The Play’s the Thing
Mormon Christina Axson-Flynn, a drama student at the University of Utah, objected to profanity in a required script, claiming violation of her religious beliefs. In dismissing her claim U.S. District Judge Tena Campbell ruled August 3 that the words were part of a curriculum that took no position on religion and required only as an academic exercise. “You can’t have a society in which everything you disagree with is in violation of your constitutional rights,” said Alain Balmanno, an assistant Utah attorney general, who represented the school.
–The Associated Press
State Punishes Parents for their Discipline
Canadians were not sure what to make of an Elian-like raid by social workers and police on members of a Mennonite sect which had refused to promise that they would not use rods or switches to discipline their children, saying such methods are sanctioned by the Bible. Seven children were dragged screaming from their Aylmer, Ontario, home.
Within two weeks more than 100 mothers and children from the Mennonite Church of God sect in Aylmer had fled to the United States in fear of similar state action. Three weeks later the seven children were back in their own home under an interim arrangement with the family court, where the parents will spare the rod while the matter is decided.
–The Wall Street Journal, August 17, 2001.
Don’t Hide Jesus
Back in 1998 a group called Freedom From Religion sued to have a 15-foot tall statue of Jesus removed from a public park in Marshfield,Wisconsin. The suit was dismissed when the city sold the statue to a private landowner.
On February 4, 2000, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit ordered the city to take steps to differentiate between city property and the private property where the statue sits. As a result the city erected a low wrought iron fence and a sign indicating the private property. Not enough for the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which sought to force erection of a 10- foot high concrete wall to make the statue invisible to passersby.
Commonsense won out with a May 9 ruling by U.S. District Court Judge John Shabaz that “visual separation” was not required. He accepted as adequate a city proposal for a 4-foot high wrought iron fence and a “private park” sign.
–The American Center for Law and Justice, May 10, 2000.
Changing Opinion!
This item might well illustrate how changes in public opinion can quickly overtake contentious issues. On August 23 of this year, the Collier County, Florida, school board voted 3-1 not to hang posters bearing the national motto, “In God We Trust.” Anne Goodnight, the board chairwoman, said that “The schools and education need to remain neutral.”
The sole vote for the posters, Anne Abbott said “If we look at it as history, then the law says it can be posted in public schools.”
–Crosswalk.com news service, August 30, 2001.
A Millennium for Hungary
On August 20 this year Hungary concluded 20 months of festivities to mark 1,000 years since King Stephen introduced Christianity. Those 1,000 years included lost wars and revolutions, as well as the 1956 anti-Communist uprising. Artifacts included King stephen’s crown, a gift from Pope Silvester 2 in the year 1,000, and the king’s preserved right hand. Clergy carried the hand through the streets in celebration. Some Protestant leaders criticized the ceremony–which, apart from resonating poorly in a world appalled by amputations in Taliban justice and Sierra Leone terrorism, harks back to a supposedly forsaken past of relics and superstition.
–assist-ministries.com
Going, Going, Clone
More than just the subject of sci-fi movies and parlor talk, human cloning has the potential to irrevocably change the way society looks at human life and the value it places upon the individual. While the debate is just beginning, two European countries–Germany and France–have called on the United Nations to negotiate a global treaty banning human cloning.
A Catholic Register article of August 26, quoted Vatican Cardinal Ratzinger as comparing the development of cloning with the horrible intentions of Adolf Hitler. A moral and free society should look long and hard at the implications of this scientific “advance.”
Oops! A news item in our last issue used the word SNAFU. While common usage of the word is benign, some readers might have been offended at the original expression behind this acronym. We did not intend that message, and apologize if offense was taken.
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