Daily Archives: December 13, 2011

LifeSiteNews.com: A major wing of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association (OECTA) is calling on the union to ensure teachers at Catholic schools who are in homosexual relationships are eligible for hiring and promotion despite their dissent to the Church’s prohibition of homosexual relations.

Baptist Press: Girl Scouts USA’s recent revelation that its local chapters sometimes induct boys who try to live as girls, considered transgendered, is already having repercussions in Louisiana, where three troops at a Christian school have disbanded in disappointment.

Baptist Press: Recent actions by the U.S. Air Force Academy could appear as if commanders are on a mission to rid the institution of Christian influence, but a nearby pastor says the actions are the result of intense pressure from one man.

Jordan Lorence at Baptist Press: Churches meeting in public schools should not be apprehensive because of the recent action of the Supreme Court not to review a federal appeals court decision upholding New York City’s ban on private worship services in the public schools.

Catholic Culture: The All India Christian Council–an ecumenical organization that defends Christians’ religious freedom–is expressing concern about the implications of the arrest of Rev. C. M. Khanna, a Protestant pastor who baptized Muslims in Jammu and Kashmir, a largely Muslim state.

CNSnews.com: Exactly two months before the Judiciary Committee Republicans asked Kagan these questions, however, her top deputy, Neal Katyal, had written her a memo informing her that she had “substantially participated” in Golden Gate Restaurant Association v. San Francisco—a case that Kagan’s own office tied to Obamacare.

Washington Times: Idaho Gov. C.L. “Butch” Otter said the Republican governors of the Midwestern states who back the stalled Keystone XL oil pipeline should bypass the federal government altogether and make the agreements necessary to get the $7 billion project up and running.

Boston.com: Hare Krishna members on Tuesday protested outside Hungary’s Parliament against a new law that could strip them of their status as a recognized church.

Telegraph Blogs: Last Friday, according to publicity material (above) and its Facebook page, the mosque was due to host that conspicuous moderate, Sheikh Saad al-Beraik, who has reportedly stated: “Muslim brothers in Palestine, do not have any mercy neither compassion on the Jews, their blood, their money, their flesh. Their women are yours to take, legitimately. God made them yours. Why don’t you enslave their women? Why don’t you wage jihad? Why don’t you pillage them?”

Mail Online: Human rights laws are being interpreted in a way that is ‘thoroughly bonkers’ – according to Britain’s own human rights chief.

LifeNews.com: There is little doubt that Congressman Ron Paul, who is in the middle of his second consecutive attempt at securing the Republican presidential nomination, is pro-life.

Mirror.co.uk: But the Government has said it will not stop the controversial payments until 2013, when it will officially no longer accept group marriages for welfare handouts.

The Government, in 40 pages of legal arguments, said the UK was “entitled to conclude” that “other than in limited prescribed circumstances, religious belief does not justify discriminating on grounds of sexual orientation”.

Katrina Trinko at National Review Online: Results from Democratic firm Public Policy Polling poll of likely GOP caucus goers: Newt Gingrich (22 percent), Ron Paul (21 percent), Mitt Romney (16 percent), Michele Bachmann (11 percent), Rick Perry (9 percent), Rick Santorum (8 percent), Jon Huntsman (5 percent), and Gary Johnson (1 percent). The poll’s margin of error is 4.2 percentage points.

Lyle Denniston at Huffington Post: Hard to believe, but the controversies that followed those decisions may be more than matched in the new year, as the Supreme Court works its way toward decisions on three major constitutional controversies, from which political fallout is absolutely predictable.

ADF Chief Counsel Benjamin Bull at Townhall : On Dec. 6, the White House released a memorandum instructing the heads of U.S. executive departments and agencies abroad to join in the “struggle to end discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons” around the world . . . Yet while he’s doing his best to appeal to that group, Christians around the world continue to be persecuted—to be hunted like animals, then tortured and killed when captured—yet we are still awaiting a serious White House memorandum on their behalf.

Des Moines Register: “(Gingrich) is tremendous in debates,” said Brad Sherman, an evangelical Christian minister with Solid Rock Christian Church in Coralville. “Part of me wants to say I’d love to see him debate Obama because I think he would chew him up. But I have to live by principle – and Michele Bachmann has proved it.”

NY Daily News: Harry Pangemanan, 41, has been told to report to immigration officials, with plane tickets in hand, three days before Christmas. He’s hoping for a reprieve. Indonesian Christians urged the feds to get into the holiday spirit and spare them from deportation — by singing “Silent Night” and “Joy to the World” in front of Manhattan’s federal building.

William McGurn at WSJ.com: A zealous administration wants to require all health insurance plans to cover contraception, sterilization and drugs known to induce abortion.

