Here are some important law-and-religion news stories from around the web:
- Hundreds of demonstrators descended on the Connecticut capitol to express both support and opposition to a proposed bill that would prohibit parents from citing religious or philosophical beliefs when refusing to vaccinate their school-age children.
- Muslim advocacy organizations are demanding Bloomberg apologize for his role in the NY Police Department’s long-running warrantless surveillance of area Muslims, arguing Bloomberg violated minorities’ civil rights and further stigmatized these communities.
- A bill requiring minors seeking an abortion to receive notarized approval from a parent or guardian, or to get consent from a judge after a hearing, passed through both houses of the Florida state legislature.
- The Portuguese Doctors’ Association is joining with the Catholic Church in opposing legislation to decriminalize euthanasia and assisted suicide for people in situations of extreme suffering, with an untreatable injury, or with fatal and incurable diseases.
- Brigham Young University in Utah, a Mormon church institution, has changed a rule that previously banned any behavior that reflected “homosexual feelings.”