Menorah, Crescent and Star Secular, Says Judge

Nativity out but other "secular" religious symbols okay, says judge
The rule on religious expression and government property generally works like this: acknowledge one religion, and you have to be open to acknowledging them all.

This is the philosophy the New York City Department of Education used when it set up its holiday display with every possible symbol: a Christmas tree, menorahs, dreidels, a crescent and star, a Kwanzaa candelabra, Christmas wreaths and bells, Santa Claus, and a snowman.

Andrea Skoros, a mother from Queens, noted something missing: a crèche. "I just think that if you're going to put up religious symbols, then you have to respect all religions," she explained. "If you have Jewish and Muslim symbols, then it's not enough for Catholics to have a Christmas tree. We should be able to display the Nativity scene, too."

Ah, but not so fast, said a federal judge ruled yesterday. None of the current displays are religious. The menorah and crescent and star may have a religious history to them, but they "have developed significant secular connotations," Judge Charles Sifton said. Not so with the Nativity, which is "purely religious." (No word on which category the cross would fall into.)

"I don't understand how [Sifton] can say a menorah is not a religious symbol," said Skoros, who had also complained that her sons were taught the story of Chanukah, but not Christmas. "That blows my mind." Not that she expected to win. "I didn't think that a judge in New York state would rule in favor of Christians," she told the New York Post. "It's too liberal. They're worried about hurting everybody's feelings."

Skoros is backed by the Thomas More Law Center, and plans to appeal.

Is Christian television irresponsible?
Daystar Television Network, a Christian satellite network based in Dallas, is challenging the high-profile sale of KOCE-TV, a public television station in Orange County, California. According to legal experts consulted by the Los Angeles Times, it looks like it might have a case: it offered more money—in cash—than the foundation that bought the station. Trustees say they followed the law, which required a sale to the "highest responsible bidder."

Eh? There's the matter of whether cash is better than a promissory note (which would you rather have?), but that may not be enough. "The only way they could justify it is to say the other one is not responsible," Stanford Law School professor Michael Klausner told the paper.

And that's the case made by Costa Mesa resident Lynn Merles in a letter to the Times. For her, a sale to a religious station would have been irresponsible. "KOCE-TV, should remain a public service TV channel, not the spokesman for religion," she wrote. "It's bad enough that several theaters in the area have been bought by churches. We don't need religion forced down our throats — we should choose it. I resent having a Mormon poem on my food tray when I fly Alaska Airlines. [Uh, aren't those cards on Alaska Airlines just Bible verses?] Next time I'd like a Jewish poem, not that I'm religious, but I would like that or agnostic poem or something else."

More articles

James ossuary:

• Fake ossuary leads Israel to look into sellers of antiquities | An Israeli documentary Wednesday claimed the James ossuary, the ancient burial box bearing a discredited inscription mentioning Jesus, is just the tip of a long-running forgery ring that has duped antiquities collectors worldwide for the last 15 years (USA Today)
  
  
• Television report says 'Jesus ossuary' owner ran fraud ring | Oded Golan, who is suspected of forging the inscription "James the brother of Jesus," on a first century ossuary, worked with a ring of counterfeiters who sold dozens of forged articles to antiquities dealers and collectors, Channel 2's "Fact" program reports (Ha'aretz, Tel Aviv)
  
  
• Earlier: Debate continues over authenticity | UT professor says Israeli study flawed (The Toledo Blade, Oh.)
  
