Judge: White man can't use peyote in religious ceremony
The Ten Commandments, crosses and crucifixes, Bibles, and other Christian objects have been at the center of many a religious-liberty case. But if there's one item that has shaped America's religious liberty law in the last decade or so, it's peyote. The hallucinogenic cactus was at the center of Employment Division v. Smith, where a Native American was fired from his job and denied unemployment benefits because he'd chewed it as part of a religious ceremony. The Supreme Court ruled in 1990 that the firing did not infringe on Smith's religious freedom. In response, religious liberty advocates convinced Congress to pass the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), which was subsequently ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Now those two Supreme Court cases are the backbone of current religious freedom law in the U.S.—which Christianity Today columnist Charles Colson and others have argued is a very, very bad thing.
Now another peyote case may once again chip away religious liberty in the country. A Utah district court judge ruled that even though federal law allows Native Americans to use peyote in religious ceremonies (the law was passed after the Supreme Court's anti-RFRA decision), self-styled medicine man Nicholas Stark isn't allowed to do so because he has no proof that he's of American Indian descent. "Clearly, there is a protection for the use of peyote for Native Americans, but Mr. Stark does not come under that protection," Judge Roger Dutson wrote in his decision. Even more brazenly, Deputy Weber County Attorney Richard Parmley had argued in court that the federal law hadn't been intended to protect religious freedom at all, but merely to "preserve the unique cultural history of the Native American people."
"This is not just to get around Utah's Uniform Drug Code," Stark's attorney says. His client "professes those beliefs, he practices them." And it's not fair to discriminate against his beliefs just because he does not "bear a particular DNA in [his] blood." Expect an appeal.
Not forgetting, but forgiving | Tim McVeigh killed his daughter. Now Bud Welch has lost his anger, too. (The Washington Post)
Fellow inmate counsels McVeigh | The devoutly Roman Catholic David Hammer, a fellow death row inmate, may be the last voice urging Timothy McVeigh to seek spiritual redemption. (Associated Press)
American nun shot dead in Guatemala | Sister Barbara Ann Ford of the Bronx-based Sisters of Charity was shot in the head Saturday in Guatemala City in what local police said yesterday was an attempted carjacking. (New York Daily News)
Faith in just a chosen few | Already religious and political factions are trying to pick and choose who is worthy of inclusion under the faith umbrella. (Joan Ryan, San Francisco Chronicle)
Staying home to go to school | Academic reasons, not religious, are often cited for the dramatic increase in parent-taught students. Even public districts are now helping out. (Los Angeles Times)
Mother's Day banned | Manhattan private school says observance can hurt feelings of children raised by same-sex couples (New York Post)
Seminary plans to offer Muslim studies degree | Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary officials say the new program is not an effort to proselytize Muslims but rather an attempt to eliminate miseducation and stereotypes. (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
Missions and ministry:
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Downing of missionary plane probed | "There were several contributing factors that tragically conspired" says investigator (Associated Press)
Antiabortion youths begin tour | Vancouver will be one of the first stops on a cross' 15-month trans-Canada tour (Religion News Service)
Houston churches offer help for sex addicts | Attitude of caring, instead of condemnation is beginning to filter through Houston churches as they offer weekly meetings, other means of support (KPRC, Houston)
Cathedrals become temples of Mammon | While admission charges are being scrapped by national museums, the Church of England continues to take millions in 'voluntary' donations (The London Independent)
Sermon on the Mobile | It's a gimmick, sure, and gimmicks and religion don't always mix. But maybe this is a gimmick whose time has come: religious services via mobile phone text messages (Wired News)
Denominations:
Sally Army's softer sell | With recruitment tumbling, the Salvation Army has decided to get rid of its military image (The Times, London)
Greek Orthodox leader in Russia | No details of have been released of the topics that Archbishop Christodoulos will discuss with Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II, but relations with the Vatican are sure to be high on the list. (Associated Press)
Bishop pays symbolic visit to church | This Episcopal church left its diocese in 1999, calling it too liberal. The visit was not welcome. (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
Turbulent priest rocks Belgian church | A gay priest has stretched Belgium's ultra-conservative Catholic church to breaking point and enraged senior clerics by setting up a 'rent-a-priest' service, (The Guardian, London)
Jews:
LDS plan to take more Jews off records | Menachem Begin, David Ben Gurion, Golda Meir, Anne Frank, Albert Einstein, and others were apparently baptized posthumously by Mormons. (The Deseret News, Utah)
Catholics, Jews set forth plans for cooperation | Officials agree not to try to influence each other's theology, call for protection of holy sites and the opening of all Vatican archives from the Second World War. (Reuters)
Abortion rights group vows suit over Web name | Prochoiceresource.com directs visitors to Abortionismurder.org. The ProChoice Resource Center, which owns Prochoiceresource.org, is upset. (The New York Times)
Prolifers march on Planned Parenthood | Federal court of appeals rejects injunction designed to block demonstrations near abortion clinics. (WJLA, D.C.)
Family:
With this ring, I thee divorce | The Protestant Church in Germany is advocating a ritual for divorce, arguing that separating couples deserve a solemn occasion to mark the dissolution of the supposedly indissoluble. (The Times, London)
Lutheran bishop ordains lesbian | "I can no longer advocate this cause with credibility from a position of personal safety," says Paul W. Egertson, bishop of ELCA's Southern California West Synod (Los Angeles Times)
Gay row sends worshipers down the road | Bulk of New Zealand Methodist congregation, disgusted with the church's gay-friendly attitudes, was subsequently locked out by Methodist leaders in February after threats were made. (The New Zealand Herald)
Books:
Please Lord, make me rich | The Prayer of Jabez, a book based on a passage in the Old Testament, has sold four million copies in America with the message that greed is Godly (The Times, London)
Kinkade, king of kitsch, coming to a home near you | love him or loathe him, Thomas Kinkade is the world's bestselling living artist whose soft-focus landscapes have taken America by storm—and are now heading en masse for Britain's living rooms (The London Independent)
Earlier The Kinkade Crusade | "America's most collected artist" is a Christian who seeks to sabotage Modernism by painting beauty, sentiment, and the memory of Eden. (Christianity Today, Dec. 8, 2000)
Also: Public debate best way to handle controversial 'B.C.' comic | From "Pogo" to "Doonesbury," comic strips sometimes touch nerves and trigger controversies that can lead some papers to cancel them. But dropping a cartoon isn't the answer. (Charles Haynes, Freedom Forum)
While we pray for peace, we need moral clarity about this war.
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Beyoncé’s right. Whether listening to Cowboy Carter or reading theology, diversity is a good thing.
