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• Students want Bibles in rooms ban | A students' association has called for the Bible to be removed from more than 2,000 university rooms because it could offend non-Christians (BBC)
• Also: Students vote to ban Bibles 'to be fair to other faiths' (PA, U.K.)

Religious freedom:

• Statement saddens evangelicals | The National Evangelical Christian Fellowship (NECF) has expressed regret over a government minister's remarks that Bibles in Bahasa Malaysia or Bahasa Indonesia were banned (The Star, Malaysia)
• Woman cop lodges assault case against Christian hostel's administrator | A woman police constable lodged on Wednesday a case of assault and battery against the administrator of Brenton Carey Hostel, Ms Ghazala Shafiq, and 15 other Christian women at Frere police station (Daily Times, Pakistan)
• Conference will focus on those persecuted for their faith | Founder says many Christians don't know 'what it's like to die for believing in Jesus Christ' (The State, Columbia, S.C.)

Abuse and crime:

• Accused pastor out on bail | Sad, shocked Lutheran church to get interim cleric (Pensacola News Journal, Fla.)
• Yesterday: Pastor charged in sex case | Lutheran minister arrested after meeting officer posing as minor (Pensacola News Journal, Fla.)
• Online-sex sting nets pastor who served in DeLand (The Orlando Sentinel)
• 2 priests, 1 former cleric leave jobs abroad after News report | Story disclosed that they had sexually abused children in U.S. (The Dallas Morning News)
• Some defend pastor in indecency case | Minister was accused by boy at earlier church; he says he was cleared (The Dallas Morning News)
• Victim's mother sues pastor who shot him | Mielke knew he wasn't threatened by burglars, lawyer says (Anchorage Daily News, Ak.)

Eric Rudolph:

• Eric Rudolph reveals motives for bombings | During a two-year series of bombings in the Deep South, Eric Rudolph considered himself a warrior — against abortion, which he calls murder, and a government that permits it (Associated Press)
• Rudolph's manifesto has clinics on edge | "When one of these extremists puts out a call to action, oftentimes, others do try to follow in their footsteps," said Vicki Saporta, head of the National Abortion Federation, which represents 400 U.S. clinics. "He clearly is speaking to the extremists who believe in justifiable homicide" (Associated Press)
• Eric Rudolph's legacy | Rudolph may be put away for all time because he used deadly violence. But there are still many people doing his bidding—including the Bush administration and those who want to ban gay marriage (Derrick Z. Jackson, The Boston Globe)

Life ethics:

• U.S. bill would help women get birth control | Addressing the growing controversy over U.S. pharmacists who refuse to dispense birth control or emergency contraceptives, several lawmakers on Thursday unveiled a bill that would require pharmacies to fill all prescriptions (Reuters)
• Martyrs and pestles | Should pharmacists be allowed to refuse to dispense birth control? (Dahlia Lithwick, Slate)
• Crypt used for abortion service | A pregnancy and abortion counselling service has been given permission by a Church of England committee to set up in a church crypt (BBC)

Oregon gay marriage:

• Court nullifies Oregon's gay marriages | Advocates of same-sex unions promise to keep trying. Conservative groups say the ruling, which voids about 3,000 licenses, settles the issue (Los Angeles Times)
• Oregon Supreme Court invalidates same-sex marriages | Oregon's highest court ruled that 3,000 same-sex marriages performed a year ago in one county were unlawful, saying that the county had overstepped its authority (The New York Times)

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April (Web-only) 2005, Vol. 49