Daily Archives: April 1, 2011

Reuters: The Iowa Senate will consider a bill that bans abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy, following approval of the measure by the state House Thursday night, lawmakers said Friday.

9News.com (includes video):”A bill to allow civil unions for same-sex couples in Colorado was stopped on Thursday night by a vote in the House Judiciary Committee. The committee voted 6-5 to stop the bill from moving on to the full House.” | ADF attorney Doug Napier is in the video

Catholic Culture: Cardinal Joseph Zen has issued a bitter complaint against Church officials who seek to reach accommodation with the Chinese regime.

Dallas Morning News: About $7 million over the next two years would be moved from state-funded family planning services into crisis pregnancy center funding under an amendment passed by the Texas House during the budget debate.

BizTimes.com: The lawsuit, the plaintiffs request that the court find Act 10, known as Walker’s budget repair bill, to be unconstitutional and therefore declare it null and void. The lawsuit asserts that the bill “impermissibly infringes” on employees’ constitutionally protected rights to equal protection and freedom of speech and association.

Christian Newswire: The Foundation for Moral Law and Personhood Alabama have announced personhood bills and amendments in the House and the Senate, backed by a large number of supporters. SB301 is a clear recognition of the personhood rights of all human beings, regardless of their age, size, or location.

LifeNews: Following the lead of the state House, which approved a similar measure two weeks ago, the state Senate on Wednesday passed a bill that would ban abortions after the point of viability.

Blog of the Legal Times: The next week will likely determine whether the Legal Services Corp. is forced to make sharp midyear cuts in its budget, as lawmakers and Obama administration officials attempt to finish negotiations for federal spending through Sept. 30.

National Catholic Register: A high-profile clash between the city of Dearborn, Mich., and an evangelical group with outreach to Muslims is raising questions about the propriety of proselytism and whether American towns are accepting sharia law.

The Virginia Department of Social Services (VDSS) has proposed new regulations to require state licensed adoption agencies in Virginia, including private church-run adoption agencies, to not refuse to process adoption of children based on the sexual orientation of the adopting parents . . .

Dr. Nicolai Sennels at Europe News: As a psychologist who has had hundreds of immigrants as clients, my conclusion is that the multicultural society will always fail because it is contrary to the fundamental psychological principles that are needed for building healthy communities. This basic psychological principle concerns identity — national identity . . . For a society to succeed, its citizens must be able to unite around common core values.

TheLocal.se: Sweden’s government has announced plans to chart the extent of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism in the country, as it attempts to counteract the spread of intolerance towards minorities.

LifeNews: A Florida state House committee is following the lead of the state Senate, where a committee has also approved legislation that would remove abortion funding from the Obamacare health care law.

ParentCentral.ca: Montana State University researchers already knew past studies had found a bias against mothers generally, called “paternalistic prejudice.”

NY Times: Older lesbian, gay and bisexual adults in California are more likely to suffer from chronic physical and mental health problems than their heterosexual counterparts, a new analysis has found . . . The research brief was based on data from the California Health Interview Survey . . .

Stars and Stripes: “Gay members of the armed forces could serve openly and keep their jobs legally by the end of the summer, Pentagon officials told Congress on Friday.”

Washington Post: “House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) declined to speculate Friday on whether the government might be forced to shut down next week if Congress and the White House fail to hammer out a budget deal. But he said that if a shutdown were to occur, it would end up costing the government more money than it would save.”

Herald Sun: The decision by St Columban’s College at Caboolture in Queensland to allow controversial Christian group Miracle Christian Center to use its facilities was met with outrage by students and triggered an online protest.

In a post titled, The face of homosexual anti-Catholicism to come, Fr. Z’s Blog documents how Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami wrote an article defending the traditional definition of marriage. The piece was met with this response:

Just to be clear, Archbishop Wenski believes that a virgin gave birth to a deity who was nailed to a piece of wood to save us from the wrath of his father; and who rose from the dead, floated in the air, and ascended through a magic portal to heaven. I mention this not to cast aspersions on Wenski’s faith — I’ll do that in a moment — but to underline what Wenski means when he asserts that his side of the culture wars that is concerned with the “reality of things,” and the other side is full of fantasists.