News from The Associated Press: The last of five judges has been elected to the International Court of Justice, more than a month after the Security Council and the General Assembly failed to agree on a nominee.

Christian Legal Fellowship: Last Thursday, the Government of Canada initiative to require mandatory reporting of internet child pornography by internet service providers came into force. Bill C-22 was an EFC-supported measure which received Royal Assent in March. Today, as a result, suppliers of internet services, electronic mail services and social networking sites operating in Canada are required to report any tips or concerns about the presence of child pornography on their service to the Canadian Centre for Child Protection.

Findlaw: If Congress forces the issue, it would undoubtedly lead to what Tom Goldstein calls a “constitutional showdown” between the two branches of government. Can the Justices refuse to obey the statute? Can they challenge its enforcement? How do they handle appeals?

TheHill.com: Johnson’s defeat is a bitter pill for conservatives who hyped the race as an important opportunity to bring a fresh conservative voice to the leadership table.

The Christian Legal Fellowship (CLF) will present its written and oral arguments on December 14, 2011 in the Carter euthanasia and physician assisted suicide case before the Supreme Court of British Columbia.

Minnesota Public Radio News (includes audio): People in the Anoka-Hennepin School District who have spent months divided over a so-called neutrality policy on sexual orientation now appear united in opposition to a new policy being proposed to replace it.

NYTimes.com: senior European official said on Tuesday that Britain’s demands for measures to protect its financial services industry at last week’s summit meeting were impossible to meet and directly responsible for the collapse of e a Europe-wide agreement meant to help save the euro.

LaTimes.com: A Navy linguist discharged under the now-repealed policy banning gays from serving openly has been reinstated and will report soon to the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, his attorneys announced.

OrlandoSentinel.com: The relatively easy passage of a new domestic-partnership registry in Orlando is the latest sign the city has grown more accepting, members of the gay community say.

Washington Times: Gingrich tough on women, gays in military
“Republican presidential front-runner Newt Gingrich is siding with social conservatives on how the U.S. armed forces should treat gays and women, according to a survey released Monday . . . Mr. Gingrich . . . told the Military Culture Coalition he would have voted against allowing open homosexuals in the military and, as president, would favor an extensive review for repeal of the gay ban known as “don’t ask, don’t tell.” The former House speaker also does not favor women in direct ground combat units.”

Des Moines Register: Romney says he hasn’t changed stance on gay rights
On allowing gays to serve openly in the military: “That’s already occurred. I’m not planning on reversing that at this stage.

Military Culture Coalition: Romney Endorses Gays-In-Military (LGBT) Law; Gingrich Opposed

MCC Releases Results of 2012 Presidential Candidate Survey

CBS News: It’s becoming an increasingly routine scene on the campaign trail: A Republican presidential candidate being confronted over his or her position on gay rights.

JSOnline: Women could not receive drugs that induce abortions unless a doctor gives them a physical exam and is in the same room when they receive the drugs, under a bill before a Senate committee Tuesday.

NY Daily News: His wife, who didn’t know about her husband’s donation, called it the ‘utmost betrayal.’

Think Progress: South Dakota Governor Asks For Another $1 Million To Defend Anti-Abortion Law In Court

Mary Wisniewski and Jo Ingle at Reuters: Reality check: States tough on abortion face legal costs

The Globe and Mail: Jean Chrétien is warning Liberals that gun control and the Kyoto accord are dead because of Stephen Harper’s Tories, darkly noting that same-sex marriage and abortion rights could be next on the Conservative government’s chopping block. He even raises the return of the death penalty as a possibility.

Local churches have traditionally claimed 14 of the 21 Palisades Park display spaces to illustrate the story of the birth of Jesus Christ. But atheists managed to get all but three of the spaces this year because of a new city lottery system.

News from The Associated Press: Leading Democratic senators are demanding that the Obama administration explain its decision to continue restricting access to Plan B, the morning-after birth control pill, for those under 17.

The Daily Caller: The State Department began a three-day, closed-door meeting Monday to talk about U.S. free speech rules with representatives from numerous Islamic governments that have lobbied for 12 years to end U.S. citizens’ ability to speak freely about Islam’s history and obligations.

FT.com: Iran has criticised Turkey’s secular system of government as an unsuitable example for countries in the Arab spring, in the latest sign of growing tension between the two regional powers.

ADF Media Information Page: Adams v. The Trustees of the University of North Carolina-Wilmington resource page

Chicago Tribune: The American Civil Liberties Union has filed a federal lawsuit arguing that Wisconsin’s new voter identification law is unconstitutional.

