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Kenneth pleaded guilty to charges after refusing legal assistance. He was arrested a year ago after writing letters to local imams claiming he was Jesus and discrediting Islam. The ruling must be ratified by a higher court before the sentence is carried out, but human-rights groups say Kenneth has a history of mental illness and should have been examined by a medical board before trial.

Earlier this week, a new alliance of Pakistan's non-Muslim minority communities, the All Pakistan Minorities Alliance (APMA), called for the government to end the law that it says is used against them to settle personal scores.

''We cannot even think of insulting any prophet, no matter of which religion, but people here are misusing the blasphemy law,'' chairman Shahbaz Bhatti told a news conference.

The APMA stance comes only weeks after a 300-person mob stoned a 48-year-old Muslim to death after he was acquitted on grounds of mental illness. While no one given a death sentence under the 1985 law has been officially executed, many of those sentenced or accused have been killed before trial or while in jail. Condemned Christian Ayub Masih, 35, has been languishing in jail for nearly five years.

Pornography:

• Methodist minister is removed from pulpit | Busted for viewing Internet pornography (Omaha [Neb.] World-Herald)
  
  
• Priest pleads guilty to child porn charges | Rydzewski was arrested after FBI agents armed with search warrants found child pornography in the hard drive of the personal computer in his office in the church rectory. (CNN)

Politics and law:

• Church calls for proper management of oil revenue | This is the first time that the bishops have spoken out on the issue, having previously left it to the country's politicians. (UN Integrated Regional Information Networks)
  
  
• Don't force Christians into cults, cleric warns parties | He warned that the entire Christian community in Nigeria would blacklist any political party that pressurizes Christians to "bow to the devil" through secret societies to get nomination. (This Day, Lagos)
  
  
• Christians told to seek elective posts | Governor calls on Christians in the state to take active part in politics and seek elective offices in the various elections ahead. (This Day, Lagos)
  
  
• Christians defend rights in court  | Convinced traditional civil-rights groups are antagonistic to Christians, activists increasingly are turning to a secular institution—the courts—to protect the right to noisily declare one's faith. (The Detroit News)
  
  
• Federal appeals panel won't allow ex-cadet's religious-bias suit | A panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has refused to reinstate a lawsuit by a Jehovah's Witness who quit the Washington State Patrol academy because he believed he would have to take an oath of allegiance and salute the flag. (Associated Press)

Marriage:

• Archbishop will bless the wedding of Charles and Camilla in church | Rowan Williams believes couple should be treated "as any other" (The Daily Telegraph, London)
  
  
• Gays race supporters of marriage amendment | Advocates for religious and legal "marriage" for homosexuals are moving toward their goal, racing against a countermove to amend the U.S. Constitution to say marriage is between a man and woman (The Washington Times)
  
  
• Gay marriage ban thwarted | Legislators kill ballot question. (The Boston Globe)
  
  
• In future, will only gays get married? | Just as gays are finally to be allowed into the house of marriage, everyone else is departing. (National Post)

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July (Web-only) 2002, Vol. 46