Daily Archives: May 15, 2012

“We hope this ruling will remind corporate America that it’s simply bad business to force employees to check their faith at the door,” Craddock said.

Huffington Post: The Republican-controlled New Hampshire House of Representatives Tuesday adopted a measure placing a 24-hour waiting period on abortions as part of a business tax credit bill.

USCCB: Future ‘accommodation’ excludes many, cannot meet incompatible goals Outstanding issues should be resolved ‘in favor of more, not less, religious freedom’

Fox News (includes video): President Obama openly spoke of repealing the Defense of Marriage Act at a fundraiser Monday, as he defended his personal view that gay couples should have the right to marry.

Eric C. Redmond at Baptist Press: Your recent expression of your understanding of ‘marriage’ is troubling to us. There are no tenets that can be identified as Christian that allow for anyone to view homosexuality as acceptable. The Christian faith holds to the Bible as the truth, for it has given ample evidence of being the very words of God to man. It is the Bible that reveals marriage to be a union between a man and a woman; it is the Bible that reveals all homosexual activity to be sinful. Therefore we would reject your so-called Christian understanding of same-sex marriage as uninformed and false.

Baptist Press: Reeling from slowed business and smaller coffers in the wake of a 2006 law to clamp down on the illegal practice of online gambling, the gambling lobby is roaring back in an effort to convince the government to license and regulate betting on the niche game of Internet poker; all online games involving wagering are currently illegal.

Pueblo Chieftain: One week after supporters of same-sex civil unions pelted him with chants of “shame on you” as he walked off the House floor, Speaker Frank McNulty was lauded as a hero by opponents of the measure.

Reuters: President Barack Obama’s show of support for gay marriage has inflamed political passions but has not given him a bump in popularity, a Reuters/Ipsos poll showed on Tuesday.

Christian Science Monitor: California and New Jersey, each seek more revenue, are leading the states toward Internet gambling, starting with online poker. But this all-too-easy form of gaming would come with at a high cost to society – and government . . . Californians should especially worry about the undue influence of money on lawmakers. Six online-gaming operators have spent $7.7 million on political contributions, gifts to officials, and lobbying in Sacramento over the past two years, according to the Los Angeles Times.

Kansas City Star (McClatchy Newspapers): A quiet transformation is taking place in the Republican Party, which has begun to embrace openly gay candidates – and among gay Republicans, who now feel more comfortable speaking out in a party that may have accepted them but didn’t always show it.

Piero Tozzi at C-FAM: My colleagues at the Friday Fax reported last week that the “Latex Left” lost at the just ended UN Commission on the Population and Development, that they came away “empty handed.” With respect, I disagree with this assessment. International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and its allies scored a victory. What they got was a (non-binding) declaration setting funding priorities that calls for “comprehensive” sexual education for youth and adolescents, marginalized parental involvement, and increased funding for “reproductive health-care services, commodities and supplies.”

Jerusalem Post: The answer to this apparent dilemma can be found in the emerging practice of the European Court of Human Rights.

Christian Concern: A third Government Minister has now criticised the plans to introduce same-sex ‘marriage’, and has suggested that the Government should listen to what people are saying in response to the consultation on the issue.

Christian Concern: Almost three quarters (73%) of those who took part in the survey by ComRes believe that the Queen and future monarchs should keep the title of Supreme Governor of the Church of England and ‘Defender of the Faith’.

Christian Institute: When Tony Blair was Prime Minister, his officials warned him not to end one of his speeches with the words “God bless Britain”.

Charles C.W. Cooke at National Review: But it is nonetheless worth noting that there is no particular groundswell — even in states and cities that have both legal gay marriage and significant numbers of homosexuals — and that, when gay couples do decide to get married, they are more likely than their straight equivalents to change their minds later.

Rich Lowry at National Review: These state constitutional provisions constitute irreducible facts on the ground. Reversing them by democratic means will be the work of a generation. For the foreseeable future, the country will be largely traditional on marriage, with enclaves of same-sex unions as boutique blue-state institutions lacking full legitimacy.

Gary Bauer at Human Events: Republicans usually stand to benefit whenever cultural issues arise in an election campaign. But they too often run away from debates over issues related to marriage, life and religion.

KansasCity.com: Gov. Sam Brownback has signed into law a bill that will allow pharmacists to refuse to provide drugs they believe might cause an abortion . . .

