2011年6月26日星期日

Wis. pastor accepts price for conducting gay union (AP)

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MILWAUKEE – A gay Methodist pastor who was suspended for officiating at a same-sex union said Friday that her church trial this week was a positive experience, and that her jurors were deft in balancing the need for justice with the church's longstanding message of inclusion.

The Rev. Amy DeLong, 44, was suspended for 20 days starting July 1. She was also ordered to draft a document outlining ways to avert similar church trials, and if she declines she will be suspended for a year.

DeLong told The Associated Press she was satisfied with the suspension and was happy to comply with the writing.

"I'm excited. I feel like I've been sentenced to write and to teach, and that's what I dedicated my ministry to anyhow," she said. "I'm always open to the opportunity to get people together and help us resolve our differences."

The document must address ways that clergy can resolve issues that threaten to divide the church or otherwise produce an adversarial atmosphere. DeLong said she hadn't had time to think about what she might propose.

She said she hoped the exercise would send the message that the United Methodist Church wasn't willing to turn its back on its gay clergy and members.

DeLong sat through a two-day church trial this week after she admitted conducting the lesbian union in 2009. A jury of clergy peers convicted her by a 13-0 vote. DeLong was acquitted of a second charge of being a "self-avowed practicing homosexual," a Methodist term that means gays can serve as clergy as long as they remain celibate.

The acquittal was based in part on DeLong's refusal to answer in court about whether her relationship involved sexual contact.

"It's an indecent question. Nobody should have to answer that when somebody's trying to do them harm," she said. "We don't measure the validity of a heterosexual couple's relationship based upon how they conduct themselves in their private moments."

She said she was surprised when the minister representing the church, the Rev. Tom Lambrecht, recommended a penalty that didn't include defrocking. Lambrecht told the AP he would have done so had DeLong been convicted on the charge of being an active homosexual.

"We're pleased that the penalty recognizes that a violation took place and that there is a consequence for that violation," he said.

There has been a general precedent within the Methodist church of dealing harshly with people convicted of the charges DeLong faced. In 2005, a Methodist minister from Germantown, Pa., was defrocked for being in a lesbian partnership. A senior pastor in Omaha, Neb., was defrocked in 1999 for performing a same-sex union.

However, there's also a growing movement among Methodist clergy to overturn the ban prohibiting ministers from officiating at same-sex unions. Hundreds of pastors in several states have signed statements saying they would be willing to defy the ban, even at risk of discipline.

DeLong said even though her jury was caught in the middle, it devised a creative and meaningful penalty.

The Rev. Bruce Robbins, a DeLong supporter from Minnesota, said the ruling gave the jury the opportunity to express its support and compassion for the ministry while also acknowledging the rift and taking steps to heal it.

While both sides seemed pleased with the outcome, this might not be the last time DeLong faces such a trial. She says she's still willing to officiate at same-sex unions. Lambrecht, the church prosecutor, said if that happens he'd seek a more severe penalty next time.

But DeLong hoped circumstances would be different in the future because the penalty handed down this week showed that the church wants to deal with matters of conscience cooperatively, not punitively.

"Nobody wins in these trials — they're costly, they're bad for the image of the church. There's got to be a better way for people of faith to work together," she said. "I think this is a way to do just that."

___

Dinesh Ramde can be reached at dramde(at)ap.org.


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Israeli envoy voices rare praise of wartime Pope (Reuters)

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ROME (Reuters) – A leading Israeli official has praised Pope Pius XII for saving Jews during the Nazi occupation of Rome, a surprise twist in a long-standing controversy over the pontiff's wartime role.

The comments by Mordechay Lewy, the Israeli ambassador to the Vatican, were some of the warmest ever made by a Jewish official about Pius. Most have been very critical of his record.

In an indication of just how sensitive the subject of Pius is among Jews, Lewy was quickly assailed by a group of Holocaust survivors.

Lewy, speaking at a ceremony Thursday night to honor an Italian priest who helped Jews, said that Catholic convents and monasteries had opened their doors to save Jews in the days following a Nazi sweep of Rome's Ghetto on October 16, 1943.

"There is reason to believe that this happened under the supervision of the highest Vatican officials, who were informed about what was going on," he said in a speech.

"So it would be a mistake to say that the Catholic Church, the Vatican and the pope himself opposed actions to save the Jews. To the contrary, the opposite is true," he said.

The question of what Pius did or did not do to help Jews has tormented Catholic-Jewish relations for decades and it is very rare for a leading Jewish or Israeli leader to praise Pius.

Many Jews accuse Pius, who reigned from 1939 to 1958, of turning a blind eye to the Holocaust. The Vatican says he worked quietly behind the scenes because speaking out would have led to Nazi reprisals against Catholics and Jews in Europe.

JEWISH HURT

Lewy told Reuters Friday that he expected his comments to cause a stir but that he was standing by them.

"I am aware this is going to raise some eyebrows in the Rome Jewish community but this refers to saving Jews, which Pius did, and does not refer to talking about Jews, which he did not do and which Jews were expecting from him," Lewy said.

Elan Steinberg, vice-president of the American Gathering of Holocaust Survivors and their Descendants, called Lewy's comments unsustainable.

"For any ambassador to make such specious comments is morally wrong. For the Israeli envoy to do so is particularly hurtful to Holocaust survivors who suffered grievously because of Pius's silence," Steinberg said in a statement.

He said Lewy had "disgracefully conflated the praiseworthy actions of elements in the Catholic Church to rescue Jews with the glaring failure of Pope Pius to do so."

When Pope Benedict visited Rome's synagogue last year, the president of the capital's Jewish community told him that Pius' "silence before the Holocaust" still hurt Jews because more should have been done.

Many Jews responded angrily last year when the pope said in a book that Pius was "one of the great righteous men and that he saved more Jews than anyone else."

Jews have asked that a process that could lead to Pius becoming a saint be frozen until all the Vatican archives from the period have been opened and studied.

Lewy said that most probably even opening the archives would not settle the controversy over Pius's role during the war.

(Editing by Alistair Lyon)


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China wants to ordain bishops 'without delay' (AFP)

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BEIJING (AFP) – China's state-controlled Catholic church wants to ordain at least 40 bishops "without delay", state media reported, in a move likely to further irritate already tense ties with the Vatican.

The official Xinhua news agency quoted Yang Yu, spokesman for the Chinese Patriotic Catholic Association, as saying more than 40 of the country's 97 dioceses were without a bishop.

The report added leaders of China's Catholic church had agreed at a recent meeting that they would "strive to select and ordain bishops at these dioceses without delay".

The meeting concluded that the absence of bishops at some dioceses had "seriously affected normal operations and church affairs" there, it said late Thursday.

The Vatican and China have not had formal diplomatic ties since 1951. Beijing insists it has the right to ordain its own bishops, defying the Holy See, which says ordinations can only go ahead with the pope's blessing.

Last November, China angered the Vatican when it ordained a bishop for the northern city of Chengde without the Holy See's approval. Another ordination in the central province of Hubei was postponed earlier this month.

In May, the pope himself called on Catholics across the world to pray that Chinese bishops refuse to separate from Rome, despite what he called "pressure" from communist authorities.

The Vatican and China cut ties when the Holy See angered Mao Zedong's Communist government by recognising the Nationalist Chinese regime in Taiwan as the legitimate government of China.