Similar tactics to undermine the traditional definition of marriage were exhibited in this recent UK discussion: BBC1 Discussion on Video: Have we lost the true meaning of marriage?

These kinds of attacks are becoming more common in the debate over marriage and other cultural issues.

LifeSiteNews: HB 1210 includes numerous provisions, including a reduction of the legal limit for abortion from 24 weeks to 20 weeks based on “substantial medical evidence” showing that an unborn child can experience excruciating pain from an abortion at that age.

LifeSiteNews: The Mexican Senate last week abolished all criminal penalties for adultery in a 69-0 vote.

. . . the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has said that stem cell procedures that require the destruction or modification of a human embryo cannot be patented . . .

Reuters: “Religious rights are being weighed against those of women and children in a landmark Canadian court case deciding if the country’s long-standing law against polygamy should be struck down.”

MercatorNet: “One of the most puzzling features of contemporary Western society is that governments are prepared to act intolerantly in the name of tolerance. Australian sociologist Michael Casey explains how this has come about.”

Jeff Buchanan of Exodus International at Charisma: Some may say that losing an iPhone app for Exodus International isn’t that big a deal — just like it wasn’t a big deal when Apple banned the Manhattan Declaration app! But it’s not just about apps. It’s about freedom of speech, the ability to participate in the marketplace of ideas. The gay-rights groups have shown their fangs. Victory in the courts or in the legislatures is not enough for them. They want to silence, yes, destroy those who don’t agree with their agenda. So they target Christian groups and corporate America to do just that. The writing is on the wall, folks. For the sake of religious liberty and free speech, we must not remain silent. Not on this issue, or on any issue that would threaten free speech and freedom of religion.”

Daily Mail: Ten United Nations staff were murdered – two by beheading – after extremists stormed their compound in northern Afghanistan today. Protesters broke into UN offices in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif after a demonstration against Koran burnings in the U.S. turned violent.

Daily Mail: Schools have banned Christians from handing out Bibles to avoid angering other faiths. The Gideons have become famed for handing out signature red Bibles to young children during school assemblies. But they have been told to stay away from some classes because it may spark complaints from different faiths.

Washington Times: “Memo to Scott Brown. If you think budget cuts ‘disproportionately affect low income families and seniors,’ what do you think is going to happen when we have an economic collapse?” Phillips writes.

ADF attorney Joe Infranco appeared on Catholic Radio of San Diego with ADF allied attorney Charles LiMandri. | MP3 audio 47:17 mins

Guardian: Four proposals seek to ban or limit US government’s authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions

ADF attorney Kevin Theriot appeared on radio to discuss this: ADF encourages governors to ignore activist groups, observe 2011 National Day of Prayer. | Hugh Hewitt Show, MP3 audio 5:53 mins | Janet Mefferd Show, MP3 audio 18:50 mins

ADF attorney Jordan Lorence on Point of View Radio with Penna Dexter. | MP3 audio 30:24 mins

Chuck Colson writes at Crosswalk: But London’s High Court has just ruled that the Johnses are unfit to foster. The reason: The Johnses are devout Christians, and their views about homosexuality may harm the children in their care . . . These things are happening in a country founded on the principle that citizens should be allowed to hold whatever beliefs they want, regardless of what their fellow citizens think of them. But in recent years Christians have been targeted again and again by activist groups and judges who support their agendas. This is why we must support the efforts of Christian liberties groups like the Alliance Defense Fund and the Becket Fund and others, which defend the rights of all religious believers. I also urge you to sign the Manhattan Declaration to defend traditional marriage, human life, and religious freedom.

