Today's Top Five

1. University of Wisconsin allows RAs to lead Bible studies
Last July, the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire told resident assistant Lance Steiger that he would face disciplinary action if he continued to lead a Campus Crusade for Christ Bible study in his dorm basement. The argument was that RAs are state employees, and allowing them to promote a specific faith in such a position would unconstitutionally establish religion. The policy was suspended after Steiger sued the school, and a new policy would allow RAs to "participate in, organize, and lead any meetings or other activities" to the same extent as other students. "However," the policy states, "they may not use their positions to inappropriately influence, pressure, or coerce student residents to attend or participate." The policy now goes to the University of Wisconsin board of regents for approval.

2. 'In God We Trust' chair no longer has to trust in God
The University of Charleston (W.V.) is looking for a professor to fill its Herchiel and Elizabeth Sims "In God We Trust" Chair in Ethics. The school's original ad at the Chronicle of Higher Education listed the necessary qualifications: an earned doctorate and expertise in ethics, experience in faculty development, and "a belief in God and present moral and ethical values from a God-centered perspective." When critics objected that this requirement apparently violated the Civil Rights Act's bar on religious discrimination, the university changed the ad. It now says candidates "must have the ability to teach moral and ethical values from a God-centered perspective."

3. Evangelicals are keeping America international, some say "Even as many in Washington trumpet the return of realism to US foreign policy ...