The atmosphere worsened when in 1957 China set up its own Catholic Church administered by the atheist Communist government.

The 5.7 million-odd Catholics in China are caught between staying loyal to the ruling Communist Party in Beijing and showing allegiance to the pope as part of an "underground" Church not recognised by the authorities.


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Religion News in Brief (AP)

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Kansas prison ministry conference aims to reduce recidivism

WICHITA, Kan. (AP) — Kansas officials want more nonprofit and faith-based groups to work with criminal offenders, hoping they can reduce the number of former inmates who return to prison later for committing new crimes.

Kansas Corrections Secretary Ray Roberts opened a statewide conference Monday on prison ministry by encouraging religious volunteers to increase their efforts to help offenders stay out of prison. The "Out for Life" conference in Wichita was organized by Prison Fellowship, which promotes ministry in prisons and church support for offenders after their release.

"I really think if we, as a community, as a state, engage people coming out of prison we will see that number go down," Gov. Sam Brownback said.

The Kansas Department of Corrections says 43 percent of the offenders released from prisons will return for new crimes within three years.

Roberts said efforts like those of Prison Fellowship have had an impact in Kansas and he would like to see them expand under Brownback, a Roman Catholic who has a strong interest in partnering with faith-based groups in several areas of government service.

"Even though we're in a hard patch financially, we're not going to let budget restraints create an opportunity for us to stop moving in the direction we need to move," Roberts said.

Roberts called on the groups attending to form a strong coalition of volunteers across the state to provide mentoring and support services to smooth inmates' re-entry process and reduce recidivism.

____

Bangladesh moves to retain Islam as state religion through amending constitution

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) — Bangladesh will retain Islam as the state religion in amendments the government is proposing to its constitution, a government minister said Tuesday.

A former military ruler declared Islam the state religion in 1988 by amending the charter, but it barely affected Bangladesh's secular legal system mainly based on British common law.

The government says the proposed changes won't affect the legal system. Inheritance and other family laws already are based on religion.

The decision was made late Monday at a Cabinet meeting, the minister said. Led by Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the Cabinet also endorsed equal status and equal rights for other religions, including Hinduism, Buddhism and Christianity, the minister said.

A special government committee prepared proposals for the amendment, and the government will send those proposals to the parliament for approval.

Bangladesh won independence from Pakistan in 1971 with help from India through a bloody nine-month war.

The original constitution did not recognize any faith as a state religion, promised elimination of communalism and disfavored discrimination or persecution because of a person's faith. The new proposals want to restore those provisions of secularism but keep Islam as state religion.

____

Colorado civil liberties groups sue over vouchers, claim religious freedom violated

CASTLE ROCK, Colo. (AP) — Three civil liberties organizations have filed a lawsuit challenging a school voucher plan adopted by Douglas County.

The lawsuit was filed Tuesday by the American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado, the American Civil Liberties Union, and Americans United for Separation of Church and State.

ACLU Colorado director Mark Silverstein says the voucher plan violates the Colorado Constitution's religious liberty provisions, which bar the use of public funds for religious schools.

The district plans to designate up to 500 children as public school students in order to obtain per-pupil educational funds from the state to help them pay private school tuition.

Douglas County officials say the program includes "rigorous accountability measures" and that district believes that every student should be empowered to find their best educational fit.

____

Mormon church leader released from hospital, returning to Utah after collapse in Massachusetts

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A senior Mormon leader who is next in line to lead the church was briefly hospitalized after fainting at an event in Boston, church officials said.

Boyd K. Packer, president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, collapsed last Sunday after delivering a speech at a church meetinghouse.

Packer is the second-highest ranking Mormon church leader and the next in line for the presidency of the 14.1 million-member faith. By Monday, the 86-year-old Packer had improved and headed back to Utah, said Michael Purdy, a church spokesman.

____

Evangelist pleads guilty to wire fraud in Ky. oil-and-gas scheme to defraud church-goers

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — A traveling evangelist has pleaded guilty to 17 counts of wire fraud for an oil-and-gas investment scheme that cost churchgoers more than $700,000 over 15 years/

Ernest Cadick, 60, entered the plea as trial was set to begin in federal court, the U.S. attorney's office said.

Cadick was accused of soliciting investments for oil-and-gas businesses, then spending the money on himself. Cadick would quote Scripture and pray with potential victims over investments, prosecutors said. The Rev. Bob Rodgers, pastor at Louisville's Evangel World Prayer Center, said some of his church members invested with Cadick and lost their life savings.

Cadick's attorneys did not comment. Sentencing will be Sept. 12 before U.S. District Judge John G. Heyburn II.

____

Liechtenstein voters overwhelmingly back gay partnership law challenged by religious groups

VADUZ, Liechtenstein (AP) — Voters in Liechtenstein have overwhelmingly backed a new law giving gay and lesbian couples the right to formally register their partnership.

The government says 68.8 percent of voters approved the law in a binding referendum Sunday. About 31.2 percent voted against it.

Roman Catholic groups had challenged the law saying it would weaken traditional family ties.

Gay and lesbian couples will now be put on a par with heterosexual couples when it comes to inheritance, social security, immigration and taxation. They will still be barred from adopting children or accessing reproductive medical services.

Last week, the U.N. Human Rights Council condemned for the first time discrimination against gays, lesbians and transgender people.

____

Despite objections, SW Missouri county will display `In God We Trust' in county chambers

SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — The Greene County Commission will display the "In God We Trust" logo in its chambers at the county's courthouse.

The vote Monday came after critics argued displaying the logo would be disrespectful in light of religious diversity.

The issue was initially brought to the commission by Springfield attorney Dee Wampler, who said the motto makes a statement about U.S. history and love of God.

Jim Viebrock, the presiding commissioner, emphasized that anyone, regardless of religious belief, will be welcomed in the county chambers in Springfield.


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Dutch populist Geert Wilders acquitted of hate speech (Reuters)

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By Gilbert Kreijger and Aaron Gray-Block Gilbert Kreijger And Aaron Gray-block – Thu?Jun?23, 12:38?pm?ET

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Dutch populist politician Geert Wilders was acquitted of inciting hatred of Muslims in a court ruling on Thursday that may strengthen his political influence and exacerbate tensions over immigration policy.

The case was seen by some as a test of free speech in a country which has a long tradition of tolerance and blunt talk, but where opposition to immigration, particularly from Muslim or predominantly Muslim countries, is on the rise.

Instantly recognizable by his mane of dyed blond hair, Wilders, 47, is one of the most outspoken critics of Islam and immigration in the Netherlands.

His Freedom Party is now the third-largest in parliament, a measure of support for its anti-immigrant stance, and is the minority government's chief ally. But many of Wilders' comments -- such as likening Islam to Nazism -- are socially divisive.

The presiding judge said Wilders's remarks were sometimes "hurtful," "shocking" or "offensive," but that they were made in the context of a public debate about Muslim integration and multi-culturalism, and therefore not a criminal act.

"I am extremely pleased and happy," Wilders told reporters after the ruling. "This is not so much a win for myself, but a victory for freedom of speech. Fortunately you can criticize Islam and not be gagged in public debate."

The ruling could embolden Wilders further. He has already won concessions from the government on cutting immigration and introducing a ban on Muslim face veils and burqas.

