Daily Archives: March 28, 2011

n Saturday, April 2, hundreds of pro-lifers and more than two dozen leaders from all over the country will gather in Chicago to honor Pro-life Action League founder and president, Joseph Scheidler.

Persecution.com: A group of Muslims attacked Ayman Anwar Mitri, a Christian Coptic man in the Upper Egyptian town of Qena, cutting off his ear. According to a story by Mary Abdelmassih of the Assyrian International News Agency (AINA), the Muslims claimed they were applying Sharia law because Mitri, 45, allegedly had an affair with a Muslim woman.

Christian Today: Compass Direct News (CDN) is reporting that a Christian in Bangladesh has been sentenced to one year in prison for “creating chaos” by selling and distributing Christian books and other literature near a major Muslim gathering north of this capital city.

The Province: “The closing arguments are being broadcast virtually live on webcam after B.C. Supreme Court Chief Justice Robert Bauman approved a media application by the CBC. The courtroom was packed as the submissions got under way Monday. The final arguments are expected to run two weeks.” | Live Streaming

Daily Mail: Children as young as 11 could soon be asked about their sexuality without their parents’ consent, it has emerged. Teachers, nurses and youth workers are being urged to set up pilot studies aimed at monitoring adolescent sexual orientation for the first time. A report commissioned by the Government’s equalities watchdog found that it was ‘practically and ethically’ possible to interview young children about their sexuality.

LifeSitenews: “An estimated 150,000-plus pro-lifers gathered to celebrate life and protest a new abortion law in Madrid on Sunday. Hundreds of others marched in over 80 Spanish cities, including Barcelona, Oviedo, Zaragoza and Las Palmas, and internationally on March 25 as part of recognition for the International Day of the Unborn Child.”

The Alliance Defense Fund issued letters to be received by governors across the U.S. Monday urging them to observe and participate in the 60th Annual National Day of Prayer on May 5.

Christian Newswire (links to video): Volunteers from the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family, and Property (TFP) visited Brown University during their state-wide tour for traditional marriage in Rhode Island. While peacefully demonstrating on the Ivy League campus, their pro-family banner was vandalized and a volunteer was spat upon in the face.

Telegraph: Cars will be banned from London and all other cities across Europe under a draconian EU masterplan to cut CO2 emissions by 60 per cent over the next 40 years.

CBN (includes video): New evidence has emerged that the Iranian government sees the current unrest in the Middle East as a signal that the Mahdi–or Islamic messiah–is about to appear.

CTVBC.ctv.ca (video): A lawyer for the B.C. government warns that making Canada the only western country to legalize polygamy would make more victims out of society’s most vulnerable people.

VOANews: For the first time, a U.S. judge has suspended the deportation of the foreign-born same-sex spouse of an American citizen.

MyFoxDFW.com: With massive cuts to education appearing more likely, Texas school districts may take drastic action and sue the state.

Newswise.com: “Johns Hopkins scientists, reporting in the journal Molecular Psychiatry, have identified a small region on chromosome 2 that is associated with increased risk for attempted suicide.”

Chicago Tribune: The Democrats have been caucusing in Illinois for more than a month. Their absence has prevented a quorum in the House, which prohibits work on legislation. The Democrats originally left in protest of a bill that would have made Indiana a “Right to Work” state. Their absence killed that bill. They continued to stay out-of-state in protest of other bills up for consideration this session. Many of those bills the Democrats considered “anti-worker” legislation.

Blog of the Legal Times: Two nominees for the federal bench, both with ties to large law firms, each has a net worth in seven figures, according to financial disclosure reports they submitted to the U.S. Senate.

ACLU: The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Michigan and the ACLU of Kansas and Western Missouri sent letters to public high schools today demanding that the schools stop viewpoint-based censorship of web content geared toward the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities. The ACLU was notified that the schools were censoring material after teaming with Yale Law School to launch the “Don’t Filter Me” campaign, which asked students to check to see if their school was blocking content

LifeSiteNews: “A Brazilian pastor from the nation’s Amazonas region has become mentally ill following his imprisonment for spanking his two daughters, according to local media reports.”

LifeSiteNews: The controversial ‘transgender’ bill died on the order paper after the Canadian Parliament was dissolved over the weekend with the election call for May 2nd. Bill C-389, which sought to add “gender identity” and “gender expression” to the Canada Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code’s hate crimes section, had moved to the Senate after it passed in the House of Commons February 9th in a vote of 143-135.

LifeSiteNews: Recognizing “sexual orientation” and “gender identity” as grounds for non-discrimination in new federal housing regulations could require faith-based groups to violate their religious beliefs, warned the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) last week.

