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Anglican Archbishop of Kenya says government is trying to kill him as he retires
After a potentially deadly car crash with a police cruiser, the Anglican Archbishop of Kenya says the national government is trying to kill him. "I am now asking President Moi to say who wants me dead. It is only through the grace of God that I am alive today," David Gitari said during a Nairobi church service Sunday. "I will not be cowed by anyone."

Gitari, who retires later this month, has been very critical of the national government, especially President Daniel arap Moi. He was also the victim of an apparent assassination attempt in 1989 — and the government inquiry into the attack was never made public.

However, Gitari also suspects that it may have been an issue of local revenge: the police car hit him at the same spot where he had earlier busted police officers for taking bribes from motorists.

The description of the accident by Gitari's driver makes it sound deliberate: "I was in the inner lane and the police car was on the outer one. The police car was a few meters ahead and the driver suddenly swerved into my lane without flashing the indicator."

And indeed, there have been other recent troubles in the country. Anglican pastor Francis Keya Mukhwana was shot dead by police officers last Wednesday in a reported drug raid gone bad.

But Friday's accident could have been merely another of the country's tragic traffic mishaps. Attendees of a convention by the Anglican Mothers' Union last month, for example, experienced two serious collisions. In one, six women were killed.

Police Commissioner Philemon Abong'o says the police officer driving the car was to blame, but that the accident wasn't part of any plot against Gitari.

Ohio landlord has right to deny housing to unmarried couple
The Ohio Civil Rights Commission has overturned an earlier ruling, and now says that landlord David Grey was within his rights to deny housing to Danielle Levingston and Todd Roberts, an unmarried couple with four children. "There's nothing wrong in using your religion to make a decision," Grey told The Beacon Journal of Akron. "What good is religion if you can't apply it?"

Connie Higgins, spokeswoman for the Civil Rights Commission, told the paper that the full five-member commission reversals of regional decisions are extremely rare. She put it at about 3 percent, but had earlier said it was less than 1 percent.

Grey explained that says he acted out of love, not hatred. "When [Levingston] approached me to rent the property, she said she was concerned about the environment her children had been living in," he told The Beacon-Journal. "I thought perhaps that she may very well be passing on some wrong values to her children, so out of a heart for her, I started to tell her what the Scriptures have to say about impurity."

An encouraging postscript: Levingston and Roberts are now married.

Church school attacked in South Korea
A mentally disturbed man attacked a church school cafeteria today, injuring 10 children as they ate lunch. At least one is in critical condition from the 30-minute attack. "In my dreams, I heard a voice saying that my wish will be fulfilled and I will live only if I kill many people," the 53-year-old attacker, identified only as Hwang, said. "I kept hearing the voice even when I was awake." Reuters has disturbing photos and video.

Crime and violence:

• Transient charged in nun's death | Attack and rape of two nuns did not appear to be motivated by religious animosity, says D.A. (The Seattle Times)
  
  

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September (Web-only) 2002, Vol. 46