  

Christians and Muslims:

• Christian seminar did not vilify Muslims: lawyer | David Perkins said the seminar was exempt under Victoria's Racial and Religious Tolerance Act 2001, and the case should be dismissed (The Age, Melbourne, Australia)
  
  
• Islam illegal under law, court told | Islam was an illegal religion because the Koran preached violence against Christians and Jews, a Christian group told a judge yesterday (The Age, Melbourne, Australia)
  
  
• Revival of Christianity, Islam in Ivory Coast becomes sensitive issue | The lingering state of civil war in Ivory Coast is pushing many Christians and Muslims in the country to strengthen their faith (Voice of America)
  
  

John Kelley, pastor killed in Iraq:

• Service planned for slain pastor | John Kelley, the pastor of the Curtis Corner Baptist Church, in South Kingstown, died in an ambush near Baghdad (The Providence Journal)
  
  
• Missionary wounded in Iraq will return home on Friday (Associated Press)
  
  
• American missionary pays ultimate price as foreigners become the target in Iraq | The death of an American missionary on the dusty road south of the town has unnerved foreigners and the Iraqis who deal with them (The Independent, London)
  
  

• Missionary killed | mission to help an Iraqi Christian pastor establish a church in Baghdad ended in tragedy for four Baptist pastors from the Northeast when they were attacked by gunmen Saturday (The Sun Chronicle, Attleboro, Mass.)
  
  

Gambling:

• Not a chance | In a classic David-and-Goliath matchup, grass-roots groups push back against the gambling industry. (The Christian Science Monitor)
  
  
• Slots offer can't sway black preachers | Black religious leaders remain opposed to Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr.'s plan to bring slot machines to Maryland, despite his promise that black entrepreneurs would be at least part owners of gambling emporiums (The Washington Times)
  
  

Alcohol:

• A taste for trouble | A history of alcohol and temperance (The Scotsman)
  
  
• Earlier: Amassed Media: The Drink Debate | What Christian leaders past and present have said about social drinking—and where to find them online (Apr. 7, 2000)
  
  

Ten Commandments:

• Bill may aid display of Ten Commandments | House Republicans think they have found a way to allow the display of the Ten Commandments in courthouses and other public buildings without running afoul of the courts (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
  
  
• Ten Commandments monument supporters defy park ordinance | The Ten Commandments monument in Julia Davis Park lists what Jews and Christians believe are God's laws. Nearby, a sign displays another law - a city ordinance saying the park closes at night (KBCI, Boise, Id.)
  
  
• Court upholds Neb. commandments ruling | A federal appeals court upheld a ruling Wednesday that a Ten Commandments monument must be removed from a city park in Plattsmouth (Associated Press)
  
  
• Court finds fault in Plattsmouth's 10 Commandments (KETV, Omaha)
  
  

Benny Hinn in India:

• Thousands flock to Benny Hinn meetings in Mumbai | Despite the disapproval of the Catholic church, thousands of Christians here are flocking to hear charismatic evangelist Benny Hinn (IANS, India)
  
  
• Benny Hinn meeting raises VHP's hackles | VHP activists, besides filing a police complaint, have warned that they will take action at the venue if anything objectionable is said about the Hindu religion or India (The Times of India)
  
  

Paying for prayer:

• Return cash? Not me, says defiant bishop | Cash-for-prayers Anglican bishop Peter Njoka yesterday said he would not return Sh1.7 million he received from the Nairobi city council (Daily Nation, Nairobi, Kenya)
  
  
• Bishop must pay back Sh1.7m, says Maitha | Cabinet minister Karisa Maitha yesterday insisted that the cash-for-prayers bishop Peter Njoka must repay the Sh1.7 million he received from the city council (The Nation, Nairobi)
  
  

• Njoka skips service at his church | Embattled Anglican Bishop Peter Njoka did not minister in his church yesterday even after returning from a US trip last week (The East African Standard, Nairobi)
  
  
• Earlier: Besieged bishop to meet all diocese priests | Cash-for-prayers bishop Peter Njoka yesterday failed to attend a service at St Stephen's church in Nairobi where he usually goes (The Nation, Nairobi)
  
  
• Njoka cash a moral issue | The controversial Sh1.7 million payout to Anglican Bishop Peter Njoka for prayer services offered to Nairobi City Council is a major blot on the Christian ministry (Editorial, The Nation, Nairobi)
  
  

Crime:

• Stokes gun case voided | He was convicted in 2002 of weapons count, cleared in wounding of priest; Prosecutors weigh retrial; Letting alternate jurors join deliberations was error, appeals court says (The Baltimore Sun)
  
