Florida Adoption Law Causing Abortion, Say Lawyers

Florida’a adoption notification law under fire The state of Florida requires that mothers who want to give their children up for adoption must notify the child’s father. That sounds awfully family-friendly, doesn’t it? But the law goes further: mothers who don’t know who the father is must place a newspaper advertisement announcing she plans to do so. The National Post of Canada reports, “It requires that they publish details of every sexual encounter that could have caused the pregnancy, along with names—if possible—and descriptions of the men, in the local newspaper where the incident took place, so any men who may be the father and want to contest the adoption can come forward.”

And that, say critics, is not only ridiculous, it’s anti-life. Lawyers fighting the law claim mothers are choosing to have abortions rather than submit to such embarrassment. Just how bad is this law? Find another abortion-related issue where Jerry Falwell and the National Organization for Women have joined forces.

“Gov. Jeb Bush, who allowed the legislation to become law without his signature, supports a system that allows men who believe they might have fathered a child to put their name in a confidential registry that must be checked during adoption proceedings,” reports the Associated Press. The St. Petersburg Times notes that 30 other states already have similar registries.

In other adoption news, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that unmarried couples—including homosexual couples—can legally adopt children.

Drew University gets the finger of evangelist George Whitefield (maybe) What Drew University librarian Ken Rowe knows is that in a donation of rare Methodist books and engravings was a human finger, along with a note that it belonged to George Whitefield, the Methodist evangelist who launched the Great Awakening. Is it really Whitefield’s digit? No one knows.

Persecution:

Minority report | Pakistani Christians bear the brunt of militants’ rage; state pussyfooting (ABCNews.com)
Uganda district bans night prayers | Ntungamo Commissioner says they’ve become a security threat and breached public peace (New Vision, Kampala, Uganda)
French missionary ordered deported from Malaysia after distributing Christian literature | Bastin Fabien Henri Andre charged with “acting in a manner which could lead to disharmony between Christians and Muslims” (Associated Press)
Letter to Touro Synagogue provides a guarantee that still stands | The letter, in 1790, from the country’s first president to the Touro Synagogue congregation promises a government which will give no quarters to bigotry or persecution (The Providence Journal)

Nigeria:

Religious peace pact in Nigeria | Christian and Muslim leaders in Kaduna State in Nigeria have signed a declaration of peace between the two communities (BBC)
Nigeria opposes stoning death | Government lawyers will assist Amina Lawal’s legal team (The Washington Post)

Education:

School without a mascot | Board unaminously axes Satans name (Devils Lake Journal)
So much for the Satans (KRT/Houston Chronicle)
Also: Devils Lake school drops Satan name | School board voted unanimously (Associated Press)
Cobb board to clarify how origin of life can be taught | Faced with equally impassioned pleas to allow creationism to be taught in the classroom or to ban it, the Cobb County school board chose to do neither (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Also: Georgia school board requires balance of evolution and Bible | Georgia’s second-largest school district adopted a policy last night that requires teachers to give a “balanced education” about the origin of life (The New York Times)
Also: ACLU sues over evolution disclaimers in textbooks | The stickers, placed in new science books this month after requests from parents opposed to evolution on religious grounds, say evolution is a theory, not fact, and should be critically considered (Associated Press)

The Qur’an:

To read the Qur’an | The public firestorm over the University of North Carolina’s decision to ask that incoming students read a book about the Qur’an is a peculiar display of enthusiasm for ignorance (Editorial, The Washington Post)
The right decision on a book | The religious right runs some Muslim nations, which harbor neither academic freedom nor religious tolerance – virtues that members of America’s religious right tried to dilute at the University of North Carolina (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
Critical questioning of Qur’an lacking, could curb abuse | The critical study of Muhammad and the Qur’an lags far behind the comparable study of Jesus and the Bible, and such study could help Islam adapt to modernity, a number of scholars of the religion say (The Washington Times)
Earlier: What Is the Qur’an? | Researchers with a variety of academic and theological interests are proposing controversial theories about the Qur’an and Islamic history, and are striving to reinterpret Islam for the modern world. This is, as one scholar puts it, a “sensitive business.” (The Atlantic Monthly, Jan. 1999)

War:

