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• Before throttle, a quick prayer | Racing ministry aids drivers, crews, fans. Sudden death can be a part of pastors' work (Los Angeles Times)
  
  
• Keeping the faith | Hundreds visit Rodeo Grounds to see evangelist Wayman Mitchell; 'Miracle healing' sustains them (Arizona Daily Star)
  
  
• Family mission | Local family sells possessions, heads for Cambodia to start orphanage (Daily Camera, Boulder, Colo.)
  
  
• Sermon on the mount: Cowgirl preacher is spurred on by her faith | Crystal Lyons' intimate preaching style has made her one of the more dynamic speakers in American rodeo circles (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
  
  
• Former atheist tells why he believes now | Lee Strobel, a former investigative and legal reporter for the Chicago Tribune who wrote "The Case for Christ" and "The Case for Faith," spoke to about 1,200 people Saturday afternoon at University United Methodist Church (San Antonio Express-News)

Education:

• Creationists planning to open six new schools | The organization behind a state-funded secondary school that has been criticized for promoting biblical creationism is to open two inner-city academies and is in talks that would bring seven schools under its control (The Times, London)
  
  
• Also: Dawkins attacks 'educational debauchery' of creationist schools | The organization criticized for promoting creationism in state education has admitted that anti-evolutionary theories will be taught in its new schools (The Guardian, London)
  
  
• James Island high school wants class about Bible | Curriculum would 'teach, not preach' (The Post and Courier, Charleston, SC)

Church and state:

• VMI prayer violates Constitution, panel rules | An appellate court ruled yesterday that the Virginia Military Institute's 50-year tradition of praying before dinner is unconstitutional, saying that the "coercive atmosphere" surrounding the event violates the First Amendment rights of cadets (The Washington Post)
  
  
• Also: Appeals court upholds ban on VMI prayer (The Washington Times)
  
  
• Also: VMI dinner prayer ruled unconstitutional (Associated Press)
  
  
• To worship freely, Americans need a little elbow room | Most religious organizations recognize that religious freedom depends entirely on maintaining the constitutional separation between church and state. (Brent Staples, The New York Times)

Life ethics:

• Abortion clinic appeal denied | Ruling lets stand S.C. regulations requiring centers to turn over patient files (The State, Columbia, S.C.)
  
  
• Court turns away challenge to S. Carolina abortion law (The Washington Times)
  
  
• Catholic politicians feel church heat on abortion | With several recent messages taking to task prominent politicians, Catholic Church leaders are showing signs of more aggressively challenging Catholic officeholders who support abortion rights (Chicago Tribune)
  
  
• Anti-abortion protests end in Adventist church member's ouster | Church says it disagrees with his methods, not his position (Seattle Times)

Persecution and religious freedom:

• Kerala: VHP calls for ban on mass conversions | Hindu group says they're being promoted to create "separate homelands" (PTI)
  
  
• Also: VHP to press for conversion ban in India | More (baseless) allegations of bribes for conversions (UNI)
  
  
• Laos evicts three families for not renouncing Christianity | The families, from Muang Phine district in Savannakhet province, are now in the care of a Christian church after being forced out of their homes in late March, says Radio Free Asia (AFP)
  
  

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April (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47