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• Supreme Court to decide whether church can import drug | The Supreme Court accepted a Bush administration request to rule on a clash between religious freedom and drug-control law yesterday, announcing that it will review a lower court's ruling that blocked enforcement of a federal ban on a church's importation of hallucinogens (The Washington Post)
• Supreme Court to hear religious tea case | The Supreme Court agreed Monday to consider whether a church in New Mexico can continue using hallucinogenic tea in its religious services (Associated Press)

Religious freedom:

• Anti-conversion stand led to US visa denial: Modi | The Gujarat government's stand against religious conversions in the state was the main reason for him being denied a visa to the United States recently, Chief Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday (PTI, India)
• Bush on the spot over religion in Saudi Arabia | A bipartisan, congressionally appointed commission on religious freedom criticized the State Department yesterday for failing to punish Saudi Arabia after it censured the regime last fall for its restrictions on non-Muslim worship (The New York Sun)
• Mormon wins bias settlement | A Canadian aerospace company has agreed to pay a Mormon man $159,000 to settle a religious discrimination lawsuit, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission announced Monday (Associated Press)

U.S. appeals court reinstates Vatican Holocaust suit:

• Holocaust case against Vatican Bank revived | A federal appeals court Monday reinstated a lawsuit brought by survivors of the Holocaust who allege the Vatican Bank accepted millions of dollars worth of their valuables stolen by Nazi sympathizers (Associated Press)
• U.S. appeals court reinstates Vatican Holocaust suit (Reuters)

Church life:

• Residents oppose church | A small religious sect that adheres strictly to the Bible may have to appeal to the state's planning tribunal to build a church for its members in Eltham. The Exclusive Brethren, an evangelical Christian church, faces residents' opposition (The Age, Melbourne, Australia)
• Suspended church minister speaks out | The mudslinging between leaders of the African Methodist Episcopal Church (AME) in Namibia is rooted in the chaotic atmosphere within the rank and file of the church, says Reverend Hendrik Gariseb (The Namibian)
• Church revokes 8 memberships in building dispute | Atlanta Unity Church on Chamblee Dunwoody Road revoked the memberships of eight congregants who opposed a church plan to tear down a 1920s-era building on its property (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

Missions & ministry:

• Habitat founder forms new housing ministry | Habitat for Humanity founder Millard Fuller has formed a new charity to raise money for the home-building ministry that fired him, but the move could trigger a legal fight over his use of the Habitat name (Associated Press)
• A purpose in Africa | Rick Warren, best-selling author and pastor of flock of 20,000, to invest millions in Rwanda aid mission (The Orange County Register, Ca.)
• Faithful fashionistas | Models for Christ guides Christians through fashion-industry challenges (The New York Sun)
• Local pastors lend support to fired health-care worker | A group of pastors is rallying around a nursing home worker they say was fired after she spoke out about alleged substandard conditions at the home where she worked (Whittier Daily News, Ca.)

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April (Web-only) 2005, Vol. 49