LifeSiteNews: “Pro-life blogger Jill Stanek reports that the Northland Family Planning Centers in Michigan are none too pleased that footage of a late-term baby being actually dismembered has been spliced with shots from their advertizing video about how “everyday good women” get abortions.”

Government officials in Illinois are reconsidering the Catholic Church’s involvement in adoptions after gay activists complained that the Church refuses to give up children to homosexual couples who have obtained a “civil union” under the new civil union law.

Religion Clause Blog: in Eagle Cove Camp and Conference Center, Inc. v. Town of Woodboro, Wisconsin, (WD WI, March 24, 2011), a Wisconsin federal district court rejected ripeness and jurisdictional defenses put forward by a Wisconsin town in a challenge to its denial of zoning approval for a year-round Bible camp.

American Statesman: “Homosexual conduct” is still on the books as a crime in Texas eight years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the law unconstitutional. But legislation to bring Texas law into line with the U.S. Constitution faces a rough ride through the Legislature . . .

Washington Post: “DuMont, an appellate specialist, to a seat on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit . . . There is no evidence that Mr. DuMont’s sexual orientation has played a role in the delays. We certainly hope it hasn’t.”

Mark Arsenault writes at Boston Globe: “Once guaranteed to whip up voter opposition, same-sex marriage is losing much of its bite as a political wedge issue, undercut by greater concerns about the economy and growing support for gay marriage among voters.”

In less than 24 hours, the effect was as if Margarite, 14, had sauntered naked down the hallways of the four middle schools in this racially and economically diverse suburb of the state capital, Olympia. Hundreds, possibly thousands, of students had received her photo and forwarded it.

NY Times: In the last two years, legislators have been weighing graduated responses to sexting between minors. Some legal scholars refer to the images as “self-produced child pornography.”

Columbus Dispatch: “Ohio Right to Life, the state’s largest anti-abortion advocacy group, fears House Bill 125 — to outlaw abortion after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, generally six or seven weeks into a woman’s pregnancy — could backfire.”

LifeNews: The controversial “Reproductive Health (RH) Bill” opposed by pro-life groups because it advances a contraception-birth control agenda that could lead to the eventually promotion and advancement of abortion, has failed.

LifeNews: Abortion centers in Virginia have not been subject to strict regulations for more than 20 years. The new bill the legislature approved will make sure abortion clinics are regulated as hospitals instead of physician’s offices, a move that will protect women’s health, reduce abortions, and could cause problematic abortion centers to close

LifeNews: “Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska is one of just a handful of pro-abortion Republicans in the Senate, but she has become the most outspoken of the group saying she will fight to ensure Planned Parenthood continues getting taxpayer funding.”

LifeNews: The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled to hold a hearing on pro-abortion federal appeals court nominee Goodwin Liu, whom President Barack Obama picked for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.

One News Now: “Principal Mona Silfen bans her teachers from making calls and writing e-mails to parents without her approval.”

Family Research Council: The study, “Analyzing the Effect of Anti-Abortion U.S. State Legislation in the Post-Casey Era,” evaluated abortion data from nearly every state over a span of 21 years, from 1985 to 2005 – a longer period than nearly any other peer-reviewed study.

SCOTUS Blog: “Arizona’s 13-year-old system of providing public funds to subsidize candidates who forgo private contributions appears in serious constitutional jeopardy in an argument before the Court.”

One News Now: Two groups — Students for Life and Medical Students for Life — are warning the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services of the consequences of removing conscience protections for those in the medical health profession.

One News Now: “Pennsylvania third-grader is getting legal help after being told by school officials that she can’t hand out Christian tracts on the playground.”

Politico: Trump’s insistence that he’s being encouraged to continue on his birther crusade has led to what he says is the startling revelation that, “all of a sudden, a lot of facts are emerging and I’m starting to wonder myself whether or not [Obama] was born in this country.

Religion Clause Blog: In Dotson v. Hartford Roman Catholic Diocesan Corp., 2011 Conn. Super. LEXIS 386 (CT Super., Feb. 17, 2011), a Connecticut trial court ruled on a number of discovery motions filed by a priest, two Catholic churches and the Hartford Diocese in a lawsuit by a victim of alleged clergy sexual abuse. Among its rulings were the following . . .

The U.S. Supreme Court today granted certiorari in a case involving the scope of the “ministerial exception” to federal anti-discrimination laws.

