Daily Archives: October 25, 2011

Baptist Press: A major seven-year study published in a mainstream journal is challenging the secular notion that gays and lesbians cannot change their sexual orientation.

Herald Sun: Legislation to allow civil unions for same-sex couples will be introduced into parliament today by Deputy Premier Andrew Fraser.

MSNBC: Senate Democrats have scheduled a committee vote on a bill to repeal DOMA — the federal Defense of Marriage Act — as a federal appeals court moves toward taking up legal challenges to the law.

UPI.com: Supporters of a petition drive to define life as beginning at conception say they’ll appeal a decision by Ohio’s attorney general rejecting it.

The Christian Institute: The Scottish Government has come under fire for completely failing to mention Christmas in its “Winter Festivals” programme.

NewsMax: Attacked by mobs and terrorists, repressed by the growing popularity of fundamentalist Islamic law and cut off from crucial business ties, Christians are fleeing the Middle East in an unprecedented exodus.

Ipas: In a groundbreaking report presented at the United Nations on October 24, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health called on U.N. member states to eliminate laws that create barriers to sexual and reproductive health.

Anu Kumar: Do U.S. Abortion Restrictions Violate Human Rights?: While in the United States we may treat abortion restrictions as a political issue, elsewhere around the world, advocates and experts understand such restrictions to be public health and human rights issues. And in the United States this year, we have seen law after law passed that clearly violates international human rights standards.

A proposal to repeal New Hampshire’s same-sex marriage law is on its way to the House of Representatives early next year.

Denis O’Leary at MercatorNet.com: Many countries in the Muslim world, including Iran, are also in demographic freefall.

LifeSiteNews.com: Despite orders from Cardinal Archbishop Lluís Martínez Sistach and continuing protests, Barcelona’s Holy Cross and Saint Paul (Santa Creu i Sant Pau) Hospital continues to do abortions, according to Rev. Custodio Ballester, a Barcelona priest who recently discussed the matter with a member of the hospital’s board of directors.

LifeSiteNews.com: British government officials and employees have become the new witchfinders general, “obsessively” searching for the slightest deviation from the doctrines of political correctness, a legal expert has told LifeSiteNews.com.

LifeNews.com: Pepsi shareholders have filed a shareholder resolution with the Securities and Exchange Commission and PepsiCo demanding that the company has been contracting with a research firm that uses fetal cells from babies victimized by abortions to test and produce artificial flavor enhancers.

The Hill: The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing and Trade will hold a hearing Tuesday to discuss the issue of Internet gambling, which became a hot-button topic in April after the Obama administration cracked down on online poker and other betting sites.

John Yoo at WSJ.com: This weekend marks the 20th anniversary of Clarence Thomas’s appointment to the Supreme Court. In his first two decades on the bench, Justice Thomas has established himself as the original Constitution’s greatest defender against elite efforts at social engineering.

Ynetnews: A week after the release of kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, top Saudi cleric Dr. Awad al-Qarni is offering a $100,000 reward to anyone who kidnaps Israeli soldiers.

A federal judge has blocked a portion of North Carolina’s new abortion law that required a medical worker to offer to display an ultrasound image of a fetus to a pregnant woman, describe it and offer her the chance to listen to the heartbeat.

News from The Associated Press: Army 1st Lt. Ashley White died on the front lines in southern Afghanistan last weekend, the first casualty in what the Army says is a new and vital wartime attempt to gain the trust of Afghan women.

The Blog of Legal Times: The District of Columbia’s top two judges on Oct. 24 announced the launch of the Capital Pro Bono Honor Roll, as part with the American Bar Association’s national pro bono program.

The Alliance Defense Fund sent a letter Friday to Clay County School District officials informing them that voluntary faculty participation in a community-led, before-school prayer event is protected by the First Amendment despite the objections of the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

The Hill: The states, NFIB and the Justice Department have all said that’s the case the court should take, and DOJ has asked the court to hold other suits until it rules in that one. For the most part, the two sides want the same thing: a quick hearing focused on the merits of whether the individual insurance mandate is constitutional.

