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No church for Christmas:

• When Christmas falls on Sunday, megachurches take the day off | Some of the nation's megachurches have decided not to hold worship services on the Sunday that coincides with Christmas Day (The New York Times)
• The fight before Christmas | Evangelicals spit over the decision by some megachurches to close on Christmas Day. Inside the controversy (Time)

Church & state:

• Judge throws out Quran suit | A judge on Thursday threw out a lawsuit spurred by outcry over the inability of Muslims to use a Quran for courtroom oaths, a lawyer in the case said (News-Record, Greensboro, N.C.)
• Also: Oaths suit by ACLU dismissed by judge | Rights group seeks use of other religious texts in courtroom setting (Associated Press)
• Council overrides mayor on Diwali parking | The City Council voted Thursday to override Mayor Michael Bloomberg's veto of a bill to suspend alternative side parking for Diwali, a popular Hindu religious holiday (Newsday)
• Inquiry into IRS investigations of churches is sought | Expressing concern about the 1st Amendment rights of clergy, Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Burbank) and two Republican colleagues called Thursday for an investigation by the U.S. Government Accountability Office into the IRS' recent probes of alleged "campaign intervention" by churches, including Pasadena's liberal All Saints Church (Los Angeles Times)
• Highway Patrol crosses not erected to promote Christianity | Though the atheists are correct that government should steer clear of erecting symbols that endorse one religion or another, they should pick their battles (Editorial, The Salt Lake Tribune)
• Time to erase 'blue laws' | Merchants, their employees, and customers ought to be able to decide for themselves when to shop and work (Editorial, USA Today)
• Also: It's about quality of life | Retail workers are particularly big losers in this shift to Sunday openings (Diane C. Kessler, USA Today)
• Rock of offense | By blackballing Christian prayer, a federal judge creates a state religion (Gene Edward Veith, World)

Religious freedom:

• NU civilian guards to help secure churches on Christmas eve | The involvement of civilian guards from Muslim organization Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) in securing Christmas and New Year's celebrations comes as a goodwill gesture as the end of the year approaches (The Jakarta Post, Indonesia)
• Muslims plan to guard Indonesian churches on Xmas | Volunteers from Indonesia's largest Islamic organisation will guard churches across the world's most populous Muslim nation on Christmas amid fears of terrorist attacks on those places, the group said on Friday (Reuters)
• What Copts fear | Are the concerns of Copts following the gains the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood made in the parliamentary elections justified? (Al-Ahram, Cairo)
• Don't ban Hinn call | Evangelist Benny Hinn should not be stopped from entering Fiji, the Assembly of Christian Churches of Fiji says (Fiji Times)
• Universal Church is still welcome in Namibia—official | Namibia is not considering any actions against the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God in Namibia because it does not have any reason to do so, a Government official said (The Namibian)
• Also: Cops search Universal Church pastors' house | Police yesterday searched the house of the de-registered Universal Church of the Kingdom of God pastors in Lusaka's Roma residential area (The Post, Zambia)

Christian Peacemaker Teams hostages:

• Iraqi Sunnis appeal for hostages' release | Prominent Sunni Arab clerics and residents of a Baghdad neighborhood where four kidnapped Christian humanitarian workers had aided people appealed Friday for their release a day before a deadline set by their abductors to kill them (Associated Press)

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December (Web-only) 2005, Vol. 49