Fox News: “We are seeing the dream of the Islamic Caliphate coming true at the hands of Mohammed Morsi,” the cleric, Safwat Hegazy, blared from his podium. “The capital of the Caliphate and the United Arab States is Jerusalem, God willing,” he added . . .

Peter Heck at One News Now: Last week, the President of the United States of America called his people to outright rebellion against the Word and will of Almighty God. Did your minister say anything about it this week?

Bethany Blankley at the Huffington Post: It wasn’t until the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century that the recording of marriages and establishing of rules for marriage became a function of the state. Martin Luther, the Catholic priest who initiated the Reformation in Germany said that marriage was a “worldly thing … that belongs to the realm of government.”

Betsey Stevenson and Justin Wolfers at the Washington Post: For our grandparents’ generation, marriage was about separate roles, separate spheres and specialization. Gary Becker, an economist at the University of Chicago, won the Nobel Prize partly for describing the family as an economic institution — a bit like a small firm that employs people with different skills to produce both income and a well-run household.

STLToday.com: Gov. Pat Quinn stepped up his public support for gay marriage Monday, saying he’ll work with Illinois lawmakers to make it a reality without waiting for the courts to act first.

Washington Post: Thorne-Begland, the deputy commonwealth attorney for Richmond, has been nominated to serve as a judge for the city’s 13th General District Court . . . “The question is, will his personal political agenda take precedent over Virginia law and the Constitution?” the Family Foundation statement reads. “Is he going to uphold laws he clearly and very publicly disagrees with? What does he believe is the role of the courts in moving in a more ‘progressive’ direction?”

LifeSiteNews: Canada “cannot afford not to have the conversation” about abortion and the protection of human life, urged Bruce Clemenger, President of the Evangelical Fellowship of Canada, on Parliament Hill at the National March for Life on Thursday.

Paul Rauker at LifeNews: However, the legal recognition of personhood for a zygote, embryo, or fetus would not outlaw abortion, or anything else, just like legal recognition for an adult does not outlaw the death penalty.

LifeNews: What do you do when you have created 18 extra IVF embryos and you don’t want to destroy them or give them away to just anyone? You put them on Craigslist of course!

LifeNews: This week, House Bill 298 to defund Planned Parenthood will be heard in the House Health Committee, and Ohio Right to Life is working overtime to generate calls and emails to legislators to support the measure.

Washington Times: Illegal immigrant students and members of the House sued the Senate this week to try to overturn the upper chamber’s filibuster rule, arguing that the 60-vote supermajority requirement violates the Constitution and is blocking important legislation such as legalization for illegal immigrants.

Religion Clause Blog: CNN reported yesterday that the Obama re-election campaign is hiring a staffer from the White House Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships to be the campaign’s religious outreach director.

Religion Clause Blog reports.

Religion Clause Blog: Yesterday the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops released a Pastoral Letter on Freedom of Conscience and Religion (full text). The 12-page letter, written by the CCCB’s Permanent Council wassummarized in part by the CCCB as follows:

Mount Vernon News: The removal of the invocation from the legislative meeting of Mount Vernon City Council did more than raise a few eyebrows on bowed heads at City Hall on Monday night. Instead of presenting a prayer, typically led by various city pastoral leaders, after the meeting was called to order, City Council President Bruce Hawkins offered the opportunity for those wanting to participate in the prayer to join in prior to the start of the meeting.

Times-Journal.com: A group started by former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore is in line to help Sylvania if the town is sued over signs with a biblical reference. The Town Council voted 5-0 last week to restore a Bible verse to the signs. Former Mayor Mitchell Dendy ordered the verse removed after getting a complaint letter from the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

AP: An outspoken priest who runs a shelter for migrants in southern Mexico has temporarily left his facility after receiving death threats, the shelter coordinator said Monday.

Robert Gillette at the Conway Daily Sun: The past two years have also brought a radical departure from a legislative tradition in which bills were home-grown to meet New Hampshire’s specific needs. Under Speaker William O’Brien, the House is outsourcing the actual writing of its social legislation to special-interest groups like the Alliance Defense Fund (ADF), a conservative Christian organization based in Arizona and Washington, D.C. (The ADF is also allied with New Hampshire Congressman Frank Guinta, who co-sponsored House Amendment 95 in February to defund Planned Parenthood.) HB 228 originated in 2011 as a bill explicitly banning all public funding for Planned Parenthood . . . Meanwhile, the ADF and allies regrouped and responded to the Indiana setback with a more intricate attack on Planned Parenthood, with the ironic title of “Whole Woman’s Health Funding Priorities Act.” The new ADF draft law was introduced early this year in as many as a dozen state legislatures including Arizona, Iowa, Oklahoma, Idaho – and New Hampshire.