"This means that his political views are condoned by law, his political rhetoric has been legalized," said Andre Krouwel, a political scientist at Amsterdam's Free University.

"This has made him stronger politically. He is needed for a political majority, he is basically vice prime minister without even being in the government."

Some Dutch citizens have started to question their country's traditionally generous immigration and aid policies, worried by the deteriorating economic climate, higher unemployment, incidence of ethnic crime and signs that Muslim immigrants have not fully integrated into Dutch society.

Similar concerns have helped far-right parties to gain traction elsewhere in Europe, from France to Scandinavia.

Farid Azarkan of the SMN association of Moroccans in the Netherlands said he feared the acquittal could further split Dutch society and encourage others to repeat Wilders's comments.

"You see that people feel more and more supported in saying that minorities are good for nothing," Azarkan said.

"Wilders has said very extreme things about Muslims and Moroccans, so when will it ever stop? Some will feel this as a sort of support for what they feel and as justification."

Minorities groups said they would now take the case to the United Nations Human Rights Committee, arguing the ruling meant the Netherlands had failed to protect ethnic minorities from discrimination.

"The acquittal means that the right of minorities to remain free of hate speech has been breached. We are going to claim our rights at the U.N.," said Mohamed Rabbae of the National Council for Moroccans.

Wilders, who has received numerous death threats and has to live under 24-hour guard, argued that he was exercising his right to freedom of speech when criticizing Islam.

The Amsterdam court had used a Supreme Court ruling -- that an offensive statement about someone's religion was not a criminal offence -- as the basis of its decision, leading to acquittal, the judge said.

Unusually, the prosecution team had also asked for an acquittal, arguing that politicians have the right to comment on problem issues and that Wilders was not trying to foment violence or division.

"I think it is good that he has been acquitted," said Elsbeth Kalff, an 83-year-old retired sociologist in Amsterdam.

"He has been told that he has been rude and offensive but it is on the border of what the criminal law allows. It is good, the Netherlands is, after all, a tolerant country and we should keep it that way."

(Editing by Sara Webb and Mark Trevelyan)


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Huntsman: Issues not religion will decide GOP race (AP)

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RENO, Nev. – Former Utah Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman said Friday that he doesn't believe his Mormon faith will be an issue in his bid for the White House, adding that he's running for president — not to be the nation's spiritual "guru."

Huntsman spoke to reporters in Nevada during an hour-long campaign stop at the Reno Livestock Events Center, where the Reno Rodeo was about to begin.

Three days after formally announcing his candidacy, the former ambassador to China said his list of priority states includes the early caucus swing state of Nevada, where Republicans sided with former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in 2008.

Romney also is Mormon. So is Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., who said earlier this week he'd pick Huntsman over Romney if he had to. Polls show many voters have reservations about electing a Mormon president.

But Huntsman said Friday that he didn't believe religion would be a concern for voters choosing the 2012 Republican presidential nominee.

"Nor should it be," he said. "I'm not running for guru here."

A candidate's track record, as well as "who has a world view that will get us where this country needs to be" will be much more important, he said.

Huntsman met earlier Friday with Washoe County GOP leaders and had lunch with Republican Gov. Brian Sandoval, Reno Mayor Bob Cashell — a Republican who voted for Reid last election — and a number of local business officials.

Huntsman said contrary to conventional wisdom, he doesn't believe Romney is the heavy favorite to win the Nevada caucus.

"Yes, some might have a head start in terms of fundraising and name recognition," he said. "But given the nature of the media market and our ability to network with social media tools, you can overcome any gap like that over time."

Nevada's presidential caucuses are set for Feb. 18, after Iowa and New Hampshire get their turns and before South Carolina picks its favorite candidate.

In announcing his candidacy Tuesday in Salt Lake City, Huntsman stressed his record as governor of Utah, where he won praise from conservative groups for cutting taxes and recruiting new business to the state. He served as governor from 2005 to early 2009, when Obama offered him the China post. He resigned that position in April.

During a conference call with reporters on Tuesday, Democratic leaders in Utah and Nevada criticized what they said was Huntsman's apparent move to the right on issues such as taxes, health care and the environment to court conservatives GOPs in the primary after developing a reputation as more of a moderate.

"We were looking forward to a campaign of ideas and having a moderate Republican in the race," Utah Democratic Party chairman Wayne Holland said. "Instead we've seen pandering that is disappointing."


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US students help restore Kosovo's Jewish cemetery (AP)

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PRISTINA, Kosovo – A row of tombstones etched in Hebrew script neatly lines a meadow overlooking Kosovo's capital Pristina where barely a week ago children played soccer.

For a week, U.S. students from Dartmouth College joined their Kosovo peers from the American University in Kosovo in clearing debris and cutting overgrown grass at this neglected Jewish cemetery, a lone remaining sign of a dwindling community in this majority Muslim country.

Ever since the end Kosovo's 1998-1999 war, these graves — some of them dating back to the late 19th century — lay mostly forgotten.

"You could hardly even see where any of the graves were," said Susan Matthews, 21, from Chatham, New York. "We had to essentially find and uncover the graves, take down all the brush that had grown up the hill, wash all the stones so that we could read the etchings on them again," she said.

Matthews is among students visiting Europe as part of their inquiry into genocide. They arrived in Kosovo on June 17 from Poland where they visited the notorious Auschwitz concentration camp.

Rabbi Edward S. Boraz of The Roth Center for Jewish Life at Dartmouth College said the aim of the tour was to look at genocide "as a human problem not specific to any one group of people."

Another goal is to restore neglected Jewish cemeteries, Boraz said.

In Kosovo, that meant clearing weeds and cutting overgrown grass, then holding a dedication ceremony that included reading the names of Jewish families from the region who died during World War II.

After the conflict, Kosovo's small Jewish community dwindled. Some 300 died at Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany, Boraz said.

Those that remained left for Israel and Serbia during and in the aftermath of the 1998-99 Kosovo war. Some 10,000 people died during the Kosovo war as Serbia launched a brutal crackdown on independence minded ethnic Albanians and deported some 800,000 into neighboring Albania and Macedonia.

After years of being administered by the United Nations following the war, Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in 2008. Serbia has vowed never to accept Kosovo's statehood.

"We will never forget the crimes against humanity that were committed here during the 1990s and the suffering that occurred when innocent life was taken," Boraz said after the group lit candles and placed them on top of a newly built memorial. "We begin to understand that genocide isn't something unique to a people but is a problem for all humanity to address."


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Man indicted in burning of NY Hasidic dissident (AP)

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NEW CITY, N.Y. – An 18-year-old student from a Hasidic Jewish enclave has been indicted on an attempted murder charge in a fiery attack on a religious dissident.

Rockland County District Attorney Thomas Zugibe said Thursday that Shaul Spitzer of New Square was also charged with attempted arson and assault.

The case has brought unusual attention to New Square, an insular village of 7,000 people, nearly all of them members of the Skver Hasidic sect. The sect takes its name from the Ukrainian village of Skver, where its members had been decimated during the Holocaust and for which New Square is named.

In the pre-dawn hours of May 22, Aron Rottenberg of New Square suffered burns over half his body when he confronted someone carrying a flammable liquid outside his home.

"As I grabbed him ... we both just burst into flames," a scarred Rottenberg said at a news conference Wednesday. He was released Monday from a hospital.

