Daily Archives: May 2, 2012

LifeSiteNews: “The family bond is achieved through the reality of diverse situations, among them the free will to form a family, apart from the sex or orientation of its members,” wrote the judges their verdict, issued on April 20.

Christian Post: A Baptist pastor has been forced to defend his sermon after advocating for traditional marriage through Amendment One, the North Carolina legislation that would outlaw same-sex marriage, which is up for vote a on May 8. For his fiery defense of marriage, Pastor Sean Harris was attacked by gay advocacy groups, who maintain that the minister advised violence toward effeminate children.

Philip Graham Ryken at Daily Herald: Wheaton College and other distinctively Christian institutions are faced with a near and present threat to religious liberty.

Catholic Culture: Chaudhry Irshad Younas, a Pakistani Christian involved in politics, was murdered in Lahore on April 27.

Speak Up Movement Church Blog: How deep are your religious convictions? Are religious beliefs merely a colorful veneer decorating the exterior of an individual’s life, or are they more akin to a rudder guiding the course and direction of the whole person? Questions such as these might be ones that we ask ourselves individually as we wrestle with the role of faith in our own lives. But they are also being debated at a societal level. And the worldview of government officials specifically on these questions affects their willingness to either protect religious freedom or to disregard it.

Pro-Polygamy.com: In early 2012, the second series of professional speeches was released for the National Polygamy Rights Movement for Consenting Adults, followed by an extra, special video on the third anniversary of a historic speech from 2009 presented at a political Public Hearing.

eTurboNews.com: With free legal assistance from National Right to Work Foundation staff attorneys, two Honolulu Hilton employees have filed federal unfair labor practice charges against the UNITE HERE Local 5 union.

Turtle Bay and Beyond: Great Britain gave 166 million pounds ($268 million) to a government program in India that forcibly sterilizes poor women and men. The UK’s aid agency cited a need to address climate change by reducing population as a key reason to fund India’s abusive program, reports The Guardian.

Telegraph: The Sunday Telegraph has found that at least 40 councils have decided to either stop or “water down” prayer sessions held at the start of business after the High Court controversially backed the complaints of secularists that the ancient custom was “illegal”.

Christian Institute: Two thirds of his constituents want to keep marriage as it is – between one man and one woman. That number climbs to 75 per cent amongst the people who voted for him at the last general election.

The Times of Israel: Knesset approves IDF request to call up a further 16 battalions if needed

Fox News: Newt Gingrich officially suspended his GOP presidential campaign Wednesday, the last stop on a rollercoaster ride that eventually ended with a string of losses over the past two months.

Columbus Dispatch: The Ohio Campaign to Protect Marriage sued last month, challenging DeWine’s approval of the wording on a ballot amendment proposed by Freedom to Marry Ohio.

Anna Cuevas at Huffington Post: Is there a correlation between divorce and foreclosure? Does foreclosure increase the likelihood of divorce, or does divorce increase the risk of foreclosure? The answer is both are probably true.

WPRI.com: Rhode Island’s House Judiciary Committee is going to hear several bills related to same-sex unions, marriage and divorce Wednesday . . .

Washington Post: The Maryland Marriage Alliance announced that it has gathered more than 30,000 signatures as part of an ongoing petition drive. If 55,736 valid signatures of Maryland voters are presented before the end of June, the new law will appear on the statewide ballot.

WTVM.com: Two bills aimed at making it more difficult for a woman to get an abortion have passed an Alabama House committee.

LifeNews: More than 60 GOP members of the House have introduced the Stop Abortion Funding in Multi-state Exchange Plans (SAFE) Act, led by pro-life Rep. Todd Akin, a Missouri Republican . . .

PR Newswire: The Missouri House of Representatives passed a resolution on Wednesday honoring Americans United for Life President and CEO Dr. Charmaine Yoest for her “key leadership across the nation in helping to enact life-saving laws at both the beginning and the end of life.”

Boston Globe (AP): The Rhode Island attorney general said Wednesday that a war monument topped with a cross on city property in Woonsocket “transcends religion” and should not be removed because of a complaint from an atheist group.

LifeSiteNews: Protests against the Ontario Liberal government’s controversial anti-bullying legislation erupted across the province over the weekend as more and more people become aware of the threat it poses to parental rights and religious freedom

Reuters: Georgia Governor Nathan Deal signed into law two pieces of legislation on Tuesday to restrict late-term abortions and outlaw assisted suicide in the state.

LifeSiteNews: “The State should respect the choices that parents make for their children and avoid attempts at ideological indoctrination,” the permanent observer mission of the Holy See to the United Nations wrote in a statement released last Tuesday.

NewsOK.com: The nominations for two long-vacant judicial positions may soon go before a Senate committee now that Sen. Tom Coburn has given the green light. The White House has struggled to find judicial candidates that meet with the approval of Oklahoma’s senators.

The Seattle Times reports.

