, very few U.S. Supreme Court cases dealt with the Bill of Rights. It was not until the 20th century that the courts began to deal extensively with the Bill of Rights, and because of the court enforcement of the rights embodied in that document, the Bill of Rights has come to be the best-known part of the United States Constitution. There have been thousands of cases interpreting and applying the Bill of Rights in the 20th century, and there will undoubtedly be thousands more as our era continues to be permeated with ‘rights talk.’

This raises two important questions. First, why did Bill of Rights litigation wait a century to really begin to play an important part in American culture? Second, does the upsurge in judicial enforcement of the Bill of Rights indicate a corresponding increase in liberty? This essay examines both of these questions by examining the interplay between personal rights and structural constraints on the federal government throughout American constitutional history.”