Happy New Year to everyone on the Turley blog. This has been an extraordinary first year of the blog which is approaching two million hits annually. The success of the blog is due largely to our regulars who continue to make this one of the smartest and most fun blogs on the web. Even with the invasion by trolls and a few uncivil moments, the blog has remained a special forum for intelligent, civil, and often witty discourse. Our impressive monthly growth (and the obvious irritation of trolls) is a testament to the fact that there remains many people who want to engage in such dialogue. 2008 was our first full year in operation and I am very grateful for the contributions of all of the regulars on this blog.
Category: Religion
Marquis LaFortune, 25, has filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission after she was fired as a teacher with the Central Catholic High School in San Antonio for marrying Benjamin Stakes — a divorced man. The Catholic church forbids such marriages and had warned her that she would have to chose between teaching and love. This raises some very interesting questions of free exercise under the First Amendment.
Continue reading “Putting Down Stakes: Catholic High School Fires Teacher for Marrying Divorced Man”
First Reformed Church of Hackensack, N.J., does not like homeless people who put food before faith. The Church reportedly shutdown the FAITH Foundation homeless shelter after the director, Robin Reilly, allowed homeless people on Christmas Day to eat before the families were required to listen to a sermon and prayer. FAITH was concerned that many people had not eaten in twenty-four hours and that it was difficult for the families to wait to eat under the circumstances.
Kosher hot dog maker Arnie Zaler may have pulled off his greatest scam. Facing 30 counts of bank and wire fraud in Denver, Zaler promised not to leave Denver if he was released on an unsecured bond. He handed over his Israeli passport and then a few days later fled to Israel on a different passport.
Portland Bishop Richard Malone has issued a rare order banning an advocate for people abused by priests from his services and threatening to issue a rare Interdict — banning Paul Kendrick from the right of communion. The Maine diocese recently released the names of eleven priests in the state with credible allegations of abuse.
Continue reading “Who Will Rid Me of This Meddlesome Protester? Maine Bishop Bans Advocate for Abuse Victim From Services”
Mayor Karl Zuber of Avon Lake, Ohio appears not to have gotten the memo on the separation of church and state a bit late. Zuber had a sign put up in front of the city hall reading “Remember Christ is in Christmas.” He then received a series of calls from the city attorney, city council members, and an advocacy group asking him to remember the separation of church and state is in the Constitution.
In New Orleans, a gay couple from California has won an important victory after U.S. District Judge Jay Zainey ruled that their adopted son’s Louisiana birth certificate must bear both of their names as the adoptive fathers. Oren Adar and Mickey Ray Smith of San Diego will be jointly listed under a full faith and credit ruling that could signal a major advance for gay couples and parents.
Continue reading “Federal Court in Louisiana Rules In Favor of Gay Adoptive Fathers”
The voting continues on the top blogs. The Turley blog was selected as one of the 100 top legal blogs by the good people at the ABA Journal. It currently holds the number one spot for law professor and legal theory blogs. The tally shows the Turley blog with 387 votes with Mirror of Justice with 234 votes. The voting ends on January 2nd. You have done well Turley bloggers.
Continue reading “The Turley Blog Leads in Vote on Best Law Professor and Legal Theory Blogs”
The first of Pardo’s victims was an eight-year-old girl who answered the door. She will survive by she was injured in the face.
For the full story, click here.
Best wishes to everyone celebrating Christmas and Hanukkah. Our kids get to double dip on both holidays in a play to spread our bets between the two religions of the parents. We have just finished placing the last present under the tree in Chicago. We can now look forward to three hours of sleep before the C-Day invasion. As my gift to you, I have linked a truly inspirational holiday video: Jingle Bells played on microwave ovens below.
Continue reading “Happy Holidays!”
A Christmas controversy is brewing in Pensacola, Florida where Tonia Thomas, 35, claims that she was fired because he insisted on greeting callers with “Merry Christmas” rather than Happy Holidays. Her former employer, Counts-Oakes Resorts Properties Inc., insists that there were other reasons for her termination but outside groups have come to Thomas’ aid in suing the company. In the meantime, Muslims are debating whether they can say “Merry Christmas.”
As states grapple with limitations on same sex marriage, polygamy, and other moral legislation controversies, scientists may have introduced another areas of potential challenge: the ban on first cousins. The premise for barring first cousins was always based on rather shaky science. Now, scientists are challenging any medical or public policy basis for the prohibition — raising constitutional questions of why consenting adults can be barred from such marriages.
Continue reading “Kissing Cousins: A New Question of Discrimination In the Wake of New Studies”
It appears that neither judges nor police officers in Douglasville, Georgia have heard of the use of a scarf for religious purposes or, more likely, didn’t care about the religious practice. Lisa Valentine was arrested after she was ordered to remove the scarf, or hijab. Valentine, who goes by the Muslim name Miedah, refused and tried to leave the courthouse when she was barred by officers who took her to appear before Judge Keith Rollins who appears to have a little judgment as training as a jurist. He jailed her for 10 days.
The Iranian regime celebrated the 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in true Iranian fashion: they shutdown the respected Center for Defenders of Human Rights in Tehran. The group was planned a celebration of the Universal Declaration when the police raided their office and charged it with such unspeakable crimes as “publishing statements, writing letters to international organizations, and holding press conferences.”
Continue reading “Happy Anniversary: Iran Raids Leading Human Rights Organization”
A Saudi court has refused to annul the marriage of an eight-year-old girl who was married off by her father to a 58-year-old man. The Unayzah court says that it would prefer the girl to remain married to the man until she reaches puberty — a curious solution to child abuse. The girl’s divorced mother has been trying to annul the marriage.
Continue reading “Saudi Court Refuses to Annul Marriage of 8-Year-old to 58-Year-Old Man”