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Reports of Wehmeyer's dismissal—apparently part of a the 10 percent staff reduction at ABC News mandated by parent company Disney—were quickly followed up by word that ABC News would instead be partnering with multifaith Web site Beliefnet. The organizations will "include joint ABC-Beliefnet branded polling and co-production of pieces for ABC News programs," reported a press release. But The Washington Times notes that the last time ABCNews and Beliefnet partnered—for Peter Jennings Reporting: The Search for Jesus—the product riled up religious conservatives.

Church and state:

• ACLU appeals ruling on Mormon park | Church security guards may throw people out of former public street for "offensive, indecent, obscene, vulgar, lewd or disorderly speech, dress or conduct" (Associated Press)
• VMI answers lawsuit attacking prayer | "No cadet is compelled to participate," says superintendent (Associated Press)
• Also: Outgoing Virginia attorney general backs VMI prayers (The Washington Times)
• Florida pastor sues county over church-building denial | Local spiritualists argued that they would be targets for conversion by church members (Associated Press)
• Federal lawsuits accuse Navy of religious discrimination | Evangelical chaplains say there's a bias toward liturgical faiths (Associated Press)
• Earlier: More Navy Chaplains Allege Discrimination | "We're not on the same ground as the high church group or the Catholics," say evangelicals. (Christianity Today, Apr. 18, 2001)
• Civil rights group sues Indiana over grants to religious organizations | Lottery funds went to churches, parochial schools and parachurch groups (Associated Press)
• Khor Virab Journal: Armenians mark birth of national Christianity | St. Gregory was imprisoned for 13 years in Khor Virab, Armenia, before helping make the country the world's first officially Christian nation. (The New York Times)
• Breaking law can be Christian duty, concludes Evangelical Fellowship of Canada | "Breaking the law of the land is always serious, but it is not always wrong" (The National Post)
• Christians threatens to sue Borno over Sharia | But concerns are being ignored, says organization leader (The Nigerian Guardian, Lagos)
• Also: Borno State adopts Sharia (The Nigerian Guardian)
• Church can be built, not expanded | Centerpiece in Seattle-area fight over proposed size limits for schools and places of worship can still be built, but cannot grow as large as church leaders want, judge rules. (The Seattle Times)
• Also: Washington judge OKs construction of megachurch | Timberlake Christian Fellowship may build its megachurch to the size already planned — but no bigger for now (Associated Press)

Religion and politics:

• Mugabe's men on the run from witchcraft | Zimbabwe's embattled president is facing a new crisis: a growing belief among his followers that he and his government have become the victims of black magic, and that bad luck follows them at every turn. (The Sunday Times, London)
• U.S. clerics: End Iraq sanctions | 10 religious groups and 30 leaders, including nine Roman Catholic bishops, say U.S.-British plan to amend embargo would do little to alleviate the Iraqi people's suffering (Associated Press)
• Billy Graham's son endorses execution for McVeigh | "No question," says Franklin Graham. "The Bible is very clear in how we are to deal with those who take life in the case of murder." (WYFF, Greenville, South Carolina)

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June (Web-only) 2001, Vol. 45