Relatives said they were watching for an attack because they had endured broken windows and threats ever since Rottenberg began worshipping at a nearby nursing home instead of the main synagogue.

Police arrested Spitzer, who was also burned, and said he was trying to burn down Rottenberg's house.

Spitzer's attorney, Kenneth Gribetz, denied the allegations.

"Mr. Spitzer has expressed tremendous remorse and sorrow for whatever injuries were caused," Gribetz said. "He had no intention whatsoever to cause any injury to anybody in the home or to murder anybody."

Spitzer also did not plan to burn down the house, Gribetz said.

Rottenberg's family has alleged in a lawsuit that the attack was directed by Grand Rebbe David Twersky because of Rottenberg's defiance.

"Definitely the community leaders are involved in this," Rottenberg said.

Twersky has decried the attack and has not been charged.

Gribetz said Thursday that Spitzer has denied that Twersky encouraged or even knew about the attack.

Spitzer is to be arraigned Friday.


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2011年6月25日星期六

Designer Galliano blames drugs, booze for anti-Jewish rant (AFP)

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PARIS (AFP) – Fashion designer John Galliano claimed Wednesday as he stood trial for anti-Semitic insults that it was an alcoholic, drug-addicted "shell" of himself who lashed out at patrons in a hip Paris bar.

Galliano did not deny the racist and anti-Jewish rants he is accused of but insisted he had no recollection of the incidents that cost him his coveted job as creative director at Christian Dior fashion house.

"They are not views that I hold or believe in," he said after the court was shown a video in which he declares he loves Hitler and tells shocked customers in La Perle bar in the Marais district that they were lucky not be be gassed.

"In the video, I see someone who needs help, who is very vulnerable. It is a shell of John Galliano, pushed to the edge," said the British designer, who repeatedly denied he was anti-Semitic or racist.

He told the court he suffered from a triple addiction to alcohol, valium and sleeping pills and that he went into rehab in Arizona and Switzerland after being sacked from Dior and was now in "day care".

The 50-year-old -- considered one of the finest fashion designers of his generation -- risks six months in jail and a fine of 22,500 euros ($32,000) if convicted of subjecting La Perle customers to an obscene tirade in February.

After seven hours of hearing, the court said a verdict would be delivered on September 8.

Prosecutor Anne de Fontette asked the court Wednesday to fine Galliano no less than 10,000 euros.

Asked by the presiding judge if he wished to apologise to the three plaintiffs, Galliano replied: "I apologise very much. I apologise for the sadness this whole affair has caused."

"I embrace every people, every race, creed, religion, sexuality," he said, adding that he celebrated diversity through his couture.

Galliano said that he himself had experienced bigotry first hand as an immigrant from Gibraltar growing up in London and that he suffered at school because of his homosexuality.

He said he began abusing drugs and alcohol in 2007 against a backdrop of financial crisis and the death of close friend Steven Robinson. "After every creative high, I would crash, and alcohol helped me escape," he said.

The designer looked relaxed in the stately wood-panelled courtroom, dressed soberly in a black jacket and loose silk trousers, long hair brushed back over his shoulders, as presiding judge Anne-Marie Sauteraud read the charges.

He was accompanied by his lawyer Aurelien Hamelle and a burly, bald-headed bodyguard who sat two rows behind him.

An interpreter whispered the proceedings into his left ear as Sauteraud quoted Galliano as having allegedly called a customer in La Perle bar a "f(expletive) Asian bastard" and another a "f(expletive) ugly Jewish bitch".

Asked by the prosecutor if she was sure John Galliano had used the word "Jewish", his alleged target Geraldine Bloch replied confidently: "Yes, several times... it was one of the most recurrent words."

She said Galliano had begun by mocking her "cheap boots", moved on to insult her figure and finally called her "a dirty Jewish bitch".

But Marion Bully, 30, an English teacher who was in La Perle at the time, told the court that while she heard Galliano insulting the woman, at no time did she hear Jewish references.

A second witness, a 24-year-old fashion student, said she too was at the bar and confirmed an altercation but denied hearing Jewish references.

"I did not hear any anti-Semitic things," she said.

To barely suppressed giggles in the packed court, the judge translated Galliano's obscenities into French, then proceeded to read a lengthy and highly detailed report of what allegedly took place at La Perle on February 24.

That was when Galliano was arrested in a drunken state after Bloch and Philippe Virgitti alleged he subjected them to a stream of anti-Semitic abuse in the trendy bar.

Another woman, Fathia Oumeddour, later came forward to say she was the victim of a similar assault in October last year, and then a video surfaced of Galliano insulting someone else in the same bar.

Oumeddour's complaint was also part of Wednesday's proceedings.

Galliano has lodged a legal counter-suit against the couple in the first incident, alleging defamation.

Bloch is seeking a symbolic one euro in damages and her lawyer, Yves Beddock, said Galliano had already been punished in a way.

"The sentence (against Galliano) has already been handed down -- by Dior," he said.

In video footage originally posted online by Britain's Sun newspaper -- and shown to the court Wednesday -- a seemingly drunk Galliano tells another couple in the same Paris bar: "I love Hitler".

He adds: "People like you would be dead. Your mothers, your forefathers, would all be f(expletive) gassed."

The hearing was completed Wednesday, with judges to deliver the verdict and possible sentence in September.


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PETA urges pope to say no to leather in popemobile (AP)

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ROME – An animal rights group has urged Pope Benedict XVI to "truly go green" and insist that the next popemobile is made without leather.

PETA said it has written to the pope with the request following the Vatican's confirmation Wednesday that Germany's Mercedes-Benz auto company is making a study of a hybrid, energy-saving popemobile. The car would replace the current Mercedes vehicle used when the pope travels abroad.

PETA spokeswoman Ashley Gonzalez says leather production is not only "toxic to the environment, it's also hell for cows."

The letter, which is dated June, 22 and also sent to The Associated Press, said PETA counts many Catholics among its members and suggested that a leather-free car could "help the environment and prevent animal suffering."

The Vatican press office said Friday it hadn't seen the letter and couldn't comment.

Benedict has made conserving resources an important concern of his papacy. Vatican officials say a green popemobile would be a sign of his efforts to promote sustainable energy and take care of the planet.

When he is outside the Vatican, Benedict usually rides in a modified white Mercedes-Benz outfitted with bulletproof windows. It has room for two passengers in addition to the pope, who sits on an elevated chair to wave to crowds.

Through the years, a number of different models have been donated to the Vatican.


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New York gay marriage bill: Could Catholics play a decisive role? (The Christian Science Monitor)

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New York – Groups on both sides of the drawn-out debate over the New York gay marriage bill have used moral and religious language to appeal to lawmakers. But one religious group – the Roman Catholic Church – exerts an especially strong pull on the state legislature’s moral compass.

Nearly 40 percent of New York voters are Catholic, according to public opinion surveys and voter exit polls, and “the church hierarchy has always been a presence at the state Capitol,” says Jeffrey Stonecash, a political scientist at the Maxwell School of Syracuse University in New York.

But as the Senatea€?s Republican majority on Friday continues its closed-door debates over whether to bring the same-sex marriage bill to the floor, one of the variables it must consider is whether to heed the advice of the Catholic Church or of Catholic voters.

