- newNew Jersey churches lose preservation grant case
A unanimous New Jersey Supreme Court ruled last week that churches should not have access to county historic preservation grants.Attorneys for a dozen New Jersey churches, all previous grant recipients, are considering an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. The New Jersey justices ruled taxpayer funding for restoration of historic churches violates the state Constitution’s Religious Aid Clause. In a concurring opinion, Justice Lee Solomon admitted the merits of the case required he vote with the majority but argued the state’s “antiestablishment interests” are limited by the U.S. Constitution’s Free Exercise Clause.“No one has disputed that these structures are historic, or that they contribute to the local historic districts,” Solomon wrote. “The fact that prayer occurs inside the structures should not deprive the public of the benefit of preserving their outside appearance, which is all that the grants do.”A taxpayer-funded historic preservation trust in Morris County, N.J., provides money for qualified projects, including churches. From 2012 to 2015, the trust awarded $4.6 million to 12 active churches for restoration projects. But a resident, backed by the Freedom from Religion Foundation, filed suit in 2016, claiming the grants violated the state’s constitution.The state high court agreed and overturned a lower court decision in the churches’ favor. Part of the high court’s decision hinged on wording from grant applications stating “funds were needed to allow the church to offer religious services.”That wording disqualified the churches from relying on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Trinity Lutheran Church v. Comer, Justice C.J. Rabner wrote in the majority opinion. The Trinity decision applied so long as the generally available public funds would not be used for an “essentially religious endeavor.”“The court viewed the grants as being intended to keep the church doors open for services, which it viewed as subsidizing religion,” said Ken Wilbur, an attorney with Drinker Biddle representing the 12 churches. “But none of the applications asked for or were given funds in order to continue hosting religious services.”The congregations—which include churches aligned with the Presbyterian Church (USA), The Episcopal Church, the Reformed Church in America, the United Methodist Church, American Baptist Churches USA, and the United Church of Christ, and a Catholic parish—could repair their buildings with cheaper, modern materials that would maintain the structures but destroy their historic value, Wilbur noted. “This would not, however, advance the county’s legitimate interest in preserving large, historic, slate-and-stone structures as a means of preserving the integrity of the historic districts anchored by these structures,” he said.The court did not seek a reimbursement of the grants, but the ruling will apply going forward, preventing the churches from seeking additional grant funds.In a similar ruling issued in March, the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts ruled a public grant to restore a historic church’s stained glass windows violated that state’s Constitution. The decision does not bar all future grants but establishes a three-point test for determining whether future grants pass constitutional muster. iStock.com/BevLinder Army chaplain faces bias complaint over marriage workshopA U.S. Army chaplain could face disciplinary action after a lesbian service member accused him of discrimination for excluding her from a marriage workshop. An attorney for Chaplain Jerry Scott Squires calls the conclusions found by the miltary’s office of equal opportunity investigation “severely deficient” and has asked the commanding officer to strike the complaint and restore Squires’ untainted service record.The woman, a sergeant, asked Squires if she could enroll in a Feb. 9 marriage workshop he planned to lead. The registration deadline had already passed, he told her, but added he could not facilitate the “Strong Bonds” workshop if it included same-sex couples. The tenets of his endorsing ministry, the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention, prohibited him from doing so. Squires later made arrangements for the sergeant to attend another Strong Bonds meeting, according to attorney Michael Berry with First Liberty.But that didn’t suffice, and the woman filed an official complaint. Berry described the subsequent investigation as fraught with “factual discrepancies” and asked Col. William J. Rice to dismiss the complaint and its career-damaging implications.