NCPA Policy Digest: Since 2007, Americans’ collective net worth has fallen about $5.5 trillion, or more than 8.6 percent, with $4.7 trillion of this loss coming from the depreciation of real estate value.

Michael Stokes Paulsen at Public Discourse: The Supreme Court’s abortion jurisprudence appears to protect a right to abortion even for reasons of sex selection. Yet this gruesome reality might provide an opening for a frontal assault on the premises of Roe v. Wade.

NC Family Policy Council: On July 12, 2011, Kody Brown and his “wives” stood before the cameras to announce that they were filing a lawsuit challenging Utah’s antipolygamy law . . .

LifeNews.com: In a new interview, Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain says he would support a Human Life Amendment to the U.S, Constitution that would ban abortion by protecting unborn children under law.

OneNewsNow.com: China Aid spokesman Bob Fu says the exhibit is intended to deflect attention from reports of growing religious persecution in China. “This Bible exhibition is a political propaganda show,” says Fu. “

Eugene Volokh at The Volokh Conspiracy: To what extent does the First Amendment protect public university professors — including untenured professors — from being disciplined or fired based on their scholarship or public commentary? The matter is not entirely clear, partly because of Garcetti v. Ceballos (2006), which held that the government has a largely free hand in making employment decisions based on an employee’s speech that’s part of his job duties.

Pittsburgh Tribune-Review: An Indiana University of Pennsylvania graduate student has filed a complaint with the school’s human resources department, alleging one of her business professors subjected her to humiliation and insults based on her sexuality. | The Penn: Rally held speaking against hate, for tolerance

TheHill.com: A resounding 69 percent of respondents said the country is “in decline,” the survey found, while 57 percent predict today’s kids won’t live better lives than their parents.

Any politician who tries to give the “it’s a state’s rights issue” answer is probably either uninformed or disingenuous, because the Left will not permit each state to decide, and will use the courts to impose its views. Such an answer is actually a slow-motion surrender, because liberal social activist will not take no for an answer.

AFC: The American Federation for Children (AFC) today called on the Pennsylvania State Senate to immediately pass legislation that would create the state’s first school voucher program for children in failing schools and significantly expand the Keystone State’s highly-successful Educational Improvement Tax Credit (EITC) Program.

SeattlePI.com: Washington’s largest private sector union, UCFW 21, on Thursday said it will support efforts to legalize gay marriage in Washington state next year.

Boston.com: A House panel votes Tuesday whether to recommend repealing New Hampshire’s gay marriage law and replacing it with civil unions for any unmarried adults including relatives.

The Washington Post: Memorials are being planned for gay rights pioneer Frank Kameny, who died last week, and the Smithsonian Institution is opening a special display of some of Kameny’s picket signs on Friday.

Digital Journal: Denmark is poised to become just the eighth country in Europe to recognize same-sex civil marriages.

AFP: An Egyptian court sentenced a man to three years in jail with hard labour on Saturday for insulting Islam in postings on Facebook, the official MENA news agency reported.

Religion Clause:: In Salman v. City of Phoenix, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 122387 (D AZ, Oct. 20, 2011), an Arizona federal district court dismissed on Younger v. Harris abstention grounds a challenge to the building code and zoning laws that prevented plaintiffs from using their home and a building on their property for weekly Bible study and prayer sessions with 40 to 50 family and friends.

NYTimes.com: Republican presidential candidates are issuing biting and sustained attacks on the federal courts and the role they play in American life, reflecting and stoking skepticism among conservatives about the judiciary.

AL.com: The incidents such as those experienced by Smith are all too common in Alabama schools, said state Rep. Patricia Todd, D-Birmingham, Alabama’s first openly lesbian legislator. Last week she pre-filed legislation to expand anti-bullying policies to explicitly prohibit harassment in schools on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

The Washington Post: A history teacher amends his lessons on the civil rights movement to include the push for gay equality. A high school removes Internet filters blocking gay advocacy websites. Six gay students sue their district, saying officials failed to protect them from bullies.

Fox News: You can wear a Muslim head scarf, and you can wear the uniform of the Junior ROTC. Just not at the same time.

