Closer to home … Surburban Seattle’s Overlake Christian Church, which has about 4,500 members, is again being rocked by charges of sexual misconduct. A 37-year-old man who volunteers in midweek services to work with children in grades five through seven has been arrested for investigation of child molestation. What makes the allegations even sadder is that the church, which once had more than 6,500 members, is still recovering from a three-year controversy over allegations that senior pastor Bob Moorehead had abused several men in the church. Moorehead resigned in 1998, but the actions of the church’s board of elders continued to cause controversy for more than a year later.
Thanks but no thanks, several Copts say to U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom As delegates from the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom travel to Cairo this week to meet with Muslim and Coptic Christian leaders and officials from the Foreign Ministry, some are telling the Yankees to go home. “This type of American moves that have been recurrent and periodical since the enactment, in October 1999, of the law on religious freedoms in the world cannot be dissociated from the American trends to intervene in the internal affairs of other countries in the world,” said a statement by the Egyptian National Group, which identifies itself as “a non-governmental gathering of both Christian and Muslim writers, intellectuals, academics, researchers, and journalists.” Other Copts are voicing similar concerns. The Commission delegates, which include USCIRF Chairman Elliott Abrams, are expected to pay particular attention to the recent judicial decision to acquit the Muslim suspects accused of killing 21 Christians in the El-Kosheh massacre.
Some don’t find subway hymn singer’s noise so joyfulWashington Post columnist Bob Levey tells the tale of one man’s strange ministry under the streets of Washington, D.C.: “Six forty-five a.m. on the Metro. A time to sleep, read, mull. But the doors open at some stop or other and here comes a man who’s singing a hymn. He’s wearing a sports coat and nice pants. He doesn’t beg for money. He doesn’t try to proselytize. He simply sings his hymn. When the train docks at the next stop, he gets off, then immediately back on in the next car, where he begins to sing again.” But some aren’t so happy. One guy recently complained to the train operator, and shouted at Hymn Guy, that the Constitution provides for separation of church and state. (“Last time I checked, Metro was neither a church nor a state,” Levey dryly notes “But no one made that argument on the early morning in question.”) And Metro police are investigating Hymn Guy as the results of two official complaints from other Metro riders. There is “a fine line between freedom of expression and First Amendment rights and, of course, disorderly conduct,” Cheryl said. Levey adds his two cents: “I really hope the hymn singer isn’t going to become a poster child for political correctness. This isn’t about religious freedom. This isn’t about whether we have enough music in our public places. This isn’t about whether hymns are more soothing than other kinds of tunes. This is about whether a guy who wants to read a newspaper in peace or look out the window in peace should have the right to do so. I say that’s an easy yes.” (A Washington Post online chat also discussed Hymn Guy, also known as “The Singing Korean”)
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