“It is inconceivable that a military chaplain who merely explains that his/her ecclesiastical endorser places certain restrictions on what religious rites, ceremonies, and practices he/she may perform violates military [equal opportunity] policy,” Berry said, noting the investigation concluded the sergeant’s desire to attend a specific workshop superseded the chaplain’s “sincerely held religious beliefs, denominational tenets, and legal requirements.”Squires’ case comes just two weeks after the successful appeal by an Air Force officer who faced a similar career-damaging investigation over a discrimination complaint. —B.P. www.cph.org A promotion for vacation Bible school materials on the Concordia Publishing House website Google blocks Christian publisher’s adsGoogle AdWords disabled a Christian publisher’s marketing tool because its ads mention Jesus and the Bible. Concordia Publishing House, the publishing arm of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod, revealed the spat with Google in an announcement Tuesday.Remarketing ads are generated by a user’s previously visited websites and are designed to draw them back to the original source for a purchase. A Google representative initially told Concordia its remarketing ads violated Google’s “interest and location” policy. Then the company said the Concordia ads violated its prohibition against marketing “religious beliefs.” Finally, after a manual review of Concordia’s website—with its banner promoting vacation Bible school materials—the Google representative informed Concordia its remarketing tool had been disabled because the publisher mentions Jesus and the Bible.The tool could be put to use again if Concordia removed all references to the offending content and used a “different type of Google ad product,” according to the publisher’s statement.“We are not willing to sacrifice our beliefs to comply with Google’s requirements,” Concordia president Bruce Kintz said. “It’s no secret that society is becoming increasingly hostile to the Christian faith. This increasing hostility makes our mission of proclaiming that faith through the books, Bibles, and curriculum that we produce all the more important.”Providentially featured under “new releases” on the website’s homepage: The Gates of Hell: Confessing Christ in a Hostile World, a collection of sermons and essays testifying to the “power of Christ’s promise to defend His Church.” —B.P.Oklahoma foster care bill gets a second chanceThe Oklahoma House of Representatives could take up a bill providing protection for religious foster and adoption care agencies Wednesday. The bill’s co-author, Rep. Travis Dunlap, a Republican, has filed an amendment repealing language inserted during a committee hearing that eviscerated the law’s intent. Although mindful of the ardent opposition the bill faces from pro-LGBT forces, Dunlap told me he is cautiously optimistic it will pass the state House. The measure, like those in about six other states, would provide legal protection from ruinous lawsuits filed against faith-based foster and adoption care agencies that do not serve same-sex couples. —B.P.Student, college settle free speech lawsuitJoliet Junior College has agreed to abandon its restrictive speech policies in a settlement with student Ivette Salazar. Campus police detained and questioned Salazar in November for passing out flyers from the Party for Socialism and Liberation that proclaimed an anti-capitalism message. Salazar sued over the school’s requirement she only distribute such literature in a small, out-of-the way space on campus. As part of the settlement, the suburban Chicago school agreed to adopt a model speech policy written by the University of Chicago and championed by Salazar’s attorneys at the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. —B.P. Image: Deck: State’s high court rules against funding applications because they allow churches to continue holding religious servicesCategory: First AmendmentKeywords: First AmendmentReligious LibertyFree SpeechAdoptionGovernmentFoster CareChurchesSlug: First AmendmentArticle Title: New Jersey churches lose preservation grant caseAuthor: Bonnie PritchettDigital Branding: LibertiesHide from Archive?: 0
- 11 hours ago 24 Apr 18, 7:58pm -
- newJudge again denies further treatment for Alfie Evans
UPDATE: Judge Anthony Hayden has denied a final appeal to Alfie Evans’ family after holding another hearing Tuesday afternoon. An Italian Embassy official appeared in court, and a lawyer for the Evanses told the judge that an air ambulance was standing by to take Alfie to Italy for treatment, The Guardian’s Josh Halladay reported. But the judge ruled against it, calling his decision “the final chapter in the case of this extraordinary little boy.”UPDATE (11:57 a.m.): A judge granted the family of Alfie Evans, a toddler with a degenerative neurological condition, a new hearing Tuesday after the 23-month-old breathed on his own for hours after doctors discontinued his life support Monday. Judge Anthony Hayden said he would hear a new appeal from Alfie’s parents to transfer him to a hospital in Rome on the grounds that Italy has granted the child citizenship.OUR EARLIER REPORT (10:10 a.m.): Alfie Evans, the British toddler doctors said would die without ongoing medical intervention, started to breathe on his own after doctors disconnected his life support systems Monday. The 23-month-old diagnosed with a degenerative neurological condition, survived for six hours without assistance, prompting doctors to give him oxygen and hydration. Tom Evans, Alfie’s father, announced the unexpected development Tuesday, describing the doctors as “gobsmacked.” “He is still working, he’s doing as good as he can but we do need him to be supported in the next hour. It’s going to be hard,” Evans told supporters and reporters gathered outside Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool. Evans and Kate James, Alfie’s mother, have waged a monthslong court battle to prevent the hospital from turning off their son’s life support. Doctors insisted he should be “allowed” to die. Evans and James want to have their son transferred to a Catholic hospital in Rome willing to treat him, but British courts refused, calling further treatment futile. Alfie is in a semi-vegetative state stemming from a condition doctors still haven’t been able to identify.Image: Category: Pro-LifeArticle Title: Judge again denies further treatment for Alfie Evans Keywords: Parental RightsBritainInternationalAuthor: Leigh JonesLynde Langdon