RECOMMENDED: New York gay marriage bill: What would happen if it passes?

Opinion polls point to a split between the Catholic hierarchy and lay Catholics over the issues of homosexuality and gay marriage, complicating matters for conservative lawmakers attempting to get a bead on the attitudes of an important constituency.

“They’re trying to decide: Does the Catholic Church really have that much sway over their members anymore?” says Mr. Stonecash.

More to the point, he adds, lawmakers wonder: a€?Can they really have an impact on my election?a€

Along those lines, one major cause of the bill's holdup has been concern about language in the bill that would exempt religious groups from performing or hosting gay marriages. Several GOP senators want to expand the exemptions to protect religious-affiliated groups, such as the social service organization, Catholic Charities.

RECOMMENDED: Gay marriage in New York? 7 ways states differ on the issue.

The Catholic Church itself has been vocal in its opposition to the bill.

“We’ve been urging Catholics across the state to call and e-mail [their representatives] to express their opinion that the state should not be redefining marriage,” says Dennis Poust, a spokesman for the New York State Catholic Conference.

Mr. Poust says nearly 65,000 New York Catholics receive the group’s e-mail newsletter, which lists the e-mail addresses and phone numbers of key legislators. Conference lobbyists have also met with Senators – both Democrats and Republicans – repeatedly in recent weeks to argue against the bill.

Moreover, the state’s Catholic leader, Archbishop Timothy Dolan, has used his pulpit – both the actual pulpit and his personal blog – to loudly protest the “perilous presumption of the state to reinvent” traditional marriage, which he says is “hardwired into our human reason.” He emphasized that the church is anti-gay marriage, but pro-gay individual rights.

Difference of opinionBut his exhortations do not necessarily reflect those of American Catholics in general or New York Catholics in particular, polls suggest.

“Really across the board on questions about gay and lesbian rights, Catholics tend to be more supportive than the general population,” says Robert Jones, CEO of the Public Religion Research Institute.

For example, a Pew Research Center poll in May found that 64 percent of US Catholics say homosexuality should be accepted by society, compared with 58 percent of the general population.

On the specific question of New York’s proposed gay marriage law, some polls have shown a majority of the state’s Catholics favor legalizing same-sex marriage – and at rates roughly equal to the broader population.

Fifty-two percent of New York Catholic voters support the gay-marriage law, compared with 56 percent of all state voters, according to a January Quinnipiac University poll. An April Siena College poll found that 59 percent of Catholic voters in New York supported legalizing gay marriage, compared with 58 percent of all state voters – though more recent Siena polls have shown the Catholic number slip to 46 percent.

Catholic support part of a trendCatholic support of same-sex marriage has followed public acceptance of the cause, which has climbed in recent years, says Gregory Lewis, a Georgia State University professor of public management and policy who tracks public attitudes on gay marriage.

“Opinion moved slowly toward greater support up until 2005,” he says. “Since then we’ve seen the pace of support increase.”

Catholics are not alone in their growing embrace of the issue. “There’s been a general move toward acceptance in all religious groups,” says Mr. Lewis.

As more lesbians and gay men are open about their sexuality, Lewis says, more heterosexuals are likely to know someone who is gay. “One of the things that seems clear, is that knowing someone gay has a positive impact on support for gay rights,” says Lewis.

Many traditional religions, including Catholicism, prohibit homosexual relations and marriage. Still, many adherents find ways to distance themselves from those teachings, without abandoning their faith.

Mr. Jones says there is an unofficial traditional among American Catholics of differing with the church on controversial social issues. He says that many Catholics support the use of artificial birth control and the death penalty, both of which the Church officially opposes.

Most Catholics “have a pretty good sense that they can make up their own minds,” Jones says, “and still be in good standing with the Catholic Church.”

“There are certainly challenges in reconciling a faith that is so dear to us, with doctrine that is very punitive and derogatory at times towards us,” says Marianne Duddy-Burke, Executive Director of DignityUSA, a national organization for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Catholics.

Senate mathRepublicans hold a slight majority in the state Senate – occupying 32 of the chamber’s 62 seats. On Friday morning, four days after the official end of the legislative session, they had yet to announce a decision on whether to bring the gay marriage vote to the floor, where it needs 32 votes to pass and has the support of at least two Republicans. With one Democrat – a Pentecostal minister – against the bill, that leaves the bill one vote shy of what it needs to pass.

As the Republican caucus continues its deliberations, members are likely to weigh the relative influence of hardcore conservative voters – including some Catholics – against more moderate Republicans, Stonecash says. And, of course, they must consider their own moral beliefs about marriage and homosexuality.

“This is one of those issues that is very complex,” says Stonecash. “It’s probably a terribly complicated discussion.”

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A Jewish legacy is vanishing in Belarus 70 years after Hitler (The Christian Science Monitor)

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Minsk, Belarus – For hundreds of years Jews lived in little towns called shtetls across Belarus, simple lives of wooden houses, dirt lanes, and Yiddish schools. Then 70 years ago, on June 22, 1941, Hitler’s men swept in and within a short period exterminated perhaps 800,000 of the Jews living there, 8 out of 10. Most survivors couldn’t bear to remain in their villages after the war, and they moved to big cities or abroad.

But a handful of Jews stayed on, and in scattered towns today one or two elderly remain, the guardians of an ancient collective memory. They are resilient, having survived pogroms, the Holocaust, and then the Soviet ban on worship that shuttered synagogues and forced prayer underground.

Gallery: Vanishing Jews of Belarus

Why do they stay?

Relatives write from Israel talking of riches and community. Village life in Europe’s last Communist dictatorship is not easy for anyone, and many elderly Jews complain of neighbors who ostracize them. “It was hard to make friends,” says Ida Kaslova, the last Jew in Buda-Koshelevo. “I’ve always felt alone.”

She gets through the harsh winters with foreign charity and compensation from the German government. Other survivors rely on chickens and beets raised in their cottage gardens.

Gallery: Vanishing Jews of Belarus

They say they feel rooted to this land. And after all the loss, they couldn’t bear more upheaval. Riva Katz found safety in Uzbekistan during the war and upon returning sought the familiarity of Ivenets village. “My parents were killed. But I knew people here, Jews,” she says. She is one of four left.

Estimates vary as to the size of the remaining Jewish population. The community puts the figure at 25,000; the government census reported half that many. In either case, everyone agrees that immigration to Israel is shrinking the Jewish population every year, to the point that the remaining few synagogues must arrange to have rabbis from abroad come and lead them and teach Hebrew.

Those who remain are the only links to the days when Friday evenings shuttered entire shtetls with Sabbath prayer, and everyone knew Yiddish.

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Van packed with church members crashes, killing 5 (AP)

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OAK GROVE, La. – A van full of church members heading home from a Bible class veered off a northeast Louisiana highway and hit a culvert, killing five people, including two children and injuring several others, authorities said Thursday.

The van crashed Wednesday night on Louisiana Highway 587 in West Carroll Parish, said Louisiana State Police Trooper Mark Dennis. The van's driver, Joey W. McKan, 30, died Thursday afternoon from his injuries, making him the fifth victim.

Also killed were Portia Thornton, 53, two of her daughters, Kaitlyn Thornton, 19, and Brittany Thornton, 12; along with 4-year-old Emma Adams.