United Nations Foundation: On October 31, the world’s population is expected to reach 7 billion people. In recognition of this milestone, UN Foundation President Timothy E. Wirth released the following statement calling for investment in international reproductive health and voluntary family planning as a means to achieving progress on all of the Millennium Development Goals.

Religion Clause: The Asian Human Rights Commission today issued a news release condemning the growing number of instances in Pakistan in which women from minority religious groups (Hindus and Christians) are raped and forced to covert to Islam . . .

USNews.com: There’s nothing quite like a politician scorned. When voters in Ohio’s 1st Congressional District threw Democrat Steve Driehaus out of office after only one term, he did not bow out gracefully. No, he decided to get even. So he did what anyone does in today’s culture: he sued somebody.

News from The Associated Press: An international rights group warned Tuesday that Egypt’s ruling generals may try to cover up the circumstances surrounding the killings of more than 20 Coptic Christian demonstrators when the military broke up their protest by force earlier this month.

News from The Associated Press: Four candidates were named Tuesday as possible successors for International Criminal Court Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo when his nine-year term ends next year.

Education News: The American Bar Association and 200 law schools it accredits are under growing pressure from Congress to quell complaints that colleges are misleading students about job prospects and saddling graduates with loans they can’t afford to repay.

Adam J. MacLeod at Public Discourse: Private property should be preserved and protected because of its deep contribution to human well-being.

Pat Buchanan at Townhall: In order to love one’s country, said Edmund Burke, one’s country ought to be lovely. Is it still? Reid Buckley, brother of Bill, replies, “I am obliged to make a public declaration that I cannot love my country. … We are Vile.” And so what is the conservative’s role in an America many believe has not only lost its way but seems to be losing its mind? What is it now that conservatives must conserve?

News from The Associated Press: A government panel wants young boys as well as girls to get the controversial HPV vaccine, in part to prevent them from spreading the sexually transmitted virus to girls.

The Christian Institute: MPs have spoken of their “concern” about a case involving a Christian who was wrongly told displaying Bible verses on a TV screen was a breach of public order laws.

The Christian Institute: Commentators at three of Britain’s biggest newspapers have criticised the treatment of a Christian employee who was disciplined over comments he made about civil partnerships.

Findlaw: Another week, another Westboro Baptist Church case. This week, Shirley Phelps-Roper won an injunction in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals to halt enforcement of the Nebraska Funeral Picketing Law (NFPL).

FRC: On Wednesday, October 26, at Noon Eastern, Family Research Council will host a panel discussion about religious persecution around the world and how U.S. policy on religious freedom is a compelling national interest. Religious persecution is on the rise throughout the world, according to a recent report by The Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion and Public Life.

ADF President and General Counsel Alan E. Sears appeared on the Hugh Hewitt Show to discuss cases pending before the U.S. Supreme Court. | MP3 audio 8:38 mins | ADF Media Resources: Bronx Household, Alpha Delta Chi, Utah Highway Patrol, Forsyth Co.

Mandatory Sex Ed Details May Be Too Racy for Parents: Report | NBC New York:
The workbooks for older students direct them to a website run by Columbia University, which explores topics such as sexual positions, porn stars, and bestiality. The lessons explain risky sexual behavior and suggest students go to stores to jot condom brands and prices.

First Things: We are slowly losing our sense of religious liberty in America.

ADF Attorney Brian Raum at Townhall : As a matter of fact, EQCA’s loss in Proposition 8 was bad enough that their board decided the group ought “not…get involved with marriage in California going forward.” (This, of course, is a victory in itself.) Broadly speaking, all these things should serve as an encouragement for the proponents of true marriage, whom the media and groups supporting the homosexual agenda so often seem to drown out.

ADF Attorney Byron Babione at Baptist Press: In New Jersey, the Township of Union Public School District has suspended a special education teacher named Viki Knox because she sat in her own home, on her own computer, and expressed her Christian faith on her personal Facebook page. [also at Townhall]

OneNewsNow.com: “Christian students have positive messages to share with other students that are not only protected by the Constitution, but that should be welcomed in public schools,” notes ADF attorney David Cortman. “The court was right to stop this unconstitutional ban on Christmas party invitations.” Though school officials prohibited invitations to the church party, ADF staff counsel Matt Sharp says they indiscriminately permitted other students to distribute invites to other events . . . [more]

TruthDive: According to a Fox news report, Matt Sharp, an attorney representing the Kids for Christ, a community-led Christian group, is suing the Owasso Public Schools. Sharp, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, said the school district told the club it could no longer publicize its events, including discouraging organizers from spreading the word in the community and local media.

