Related articles and links |  1 of 10

China cancels China National Orchestra concert over Christian fears
China's Ministry of Culture ordered the chorus of the China National Orchestra to withdraw from a Saturday concert, reportedly because it included Christian-themed material, according to the Associated Press.

Conductor Su Wenxing, whose Hebei Orchestra was to perform "Easter Chorus" and other works with the China National Orchestra, said the Chinese government refused to give any official information about the cancellation. Both Su and the Chinese-born Canadian composer of "Easter Chorus," Huang An Lun, are Christians.

If fear of Christianity really was the reason for the demand—and what else could it be?—it's another piece of evidence that the Chinese government is becoming increasingly antagonistic toward Christianity (though, of course, other recent evidence is much more troubling). In 2002, China Daily, a state-run newspaper, touted Su's conducting of Handel's "Messiah" and other religious works. "Many great composers such as Bach and Handel were loyal Christians," he was quoted as saying. "Since I became a Christian, I have had a new understanding of them and interpret them much better."

Su told the AP that he wanted the Hebei Orchestra to play the concert anyway, outside Beijing's Zhongshan Concert Hall. There's no word on how that went.

Supreme Court rejects fired officer's case
Benjamin Endres, a Baptist who was fired by the Indiana State Police for refusing to work full-time at a casino, has been denied a hearing by the U.S. Supreme Court. That means that the decision from the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals stands, and that Endres stays fired.

The Associated Press suggests that the Supreme Court justices rejected the case out of religion fatigue. Columnist James J. Kilpatrick says it's because the case deals with "fuzzy-wuzzy questions, heavily reliant on particular facts."

Still, it would have been nice to have the justices weigh in on the degree to which state agencies must accommodate the faith of their employees. Under the 7th Circuit's decision (which affects Indiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin), the answer is that they really don't have to be accommodated at all. "Baptists oppose liquor as well as gambling, Roman Catholics oppose abortion, Jews and Muslims oppose the consumption of pork," Judge Frank Easterbrook wrote.

If Endres is right, all of these faiths, and more, must be accommodated by assigning believers to duties compatible with their principles. Does the act require the State Police to assign Unitarians to guard the abortion clinic, Catholics to prevent thefts from liquor stores, and Baptists to investigate claims that supermarkets mis-weigh bacon and shellfish? Must prostitutes be left exposed to slavery or murder at the hands of pimps because protecting them from crime would encourage them to ply their trade and thus offend almost every religious faith?

That decision is surprisingly at odds with the facts of the case. Endres didn't oppose working as a law enforcement officer in a casino. If crime happened there, he was happy to dispatch his duties to serve and protect. What he opposed to was a full-time stationing at the casino, a job that he believed would both suggest his support of gambling and benefit the casino. He simply asked for a different appointment, and the Indiana State Police apparently didn't even consider alternatives. That's still not a problem, Easterbrook said. Police and fire departments, he said, must insist that employees "leave their religious and other views behind so that they may serve all without favor on religious grounds."

next page... |  1 of 10

April (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48