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The 9th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals today, in a 2-1 decision struck down California’s Proposition 8 that eliminated the right– previously created by the California Supreme Court’s interpretation of the state constitution– for same-sex couples to marry. In Perry v. Brown, (9th Cir., Feb. 7, 2012), [opinion on alternate website in case of traffic overload] [...]

As previously reported, On Jan. 29 Catholic Churches around the country read similar letters from their local bishops condemning the Obama administration’s new rules requiring contraception coverage by most health plans, with exemptions that are too narrow to include most Catholic schools and hospitals. It appears that the letter posed particular issues for Catholic chaplains in [...]

Yet another decision has been handed down in the 7-year litigation over Plano, Texas Independent School District rules that, among other things, prevented a student from handing out candy canes with attached religious messages. In Morgan v. Plano Independent School District, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12875 (ED TX, Feb. 1, 2012), a Texas federal magistrate judge summarized [...]

Yesterday’s Christian Science Monitor reports that as the fighting goes on in Syria, the conflict is moving from a popular uprising to a confrontation between Sunnis and Shiites, explaining: The regime’s reliance on Alawite militiamen, known as the Shabiha, to help suppress the 10-month uprising is mirrored by elements of the armed rebel forces rallying [...]

Today is the United Nations’-declared annual International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust. Haaretz reports on plans in countries across Europe for marking the day. The January 27 date was chosen because it is the anniversary of the liberation in 1945 of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp by Soviet forces. The United [...]

Today’s New York Times reports in a front page story that the 72-minute film, The Third Jihad, was shown on continuous loop to New York City police officers during training sign-in, and the training medical and administrative orientation process. The film, produced by the Clarion Fund, was shown for a period between 3 months and [...]

The National Center for Science Education reported last week that so far this year, six separate anti-evolution bills have been introduced in state legislatures– one in Oklahoma, one in Indiana, two in New Hampshire and two in Missouri. Here are links to the bills:  Oklahoma SB 1742; Indiana SB 0089; New Hampshire HB1148 and HB1457; Missouri [...]

Yesterday was the 39th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court case that legalized abortion nation wide.  Rallies by abortion opponents were held in Lafayette Park across from the White House. (CNN) The U.S. Conference of of Catholic Bishops announced the National Prayer Vigil For Life scheduled for yesterday and today at the Basilica of the [...]

Today was Religious Freedom Day, marking the 226th anniversary of the adoption of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom. Last week, President Obama issued an official Presidential Proclamation (full text) declaring the observance. The Proclamation reads in part: For nearly four centuries, men and women have immigrated to America’s shores in pursuit of religious freedom. [...]

In December, parent Ginger Strivelli complained to the principal at North Windy Ridge intermediate school in Buncombe County, North Carolina because her son brought home one of the Gideon Bibles that the school had made available in an office for any student who wanted to pick one up.  In response, the principal said that any [...]