Must European Churches Now Hire Non-Christians?

European Union laws will destroy religious organizations, says group The Christian Institute, which is like the British version of the Family Research Council, is warning that churches, religious schools, charities, and other faith-based organizations throughout Britain (indeed, perhaps all of the European Union) could be forced under a European Union directive to hire staff who oppose their beliefs.

“The government regulations have all the potential to seriously undermine freedom of association for religious people,” said Ian Leigh, codirector of the Human Rights Center at Durham University. “They place the modern concept of ‘equality’ over and above religious liberty.”

The laws, which must be implemented in Britain by December 2, 2003, ban employment discrimination on the basis of religion, belief, or sexual orientation. (And they don’t apply to Northern Ireland.)

“While the Vegetarian Society can refuse to employ meat-eaters and the [Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals] can sack an executive who is found to have invested in the fur trade, churches which employ Christians could now face legal action for doing so,” the institute explains on its website. “They could face the possibility of crippling legal actions just for following their beliefs.”

The EU directives do give churches and faith-based organizations an exemption in cases where “being of a particular religion or belief is a genuine and determining occupational requirement for the job,” but the Christian Institute says the exemption clauses are “convoluted” and incomplete. “First, this is not a general exemption from all discrimination provisions for religious employers. It only relates to discrimination claims brought on the ground of religion or belief, and, notably, not to claims brought in relation to sexual orientation,” notes a lengthy report on the directives by Leigh and Christian Institute director Colin Heart. “Secondly, there is a gray area that is not covered expressly by these words. It is a concern that many religious employers may have about the conduct of their employees. Currently, of course, it is possible, and the law recognizes this, to dismiss someone fairly on the basis that their conduct is inconsistent with the ethos of the organization.”

The Christian Institute looks ready to fight all year over this. It won’t be the last time we hear about the regulations.

Bush’s God vs. the media’s godIt has been pointed out to Weblog that while the official White House transcript of last night’s State of the Union address capitalizes “God,” several versions elsewhere online, such as at The Washington Post and CNN, have it lowercased. But don’t get too upset: they probably got it from somewhere else. Just like Bush got his line “there’s power, wonder-working power” from somewhere else.

Faith-based funding:

Religious drug treatment plan irks some | Opponents fear government will pay for programs that replace professional counselors with prayer and Bible study (Associated Press)

Assemblies of God opens D.C. office to secure faith-based funds | Baptist group worries that public money will dilute religious message (Springfield [Mo.] News-Leader)
Building on faith | If churches, synagogues or mosques are providing space to fight drug addictions, feed the homeless or help pregnant teens, they should be eligible for HUD construction grants to build or refurbish space (Editorial, The Tennessean)

India:

Missionary slashed in India attack is back home in New Castle | Cooper thinking about going back to work (The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
RSS for legislation to ban conversion | Hindu group says police discriminated against them by letting U.S. missionary Joseph Cooper be deported without a criminal trial (Sify News)
Also: BJP seeks anti-conversion law in Kerala | Says Hindus are being persecuted (KeralaNext)
Staines accused not Bajrang men: CBI | Even several prosecution witnesses had deposed before the trial judge that the accused were shouting slogans like ”Bajrang Dal zindabad” before setting Staines and his sons on fire (The Indian Express)

Crime:

4 Mexican officials, civilian slain in shootout in Chiapas | Gun battle breaks out as officials hunt suspects in a pair of killings that some papers link to a Catholic feud with evangelical Protestants (Los Angeles Times)
In Manila, kidnapping as a business expense | For this city’s affluent ethnic Chinese business executives, kidnapping has been a fact of life—an almost ritual form of extortion (The New York Times)
Religion-based scams take Lord’s name in gain | Religious affinity scams exploit the trust, friendship and tight-knit structure of people in religious groups, regulators say (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)

Church life:

African Anglicans | American Anglican church members are breaking off from their congregation and looking to Africa for inspiration. (Morning Edition, NPR)
The Lord’s profits | The music is catchy, the mood euphoric and the message perfect for a material age: believe in God and you’ll be rewarded in this life as well as the next (The Sydney Morning Herald)
Designers merge their art with higher visions of faith | Schickel Design Co., based in Loveland, works with churches and other religious organizations as they plan new or renovated worship spaces (The Cincinnati Enquirer)
Church presents plans for building | Jerry Falwell’s Thomas Road Baptist Church space will incorporate worship space, basketball courts, and industrial manufacturing (The News & Advance, Lynchburg, Va.)
Church struggles with changes in its mission, financial woes | Humility has been a hallmark of Worldwide Church of God leaders since they disowned the very non-mainstream beliefs of their founder, Herbert W. Armstrong (Pasadena Star News)
Ex-pastor: ‘New spin’ by church | Officials say David T. Moore wasn’t truthful. He says he has been slandered (The Press-Enterprise, Inland California)
Vatican stands firm on women priests | The Vatican has upheld its decision to excommunicate seven women ordained as priests last year by a controversial cleric (BBC)

Film:

A very violent ‘passion’ | Mel Gibson’s movie about the last hours in the life of Jesus Christ is his riskiest yet (New York Daily News)
Visual Bible International begins filming the Gospel of John | Word-for-word biblical adaptation on schedule for release late summer 2003 (Press release)
Son of God, the Maine man | Some religious groups are limbering up to protest The Second Coming (The Guardian)

Clergy sex abuse:

Boston’s Catholics say little done to restore church trust | Cardinal Law’s exit has not eased discontent. His successor is called unresponsive, and the diocese’s tough legal strategy sparks outrage (Los Angeles Times)
A requiem for a loss of innocence | Bearing their portraits and telling their stories, hundreds rally for alleged victims of clerical abuse at a New Hampshire cathedral (Los Angeles Times)
Also: Protesters aim to force N.H. bishop to step down (The Boston Globe)
Also: Demonstrators call for resignation of bishop (The New York Times)
Molestation victim gets story told in churches | “A Victim’s Perspective” was part of a special eight-page edition of the Diocesan Bulletin passed out to the 110 parishes and missions in Riverside and San Bernardino counties (Los Angeles Times)
Church elder charged with sex abuse | Bennie Mark Mabon, a former church elder for the Flagstaff Christian Fellowship, was charged earlier this month with 11 counts of sexual abuse of minors, two counts of sexual assault of a minor, two counts of child molestation and two counts of sexual conduct with a minor (Arizona Daily Sun)
N.H. bishop offers apology to dozens of alleged victims | About 85 people, including 30 alleged victims, met for 21/2 hours with Bishop John B. McCormack (The Boston Globe)
Law’s attorney blasts judge for remarks | In an unusual public rebuke, Cardinal Bernard F. Law’s personal attorney yesterday accused Superior Court Judge Constance M. Sweeney of making prejudicial remarks that could undermine Law’s ability to get unbiased justice if any of the hundreds of pending civil claims of clergy sexual abuse go to trial (The Boston Globe)
Deficit tripled, Los Angeles Archdiocese says | Officials of the archdiocese, the largest in the country, now project that the deficit for this fiscal year, which ends on June 30, will reach $13.4 million (The New York Times)