  
• Also: Court overturns gun convictions of man who shot priest in Md. | The Maryland Court of Appeals ordered a new trial for Dontee Stokes, a ruling that erases the convictions from his record but has little practical effect on his liberty (The Washington Post)
  
  
• Also: Md. priest shooter's conviction reversed (Associated Press)
  
  
• Pastor saves PDP chieftain from assassination | Former Peoples Democratic Party gubernatorial aspirant in Ekiti State, Mr. Sikiru Babalola, who escaped being lynched by political thugs during a church service in Ado-Ekiti, last Sunday, has narrated his ordeal, saying he would have been killed by his assailants, but for the presiding priest in the church, Pastor Tayo Oseromi (Vanguard, Lagos, Nigeria)
  
  
• Priest attacked, robbed | A 64-year-old Italian Catholic priest escaped death by a whisker after armed thugs shot at him but missed (The East African Standard, Nairobi, Kenya)
  
  
• Okogie tackles miracle-working pastors | The Archbishop of Lagos Catholic Diocese, Cardinal Anthony Olubunmi Okogie has descended on "miracle working" pastors, describing them as a bunch of liars and fake clerics who feigned healing for filthy lucres they stand to gain (Daily Champion, Lagos, Nigeria)
  
  

Abuse:

• Clergy abuse payouts top $500 million | An upcoming national report on the scope of sexual abuse of children by Roman Catholic clergy will reveal that the church in the United States has spent more than $500 million to settle such cases between 1950 and 2002 (Chicago Sun-Times)
  
  

• Abuse study says 4% of priests in US accused | Figure is higher than Church officials expected (The Boston Globe)
  
  
• A portrait of pain | The Catholic Church needs a full account of past abuse (Wilton Gregory, The Wall Street Journal)
  
  
• 133 complaints of sex abuse in 45 Years, L.I. diocese says | Those numbers are being added to national totals that the John Jay College of Criminal Justice is compiling in a report next week for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (The New York Times)
  
  

John Tietjen:

• The Rev. John H. Tietjen dies at 75 | Lutheran pastor led dissident coalition, aided church merger (The Dallas Morning News)
  
  
• Lutheran leader dies; was at center of '70s split here | The Rev. Dr. John H. Tietjen, the former Concordia Seminary president who helped to create a breakaway seminary and an alliance of dissident Lutheran congregations during a deep split over biblical doctrine in the 1970s, died Sunday (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
  
  
• Longtime Lutheran leader John Tietjen dies (Corpus Christ Caller-Times, Tex.)
  
  
• Longtime Lutheran leader John Tietjen dies (Associated Press)
  
  

Denis Hurley:

• Archbishop Denis Hurley dies at 88 | Catholic archbishop in South Africa who was considered one of the most effective crusaders against apartheid (The Washington Post)
  
  
• Archbishop Denis Hurley | A leading figure in the fight against the apartheid regime in South Africa and a Catholic theologian of independent views (The Guardian, London)
  
  
• Tributes pour in for beloved Hurley (SAPA, South Africa)
  
  
• Hurley 'stood up for the oppressed' (The Independent, South Africa)
  
  
• Archbishop, apartheid campaigner dies (Mail & Guardian, South Africa)
  
  

Mel Gibson:

• Surviving his 'Passion' | Gibson has made a movie, not issued an encyclical, nor offered an edict, nor made a law (Liz Smith, Newsday)
  
  
• Holier than Mel | Mel Gibson says he isn't an anti-Semite. Maybe not. But he can't disguise a disturbing truth: that he's not a very moral man (Christopher Kelly, Ft. Worth Star-Telegram)
  
  
• Gibson set stage for 'Passion' with controlled marketing | The greatest story ever sold? (The Dallas Morning News)
  
  

The Passion:

• Jewish leader wants Vatican stand on Gibson film | Abraham Foxman, who met several Vatican officials, urged them to instruct bishops around the world to issue statements locally telling their faithful that the film is an artistic work and not a pure portrayal of gospel accounts (Reuters)
  
