Law and Religion Headlines


Tuesday, 16 December 2014

Dutch Christians unveil Europe's 'biggest' Menorah for Hanukkah
(JTA, The Jewish Daily Forward)

Hanukkah 2014 United States
(World Trending News)

What Hanukkah and Christmas have in common
(Rabbi Brad Hirschfield, Fox News)

Menorah tree, ugly sweaters make Hanukkah more like Christmas
(Lauren Coleman-Lochner, Bloomberg Businessweek)

Is Hanukkah getting more popular in Europe?
(Haaretz)

What Is Hanukkah? With a Medley of Chanukah Links
(Chabad.org)

L.A.’s Jews and Muslims partner in ‘twinning’ events
(Ryan Torok, Jewish Journal)

In Berlin, Jews and Muslims fight for each other
(Yermi Brenner, The Jewish Daily Forward)

Chanukah (Hanukkah): December 16-24, 2014
(The Ultimate Hanukkah Website, Chabad.org)

Advent & Christmas Season
(Catholic Online)

Advent: A time to seek answers humankind's most pressing questions
(F. K. Bartels, Catholic Online)

Relationships in America Survey Report Release 2014
(The Austin Institute for the Study of Family and Culture)

Relationships in America - Survey 2014 (PDF)
(The Austin Institute for the Study of Family and Culture)

Bonhoeffer in Advent
(Timothy George, First Things)

Muslim teens join Adventists in refusing Sabbath exams
(Andrew McChesney, Adventist News Network)

Anti-immigration protests grow in Germany
(Erik Kirschbaum, Reuters)

Sydney siege sparks 'I'll ride with you' campaign for worried Muslims
(Jane Wardell, Reuters)

Islamic leaders say Australians have risen above fear in wake of Sydney siege
(Oliver Milman, The Guardian)

Gunman in Sydney had long history of run-ins with the law
(Thomas Fuller and Michelle Innis, The New York Times)

Spain arrests seven accused of recruiting women for Islamic State
(Sonya Dowsett, Reuters)

Israeli ultra-Orthodox party locked in internal battle
(Mazal Mualem, Al-Monitor: Israel Pulse)

LGBT community finds Damascus more open
(Mustafa Al-Haj, trans. Joelle El-Khoury, Al-Monitor: Syria Pulse)

Taliban halted after slaughtering at least 137, mostly children, in Pakistan school
(Sophia Saifi and Greg Botelho,, CNN)

So ISIS is not infidel — are Christians?
(Ayman S. Ibrahim, First Things)

From burqas to boxing gloves, China’s 75 tips for spotting extremist Muslims
(Simon Denyer, The Washington Post)

Beijing Religious Affairs Bureau investigates claims of "members only" Tibetan temple [Simplified Chinese]
(Xinhua Net)

260 China rights lawyers protest detention of fellow lawyer
(Alison Sacriponte, Jurist)

Michigan Religious Freedom Restoration proposal unlikely to be voted on, sparks protest
(Jonathan Oosting, Michigan Live)

Lifetime’s Women of the Bible and conservative Christian theology
(Julia M. O'Brien, OUPblog Religion)

Religious freedom in American history: A Libertarian view
(Stephen Cox, First Things)

Secular Solstice: Doing good for goodness’ sake
(Kimberly Winston, Religion News Service)

Monday, 15 December 2014

About half see CIA interrogation methods as justified
(PewResearch Center for the People & the Press)

Religious freedom guards against tyranny: Part 2
(Brian J. Grim, Religious Freedom & Business Foundation)

Christmas in Europe is not a day but a season
(Rick Steves, Montreal Gazette)

Christmas Countdown: The 2014 Daily chart Advent calendar. A round-up of the year's most popular infographics
(The Economist)

U.S. Ambassador to Israel gets an early Hanukkah gift: an Iron Dome Menorah
(Elias Groll, Foreign Policy)

Holiday traditions from around the world
(OUPblog)

Advent Season
(United States Conference of Catholic Bishops)

Biblical women and Lifetime’s The Red Tent
(Julia M. OBrien, OUPblog Religion)

Middle East dictators feed sectarianism
(Madawi Al-Rasheed, Al-Monitor: Gulf Pulse)

'Forced'€™ conversions in India condemned by Muslim groups
(Al Jazeera America)

Pakistan’s blasphemy law strikes Bollywood
(Saroop Ijaz, Al Jazeera America)

French police raid ISIL recruitment network
(Lisa De Bode, Al Jazeera America)

Sex education from church and state sends mixed messages in Vietnam
(Marianne Brown, The Guardian)

Iowa food supplier charged with falsely selling $4.9m worth of beef as halal
(The Guardian)

Indian police stop planned mass conversion of 4,000 Christians to Hinduism on Christmas Day
(Mark Woods, Christian Today)

University of Maine has a change of heart over Christmas trees and candy canes
(Christian Today)

Most say religious holiday displays on public property are OK
(PewResearch Religion & Public Life Project)

Conflicts continue over nativity scenes on public property
(David Masci, Pew Research Center: Fact-tank)

Sydney hostage siege ends with gunman and 2 captives dead as police storm cafe
(Michelle Innis, The New York Times)

In push against Muslim cleric, Turkey detains police officers and journalists
(Sebnem Arsu, The New York Times)