The van belonged to the New Zion Baptist Church, about eight miles outside Oak Grove, said Kenneth Green, chief deputy of the West Carroll Parish Sheriff's Department.

"It's just a little country church," Green said. "They were taking people home from Bible school at the church."

Kelly Coleman, vice president of the Guarantee Bank and Trust in Oak Grove, was at his church about 200 yards from the crash site and quickly drove to the scene after getting a phone call from a friend.

"When I saw how bad it was I drove back to church and told them to start praying," Coleman said. "Then I got my wife, who has nursing experience, and went back."

The 15-passenger van vaulted the ditch and hit the culvert, and the rear end flipped over the front before it came to rest on its wheels, Coleman said.

Coleman, who said he knew Portia Thornton personally, said another of her daughters and a son, 20-year-old Jake Thornton, were also in the van. State police did not release the names of two 16-year-olds and a boy whose age had not been determined, saying the department would not identify juvenile survivors.

Aaron Coats, 21, and a 6-year-old were among the injured passengers who were taken to hospitals from Monroe to Jackson, Miss.

The accident remains under investigation. The cause was unclear, and there was no indication the van was speeding, Dennis said. Routine toxicology tests were pending, though drugs and alcohol also were not suspected.

Sheriff Jerry Philley said the van wrecked on a stretch of road that was straight and flat.

Calls to the church went unanswered Thursday. Pastor Greg Dunn did not immediately return a call.

Coleman said the wreck had stunned the small community but had also pulled residents together.

"I'm pleased to tell you that we live in the Bible belt," he said. "I believe we have more churches per square mile than any other parish, and they are already offering assistance and planning services."


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NY gay-marriage talks hinge on religious rights (AP)

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ALBANY, N.Y. – Will the Knights of Columbus be required to open their halls for gay weddings if New York lawmakers legalize same-sex marriage? Will Catholic adoption agencies be forced to choose between placing children with gay married couples or leaving the business?

As New York moves closer to a vote on legislation that would make it the sixth and largest state where same-sex marriage is allowed, some Republicans are demanding stronger legal protections for religious organizations that object to the practice.

Many states that offer gay marriage or civil unions have some religious exemptions. But in some places, Catholic adoption agencies shut down and at least one religious organization lost its tax-exempt status.

Supporters of gay marriage say there are already adequate protections in New York law, and they have suggested the GOP objections are just a smoke screen. But religious leaders say the fears are genuine.

"The stakes are huge," said Ed Mechmann, an attorney and assistant director of the family life office at the Archdiocese of New York. "I think this could have a catastrophic effect on our agencies."

The New York bill introduced by Gov. Andrew Cuomo would protect clergy who refuse to perform weddings for gay couples, a provision common in other states with gay marriage. A broader concern was protecting religious groups from discrimination charges if they refuse to provide their facilities or services.

Negotiators for Cuomo and the lawmakers met behind closed doors, so it was not clear where talks stood Wednesday afternoon, hours before a possible floor vote. But the Catholic establishment in New York, which opposes the bill, was worried that its adoption agencies might close down.

Three Catholic dioceses in Illinois recently announced that they would end their state-funded adoption and foster-care program because of a civil union law that took effect June 1. Catholic Charities had been allowed to refer unmarried or gay couples to other agencies, but lawmakers did not pass an amendment exempting religious groups.

The case mirrors an earlier one in Massachusetts, which in 2004 became the first state to allow gay marriage. Catholic Charities of Boston announced in 2006 it was getting out of the adoption business rather than comply with the state law. And in Washington, D.C., Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Washington shut down its foster care and public adoption program last year rather than serve same-sex families.

Currently, New York does not allow state-supervised, private adoption and foster care agencies to reject applicants solely on the basis of homosexuality. However, Mechmann noted that New York law gives adoption agencies discretion to consider the best interest of the child and that Catholic agencies believe it is in a child's best interest to be placed with a married couple.

Without an explicit exemption in a New York gay marriage law, Catholic and other faith-based adoption agencies here could face the same quandary as their counterparts in some other states, Mechmann said.

Negotiators in Albany also were seeking to protect religious groups from discrimination charges if they refuse to provide their facilities or services. Some opponents of the bill were worried about its effect on groups like the Knights of Columbus or on marriage counselors. One lawmaker sought protection for individuals and businesses such as caterers, but they are not part of the negotiations.

Mechmann is concerned that the current bill does not go far enough to protect a hall from being considered a public accommodation if the group that operates it rents it out for weddings and events. He said a Methodist group in New Jersey saw its state property tax exemption revoked after it would not let a lesbian couple use its beachside pavilion for their civil union ceremony.

Vermont's law has an exemption that says churches are not bound to rent their halls or open their facilities for same-sex weddings if the church has religious objections to same-sex marriage.

There are also fears that Catholic groups — huge providers of social services in many communities — could lose their government contracts if they are found to have discriminated against gay couples.

Bill Banuchi, who provides Christian marriage and family counseling and seminars through his Marriage and Family Savers Institute in Newburgh, N.Y., said he wouldn't be protected by any religious exemptions because his business is considered a tax-exempt, not-for-profit educational charity, not a religious institution.

"We have certain principles and ethical guidelines we'd have to compromise," Banuchi said Wednesday. "We would be in violation of the law and open to being sued for discrimination, and we could lose our tax-exempt status if we refused to counsel couples according to their value system. Our value system is that the only authentic marriage is between a male and a female."

But bill proponents say adequate protections already exist in New York.

"What's going on here is an effort to make a mountain out of a mole hill," said Susan Sommer, director of constitutional litigation for Lambda Legal, a New York-based gay rights organization. "There has been a notable absence of conflict anywhere in the country pitting marriage rights or civil union rights against religious objections."

Sommer said New York law bars florists, caterers or other service providers from refusing to serve customers based on their sexual orientation.

She added that the Knights of Columbus and other private "benevolent organizations" already can legally choose to keep their doors closed to gay couples, rights reiterated in the bill working its way through the Legislature.

"The Knight of Columbus does not have to rent its catering hall to anybody it doesn't want to," Sommer said.

___

Associated Press writer Mary Esch in Albany, N.Y., contributed to this story.


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Pope's World Youth Day agenda includes rare lunch (AP)

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VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI's agenda for this summer's World Youth Day in Madrid includes a rare lunch with young Catholics and a session hearing their confessions.

The Vatican on Saturday released the pope's agenda for the Aug. 18-21 visit, his third to Spain as pope and a focus of his efforts to reawaken the faith in an increasingly indifferent and secular Europe.

Benedict will meet with the Spanish royals as well as Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

But his focus is Catholic youth: he'll meet with young university professors, young priests and nuns. A lucky few will have lunch with him; others will confess to him and thousands more will participate in prayer vigils and a Way of the Cross procession before the main World Youth Day Mass on Aug. 21.

___

Online:

http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/ap/ap_on_re_eu/storytext/eu_vatican_world_youth_day/41998166/SIG=10pahj7mr/*http://www.madrid11.com


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Belfast riots renew calls for Protestant-Catholic dialogue (The Christian Science Monitor)

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Dublin, Ireland – Rioting engulfed the Short Strand district of Belfast, Northern Ireland, Tuesday night, as pro-British loyalists and Irish republican residents of the area clashed for the second consecutive day.

