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Missions & ministry:

• Tribes protest Chavez expulsion order | Hundreds of indigenous Venezuelans marched Friday to protest President Hugo Chavez's threat to expel a group of U.S.-based evangelists, amid intensifying government scrutiny of foreign missionaries operating in the country (Associated Press)
• Church 'banks' face tax blitz | The finance industry watchdog is preparing to target churches operating quasi-banks: multi-million-dollar enterprises offering loans and deposit services to customers but avoiding the strict regulations imposed on commercial banks (The Australian)
• Dispute between O.C., Christian group heats up | Commune members are jailed after refusing an inspection of their store's kitchen. Code enforcement violates their rights, they say (Los Angeles Times)

Katrina:

• Keep the faith, and they will come | Nearly two months after Katrina hit the Gulf Coast, religious groups have pledged that feeding, clothing and sheltering survivors of the storm will continue for as long as necessary. Cleaning up and rebuilding has just begun (The Washington Times)
• Displaced La. students see good and bad | An estimated 75,000 college students were displaced from New Orleans by the storm (Associated Press)
• Church, state get closer after Katrina | As congregations in the Gulf Coast and surrounding states begin to focus on long-term recovery from Hurricane Katrina, a closer relationship between churches and state and local governments is developing (Associated Press)

Church & state:

• U.S. to use religious charity to run storm relief project | FEMA intends to give a $66 million grant to a religious charity to expand services for 100,000 families displaced by Hurricane Katrina (The New York Times)
• Former Iowa prisons chief testifies about Christian rehab program | The former director of the Iowa Department of Corrections that Christian prison program was meant to be a values-based approach to helping prisoners, not a "praise the Lord" approach (Associated Press)
• Christ Church wants full tax exemption for 107 acre site | Letter to Rockaway Twp. asserts religious institution is duty-free (Daily Record, Rockaway Twp., N.J.)
• Group says mayor allowed 'prayer fest' | Christians were allowed to pray in City Council chambers (Peoria Journal-Star, Ill.)
• Court battle over prayer in House begins | ICLU is challenging sectarian invocations in state Capitol (The Indianapolis Star)
• Also: Assembly prayers lawsuit in court | ICLU challenging long practice of sectarian prayers to open legislative business day (South Bend Tribune, Ind.)
• Group claims bias over prayer feather | Letter: Indian's religious rights violated (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette)
• Madagascar bans a popular church | Madagascar's government has shut down a popular protestant charismatic church which is winning followers from the more traditional Protestant movement (BBC)
• A founding father on faith | Ben Franklin and his colleagues were committed to building "a wall of separation between church and state." That principle is worth remembering today (Eric Utne, Minneapolis Star-Tribune)

Religion & politics:

• Danforth criticizes Christian sway in GOP | "I think that the Republican Party fairly recently has been taken over by the Christian conservatives, by the Christian right," the a Missouri Republican and an Episcopal priest said in an interview. "I don't think that this is a permanent condition, but I think this has happened, and that it's divisive for the country" (Associated Press)
• Christian think tank opposes Question 1 | Christian Policy Institute of Maine says gays should not be denied rights (Bangor Daily News, Me.)

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November (Web-only) 2005, Vol. 49