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The Network of Anglican Communion Dioceses and Parishes website has posted its theological charter.

Can lesbians divorce if they're not married?

An Iowa judge did not immediately recognize that he was allowing the divorce of two lesbians, who'd had a civil union in Vermont, but he decided to let his decision stand, he said, because the Constitution requires states to recognize other's laws.

But when some states recognize civil unions, and others have a Defense of Marriage Act, the laws conflict, and the Iowa Family Policy Center is arguing before the state supreme court that the judge exceeded his authority. Chuck Hurley, president of the Family Policy Center said, the lawsuit is "based on the premise that he did not have the authority to dissolve a marriage since there can be no marriage under Iowa law. The judicial branch has usurped or tried to assume a legislative function." Several state legislators have joined the opposition.

The women seeking a divorce had received their union in Vermont and returned to Iowa to live. However, the Iowa Family Policy Center argues that the state does not recognize the union, and therefore can't grant a divorce.

French to ban Islamic headscarves:

• Veiled issue | The latest controversy in France involves neither the war in Iraq nor genetically modified food; rather it concerns the way a Muslim woman wears her hair. On Thursday, A French commission released a study arguing in favor of banning articles of religious clothing from being worn in public schools. (Mother Jones)
  
  
• The case for national integration | Last Thursday, France's blue-ribbon panel on issues relating to religion and the state called for a new law banning the wearing of "conspicuous" religious symbols in French public schools. The implications of the commission's report are much broader than the question of religion in secular France. The findings constitute an 11th hour attempt to hold back the clock against forces of extreme ethnic and religious particularism operating against national integration. (Editorial, Jerusalem Post)
  
  
• Will Chirac fight fascism? | Anyone following the French media these days might get the impression that we are heading for "a war of values" and a "clash of civilizations" over what is known as "le foulard islamique." The controversial foulard is a special headgear, inspired by the hood worn by Capuchin monks, and designed to cover a woman's head, leaving only her face exposed. (New York Post)
  
  
• Bad press for headscarf ban | A proposed ban on conspicuous religious symbols such as headscarves or crucifixes in French schools is roundly rejected in the press. (BBC)
  
  

Christians seek refuge in Australia:

• Refugee converts sew lips in fear | Lawyers have launched a new action in the Australian courts to release a group of Afghan refugees the government sent to the island nation of Nauru. (Washington Times)
  
  
• New push to free detainees | Asylum-Seekers on Nauru who have sewn their lips together are converted Christians who believe they will be killed if forced to return to Afghanistan, a group of the refugees accepted into Australia have asserted. (The Advertiser, Australia)
  
  
• Nauru detainees take court action | Almost 300 asylum seekers detained in Nauru have launched legal action against the federal government, claiming they are being falsely imprisoned. Several of the men had converted to Christianity which spelled certain death if they returned to their homeland. (The Age, Australia)
  
  

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December (Web-only) 2003, Vol. 47