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Yesterday, President Bush called Sharon and told him that ending the clash at the reported site of Jesus' birth was very important to the U.S.

Two Palestinians—one shot in the stomach, and another suffering from epilepsy—were evacuated by Israel Defense Forces yesterday, placed under arrest, and sent to the prison ward of an Israeli hospital. Peter Kumri, director of Beit Jala hospital, told Reuters that more than a dozen others inside the church also need medical attention.

A third Palestinian from inside the compound, a 14-year-old boy, was captured by Israeli soldiers as he climbed over the church's walls in a search of vegetables. "It is better to die outside after eating a meal than to die inside hungry," he told Kumri. Food inside the church is reportedly almost gone, except for a few potatoes and some other staples.

Church & State:

• Religious groups already get taxes | Since the 1960s, government money has flowed to religious groups that run Head Start programs and other social services (The Cincinnati Post)
  
  
• Satan ban exposes mayor to wrath | Controversy continues in Inglis, Florida (Associated Press)
  
  
• Judge orders Commandments covered | Plaque has been affixed to the Chester County (Penn.) court's front entrance since 1920. (Associated Press)

Education:

• Seminary fights to survive fiscal woes | Union Theological Seminary, a liberal flagship for mainline Protestantism, is appealing to alumni to reverse an annual $2.75 million deficit (The Washington Times)
  
  
• Critics question academic value of Bible course | Academics say it eschews Bible scholarship and varying interpretations of biblical passages for a literal approach (The Advocate, Baton Rouge, La.)
  
  
• Religious gifts add up to a lawsuit | Daniel Walz, 9, claims discrimination. Egg Harbor Twp. schools say no. (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
  
  
• Federal court hears lawsuit over kindergarten Christian | Teacher hushed Kayla Broadus for saying, "God is good. God is great. Thank you, God, for my food." (The Washington Times)
  
  
• Christian club threatens to sue high school | Faculty advisor of the Pioneer High School's Gay-Straight Alliance wants Pioneers for Christ to adopt the non-discrimination policy like the rest of the school's clubs. (The Ann Arbor [Mich.] News)
  
  
• Florida lawmakers dispute religion code | A special legislative session called by Gov. Jeb Bush to pass a sweeping education measure ended in chaos Friday over a provision allowing students to pray and speak about religion in schools. (Associated Press)
  
  
• Also: Governor offers plan on religion in schools | Proposal an effort to prod lawmakers (The Florida Times-Union)
  
  
• Making schools better may not have a prayer | Why do we keep fighting the same religion-in-schools battles over and over? (Mike Thomas, The Orlando Sentinel)
  
  
• Permission to pray | Students who want to pray will do so no matter what bills are passed. There's no need for legislators to grant them permission. (The Times-Picayune, New Orleans)

Politics:

• And then came the books | Don't think religion and politics mix? They do in a flood of volumes published since Sept. 11 (The Dallas Morning News)
  
  
• Minister urges blacks to shun Michigan town | The Rev. Horace Sheffield III says Warren is guilty of racial profiling (The Washington Times)

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April (Web-only) 2002, Vol. 46