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Constitution conundrums

A bit of good news from Iraq. The draft constitution no longer says that Islam is "the major source of legislation." According to The New York Times, the drafting committee went back to the earlier wording, "a main source of legislation."

That's still not enough, religious freedom watchdog Nina Shea writes in two op-ed pieces, one in The Dallas Morning News and another (coauthored with Preeta D. Bansal) in The Washington Post.

But Iraq isn't the only country facing tensions over the role of Islam in its draft constitution. Protestant leaders in Kenya yesterday launched a campaign to torpedo that country's proposed charter, since it enshrined much power in Kadhis' courts. (Kadhis' courts are a system when "all the parties profess the Muslim religion" in suits relating to "questions of Muslim law relating to personal status, marriage, divorce or inheritance." See the U.S. State Department's International Religious Freedom Report on Kenya for more details.) The drafting committee sought to assuage protests by also creating "Christian courts." But the National Council of Churches of Kenya says the constitution would turn Kenya into a religious state and could cause religious strife.

"We would rather stay with the current constitution and review it at a later date than get into a bus that is headed for a crash," the group said. Kenya will vote on the constitution in November.

More articles

Native American religious freedom:

• On Indian land, a twist on church vs. state | As US agencies and courts declare sites as holy ground, critics charge the government is establishing religion (The Christian Science Monitor)
• 9th Circuit sides with Indian prisoner vs. long-hair ban | California prisons' hair policy forced inmate 'to choose between following his religious beliefs and suffering continual punishment,' court holds (Associated Press)

Church & state:

• Backing up the Boy Scouts | For American Civil Liberties Union lawyers and homosexual rights activists, the scouts have become a surrogate target representing the old-time religion (William Murchison, The Washington Times)
• Scientology clinic bad medicine: ex-worker | A Scientology-run "detoxification" clinic in Manhattan is endangering patients because of its leaders' strict adherence to the church's teachings, a whistle-blowing former employee has told City Confidential (New York Post)
• Ambos' prayer deletes Jesus | The NSW Ambulance Service has cut Jesus Christ out of its prayer (The Daily Telegraph, NSW, Australia)
• The struggle for the Hindu soul | A family squabble, or the beginning of the end for Hindu nationalism? (The Economist)

Religion & politics:

• The message thing | Until Democrats are willing to be honest about the need for compelling political vision, they will never get the message right (Jim Wallis, The New York Times)
• Still Colson after all these years | Despite running a multi-million dollar Christ-centered prison reform organization and re-emerging as a political power broker, Charles Colson is forever locked in a fatal embrace with Watergate (Bill Berkowitz, WorkingForChange)
• In mailing, Falwell urging backers to 'Vote Christian' | As part of a bid to revive his Reagan-era conservative powerhouse, the Rev. Jerry Falwell, Moral Majority leader, is urging Americans to "vote Christian" in 2008 (Forward, Jewish newspaper)
• We can be wrong even with God on our side | We must first understand the reality of those with whom we differ (Wayne Robinson, The News-Press, Ft. Meyers, Fla.)

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August (Web-only) 2005, Vol. 49