With weapons of the will | How to topple Saddam Hussein—nonviolently (Peter Ackerman and Jack DuVall, Sojourners)
Watch out: War on terrorism should not mean war on Islam | War of words carried out by Franklin Graham, Bill O’Reilly and others risks further alienating Americans from world’s 1.2 billion Muslims (Charles Haynes, Freedom Forum)

Israel:

A Christian ‘Samaritan’ with Israeli visa trouble | On the surface, Jonathan Miles, an American Christian who specializes in saving the lives of infants, is the last person one would want removed from the nerve center of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (The Christian Science Monitor)
Earlier: Israel Deports American Christian who Helped Sick Palestinian Children (ENI/Christianity Today, July 2, 2002)
Israel interrogates unorthodox bishop | Palestinian priest asked about ties to terrorists, trips (Chicago Tribune)

Missions and ministries:

Ministry provides bar patrons with another last call | Last Call Ministries, a Grand Haven-based organization that provides rides home for bar-goers who feel they’re not fit for driving, is expanding its services into the Grand Rapids area (Advance Newspapers, Michigan)
DivorceCare: Helping hand after breakup | Christian recovery program is now being used in 8,000 churches (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Cultivating a religious calling among teens | In a bid to attract talented young people into the ministry, seminaries and divinity schools across the country are hosting summer residential camps of two to six weeks (The Christian Science Monitor)
Graham followers break ‘routine’ of religion | ‘Millennial’ teens described as more spiritual, less individualistic (Associated Press)

22 convert to Christianity | Emphasize that there was no pressure (The Times of India)
Also: Stop conversion of Sikhs, urges India’s National Commission for Minorities (The Times of India)
Also: 12 dalits converted to Christianity in Chhatisgarh | VHP alleges inappropriateness (PTI)
From captive to convert | British journalist Yvonne Ridley reveals the reasons behind her decision to convert to Islam (Newsweek International)

Family:

The comeback dads | Men who have stumbled in parenthood work together to build themselves into better fathers (The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.)
Movement to reclaim family time goes national | A group of frazzled parents in Wayzata, Minn., made national headlines two years ago when they called for a community-wide “time out” to the incessant demands of their children’s extracurricular activities (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
Fla. agency head faces confirmation | Jerry Regier continues to distance himself from paper about Christian view of family. (Associated Press)

A tale of two families | Embryo adoption brings them together (Primetime / ABCNews.com)
Earlier: Embryo ‘Adoption’ Matches Donors and Would-be Parents | ‘Snowflake’ program is only of its kind in dealing with leftover fertilized eggs (Christianity Today, Nov. 2, 1999)
Also: A Deceptive Good | The uneasy morality of rescuing spare humans created in vitro (Thomas Kennedy, Christianity Today)

Homosexuality:

UM draws fire for requiring reading of play on gay man | Counsel in UNC suit weighs one against Md., says it’s imposing beliefs (The Baltimore Sun)
Appeal is filed over gay pastor | The United Methodist Church has filed an appeal of a recent decision by a regional investigating committee to drop church charges against the Rev. Karen Dammann, a lesbian (The Seattle Times)

Pop culture:

The crucifixion will be televised | Arthur Miller’s satire on Christ’s return shows him on top form (The Guardian, London)
Church hasn’t a prayer vs. Sunday night lineup | Sunday night TV has replaced Sunday night church for me. And I don’t think it’s a bad thing (Cathleen Falsani, Chicago Sun-Times)

Media:

Press and religion: a new dynamic | The press in two major instances has demonstrated its capacity to force religion to reckon in democracy’s public square how it measures up to its own ideals (Stephen Burgard, The Christian Science Monitor)
Thought for the day challenges religious offering | You might think God is on the rocks, judging by the indignant reaction that greeted last week’s attempt to smuggle an atheist into the Thought for the Day studio (Kirsty Milne, The Scotsman)
Christian broadcasters defiant | Two Lebanese stations won’t apply for licenses until Information Ministry amends media law to include a section that regulates religious television and radio (The Daily Star, Lebanon)
N.Y. shock jocks fired in wake of church sex stunt | Transcript suggests sex was merely simulated, but it’s still unclear. (The Washington Post)

History:

Expert attacks latest tests on Turin Shroud | A fresh attempt by Catholic officials to prove that the Turin Shroud is genuine and not a medieval fake has provoked a row after experts said that the tests could damage the cloth (The Times, London)
Japan’s revisionists turn emperor into a god once more | Popular Tokyo shrine rewrites postwar history (The Guardian, London)

Witchcraft:

School charms students with lessons in witchcraft | Bev Richardson plans to build a full-time witchcraft school (The Irish Examiner)
Prison officials allow Wiccan minister to provide comfort, counseling to inmate | India Blue is first witch in a Connecticut prison (Journal Inquirer, Manchester, Conn.)

