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Rioting destroys ancient Serbian churches
Last Friday, when Weblog noted a mob's destruction of four churches in Nigeria, one loyal reader asked why it got top billing over the destruction of Serbian Orthodox churches. The answer is simple: At the time, Weblog was simply unaware of the extent of the demolition there.

Apparently Weblog wasn't alone. In a meeting with Patriarch Pavle of the Serbian Orthodox Church, Russian Emergencies Minister Sergei Shoigu noted that the world community has largely ignored last week's violence, which left at least 31 dead and more than 500 wounded. Thirty churches, several dating back to the 14th century, were destroyed by ethnic Albanians. Another 11 were damaged.

"We remember well a wave of indignation over the destruction by Taliban troops in Afghanistan of the stone statue[s] of Buddha, because it was the destruction of cultural heritage," Shoigu said, according to the ITAR-TASS news agency. But there's no outcry over these attacks, though they're just as damaging from religious, cultural, and historical perspectives.

Serbs apparently retaliated by attacking mosques elsewhere, including one from the 17th century.

The BBC has several photos, along with a good backgrounder of the complicated triggers of the attack, and the even more complicated history of conflict between the Albanians and Serbs. There's much more than religion to this story, but it seems clear that churches were deliberately targeted and took the brunt of the attacks.

Abortion:

• Judge orders abortion records turned over | A New York hospital has been ordered to turn over abortion records to the Justice Department, which is seeking them for its legal battle over the Partial-Birth Abortion Act (Associated Press)
  
  
• Also: New York hospital is ordered to release abortion records | Federal judge says the disclosure would not unduly harm the hospital or the privacy of its patients (The New York Times)
  
  
• Evidence allowed on pain to fetus | Critics of the ban on 'partial-birth' abortions say a doctor's testimony would be 'rank speculation' (Los Angeles Times)
  
  
• Also: Judge allows doctor to testify about fetus pain | The judge in the first trial challenging the government's ban against so-called "partial birth" abortions will allow a pediatrician to testify that a fetus may experience pain during the late-term procedure (Reuters)
  
  
• Druggists opposing abortion could be shielded | Pharmacists in Missouri who oppose abortion could refuse to fill prescriptions for "morning-after" birth control without risking their jobs, under a bill that many say signals a new battleground in the fight over reproductive rights (St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Mo.)
  
  
• Teen's right to wear sweatshirt is restored | Denbigh High responds to letter threatening lawsuit (Daily Press, Hampton Roads, Va.)
  
  
• Also: School relents on teen's anti-abortion sweatshirt | After threat of legal action, Newport News, Va., high school says Daniel Goergen can wear sweatshirt that says, 'Abortion is homicide' (Associated Press)
  
  
• 'Choose life' car tags get Ga. Senate okay | Antiabortion senators amended a House bill Monday to allow for license plates that would say "Choose life" (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
  
  
• When choice becomes tyranny | Abortion rights lobby steps over the line in Utah (Jonathan Turley, Los Angeles Times)
  
  
• Sign of the times as abortion remarks barely cause a stir | How illuminating was the reaction to Tony Abbott's declaration last week that Australia's 100,000 abortions a year were a "national tragedy"? (Miranda Devine, The Sun-Herald, Sydney, Australia)
  
  

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March (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48