Sonoran News: “America’s founders participated in public prayer activities; public officials today should be able to do the same,” said ADF Senior Counsel Kevin Theriot. “Local observances of the National Day of Prayer are constitutional and appropriate, particularly since the event simply provides all Americans an opportunity to pray voluntarily according to their own faith – and does not promote any particular religion or form of religious observance.”

On Top Magazine: “Douglas Napier of the Alliance Defense Fund led the formal opposition against the bill and maintained that civil unions would likely lead to same-sex marriage, despite a 2006 voter-approved constitutional amendment that defined marriage as a union between a man and a woman,” Volsky wrote. Napier told the committee that the legislation would create a loophole for heterosexual couples wishing to escape the responsibilities of marriage, including child rearing.

Bradenton.com: Attorney Jim Campbell said she was instructed to tell the client she didn’t have the experience to handle the case, even though she had extensive background in helping clients with relationship issues. “She was targeted for mistreatment based on her religious beliefs,” said Campbell, a lawyer with the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative religious rights organization that took the case. “It’s not her burden to come up with an excuse. She was offered one dishonest option – to say she didn’t have the expertise to handle the case – and she refused it.”

MainJustice.com: Nimocks, who is senior legal counsel at the Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian nonprofit organization, focused his disapproval of the DOJ on its announcement last month that it would no longer defend the 1996 law that restricts the definition of marriage as a union between a man and a woman. He said the decision on the Defense of Marriage Act raises questions about the role politics may have played. “When you look at the whole ball of wax and the legal analysis, it seems very clear that the decision here is not one based necessarily on the rule of law but is a more politically or ideologically driven decision, which puts the rule of law at risk,” Nimocks said.

News.ok.com: The Alliance Defense Fund has sent letters to governors across the country to encourage them to observe and participate in the 60th annual National Day of Prayer on May 5. In a news release this week, defense fund leaders said the letter also encourages governors to resist the demands of activist groups that claim the tradition is unlawful. The release said millions of Americans participate in prayer day activities every year.

Ken Blackwell writes at Townhall: Do elections matter? You bet they do! Until last November, there was a real threat that the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) would be ratified by a liberal U.S. Senate majority. And we’re still not out of the woods on this one. But thanks to timely action by Sen. Jim DeMint, effective action is being taken to blunt this threat. Sen. DeMint (R-S.C.) has introduced S. Res 99 to prevent the Senate from ratifying the CRC . . .

AP: Women and girls as young as 13 in Wales can get the morning-after pill free without a prescription from pharmacies, beginning Friday. The legal age of consent for sex in Britain is 16 . . .

AP: Senior Pentagon leaders are defending repeal of the ban on gays serving openly in the military to House Republicans who labeled it as political correctness and social engineering.

Deborah Sheasby writes at AZ Policy Foundations Blog: CAP-supported Senate Bill 1288, which says that professionals cannot lose their state-issued license or accreditation because of the free exercise of their religion, came under some fire during a floor session in the state House earlier last week.

Heritage Foundation Morning Bell: And yesterday, Gallup released a poll showing that the number one way Americans would like to see more United States jobs created is to stop sending new jobs overseas. That is a fabulous idea, and the simplest way to accomplish it would be to lower out nation’s corporate tax rate.

David Limbaugh writes at Townhall: “Christian parents should not assume their kids are equipped to filter out the false claims they will likely encounter. Christianity is the opposite of how it is often portrayed in our culture and is none of those negative things indicated above. You owe it to yourselves and your kids to anticipate the attacks and think through how they can be countered. Don’t assume your excellent child rearing will be enough. We must stand up to the challenge and test our own faith, if necessary, reviewing what and why we believe. If we can’t explain it, should we expect our kids to understand it?”

Wall Street Journal (via Google): “Having lost their fight in the legislature, Wisconsin unions are now getting out the steel pipes for those who don’t step lively to their cause. A letter we’ve seen that was sent to businesses in southeastern Wisconsin shows that Big Labor’s latest strategy is to threaten small businesses with boycotts if they don’t publicly declare their support for government union monopoly power.”