ULaw Today: The case involves an important issue of whether child pornography victims can recover all of their losses (e.g., psychological counseling and lost income) from one defendant or must apportion their losses out among multiple defendants. | USA v. Amy Unknown, No. 09-41238 (5th Cir.) Opening Brief

Las Vegas Sun: Then Kennedy leaned forward to the lectern to urge those schooled in what he called “the language of the law” to set a good example for the rest of the world with “rational, quiet, thoughtful, respectful discussion and debate.” “The verdict on freedom is still out in over half the world, and the rest of the world is looking at us,” Kennedy said. “They see the current dialogue and discourse and they are horrified by it.”

Religion Clause Blog: The Hawaii Senate Finance Committee is considering a bill to appropriate $100,000 to implement the settlement in the case.

Religion Clause Blog: President Obama has issued a Presidential Proclamation (full text) declaring tomorrow to be a National Day of Prayer . . .

Findlaw: In February, the Supreme Court stayed the Montana decision, (now called American Tradition Partnership v. Bullock), pending a petition for writ of certiorari. Justice Ginsburg, joined by Justice Breyer, issued a statement supporting the stay in light of stare decisis, but expressing an interest in re-examining Citizens United.

Boston Globe: The state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union compiled the number and says it demonstrates that the civil union law is a “complete failure.”

WPXI.com: The U.S. Justice Department has asked a federal judge in Pittsburgh to dismiss a Christian college’s lawsuit challenging proposed regulations requiring employers to offer birth control coverage . . . The Alliance Defense Fund, a Christian civil rights group, filed the lawsuit . . .

One News New: ADF attorney Jeremy Tedesco explains . . . “They reacted the right way once the lawsuit was filed,” the attorney asserts. “We got the changes we wanted in the policies, the flyers were approved for distribution. So ultimately, the school district should be commended for doing the right thing, all the while understanding that they disclaim liability.” {more]

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Gregory Baylor, an attorney for the Washington, D.C.-based Alliance Defense Fund, which is spearheading Geneva’s legal challenge, said the college “can’t rely upon promises” of future protection from enforcement. Federal attorneys “don’t want courts to address this on the merits because I believe they are nervous about their prospects,” Mr. Baylor said. “It’s going to be difficult for them to convince the courts that this doesn’t violate the right of conscience.” [more . . . ]

Catholic News Agency: Alliance Defense Fund Legal Council Matt Bowman said the mandate, which also forces businesses to provide sterilization and contraception, “unconstitutionally coerces the leadership of Hercules Industries to violate their religious beliefs and consciences under the threat of heavy fines and penalties.” “Every American should know that a government with the power to do this to anyone can do this – and worse – to everyone,” Bowman said in an April 30 statement, announcing the manufacturer’s lawsuit against the administration. “The government shouldn’t punish people of faith for making decisions in accordance with their faith,” commented Bowman. “That is simply not acceptable in America.”

The Advocate: Hawaii Family Forum is represented by the antigay Alliance Defense Fund, which has been involved in legal battles over marriage equality across the country.

AP: Suspected supporters of Egypt’s military rulers attacked predominantly Islamist anti-government protesters outside the Defense Ministry in Cairo Wednesday, setting off clashes that left 11 dead as political tensions rise three weeks before crucial presidential elections.

AP: Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle agree: It would be a mistake to let interest rates on student loans double in July. Especially if they’re going to be blamed for it in an election year.

AP: A Republican Missouri House member has publicly announced he’s gay and is calling on GOP leaders to end legislation that would limit discussion of sexual orientation in public schools . . . Sexual orientation bill is HB2051 . . .

LifeNews: Chen Guangcheng, the Chinese forced abortion opponent, was reportedly pressured to leave the U.S. Embassy and accept the deal the United States struck with China to release Chen from its temporary protection.

Ken Connor at Townhall: This week, another of the President’s infamous “compromises” is in the spotlight, namely his executive order expanding federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. Stymied by existing law limiting the government’s involvement in this ethically troubling area of “scientific” work, the President crafted a workaround based on rhetorical hair-splitting, issued his order, and the dollars began flowing. The Alliance Defense Fund filed suit to enjoin the funding and in 2010 a federal judge issued a temporary injunction blocking the executive order. [also available at Renew America]

San Francisco Chronicle: UC Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco is reducing its first-year class by more than 20 percent this fall and eliminating 17 nonteaching jobs . . .

SCOTUS Blog: After the oral arguments in the health care cases in March, much attention was focused on the oral advocacy by Solicitor General Donald Verrilli. But who, exactly, is the Solicitor General and what does his office do?

Guardian: FCC called on to revoke licences in wake of British parliamentary report as phone hacking scandal widens abroad.

LifeSiteNews: He Peirong is a beautiful, petite Chinese woman friends describe as having a “spine of steel” – one that proved an immense benefit to her friend, human rights activist Chen Guangcheng, whose bid for freedom she spearheaded. But the young woman’s fate is now dangerously unknown, as she disappeared immediately . . .