- 11 hours ago 24 Apr 18, 7:11pm -
- newU.S. singles out human rights abusers
The Trump administration in its first global human rights report called out China, Iran, Russia, and North Korea as “forces of instability” due to “daily” abuses of human rights.The 2017 annual report includes nearly 200 countries and territories. Acting Secretary of State John Sullivan in his introduction to the report said the governments of the four nations consistently violate human rights within their borders.“We seek to lead other nations by example in promoting just and effective governance based on the rule of law and respect for human rights,” Sullivan wrote.The report held the Chinese government responsible for abuses including forced disappearances, torture, forced confessions, and official repression of the Tibetans and Uighurs, among others. In Iran, the report noted, the most significant abuses are political imprisonment and restrictions on religious freedom and the press.Russia’s abuses included extrajudicial killlings such as the murders of LGBT people in Chechnya, privacy interference, and refoulement, or sending refugees back to countries where they face persecution. And in North Korea, the report said impunity remains a problem with “no known attempts to prosecute officials who committed human rights abuses.”In a news conference Friday, Sullivan also condemned the ethnic cleansing in Myanmar, also known as Burma, where more than 670,000 Rohingya Muslims fled the country. He commended Liberia for its first peaceful transition of power in more than 70 years and praised Uzbekistan’s move to seek a reform agenda. “We hope to see many more positive accounts of countries taking serious action to improve the human rights record in the reports next year,” Sullivan said.In its most notable change, the report excluded a “reproductive rights” section that previously detailed access to abortion and contraception for each country. In its place, the Trump administration added a section called “coercion in population control.” The United States first included abortion and contraception availability in the 2011 report under former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.Michael Kozak, senior adviser at the State Department Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, said the administration reverted the term to avoid sending the wrong message. “We went back to the term that’s used in the U.S. statute that requires the Human Rights Report, which is ‘coerced family planning,’ namely coereced abortion or involuntary sterilization,” he said. Associated Press/Photo by Alfredo Zuniga A protest Monday in Managua, Nicaragua Deadly protests in NicaraguaThousands of demonstrators on Monday flooded the streets of the Nicaraguan capital Managua to march against the government crackdown that killed nearly 30 people since a social security policy change triggered protests last week.President Daniel Ortega on April 16 issued a decree that hiked taxes and altered the pension scheme in a bid to support the country’s failing social security system. The resulting clashes between security officials and protesters killed nearly 30 people. Marlin Sierra, director of the Nicaraguan Center of Human Rights, told Reuters that authorities arrested another 120 people.Ortega withdrew the policy changes on Sunday, but the protests over government repression persisted. Protesters waved the country’s blue and white flag while chanting, “President, get out!” The United States ordered families of diplomats to vacate the country and encouraged people to “reconsider travel to Nicaragua due to crime and protests.”Stephane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, in a statement Monday said Guterres called on the country’s government to protect human rights for all, “particularly the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression.” —O.O. Associated Press/Photo by Bullit Marquez Patricia Fox at a Saturday news conference in Quezon City, Philippines Duterte ordered persecution of nunAn Australian nun working with poor farmers in Quezon City, the Philippines, awaits possible deportation over “disorderly conduct.”The Australian Broadcasting Company reported that President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the investigation of 71-year-old Catholic nun Patricia Fox and criticized her outspokenness regarding human rights in the Philippines.“You are a foreigner! Who are you?” he said, calling it a “violation of sovereignty.”