Objective coverage of church-state and religious liberty developments, with extensive links to primary sources.
Thursday, November 06, 2008
Suit Challenging Illinois Grant To Rebuild Church Remanded To State Court
FLDS Asks Federal Court To Stop State Sale Of UEP Land
In 2006 the Utah court took steps to reform the trust in a way that avoided inquiry into whether anyone living on UEP land was involved in a polygamous relationship. (See prior posting.) Jessop says: "Of course the trust was operated under religious principles, and of course the trust 'discriminated' on the basis of determinations made in accordance with Holy Scripture and divine revelation."
Cert. Filed In Eagle Protection Act Case
Advocacy Groups Have Varied Reactions To Tuesday's Election Results
After eight years of unprecedented access to the White House and (until 2006) in the halls of Congress, Religious Right organizations are about to lose a lot of clout with much of official Washington and could see their influence at the national level diminished. But it’s unlikely any of these organizations will close down. Rather, they will organize to defeat individual-freedom initiatives put forward by President Barack Obama, and they will place more emphasis on state and local governments as a way to press their agenda forward.Yesterday's Christian Post reported that Christian groups had varied reactions to Obama's win. The National Council of Churches USA issued a statement congratulating Obama and promising to work with him "to respond to the realities that a loving God places before us each day." Looking in a different direction, Focus on the Family took heart in the fact that Democrats failed to win the veto-proof 60 seats in the Senate. They were also encouraged by the passage of anti-gay marriage amendments in three states. The group said that these results "give values voters reason to stay tuned to development on Capitol Hill."
Yesterday's New York Times reports similarly that the approval of the bans on gay marriage, along with passage in Arkansas of a provision intended to bar gays and lesbians from adopting children, were "a stunning victory for religious conservatives, who had little else to celebrate on an Election Day." It points out that California will still be able to offer civil unions to same-sex couples.
Evangelist Sues Louisiana School Over Its Speech Permit Policy
Student Sent Home From School Because Jesus Costume Was Disruptive
Wednesday, November 05, 2008
Compilation of Obama's Statements on Faith and Church-State Relations
- Barack Obama On Faith (from Obama '08 website).
- Saddleback Forum Interview (Aug. 16, 2008).
- Speech on Faith In America (July 1, 2008).
- Obama E-mail interview on CBN's Brody File (July 29, 2007).
- Call to Renewal Conference Keynote (June 28, 2006).
Court Rejects Religious Group's Challenges To Chicago's Zoning Permit Requirement
Ballot Measure Results: Issues on Gay Marriage, Abortion and Stem Cells [UPDATED]
- California's Proposition 8 banning same sex marriage passed by nearly 52% with most votes counted.
- Florida Marriage Amendment banning same-sex marriage passed by 62%.
- Arizona Proposition 102 banning same-sex marriage passed by 56.5%.
- Michigan proposal 08-102 to permit human and embryonic stem cell research, subject to various restrictions, passed by a 53% vote (99% of precincts reporting) according to reports by CNN and the Detroit Free Press . Earlier returns from the Secretary of State's office showing different results are just now being updated by that office.
- South Dakota's Initiated Measure 11 to prohibit abortions except where there is risk to life or substantial and irreversible health risk, or reported rape or incest, defeated by a 55% vote.
- Colorado Amendment 48 defining "person" to include any human being from the moment of fertilization, defeated by 73% (with 87% of precincts reporting) (CNN report).
See prior posting for links to texts of the ballot measures.
UPDATE: Also of relevance is the passage by an almost 57% vote (89% of counties reporting) of a ballot measure in Arkansas prohibiting adoptions or foster parenting by unmarried couples. Its backers were primarily concerned with barring adoptions by same-sex couples, though the amendment also covers heterosexual couples.
Settlement Reached In EEOC Suit Against University of Phoenix Online
Protective Appeal Filed In Green Bay Holiday Display Case
Tuesday, November 04, 2008
An Essay For Election Day
When you break it down, there is little in the act of voting that differs from the most pedestrian of bureaucratic errands. Yet there is something hugely humbling in this, something very close to the feeling of the Fear of God. There is majesty to it, and devotion and the palpable sense of affecting, if only in a small way - but directly - the world's course.