Local police said that as many as 400 people participated in the violence and that a news photographer was wounded in a shooting in one of Belfast's most tense neighborhoods. In an effort to break up the fights, police fired at least 66 plastic bullets but made only one arrest: a young woman was detained on suspicion of possession of a firearm and assaulting police.

While police and locals blamed the loyalist Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) for sparking the violence on Monday and being involved in fighting last night, an unnamed dissident republican splinter group may be equally to blame in Tuesday's melee.

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The violence has already led to calls for renewed dialogue between Protestant and Catholic groups, especially as it becomes evident that splinter paramilitary groups are trying to revive discord along political and religious lines.

“In the past there, we had an interface group where Short Strand community leaders would call me or someone else [and vice versa] if there was trouble brewing. I think there was a feeling from Sinn Féin that it was a policing responsibility – and I can see their point – but now we, on both sides of the community, want to see those structures reestablished. Similar initiatives are going on to resolve issues in other parts of Belfast," says Sammy Douglas, a local lawmaker with the pro-British Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) who has worked as a community activist in east Belfast.

Marching season nearsMany local leaders say the spike in sectarian violence – coupled with the increasingly murky picture of which groups are involved – is especially troubling as Northern Ireland's always-tense "marching season" approaches.

a€?The main thing now is to ensure the violence stops before it gets inflamed,a€

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During the marching season, which reaches its high point on July 12 but continues until the end of August, the Protestant Orange Institution and associated groups – including bands named after loyalist paramilitary organizations – parade throughout Northern Ireland.

The parades, which republicans view as provocative displays of sectarianism but unionists see as expressions of British identity, have often ended in violence.

The paramilitary playersSo far, there is no indication that the mainstream Provisional IRA (PIRA) has engaged in the fighting. The Independent International Commission on Decommissioning (IICD) confirmed the PIRA had disarmed by September 2005. And in 2009, the Independent Monitoring Commission (IMC), a body formed by the British and Irish governments, said the IRAa€?s leadership group known as the a€?army councila€

Dissident groups formed by disaffected members of the PIRA and who remain committed to war include the Continuity IRA, founded in 1987 and the Real IRA, formed in 1997. A third group was formed from a split within the Real IRA in 2009, calling itself óglaigh na héireann (the Gaelic name traditionally used by the various IRAs).

In the past two years, dissident republicans have killed two policemen and two British soldiers, the most recent killing being the car bombing of police officer Ronan Kerr in April 2011. Both groups have staged dozens of other actions including so-called "punishment shooting" vigilante actions against criminals and several failed bomb and gun attacks.

On the loyalist side of the conflict, matters are more confused. The UVF and the Ulster Defence Association were supposedly disarmed and disbanded.

But the IMC’s most recent report, issued in March, said the UVF was still active: “Notwithstanding the progress made in the past three years, the organization’s role in the murder of [member] Bobby Moffett calls into question the claim in the May 2007 statement that the UVF would become a civilian organization. We do not doubt the wish of the leadership to pursue the 2007 strategy though there are some within the organization who are evidently not ready to accept the restraints on their behavior which this means.”

Now, the UVF’s role in leading the recent riots suggests a power struggle within the paramilitary group.

A Protestant and unionist resident of east Belfast, who did not wish to be identified, said whatever progress was being made between republicans and unionists in high office needed to be replicated on the ground. “Neither the dissidents nor the UVF speak for the people. People were led into a false sense of security, thinking the weapons had gone away."

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Jews, Muslims sue to block referendum on circumcision (Reuters)

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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – An unusual coalition of Jews and Muslims filed suit on Wednesday to block a November voter referendum seeking to ban male circumcision in San Francisco.

The lawsuit says the measure should be removed from the ballot on grounds that under state law California cities cannot prohibit a "healing arts" professionals from conducting a procedure they are licensed to perform.

Some legal experts have said that even if the referendum remained on the ballot and were approved by a majority of the city's voters, such a measure might face a legal challenge as an unconstitutional infringement on freedom of religion.

Circumcision is a ritual obligation for infant Jewish boys, and a common rite among Muslims, who account for the largest share of circumcised men worldwide. Some critics of the practice argue that it amounts to genital mutilation.

The legal action comes as Jewish groups, in particular, have expressed alarm at nascent attempts to outlaw circumcision, a movement they say bears traces of anti-Semitism.

The lawsuit was brought in San Francisco Superior Court by the Jewish Community Relations Council of San Francisco and the Anti-Defamation League. The lead plaintiffs also include several prospective Jewish and Muslim parents who intend to have their infant sons circumcised.

Abigail Michelson Porth, associate director of the Committee for Parental Choice & Religious Freedom, called the proposed circumcision ban an affront to religious freedom.

"I think this is un-American, I really do. I think that's why we have such tremendous support," Porth said.

All 11 members of the city's Board of Supervisors have endorsed her group's opposition to the referendum. Porth said early indications are that most San Francisco residents also oppose the measure, though work on a survey commissioned by her committee has just begun.

Lloyd Schofield, the leading advocate of the proposed ban, did not return calls seeking comment.

The measure, which qualified for a place on the November 8 ballot with 12,000 signatures collected by supporters, would make it a misdemeanor to circumcise a boy before he is 18 years of age. The maximum penalty for the individual who performs such a procedure would be a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

"The ban does not deny the right to circumcise if a person grows up and determines their religion requires it and that's what they want to do," said Marilyn Milos, founder of the Bay area-based National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers.

Milos, whose group supports the proposed ban but is not involved in the campaign, said circumcision is a "human rights violation" that damages "the normal body of a nonconsenting minor."

The move to outlaw circumcision in San Francisco raised alarm bells for Jewish groups across the nation.

Earlier this month, the Anti-Defamation League condemned a comic book created by supporters of the movement that it said contained grotesque anti-Semitic imagery. The comic featured a character named "Monster Mohel" as an evil villain.

A mohel is a Jewish individual specially trained to perform the ritual circumcision of infant boys.

(Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis: Editing by Steve Gorman)


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Analysis: Mideast Christians struggle to hope in Arab Spring (Reuters)

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VENICE, Italy (Reuters) – Middle East Christians are struggling to keep hope alive with Arab Spring democracy movements promising more political freedom but threatening religious strife that could decimate their dwindling ranks.

Scenes of Egyptian Muslims and Christians protesting side by side in Cairo's Tahrir Square five months ago marked the high point of the euphoric phase when a new era seemed possible for religious minorities chafing under Islamic majority rule.

Since then, violent attacks on churches by Salafists -- a radical Islamist movement once held in check by the region's now weakened or toppled authoritarian regimes -- have convinced Christians their lot has not really improved and could get worse.

"If things don't change for the better, we'll return to what was before, maybe even worse," Coptic Catholic Patriarch of Alexandria Antonios Naguib said at a conference this week in Venice on the Arab Spring and Christian-Muslim relations.

"But we hope that will not come about," he told Reuters.

The Chaldean bishop of Aleppo, Antoine Audo, feared the three-month uprising against Syrian President Bashar al-Assad spelled a bleak future for the 850,000 Christians there.

"If there is a change of regime," he said, "it's the end of Christianity in Syria. I saw what happened in Iraq."

The uncomfortable reality for the Middle East's Christians, whose communities date back to the first centuries of the faith, is that the authoritarian regimes challenged by the Arab Spring often protected them against any Muslim hostility.