  
• The Gospel truth? | For both sides in conflict of Mel Gibson's `Passion,' the devil is in the details (Boston Herald)
  
  

• Kids will see R-rated 'Passion' | As the debate rages over whether Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ is anti-Semitic, parents, church leaders and theater owners are wrangling over another issue: Should children see the brutal film? (USA Today)
  
  
• Avalon tests response to 'Passion' | In Washington, worries outweigh excitement (Marc Fisher, The Washington Post)
  
  
• Area churches will use 'Passion' for outreach | This appears to be a nationwide phenomenon (The Washington Times)
  
  
• Faith and fury propel Gibson's 'Passion' | Besides the many evangelicals and believers who support the movie, now many skeptical and secular moviegoers are likely to buy tickets — no matter what the reviews — just to judge the product for themselves (Associated Press)
  
  
• Anticipation, fear to greet Jesus film Christians, Jews differ on 'Passion' | Rabbi Sokobin, 77, said that as a child in New Jersey he was beaten up by Christian youths at Easter time (The Toledo Blade, Oh.)
  
  
• 'Passion' building among exhibitors | Churches given screenings in advance of bow (Variety)
  
  
• Church tries to cool row over Mel Gibson's film about Christ | The Catholic church in America was yesterday set to release church teachings on Jews and reconciliation in an attempt to cool religious passions before the release of Mel Gibson's film about Jesus (The Guardian, London)
  
  
• 'Passion of the Christ' proves to be windfall for theaters | With a fervor that mimics the 1850s gold rush, moviegoers are scrambling to buy tickets to Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" (Ocala Star Banner, Fla.)
  
  
• Marketing Christ | Churches turn to Mel Gibson (Vancouver Sun)
  
  
• 'Passion of Christ' moves film's early viewers | Some were awed. Others felt drained. After spending two hours immersed in the death of Christ, most were too overwhelmed to speak (USA Today)
  
  
• Pop culture puts religion in the spotlight | From the glittering hills of Hollywood to the houses of worship dotting the Bible Belt, tongues are wagging about religion, scripture, history and Jesus' passion — thanks in large part to pop culture (Fox News)
  
  
• Don't take Gibson's 'Passion of Christ' as historical fact | The film, as described in news stories for several months, runs contrary to biblical scholarship and the teachings of Vatican II, which, among other things, explain the death of Jesus in a appropriate religious and historical context and that Jesus' fellow Jews were not responsible for his death (Steven H. Morrison, The Capital Times, Madison, Wi.)
  
  
• A 'Passion' long deferred | While Christians are a diverse group, many evangelicals — conservative Christians who feel strongly about spreading their faith — say they sympathize with Gibson's struggle to produce a film about the death of Christ. Some say they feel obligated to defend The Passion just as they would defend their faith (USA Today)
  
  

• Local religious leaders close ranks over debut of Gibson's 'Passion' film | More than a week before the movie's release, local Jewish and Christian leaders issued a joint statement yesterday reaffirming their commitment to respectful relations (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
  
  
• Christian push behind The Passion | Jesus film to be used to convert non-Christians; Canadian Jewish leaders cautious, expect no troubles (Toronto Star)
  
  
• Mel Gibson's fake "Passionate" effects | Mel Gibson has let his Hollywood imagination get carried away with special effects as he inflated his "Passion" film (Emanuel A. Winston, Israel Insider)
  
  

San Francisco gay marriage:

• As court mulls, gays wed | A judge may decide as soon as Friday whether to stop San Francisco's rush of gay marriages (The Christian Science Monitor)
  
  
• California gay 'marriages' pushing Bush to act | President Bush yesterday said the sudden spate of homosexual "marriages" in San Francisco, which two judges Tuesday refused to halt, is influencing his decision on whether to endorse a constitutional amendment banning such ceremonies (The Washington Times)
  
  
• Also: Bush biding time on marriage amendment | San Francisco move raises concern (The Washington Post)
  