Ours is an age of congenital cynicism.... Still, there is something about voting that overpowers alienation and chronic disappointment and cosmopolitanism and cool.
California County Will Accommodate Muslim Women On Headscarves In Arrests
Apartment Manager- Tenant Battle Over Statue of Jesus
Iraqi Minority Religions Voted Some Representation On Provincial Councils
Army Discharges Trainee Who Assaulted Target of Anti-Semitism
Religious Issues Will Be Important In Upcoming Israeli Elections
Monday, November 03, 2008
Morocco Bars French Magazine Issue On Relationship of Christianity and Islam
Ballot Measures In 6 States Watched By Religious Groups
- Florida- Proposal 2- Marriage Protection Amendment.
- California- Proposition 8- Initiative to Eliminate Right of Same-Sex Couples to Marry.
- Arizona- Proposition 102- Constitutional Amendment Relating to Marriage.
- Michigan- Proposal 08-12- Proposed Constitutional Amendment on Human Embryo and Embryonic Stem Cell Research.
- South Dakota- Initiated Measure 11- To Prohibit Abortions Except in Cases Where the Mother's Life or Health Is At a Substantial and Irreversible Risk, and In Cases of Reported Rape and Incest.
- Colorado- Amendment 48- Definition of Person.
New Articles and Book of Interest
- Richard J. Ross, Puritan Godly Discipline in Comparative Perspective: Legal Pluralism and the Sources of 'Intensity', (American Historical Review, Vol. 113, pp. 975-1002, 2008).
- John Witte & Joel A. Nichols, More than a Mere Contract: Marriage as Contract and Covenant in Law and Theology, (University of St. Thomas Law Journal, Vol. 5, p. 595, 2008).
- Barbara P. Billauer, With Liberty and Justice for All: Abortion, Religious Freedom and the Constitution, (October 31, 2008).
- A. Scott Loveless, The Forgotten Founding Document, (October 23, 2008).
- Thomas Charles Berg, Religious Choice and Exclusions of Religion,(PENNumbra, 2008).
- Ben Saul, Wearing Thin: Restrictions on Islamic Headscarves and Other Religious Symbols, (FORCED MIGRATION, HUMAN RIGHTS AND SECURITY, pp. 181-212, J. McAdam, (ed), Hart Publishing, UK, 2008).
- Phiolmila Tsoukala, Marrying Family Law to the Nation, (October 23, 2008).
- Steven H. Sholk, A Guide to Election Year Activities of Section 501(c)(3) Organizations, (in PLI Course Handbook, Tax Strategies for Corporate Acquisitions, Dispositions, Spin-Offs, Joint Ventures, Financings, Reorganizations & Restructurings, October 2008).
- Daniel Dalton, The Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act Update, 40 Urban Lawyer 603-622 (2008).
- David F. Holland, Sovereign Silences and the Voice of War in the American Conflict Over Slavery, 26 Law & History Review 571-594 (2008).
- John S. Kane, Refining Chevron--Restoring Judicial Review to Protect Religious Refugees, 60 Administrative Law Review 513-591 (2008).
- Lena Salaymeh, Early Islamic Legal-Historical Precedents: Prisoners of War, 26 Law & History Review 521-544 (2008).
- Narendra Subramanian, Legal Change and Gender Inequality: Changes in Muslim Family Law in India [abstract], 33 Law & Social Inquiry 631-672 (2008).
- Eli Wald, The Rise of the Jewish Law Firm or Is the Jewish Law Firm Generic?, 76 UMKC Law Review 885-938 (2008).
- John Witte, Jr. Rights, Resistance, and Revolution in the Western Tradition: Early Protestant Foundations, 26 Law & History Review 545-570 (2008).
- The full text of Volume 47, No. 2 (2008) of the Journal of Catholic Legal Studies is available online. It includes a Symposium on Catholic Teaching, Catholic Values, And Catholic Voters: Reflections On Forming Consciences For Faithful Citizenship, as well as articles on migration, just wars, and economic ordering.
- Journal of Church & State, Vol. 50, No. 3 (Summer 2008) has recently been published. The Table of Contents is online.
- Tarek Fatah, Chasing a Mirage — The Tragic Illusion of the Islamic State, (John Wiley & Sons, May 2008), reviewed in Pakistan's Daily Times and Haaretz.