ADF Attorney David Cortman appeared on the Zeb Bell Show. | MP3 audio 16:51 mins

MN Star Tribune: Jonathan Scruggs, an attorney with the Scottsdale, Ariz.-based Alliance Defense Fund, which advocates for religious freedom, argued Monday that the city stepped on the First Amendment when it threatened to arrest anyone who violates Bentleyville rules against political campaigning and preaching.

El Paso Times: Brown’s attorney, Joel Oster, said the document released by Walker on Monday is unimportant, calling it “a non-issue.” . . . But Oster, one of Brown’s attorneys, downplayed the document’s significance. “The minutes that you refer to are a non-issue,” Oster said in an email. “They were properly given to the other side pursuant to the subpoena and the court’s instructions. They don’t state that the church itself was involved. “In any event, the court already stated that it believes that the church circulated the petitions. … What the court held, however, was that First Amendment rights were at stake and it would not stop the election.”

Edward Lee Pitts at Baptist Press: Steven Aden, an attorney with the Alliance Defense Fund, added that “the United States is far from immune to this problem.” Speaking at the Dec. 6 House committee hearing, Aden cited a 2008 study by Columbia University economists Douglas Almond and Lena Edlund that examined the sex ratio at birth among U.S.-born children of Chinese, Korean and Asian-Indian parents. They found “deviation in favor of sons” and “evidence of sex selection, most likely at the prenatal stage,” especially among second and third pregnancies if the first child was not born male.

NC Register: The Alliance Defense Fund and two local pro-bono attorneys are aiding petitioners. “We’re defending the church’s right to be fully engaged in the culture,” said ADF senior legal counsel Joel Oster. “Christians and their institutions are not second-class citizens who are banned from the democratic process.”

The Volokh Conspiracy: That’s the result of Mussa v. Palmer-Mussa (N.C. Ct. App. Dec. 6, 2011) (2–1 vote) . . .

The Volokh Conspiracy: A Philadelphia-area security company will pay $50,000 and furnish significant equitable relief to settle a federal religious discrimination lawsuit, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) announced today.

William Baude at the Volokh Conspiracy: A number of commenters have asked about the relationship between law and marriage. Some, for example, have taken issue with the statement in my paper’s abstract that “marriage is primarily a creature of state law.” So I thought it was worth explaining a little but more about the relationship between state law and marriage.

William Baude at the Volokh Conspiracy: You surely know that some states allow same-sex couples to marry, and others do not. So what happens when a couple lives in a no-same-sex-marriage state, but gets married out of state? Or lives and marries in a same-sex-marriage state, but then moves to a no-same-sex-marriage state? Well, it depends.

Religion Clause: . . . this year the Recreation District has ruled that the Menorah may not be put up, invoking a rule of the Denver Parks and Recreation Department that bars religious decorations on public property.

News from The Associated Press: Algeria’s Islamists, buoyed by election victories of their brethren across North Africa over the past two months, are looking to triumph themselves next spring in nationwide polls.

News from The Associated Press: Political support for a ban on the ritual slaughter of animals without stunning them first, as required by centuries-old Jewish and Muslim dietary traditions, has weakened as the Dutch senate debates the legislation.

News from The Associated Press: A federal judge in Brooklyn is poised to hear arguments Tuesday over whether the federal government is acting constitutionally in its decisions over the access teenage girls are given to morning-after contraceptive pills.

The Weekly Standard: ven in China they are calling it the “Great Firewall of America.” At least the Chinese are enjoying the irony of the U.S. government moving toward a legal regime that would give it carte blanche to seize and take down websites on the basis of “infringement.”

Gulflive.com: lso at Monday’s meeting at St. Martin High School, board members said they intend to pen a freedom of speech policy that will maintain students’ rights to pray, while protecting the district from potential lawsuits. Religious speech became a hot topic in the district after the Freedom From Religion Foundation sent a letter . . .

The Red and Black: Shewmaker responded with a letter Nov. 1 saying “invocation at commencement is part of the University of Georgia’s heritage,” according to documents provided by Joiner.
“There have been no Supreme Court of the United States cases interpreting this issue,” Shewmaker wrote.

Roanoke.com: The student who is suing to have a copy of the Ten Commandments removed from a hallway wall at Narrows High School will continue to be known only as Doe 1.

The Washington Post: For the most part, the Republican candidates for president have avoided engaging in public the contentious subjects of gay rights and same-sex marriage. But the people they meet in diners and coffee shops sometimes have other plans.

The Malakoff News: Late last week, the legal focus shifted away from removing the nativity to allowing the FFRF to place one of its banners on the courthouse lawn. The request is based on the idea of “public forum,” said FFRF Co-president Annie Laurie Gaylor.

A federal judge has thrown out efforts to block Gov. Jan Brewer from declaring an official “day of prayer.”