Community Radio for Northern Colorado (KUNC.org): Update 5:56 p.m.: The bill is still in commitee. Opponents of the civil unions bill are now testifying. The representative from Alliance Defense Fund is the first to testify.

AP: For centuries, rulers have used choreographed spectacles to help them maintain control, mixing the appearance of absolute public unity with an underlying threat of what happens to anyone who goes against the grain.

LifeNews: Franciscan University appears to be the first casualty of the new Obama HHS mandate that requires Catholic colleges, groups and businesses to pay for drugs that may cause abortions and birth control for their employees.

American Federation for Children: Governor Jan Brewer yesterday signed into law a sweeping school choice expansion that will grant eligibility to students attending failing schools, students of military personnel, and foster care children to participate in a first-of-its-kind private school choice program offering parents an unprecedented level of choice in their children’s education.

LIfeNews: A new study published in the Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention in February reported a very statistically significant increased risk of breast cancer for women with previous abortions as opposed to women who have never had one.

Findlaw: Two leaders in the movement to pass a student-focused immigration bill have recently taken over two emerging gay rights groups as well.

Findlaw: The State Assembly passed the legislation with overwhelming support, but it is currently sitting in the Senate Rules Committee. Supporters are trying to mobilize a floor vote before the end of the current legislative session.

AP: China criticized British Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday for meeting with the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, saying it amounts to support for Tibet’s independence from Chinese rule.

Thomas Haine at Public Discourse: He was a reluctant bigot, his supporters could even say, but now he has sincerely seen the light (and so, he seems to imply, should we). But if we focus on the timeline of the last few years, any nice conversion story becomes patently absurd.

Washington Examiner: the new CBS-New York Times poll . . . In April, Obama held a 49 percent to 43 percent lead among women. That has now flipped to 46 percent backing Romney with 44 percent for Obama, an 8-point switch.

NCPA Policy Digest: Many people currently get their health coverage from work, and they benefit from an implicit subsidy built into that workplace coverage that lets them spend pretax dollars through their employer to purchase health insurance. Depending on their tax rate, that subsidy helps offset some of the premium costs, says Scott Gottlieb, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute. Under the Obama plan, however, many of these families could instead find themselves buying their health insurance on the new state-based exchanges that get started in January 2014.

Robert Knight at Townhall: Someone should survey pastors who support Obama and ask: Which is more important – electing a man on the basis of race, or upholding the integrity of the faith and what the Scriptures say about marriage? Citing Genesis 2:24, Jesus said in Matthew 19:5: “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.”

WorldNetDaily: WND previously reported the attacks on Arpaio suggested White House coordination in an effort to remove from him from office or discredit him before his investigation uncovers more about Obama’s past.

Pat Buchanan at Townhall: Only 63.6 percent of the U.S. working age population is now in the labor force, the lowest level since December 1981.

James Taranto at the Wall Street Journal: But in reading the coverage of Obama’s same-sex marriage announcement last week, we’ve been struck by how much even news reporters seem to have given up evenhandedness to propagandize on behalf of one side of a divisive social issue. The most interesting aspect of this propaganda is that it seeks to deliver two contrary messages: that Obama’s declaration was a great act of courage and that it entails no political risk.

Kevin Brady and Jim DeMint at Wall Street Journal (via Google): Congress must make plain that American taxpayers will not protect states from the consequences of their policies.

Wall Street Journal (via Google): Imagine the panic if investors discovered that many of the nation’s biggest public companies had hidden liabilities so large as to make them worth a fraction of their value. That’s something akin to the shock created by the recent Credit Suisse report on multi-employer pension plans.

Washington Times: In the wake of a New York court ruling that says it’s not illegal to “merely” view online child pornography, child advocates are urging Internet-savvy federal prosecutors to take over these kinds of cases as two state lawmakers rush to fix the law.

9news.com (includes video): Emotions were high and arguments were heated on both sides of the civil unions debate Monday. But the bill to legalize civil unions for same-sex couples in Colorado died in committee, ending the chance for a change in the law – for now.