LifeSiteNews.com: Alliance Defense Fund senior legal counsel Steven Aden told LSN, referencing the Kansas disciplinary board case against Kline. “Intentional destruction of evidence is a serious charge, and if Planned Parenthood has been complicit in this criminal act, it should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Fox News: “This is a simple matter of a school district targeting a Christian organization,” said Matt Sharp, an attorney representing the “Kids for Christ,” a community-led Christian group suing the Owasso Public Schools.

North Country Gazette: But after six days without food and water, Sanger began responding to hospital staff and the Life & Hope Network, with the help of attorneys from the Alliance Defense Fund, obtained a court order to reinstate the food and water tube on behalf of Sanger’s mother and brother.

El Paso Times: Joel Oster, a lawyer for Brown and the recall group, said even if churches and their officers helped gather petitions, they didn’t violate state law. He also said that if they did, that law is unconstitutional after a Supreme Court ruling last year that says the government can’t limit some kinds of corporate political activities. [more]

Thomson Reuters: For the gay marriage opponents: Charles Cooper, David Thompson, Howard Nielson, Nicole Moss and Peter Patterson of Cooper and Kirk; Andrew Pugno of the Law Offices of Andrew Pugno; Brian Raum and James Campbell of the Alliance Defense Fund.

World Net Daily: “Although we are disappointed that the Ninth Circuit denied requests to have the full court rehear this case, we are encouraged that five of the judges agree with us and believe the cross should stay,” said Kelly Shackelford, attorney for the memorial . . . Joseph Infranco, senior counsel for the Alliance Defense Fund, also praised the 23-page dissent.”The political agenda of secularist groups should not be allowed to uproot memorials that honor the sacrifices of America’s fallen heroes and their families,” he said. [more]

Wesley J. Smith at Secondhand Smoke | A First Things Blog: The ADF is at it again, at least temporarily saving the life of a man who was temporarily unconscious from a heart attack. From the ADF press release:

The Frederick News-Post Online: Cox said he was not aware of the organization’s involvement, but he said he was referred to the case by the Alliance Defense Fund. The Terri Schiavo Life & Hope Network said in the news release it is working with the Alliance Defense Fund.

NRL News Today: “Everyone deserves a chance to recover,” said ADF Legal Counsel Matt Bowman. “There is no question that Daniel expressly stated his desire to live, and yet he was denied the food and water he needed to survive. His wishes should have been followed. ADF sees far too many situations involving hasty decisions to pull the plug on a human life.”

Lewisville Leader: The conference featured speakers including Timothy Barton of WallBuilders, Dr. Robert Jeffress, Senior Pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Kerby Anderson of Point of View Ministries, Erik Stanley of the Alliance Defense Fund, Pastor Geoffrey Cohen of Gateway Church and Dan Panetti, Worldview Director of Prestonwood Christian Academy.

The Republic (AP): The Alliance Defense Fund sued the Pocono Mountain School District in March, claiming the student’s free speech rights were violated.

OneNewsNow.com: ADF attorney Matt Bowman tells OneNewsNow they were successful in obtaining a court order to keep Sanger alive. “Everyone deserves a chance to recover,” says the attorney. “There’s no question that Daniel expressly stated his desire to live, and yet he was denied the food and water he needed to survive. His wishes should have been followed.”

A Texas school district was right to reject an atheist group’s demand that it cancel a non-religious school assembly just because the presenters were Christians, according to a letter sent to the district Monday by the Alliance Defense Fund.

lliance Defense Fund attorneys representing a community-led Christian club for students filed suit Friday against an Oklahoma school district after it revoked the club’s ability to publicize its events as other community groups are allowed to do and discouraged the club from promoting itself anywhere in the community, including through the media.