Rose McDermott writes at the Wall Street Journal (via Google): Polygamy—or more specifically polygyny, the marriage of one man to more than one woman—has been widespread in human history. And it is becoming increasingly common, particularly in Muslim enclaves—including in Paris, London and New York.

The Hill: This week, a bipartisan group of Senators unveiled a plan to reduce the number of Senate confirmed slots by 200, and to make an additional 250 slots subject to an expedited confirmation process

AP: It dismissed the case Wednesday, saying he lacks standing to sue because his Medicare coverage automatically satisfies the law’s health insurance mandate.

Beacon Hill Institute via Insider Online: his study demonstrates that charter schools outperform non-charter public schools on the 8th and 10th grade Massachusetts Comprehensive Assessment System (MCAS) exams by statistically significant margins after controlling for socio-economic differences among the student populations. We offer several explanations to account for these findings, paramount among them being the freedom charter schools enjoy from bureaucratic restrictions. This freedom allows charter school teachers to innovate with methods denied to their non-charter counterparts.

NCPA Policy Digest: For America, there is a way to greatly minimize, if not fully end, our dependence upon shaky Middle East dictatorships for oil. With dependable Canadian production and using our own shut-in resources, we can vastly reduce our need for imports.

USA Today: U.S. consumers face “serious” inflation in the months ahead for clothing, food and other products, the head of Wal-Mart’s U.S. operations warned Wednesday.

Today in America there are nearly twice as many people working for the government (22.5 million) than in all of manufacturing (11.5 million) . . . It gets worse . . .

Bloomberg: The biggest borrowers from the 97-year-old discount window as the program reached its crisis-era peak were foreign banks, accounting for at least 70 percent of the $110.7 billion borrowed during the week in October 2008 when use of the program surged to a record. The disclosures may stoke a reexamination of the risks posed to U.S. taxpayers by the central bank’s role in global financial markets . . . “The American people are going to be outraged when they understand what has been going on,” U.S. Representative Ron Paul, a Texas Republican who is chairman of the House subcommittee that oversees the Fed, said in a Bloomberg Television interview.

Note, Can Taxpayers Stand Discrimination?: Lack Of Standing And The Religious Freedom Restoration Act Permits The Executive Branch To Fund Discrimination Within Religious Organizations, 49 J. Cath. Legal Stud. 195 (2010)

Rita M. Dunaway, The Personhood Strategy: A State’s Prerogative To Take Back Abortion, 47 Willamette L. Rev. 327 (2011)

Lee Goldman, Student Speech and the First Amendment: A Comprehensive Approach, 63 Fla. L. Rev. 395 (2011)

Andrew Glover, The Pit and the Pendulum: How Far Can RLUIPA Go in Protecting The Amish, 19 Penn St. Envtl. L. Rev. 109, 130 (2011)

The relationship between government and religion is in a constant state of tension and flux. In addition to the guarantees of the United States Constitution, both the federal and state governments have enacted statutes intended to preserve the separation of church and state while ensuring that religious freedoms will not be impinged. This comment will focus on one area affected by this tension: the efficacy of the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act [FN1] (hereinafter “RLUIPA” or “the Act”) in efforts to fight the effects of land use controls and similar ordinances on the Amish. [FN2]
*110 To better illustrate the process of a RLUIPA claim, I will be referencing a hypothetical throughout this comment. The protagonist of the story will be Amos, a potential client who walks into the law office of Danny Jones, Esq. Amos is an Amish farmer from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, who has been notified by his municipality that he must install a septic tank on his property. Due to the layout of his property, the septic tank will need to contain components which require electricity to work. Amos does not wish to comply because his faith prohibits him from using electricity. Further, he considers the septic system to be wasteful given his austere way of life. Can Attorney Jones successfully advocate for Amos? If not, what repercussions will there be for Amos? Whether or not Attorney Jones is successful, will there be effects on the local environment?