DEPENDENT ON DICTATORS

Apart from Lebanon, where they make up about one-third of the population and wield political power, Christians are a small and vulnerable minority in Arab countries.

The next largest group, in Egypt, comprises about 10 percent of the population while Christians in other countries are less than 5 percent of the overall total.

Under Saddam Hussein, about 1.5 million Christians lived safely in Iraq. Since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003, so many have fled from Islamist militant attacks that their ranks have shrunk to half that size, out of a population of 30 million.

Arab dictators led secular regimes not to help minorities but to defend themselves against potential Islamist rivals. Christians had no choice but to depend on their favor.

"There was no alternative," said Reverend Milad Sidky Zakhary, director of the Catholic Institute of Religious Sciences in the Egyptian port city of Alexandria.

The conference, organized by the Oasis Foundation led by Venice Cardinal Angelo Scola, brought Middle Eastern Catholic clergy together with European and Arab analysts to examine how the changes in the region could help Christian minorities.

Olivier Roy, a leading French specialist on Islam, said the stress that Arab Spring protesters place on freedom, individual rights and better government could thwart any bid to establish an Iranian-style Islamic republic in the Arab world.

But this trend also meant that the tightly-knit Christian communities could no longer depend on protection as a minority. In an open system, Islamists may stoke American-style "culture war" controversies to set strict religious limits on policies.

"I think we'll have several difficult years," he said.

"NO CHRISTIAN SPRING"

Tunis Archbishop Maroun Lahham said some Islamists wanted to overturn authoritarian systems to impose sharia as the sole legal system, but noted that "young Arabs, especially Tunisians, do not seem to be too enthralled by the Islamist ideal."

In Algeria, said former Algiers Bishop Henri Teissier, the state fosters Islam but has quietly tolerated a growing group of ex-Muslim converts to evangelical Christianity because they appealed to individual rights as the Arab Spring protesters do.

But in Egypt, where the Coptic Orthodox and Catholic minorities are under heavy pressure from Salafist Muslims, methods the state used to keep Christians in line before President Hosni Mubarak was toppled haven't changed.

When there is a conflict between a Muslim and a Christian, the police still have them hold a "reconciliation session" that usually ends in the Muslim's favor, Naguib said. "They do not refer to the law, to justice or the courts," he said.

Zakhary agreed that laws proclaiming legal equality for all Egyptians are not enforced. "As a Christian, I must hope. But I must recognize that there has been no real progress," he said.

Referring to one of Venice's best-known musicians, he added: "The great Italian composer Antonio Vivaldi wrote the beautiful symphony The Four Seasons. For us Christians in Egypt, there are only three seasons. There is no spring."


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Evangelicals split on faith's influence: survey (Reuters)

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Christian evangelicals' influence is seen waning in developed countries, while the faith's future is bright in the developing world, a survey of evangelical church leaders concluded on Wednesday.

Growing secularism, consumerism and sex and violence in popular culture were viewed by the church leaders as the gravest challenges to the faith, which comprises several denominations whose collective membership outnumbers Roman Catholics in the United States where they are a key voting bloc.

The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life conducted the survey at the Third Lausanne Congress of World Evangelization meeting in Cape Town, South Africa, where roughly half the attendees participated in the October 2010 poll.

Of the 2,196 evangelical leaders surveyed, 64 percent said there is a "natural conflict" between being an evangelical and living in modern society.

Evangelicals tend to be conservative, and the number of converts is expanding in Africa, Latin America and other parts of the developing world where leaders tend to hold more pronounced conservative views, the Pew report said.

In the survey, two-thirds of evangelical Christian leaders in Europe, North America, Japan, Australia and New Zealand said their faith was losing influence in their countries, while 58 percent from Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and most of Asia responded that their faith was gaining influence.

U.S. evangelical leaders were particularly pessimistic, with 82 percent saying the faith's influence was waning.

Evangelical Christian leaders shared some views: nearly all opposed the right to abortion and said society should discourage homosexuality. Most believed men should serve as religious leaders in their marriage and family.

But nine in 10 of the leaders rejected "prosperity gospel," which is preached in some U.S. "mega-churches" and holds that wealth and good health is granted for strong belief.

The leaders generally agreed the Bible is the word of God, though they split evenly on whether it should not be read literally, word for word, and they were divided on whether belief in God was necessary to be a moral person.

Nearly all evangelical leaders from Muslim-majority countries viewed Islam as a threat, but competing faiths were much less of a concern in other countries. A majority had a favorable view of Jews, Catholics, and other Christian faiths.

Slightly more than half said they believed the second coming of Jesus Christ would occur in their lifetimes.

(Reporting by Andrew Stern, Editing by Jackie Frank)


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Methodist minister gets small sanction over lesbian wedding (Reuters)

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MILWAUKEE (Reuters) – An openly-gay United Methodist minister was suspended from her religious duties for 20 days after elders decided on Thursday that she violated church doctrine by performing a same-sex wedding.

Rev. Amy Delong was also required to write a paper about how she should deal with issues that "create an adversarial spirit" within the church, according Rev. Tom Lambrecht, representing the Wisconsin Conference of the United Methodist Church.

"We feel good that it recognizes that there was a violation of church law and that there is a punishment levied," Lambrecht said of the decision.

DeLong is required to complete the first draft of the document by January 1, 2012. The final draft is to be completed by June of 2012. If she fails to comply with the ruling, DeLong will be suspended from her ministerial duties for one year.

Delong said her goals during the proceeding were to tell the truth about herself, to help the church live up to its goals, and to send a message of love to gays.

"I am standing in the light of God and feel confident and strong. We have opened some doors and it feels like a new day," she said after the trial.

The sentence ended a four-day church trial in which a 13-member jury unanimously convicted DeLong of officiating a wedding for a lesbian couple in Menominee, Wisconsin in September, 2009.

Rev. Scott Campbell, who represented DeLong, called it a "very fair" outcome.

The 44-year-old minister from Osceola, Wisconsin faced two charges -- officiating a homosexual union and being a "self-avowed practicing homosexual."

The jury voted 12-1 that DeLong was not guilty of being a self-avowed practicing homosexual. Homosexuals may be ordained ministers in the United Methodist Church but they must vow to a life of celibacy, according to the church's doctrine.

DeLong, who has been in a relationship for the last 16 years, is the executive director of Kairos CoMotion, a progressive theological advocacy group.

The church trial, similar to a criminal trial, was held at Peace United Methodist Church in Kaukauna, about 30 minutes southwest of Green Bay.

The proceeding marked the seventh time over the last two decades that the church has held a trial involving homosexuality, according to the United Methodist News Service. The church is expected to take a hard look at its policies on homosexuality during its legislative conference in 2012, Lambrecht said.

"This is going to be a big issue and an important discussion that is going to be held in 2012," Lambrecht said. "There are proposals that completely reverse our church's position on the issue right now."

Lambrecht also recommended the jury require DeLong to sign a statement saying she would not perform same-sex marriage ceremonies in future. She had said earlier that she would refuse to sign that type of statement if it were required.

Despite the ruling, DeLong said she would not treat an invitation to preside over a same sex marriage any differently than she would a traditional marriage.

"There's no way I would categorically discriminate against them based on their sexual orientation," she said.

(Editing by Greg McCune)


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