“It was not the military who arrested the nun,” Duterte said. “It was upon my orders implemented by the Bureau of Immigration, and I take full responsibility legal or otherwise for this incident.”Authorities arrested Fox on April 16 with the intention of deporting her, UCA News reported, but she was later released pending investigation.Her congregation’s superior-general defended the nun for devoting herself to the poor and marginalized.The Ecumenical Bishops’ Forum also condemned Duterte’s actions, saying, “We express outrage at this evil-doing and demand that all politically motivated harassment against human rights defenders, peace and justice advocates, political activists, and church workers be put to a stop.”Although Christians don’t face ongoing government persecution in the Philippines, religious workers who speak out against the government’s methods of fighting against drugs or Communist rebels can face hostility. Even working near rebels has sometimes resulted in false criminal accusations. —Julia A. Seymour Myanmar grants new year amnesty to pastorsNewly elected Myanmar President Win Myint pardoned thousands of prisoners for the country’s new year celebration and began releasing people April 17.“To bring peace and pleasure to people’s heart, and for the sake of humanitarian support, 8,490 prisoners from respective prisons will be pardoned,” the Presidential Office said, according to Reuters. Most were convicted of drug charges, but at least 36 were political prisoners.Two of them were Kachin Baptist pastors Dumdaw Nawng Lat, 67, and Langjaw Gam Seng, 35. UCA News reported that both were freed and in good health. Myanmar military forces abducted them on Christmas Eve 2016. In late 2017, a court sentenced them for alleged ties to ethnic Kachin rebels.Amnesty International condemned the politically motivated sentence, attributing it to the pastors helping organize a visit for journalists to view destruction from military airstrikes in Myanmar, also known as Burma.Another Kachin Baptist prisoner was also released, but UCA News reported his health was poor from torture and prison conditions. —J.A.S.India adopts death penalty for child rapeThe Indian government on Saturday approved the death penalty for convicted rapists of girls younger than 12. The ruling comes amid heightening frustration with serial rape and killing attacks on young girls. The executive order, approved by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Cabinet, also amended the criminal law to include harsher punishments for other rape cases.The order follows this month’s rape and killing of an 8-year-old Muslim girl in the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. Her death prompted protests demanding justice. Last week, authorities arrested a lawmaker in Uttar Pradesh as a suspect in the rape of a 17-year-old last year.The Cabinet also increased to 20 years the prison sentence for raping a girl younger than 16 and raised the penalty for raping women to 10 years in prison. The Hindustan Times said Indian courts have achieved convictions in only about 30 percent of current and pending cases of assault against children. —O.O.Europe accepted more than half a million refugees in 2017European nations last year granted asylum to more than half a million asylum seekers, according to Eurostat, the European Union’s statistical office. The majority of the 538,000 refugees came from Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Germany took in more than 60 percent of the refugees. More migrants continue to make the perilous journey across the Mediterranean Sea. Since January, more than 18,575 migrants have arrived in Europe. The Libyan navy on Sunday said it rescued 263 people and recovered 10 casualties in two missions off the Libyan western coast. —O.O. Image: Deck: A new report calls China, Russia, others ‘forces of instability’Category: InternationalKeywords: Human RightsRussiaChinaEuropeImmigrationRefugeesNicaraguaProtestForeign PolicyPersecutionPhilippinesMyanmarIndiaSexual AbuseSlug: InternationalArticle Title: U.S. singles out human rights abusersAuthor: Onize OhikereDigital Branding: World TourHide from Archive?: 0
- 12 hours ago 24 Apr 18, 7:02pm -
- newAttack on Nigerian church kills 15 worshippers
ABUJA, Nigeria—Gunmen killed 15 people in a Tuesday morning attack on a Catholic church in Nigeria’s Benue state. Officials said the gunmen targeted St. Ignatius Catholic Church in the Ayar-Mbalom community but also burned 50 houses. Benue state has faced multiple clashes between Muslim Fulani herdsmen and mostly Christian farmers in recent years. Changing environmental conditions have driven the herdsmen toward Nigeria’s Middle Belt in search of grazing pastures for their cattle. Less than a week ago, a suspected herdsmen attack killed 10 people in another area of the state. Nigerian President Muhammad Buhari in a statement condemned the attack as a violation of a place of worship and an attempt to stoke religious conflict.Image: Category: PersecutionArticle Title: Attack on Nigerian church kills 15 worshippersKeywords: TerrorismNigeriaAfricaPersecutionAuthor: Onize Ohikere
- 13 hours ago 24 Apr 18, 5:38pm -
- newFormer President George H.W. Bush hospitalized
Former President George H.W. Bush, 93, is recovering in a Houston hospital from an infection, according to a family spokesman. Jim McGrath said Monday that Bush appeared to be responding to treatments and was eager to travel to his summer home in Kennebunkport, Maine. He was hospitalized shortly after attending the funeral of his wife, Barbara, who died last week and was laid to rest Saturday in Houston. The former president uses a wheelchair and an electric scooter after developing a form of Parkinson’s disease, and he has required hospital treatment several times in recent years for respiratory problems.Image: Category: Family & SocietyArticle Title: Former President George H.W. Bush hospitalizedKeywords: NewsworthyPoliticsWhite HouseHealthAuthor: Lynde Langdon
- 15 hours ago 24 Apr 18, 3:44pm -