Arizona House Non-Prayer Sparks Christian Re-Do

posted on May 24, 2013

Bob Christie of the Associated Press reports, “An atheist lawmaker’s decision to give the daily prayer at the Arizona House of Representatives triggered a do-over from a Christian lawmaker who said the previous day’s prayer didn’t pass muster.”

Read at Associated Press

Group: Ball State Science Prof Teaches Christianity

posted on May 24, 2013

USA Today’s Seth Slabaugh reports that, “Ball State University is investigating a complaint that one of its assistant professors in the department of physics and astronomy is preaching rather than teaching.” The professor has allegedly been teaching creationism and intelligent design based upon Christian belief.

Read at USA Today

Courts To Hear Birth Control Mandate Lawsuits

posted on May 23, 2013

Kathryn Smith and Jennifer Haberkorn of Politico report, “Obamacare’s birth control mandate will go before four different appeals courts over the next three weeks as private businesses that object to the policy on religious liberty grounds bring a barrage of lawsuits that opponents hope to get before the U.S. Supreme Court as soon as this fall.” Kyle Duncan, general counsel for The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, says the for-profit companies’ arguments will circulate around the key question: “Does the mere fact that they’re a profit-making business … negate their right to freedom of exercise of religion?”

Read at Politico

Fishermen Found Guilty, Although Court Agrees Subsistence Salmon Fishing Is Religious

posted on May 23, 2013

Last June, almost 50 fishermen were cited for illegal salmon fishing, reports Angela Denning-Barnes of Alaska Public Media. “The fishermen were challenging the state based on a free exercise clause of the Alaska constitution, arguing that subsistence fishing is a religious practice and that when they fished last summer during closures, they were practicing their religion,” she writes. The judge in the case found that “the state’s need to restrict King salmon supersedes the fishermen’s right to religious practice.”

Read at Alaska Public Media

Church Whistle-Blowers Join Forces On Abuse

posted on May 23, 2013

Laurie Goodstein reports for the New York Times on a newly formed group called Catholic Whistleblowers, a “cadre of priests and nuns who say the Roman Catholic Church is still protecting sexual predators.” Goodstein writes, “Although they know they could face repercussions, they have banded together to push the new pope to clean house and the American bishops to enforce the zero-tolerance policies they adopted more than a decade ago.”

Read at The New York Times

Religious Groups Throw Lobbying Cash At Immigration Reform

posted on May 23, 2013

Elizabeth Flock of US News & World Report writes that religious groups are increasing spending on lobbying for immigration reform: “Once among the smallest lobbyists, the Catholic Health Association last quarter spent $130,000 lobbying on immigration reform, while the American Jewish Committee spent $40,000 — double what it spent the previous quarter.” She continues, “Many religious groups say immigration reform has a lot to with their shared values of family, justice and community.”

Read at US News & World Report

Group Wants Atheist Books Placed With Bibles In Georgia State Parks

posted on May 23, 2013

After the governor of Georgia ordered Bibles put back into state parks, David Beasley of Reuters reports the group American Atheists “said it plans to donate enough books on its views to be placed in all Georgia state park cabins.” Beasley writes they “would donate popular atheist books, including ‘Why I Am An Atheist’ by Madalyn Murray O’Hair, ‘god is not Great’ by Christopher Hitchens, and ‘The God Delusion’ by Richard Dawkins.”

Read at Reuters

Leahy Withdraws Gay Couples Amendment In Immigration Bill

posted on May 22, 2013

Alan Gomez of USA Today reports that Senator Patrick Leahy withdrew his “amendment that would have allowed gay and lesbian U.S. citizens to use the nation’s immigration system to petition for their partners they married in other countries.” Senator Dick Durbin said of Leahy, “I believe in my heart of hearts that what you’re doing is the right and just thing. … But I believe this is the wrong moment, this is the wrong bill.”

Read at USA Today