Vatican report on US nuns to be released in Rome
(Rachel Zoll, The Associated Press, The Big Story)

Orthodox Jews back scarf-wearing Muslim in Abercrombie & Fitch case
(Javier Panzar, Los Angeles Times)

Gay Christians choosing celibacy emerge from the shadows
(Michelle Boorstein, The Washington Post)

Black churches pray in protest of police slayings
(Rachel Zoll, The Associated Press, The Big Story)

Lawyer: Free speech at stake in anti-Muslim film
(Brian Melley, AP)

Indonesian who published anti-ISIS cartoon is summoned under blasphemy law
(Thomas Fuller, The New York Times)

Atheist invocations challenge prayer at government meetings
(Chris Persaud, Portland Press Herald)

Senate OKs new religious freedom ambassador
(J. C. Derrick, World Magazine)

Congress gives final passage to Defense Authorization Act including provisions on Mt. Soledad transfer
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)

5 ways faith may promote healthier marriages
(David Briggs, The Association of Religion Data Archives (ARDA))

Church-state debate still rages, but public Hanukkah menorahs gain wider acceptance
(Sean Savage, Jewish and Israel News)

Bay City commissioner authors online petition against Religious Freedom Restoration Act
(Sam Easter, Michigan Live)

Abercrombie: Job-seekers must explain faith to win anti-discrimination protection
(Michael Rudin, Charisma News)

In France, overwhelming support for public Nativity scenes
(Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D., Breitbart News)

Turkey "improves" education through religion
(Burak Bekdil, Your Middle East)

Time to reset U.S. policy on international religious freedom
(Brian J. Grim and Robert T. Smith, Deseret News)

About 300 Chinese said fighting alongside Islamic State in Middle East
(reporting by Michael Martina; editing by Robert Birsel, Reuters)

Want to start a law school in Canada? Don't try making it Christian
(Bill Duncan, National Review Online: the Corner blog)

Voucher backers to Colorado high court: don’t exclude religious schools
(Patheos: Catholic news blog)

Religious conversion row: Yogi Adityanath says opposition has no issues left
(Business Standard)

Away with the manger: Long-time nativity display moved
(Inquistir)

Rapists get off the hook by marrying their victims. But Jordanian activists are lobbying for major change
(Kamilia Lahrichi, Your Middle East)

Ohio teen refuses to do homework until school brings back Ten Commandments plaque
(Scott Kaufman, Raw Story)

Youths of Nepal agitate against UK envoy remarks on religious conversion
(Telegraphnepal)

Crocodile tears: Taliban attacks on Sufi shrines lead to unlikely victims
(Mariya Karimjee, Al Jazeera America)

Court passes up RU-486 abortion issue, again
(Lyle Denniston, SCOTUSblog)

Chabad of California fined for misappropriating federal funds
(JTA)

Lawsuits seek to reform curriculum of ultra-orthodox Jewish schools
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)

Fascist law used against teacher in crucifix row
(The Local: Italy)

Tennessee opposes same-sex marriage review
(Lyle Denniston, SCOTUSblog)

Judge orders blood transfusion for Jehovah’s Witness child
(Rosalind English, UK Human Rights Blog)

UK's first 'gender-abortion' case in Crown Court in January
(Chistian Concern)

Pope pleads with Middle East churches to address crisis together
(Elise Harris, Catholic News Agency)

Clock ticking as Religious Freedom Restoration Act awaits action in Michigan Senate
(Jonathan Oosting, Michigan Live)

Jerusalem crisis: Amid violence, seeking paths to peace
(Christa Case Bryant, The Christian Science Monitor)

Scottish Bishops on Marriage and Civil Partnership
(David Pocklington, Law & Religion UK)

EVENT, 15 December 2014: Muslim Minorities and Religious Freedom: A Public Dialogue
(Professor Robert George, John Esposito, and Shaykh Hamza Yusuf, Religious Freedom Project, Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs)

Sunday, 14 December 2014

Backgrounder on lawsuit by NJ Methodist congregation against United Methodist Church
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)

Fight over ad in haredi paper highlights deep divisions
(Sam Sokol, The Jerusalem Post)

Historic Alpine church is site of bitter fight for control
(Jean Rimbach, NorthJersey.com)

Religion and Law round-up – 14th December
(Frank Cranmer, Law & Religion UK)

Saturday, 13 December 2014

Atheist whose invocation prompted walkout fighting to open meeting elsewhere
(Michael Gryboski, The Christian Post)

Egypt looks to roll back Islamist militias in Libya
(Ayah Aman, trans. Pascale Menassa, Al-Monitor: Egypt Pulse)

For jihadists, Denmark tries rehabilitation
(Andrew Higgins, The New York Times)

Iran's role in Yemen draws Israel and Saudi Arabia closer
(Ephraim Sneh, trans. Sandy Bloom, Al-Monitor: Israel Pulse)

Nigeria's Boko Haram violence killed as many people as ISIS in Iraq, new figures say
(Anugrah Kumar, The Christian Post)

Saperstein confirmed as International Religious Freedom Ambassador
(Howard Friedman, Religion Clause)

Shi'ite holy ceremony culminates in Kerbala, 1 dead from Sunni rocket fire
(Reuters)

Strasbourg is Europe's 'best Christmas market'
(The Local France)

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