Religion News In Brief

NC board vows to keep praying in Jesus’ name

SALISBURY, N.C. — County commissioners plan to continue offering Christian prayers at public meetings, regardless of warnings from a civil liberties group about recent court rulings affirming a ban on the practice.

The Rowan County Board of Commissioners meeting Monday night drew a crowd of supporters for elected officials, who say they’ll defy a decision by the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals striking down sectarian prayer, or prayer that’s explicitly linked to a particular religion.

“If they tell county commissioners they can’t pray, soon they’re going to be in my church telling me I can’t pray in the name of Jesus,” said Terry Brown, a county resident who came to the meeting.

The appeals court’s ruling was in the case of the Forsyth County Board of Commissions. Last month, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by that board, letting the Fourth Circuit’s ruling stand. Since then, the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union has contacted 25 and 30 government bodies in North Carolina in response to complaints from residents about sectarian prayer.

So far, Rowan County commissioners are the only local officials who say they’ll disregard the court’s decision, said Katy Parker, legal director of the state ACLU. The group has asked for a response from the commissioners to its concerns by March 5. Salisbury is located about 40 miles northeast of Charlotte.

“We hope they’ll change their mind and follow the law,” Parker said.

The only other government body to openly disregard the court’s ruling so far, Parker said, is the General Assembly. There were Christian prayers before sessions of both the state House of Representatives and Senate during a brief meeting last week. Legislative leaders have said they’ll review the ACLU’s concerns, but criticized the group for sending a letter calling on lawmakers to end sectarian prayer.

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Kansas House panel back bill aimed at protecting religious freedom, critics say discriminates

TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) — A Kansas House committee has endorsed legislation that backers say would protect religious freedom but opponents believe would allow discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Monday’s adoption by the House Judiciary Committee on a voice vote sends the bill to the full House.

Committee chairman Lance Kinzer, an Olathe Republican, says the bill puts into law the language of Kansas court decisions for determining when government policies place too heavy a burden on practicing religion.

It also allows people to sue state and local government agencies if they feel their religious freedoms have been abridged.

Critics, including the Kansas Equality Coalition, claim the bill’s true intent is to discriminate against individuals based on sexual orientation.

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Mass. Roman Catholic church reopens after protests by parishioners over 2008 shutdown

ADAMS, Mass. (AP) — A Roman Catholic church in Adams that was occupied by protesting parishioners for more than three years has reopened for regular worship.

Protesters occupied St. Stanislaus Kostka since it shut in December 2008. It was merged into the new Blessed John Paul the Great Parish.

The Rev. Daniel Boyle, the St. Stanislaus pastor, said the diocese has approved a plan to reopen St. Stanislaus Church as a “chapel-mission” of the parish. His plan follows a Vatican decision to keep the church in religious use.

The first Mass is scheduled for 8 a.m. April 1 — Palm Sunday — and Mass is scheduled for Sunday mornings.

Catholic dioceses around the country have recently closed parishes due to falling attendance, a priest shortage, population shifts from cities to suburbs and financial troubles.

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FBI, ATF probing overnight fire that destroyed Islamic Society cemetery building in Vegas area

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Federal agents are investigating whether an overnight fire at a funeral facility under construction outside Las Vegas was arson or an accident, according to an official from the Islamic Society of Southern Nevada.

Aslam Abdullah, of the Islamic Society, says he hopes the fire that destroyed the $1.2 million project off Lamb Boulevard near Carey Avenue was not a hate crime.

No one was seen in the area and no injuries were reported after about 60 firefighters from Clark County, Las Vegas and North Las Vegas doused the intense 1 a.m. Wednesday blaze.

Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives supervisor Thomas Chittum said investigators are looking at whether the fire was intentional, vandalism or a crime committed against a house of worship.

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Jewish group loses alleged bias lawsuit over Conn. town’s rejection of synagogue plans

LITCHFIELD, Conn. (AP) — A federal judge has dismissed a Jewish group’s discrimination lawsuit against town officials who rejected plans for a synagogue.

U.S. District Judge Janet C. Hall issued a 40-page ruling last week saying Chabad Lubavitch of Northwest Connecticut didn’t present evidence supporting its allegations of religious bias.

Chabad Lubavitch, a traditional Hasidic group, claimed its constitutional right to freedom of religion was violated when the Borough of Litchfield’s Historic District Commission decided in 2007 that the group couldn’t convert a 135-year-old Victorian house it owns into a 21,000-square-foot synagogue. Commission members said the proposed expansion of the building was too big for the local historic district.

Rabbi Joseph Eisenbach says Chabad Lubavitch’s board and its lawyer are reviewing the ruling and will decide whether to pursue further legal action.

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Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan plans to speak at Grand Rapids church

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan is expected to speak at a Grand Rapids church,

Farrakhan is scheduled to speak March 1 at Fountain Street Church at an event organized by the Nation of Islam’s grand Rapids Study Group, according to reports in the Grand Rapids Press and WWMT-TV.

His evening speech is entitled “Duty, Responsibility and the Necessity of Self-Sufficiency.”

The Chicago-based Nation of Islam has espoused black nationalism and self-reliance since it was founded in Detroit the 1930s, though in recent years has made efforts to recruit other ethnic groups.