Lawsuits:

Minnesota high court reinstates lawsuit against former minister | Legal scholar says justices’ ruling in marriage-counseling suit puts clergy at risk for being sued for performing their normal duties (Associated Press)
Judge rules for priest in tape case | A judge ruled Wednesday that an Episcopal priest did not have a duty to inform a woman that a meeting with her estranged husband, former Gov. Ray Mabus, was secretly being taped (Associated Press)
Till dearth of cash do us part | A homeless woman is suing the Catholic Church for $25 million because Father Owen Crowe forgot to sign her marriage certificate 52 years ago (The Sydney Morning Herald)

Church life:

Some churches stop passing collection plates | Departure from traditional offering comes as churches try to distance themselves from scandals and welcome visitors (The Christian Science Monitor)
Church officials oust members who filed lawsuit | Six members of the Antioch Missionary Baptist Church who are suing church leaders over alleged financial wrongdoing were voted out as members late Thursday night (Chicago Sun-Times)
Earlier: Church members’ suit called ‘unbiblical’ | Members of Antioch Missionary Baptist Church may be kicked out for filing a lawsuit over alleged financial mismanagement (Chicago Sun-Times)
Southern Baptists enforce doctrine | Top Southern Baptist leaders are using their financial clout to shape the actions and priorities of other Baptist groups (The Washington Times)
Twin Cities church votes to leave ELCA | After fighting over including the denomination’s examination of homosexuality, abortion and mission development., North Heights Lutheran will join Alliance of Renewal Churches (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)

Lutherans luring Hispanic Catholics? | Priests and parishioners in Chicago say they’re being tricked into Lutheran baptisms (Chicago Sun-Times)
Cultural conversion | Pentecostal services hold special allure for traditionally Catholic Latinos (The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.)

Books:

A faith that shaped today’s world | Brian Moynahan’s The Faith is a chronicle rather than an interpretation (The Boston Globe)
With Franklin Graham, prayer leads to argument | In his latest book, The Name, Graham rebuffs the rules of modern civic pluralism and defends the controversial practice of invoking Jesus in public prayer. (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
Beamer is an author second | Sept. 11 widow says being a mom comes before her memoir Let’s Roll!, which is to be released this week (USA Today)
Surfers Bible rides wave of success | Three months on, the Surfers Bible, the word of God as recast for pleasure-seeking surfies, is about to go into its third print and has attracted interest in Europe, Japan, South Africa and the U.S. (The Weekend Australian)

Clergy sex scandals:

The Pope has let us down | John Paul could clean out the stench of pedophilia, but doesn’t (Rod Dreher, The Wall Street Journal, subscription required)
Half of Catholic clergy sees a gay presence in priesthood (Chicago Tribune)
PM stands by Pell | Rejects claim that supporting accused sends wrong signal to victims (News.com.au, Australia)
Catholic League takes over where church has failed | Official Catholicism has been muzzled on matters sexual. Its moral authority has been lost (Margery Eagan, Boston Herald)

Other stories of interest:

Oklahoma students start school year with moment of silence | New law requires public schools to set aside 60 seconds for silent reflection each day (Associated Press)
‘By the hand of Mormon’: The gospel according to Joseph Smith | Terryl L. Givens examines the life of the Mormon prophet and the book he presented to the world (The New York Times)
Joshua or Jesus? | Christians continue to reek death and destruction with crusades, inquisitions, and killing for “infinite freedom” (Tom Turnipseed, Common Dreams)
Leaders say religion and humor can mix (The Washington Times)
Church of Scotland’s power on the wane, says church magazine | The comment piece in Life and Work likens the treatment of the Kirk to that of an aged relative, who must be given due respect, but whose views are greeted with “a nod and a wink, maybe even a giggle” (The Scotsman)
Religion news in brief | Costs of sex abuse reform, Minnesota Supreme Court ruling on clergy counseling suit, religious schools can use tax-exempt bonds, Columbine tiles, and other stories (Associated Press)