  
• Also: Bush 'troubled' by gay marriage issue | President Bush said Wednesday he was troubled by gay weddings in San Francisco and by legal decisions in Massachusetts that could clear the way for same-sex marriage (Associated Press)
  
  
• Also: Bush 'troubled' by San Francisco's gay marriages (Reuters)
  
  
• Also: Bush speaks against gay weddings (BBC, video)
  
  
• California will reject altered marriage forms | The California state agency that records marriages said yesterday that forms that have been altered, which San Francisco has done on its homosexual "marriage" licenses, will not be registered (The Washington Times)
  
  
• Many S.F. churches voice support | Most of Karen Oliveto's weddings have been in and around City Hall, but Sunday she presided over the union of Dan Johnson and Bill Hinson -- which she said is the first legal gay marriage to take place inside a Methodist church sanctuary (San Francisco Chronicle)
  
  
• Weddings continue as judge delays conservatives' bid to stop them | Two judges refused Tuesday to put an immediate halt to the parade of same-sex weddings taking place at San Francisco City Hall, leaving open the possibility that gays and lesbians will be able to obtain marriage licenses and wed at least until the end of this week (San Francisco Chronicle)
  
  

• Gay wedding battle heads into court | 51 years later, S.F. couple still leading charge (Chicago Tribune)
  
  
• San Francisco mayor exults in move on gay marriage | In an interview, Mayor Gavin Newsom stood by the decision to recognize same-sex marriages, passionately describing his motives as pure and principled. (The New York Times)
  
  

Homosexuality:

• Local Christians denounce same-sex marriage | While President Bush said Wednesday he's "troubled" by the hundreds of same-sex weddings taking place in San Francisco, local conservatives find the unions far more disturbing (Santa Cruz Sentinel, Ca.)
  
  
• Gays are seeking social approval | Nowadays it seems that many people, not just homosexuals, want the cachet of marriage without accepting its implicit non-contractual obligations (Paddy McGuinness, The Sydney Morning Herald)
  
  
• Desecration? Dedication! | Gay couples are being held to a standard the denizens of Vegas chapels and divorce courts never had to meet to legally come together (Anna Quindlen, Newsweek)
  
  
• Jackson wary of same-sex rift | The Rev. Jesse L. Jackson yesterday said he supports "equal protection under the law" for gay couples, but stopped short of supporting same-sex marriage, a distinction that has been roiling the black leadership in Massachusetts (The Boston Globe)
  
  
• Georgia considers amendment to ban gay marriage | Scores of Christian conservatives rallied in Georgia on Tuesday to support a constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage in the Bible Belt state (Reuters)
  
  
• PM urged to ban gay adoption | A Christian lobby group today urged the Federal Government to overturn an ACT law which allows homosexual couples to adopt children (The Australian)
  
  
• Gay Christians hit out at calls for calm language | But the church's acceptance of gays really is a matter of life or death, says Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement head Richard Kirker (uk.gay.com)
  
  
• Same-sex marriage leaping into election | Issue has hazards for all candidates (Chicago Tribune)
  
  
• Marriage amendment cause | In our blessed land of the free, you can define a piccolo as a baked potato and then slather the thing with sour cream prior to chomping down. But mere assertion doesn't turn a piccolo into a baked potato. Only a judge, it seems, enjoys that prerogative (William Murchison, The Washington Times)
  
  

Marriage:

• In Europe, lovers now propose: marry me, a little | Some European countries are granting new status to couples looking for some legal rights in the broad gray area between living together casually and "till death do us part" (The New York Times)
  
  
• Marriage minded | The statistics support the fears; our marriages could use some mending. (Post-Tribune, Merrillville, Ind.)
  
  
• Marriage: Addition or division? | A new model for predicting divorce may help prevent split-ups (The Christian Science Monitor)
  
  
• Bush's marriage initiative is nothing new | A New York Times story generated a misimpression that spread virtually unchallenged through the press corps (Maggie Gallagher)
  
  

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