ADF attorney Jim Campbell appeared on Drive Time with Bill Bunkley to discuss this: ADF: House on firm ground to defend DOMA. | MP3 audio 11:41 mins

ADF attorney Matt Bowman appeared on KFUO with Roland Lettner to discuss this: New York City sued over law targeting pregnancy care centers. | MP3 audio 23:50 mins

ADF attorney Erik Stanley appeared on the Janet Mefferd Show to discuss this: ADF files suit to protect Ariz. church from foreclosure based on $50K illegal tax bill | MP3 audio 19:17 mins

ADF attorney Jeremy Tedesco appeared on the Paul Edwards Program to discuss this: ADF to appeal ruling that allows Eastern Michigan U. to expel Christian students for holding to beliefs. | MP3 audio 11:06 mins

ADF attorney Dale Schowengerdt appeared on KFUO with Roland Lettner to discuss attacks against the Federal Defense of Marriage Act and the President’s refusal to defend the Act. | MP3 audio 21:45 mins

Theticker.org: After numerous instances where he felt he was being censored due to the subject matter of his fliers and events, Hayon and fellow members have filed a lawsuit against the school with the help of the Alliance Defense Fund . . . “The March 9 agreement was a short term resolution that addressed the immediate concerns that the plaintiffs had — that had provoked their request for a hasty injunction hearing with the court. Our agreement at that point did not resolve the case overall,” wrote Jeff Shafer, an ADF senior legal counsel, in an email on Friday, March 25. | Related ADF Press Release

BosNewsLife.com: “Parents, not the government, are ultimately responsible for making educational choices for their children, and jailing them for exercising this universal right is ridiculous,” argued ADF Legal Counsel Roger Kiska. The imprisoned Eduard Wiens “was well within his rights under the European Convention of Human Rights to opt to teach his children a view of sexuality that is in accord with his own religious beliefs, instead of sending them to classes and an interactive play that they found to be objectionable,” Kiska added.

ChicagoPride.com: “Republican Gov. Scott Walker has removed the attorney representing Wisconsin in a lawsuit challenging that state’s domestic partner registry . . . Wisconsin Family Action is also getting legal help from the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian legal organization based in Arizona.”

LezGetReal: The challenge to the law was brought by Wisconsin Family Action, which is receiving help from the Arizona-based Alliance Defense Fund.

WorthyNews.com: “Parents, not the government, are ultimately responsible for making educational choices for their children, and jailing them for exercising this universal right is ridiculous,” argued ADF Legal Counsel Roger Kiska. The imprisoned Eduard Wiens “was well within his rights under the European Convention of Human Rights to opt to teach his children a view of sexuality that is in accord with his own religious beliefs, instead of sending them to classes and an interactive play that they found to be objectionable,” Kiska added. The cases could have wider implications, he warned. “The ADF also wants to head off any opportunity for activists in the United States to cite foreign court decisions as patterns to follow.”

Jason L. Riley writes at the Wall Street Journal: But the real strength of the AFT, NEA and their state and local affiliates lies in their ability to obstruct. They have been particularly effective at blocking poor people from leaving bad public schools. They offer financial and logistical support to political candidates sympathetic to their agenda of curbing educational options, and they punish elected officials who don’t stay the course. Teachers unions agitate for laws and regulations that ban means-tested voucher programs or cap the number of charter schools that can open in a state. To protect jobs for their members, they fight to keep the worst instructors from being fired and the worst schools from closing. All the while, they insist that their interests are aligned with those of the kids.

AP: “Insiders at the Homeland Security Department warned for months that senior Obama administration appointees were improperly delaying the releases of government files on politically sensitive topics as sought by citizens, journalists and watchdog groups under the Freedom of Information Act, according to uncensored emails newly obtained by The Associated Press.”

Heritage Foundation Morning Bell: The threat of a government shutdown would not exist had the Democratically controlled 111th Congress passed a budget for this fiscal year. In fact, not only did they fail to pass a budget, but for the for the first time in the history of the budget-making process, last year’s Congress failed to even vote on a budget. And now, even as the consequences of their failure are just days a way, the Democrats have still failed to agree on a plan that cuts spending.

“Apparently Apple is afraid of real diversity and tolerance,” said Christopher Doyle, former homosexual and PFOX board member. “Individuals with unwanted same-sex attraction deserve support from the same technology that gays benefit from – why are ex-gays being singled out for blatant sexual orientation discrimination? If Apple is dropping its ex-gay apps, it must also drop its gay apps.”

The Hill: “The hot-button issue is one of the biggest hurdles standing in the way of any bipartisan deal on a spending bill that would fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year.”

In this essay we will show how to answer the argument denying an intrinsic link between marriage and procreation, and we will explain why the state is obliged, for the sake of moral truth and the common good, to recognize and protect marriage as a man-woman community naturally oriented to procreation.

SCOTUS Blog: The Court holds oral argument Monday on the constitutionality of Arizona’s system for using public funds to subsidize some state political candidates, a case with nationwide implications.