c. 1996 Religion News Service

Federal Appeals court in Wisconsin upholds religious freedom law

(RNS) A federal appeals court has upheld the constitutionality of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) and struck down Wisconsin state regulations barring inmates from wearing religious jewelry because the jewelry might be used as a weapon.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, sitting in Chicago, rejected Wisconsin’s argument that in passing RFRA, Congress exceeded its powers by”overruling”a Supreme Court decision.

The law, signed by President Clinton in 1993 with the strong support of the vast majority of America’s religious communities, was passed by Congress in response to a 1991 Supreme Court ruling that made it much easier for state officials to place limits on religious practices.

The 1993 law restores the older, pre-1991 standard and requires government officials to meet higher standards by showing that the state has a compelling interest in restricting religious practice.”So the burden of justification is on the state,”the appeals court said.”And (in this case) it has not been carried.” At issue was Wisconsin’s rule barring prisoners from wearing any items which, because of their shape or configuration, could be used as a weapon. Prison officials refused to make an exception for religious jewelry such as crucifixes.

In the ruling, the court said that the purpose of the free exercise provision of the Constitution _ and RFRA’s stringent test the government must meet before interfering in religious practices _ is to protect members of minority faiths.”Prisoners, Christian or otherwise, are a good example of a group whose claims to be able to exercise a meaningful freedom of religion are unlikely to be heard in state legislatures”and thus in need of the law’s protection, the court said.

In the ruling, the court noted that”the crucifix is to many Christians the central symbol of their faith.”Wearing it on a chain around one’s neck, while certainly not required by the laws of the Roman Catholic Church or, so far as we know, any other Christian sect, is religiously motivated. Prohibiting the wearing of it thus places a substantial burden, within the meaning of the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, on the plaintiff’s (prisoners) observance of their religion.” The court noted that the state allows prisoners to have rosaries,”which could be used to strangle a fellow prisoner or guard”and bans crucifixes even in facilities wholly occupied by white-collar prisoners”who do not belong to gangs or get into fights with one another.” Wisconsin officials say they are still considering whether to appeal the ruling.

Congressman calls for condemnation of persecution of Christians

(RNS) Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., announced Tuesday (Aug. 6) he has introduced a”sense of the House”resolution to condemn what he said is the growing international problem of the persecution of Christians.

Wolf said the resolution, introduced last Friday (Aug. 2) before Congress went on its summer break, asks President Clinton to expand government efforts to combat persecution of Christians and to examine U.S. polices that affect persecuted Christians.

The resolution also calls on Clinton to appoint a special adviser on religious persecution, echoing a call by the National Association of Evangelicals. The NAE also has urged the White House to appoint a presidential commission to deal with the problem.”This (persecution) is a problem which deserves attention,”Wolf said.”In China, Sudan, Vietnam, Egypt, Pakistan, and many other countries around the world, Christians are forced to endure severe persecution just because of their faith.”It’s time Congress speaks out,”he added.

A sense of the House resolution does not have the force of law but expresses the strong sentiment of the House on an issue.

In a related development, the World Evangelical Fellowship, an umbrella organization of groups with a membership of 150 million evangelical Christians in 110 countries, declared Sept. 29 the International Day of Prayer for the Persecuted Church.

According to the fellowship, there have been more Christian martyrs in the 20th century than in the previous 19 combined.”No Christian should sleep at night while our brothers and sisters are being martyred,”said Brian O’Connell of the Fellowship’s Religious Liberty Commission.”We should be praying ceaselessly, demanding our governments to act, and stirring moral outrage within the church.”

British abortion case ignites new controversy

(RNS) News reports that a pregnant woman in Britain wants to abort one of the two healthy fetuses she is carrying because she is too poor to raise twins have sparked a bitter and, by turns, bizarre controversy.

News stories on Monday (Aug. 5) reported that Dr. Phillip Bennett, a gynecologist at Queen Charlotte’s Hospital in London, had agreed to abort one of the twin 16-week-old fetuses of the unidentified 28-year-old, single mother who already has one child.”I know I’m playing God,”Bennett was quoted in the British press as saying

The news sparked outrage and an outpouring of offers of financial help from Britain’s anti-abortion movement that on Tuesday (Aug. 6) totaled more than $75,000.

The groups offered the money to the woman to give birth to both twins and give one up for adoption.

But the hospital where the woman is reportedly a patient said it has refused to pass the offers on to the woman”because that would break her confidentiality.” Phyllis Bowman, director of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, however, said the hospital’s refusal is inexcusable, Reuters reported.”This woman has a right to be given full information,”Bowman said.”You cannot talk about a woman’s right to choose unless the woman is given all the options. The hospital has no right whatsoever to withhold this information.” Abortion opponents went to court on Tuesday and won an order temporarily preventing the woman from aborting, the Associated Press reported.

But the BBC, in another Tuesday report, said the woman had already aborted the fetus and the procedure had been carried out in March.

The controversy came a week after a similar intense moral debate in Britain involving the first stages of life.

In that controversy, British fertility clinics, over the protest of abortion opponents, destroyed some 3,000 frozen embryos unclaimed by couples.

“Touched By An Angel”wins Southern Baptist award

(RNS)”Touched By An Angel,”the CBS TV series, has received a”Covenant”award from the Southern Baptist Convention’s Radio and Television Commission.

The award was presented Aug. 2 by actor and recording artist John Schneider, known for his role as”Bo”in”The Dukes of Hazzard”TV show, reported Baptist Press, the news service of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Covenant awards are presented to programs that the Baptist commission determines promote”family values.””Touched By An Angel”was honored in the”special award”category.

Schneider noted that the show had”three strikes against it”when it began in the 1994-95 season _ its focus on angels, its airing at the same time as ABC’s”Roseanne”and its pilot program that was not completed until just days before the series’ debut.”Enter Martha Williamson, a committed Christian who CBS asked to write and produce the show,”said Schneider, who appeared in one of the show’s episodes last season.”She accepted the assignment on strict conditions about how God and his angels would be portrayed. She created a show theology based on her own, in which God exists, he has a plan, he knows what he is doing and he doesn’t make mistakes.” Now, he said, the show, which features actresses Della Reese and Roma Downey, receives 2,000 letters a week from viewers.

“Dead Man Walking”nun receives Pax Christi award

(RNS) Sister Helen Prejean, a member of the Sisters of St. Joseph religious order in New Orleans and author of the book”Dead Man Walking,”has been named the winner of the 1996 Pope Paul VI Teacher of Peace Award by Pax Christi USA.

Pax Christi USA is the U.S. arm of the international Roman Catholic peace movement. The Pope Paul VI award is given to someone who lives out the late pontiff’s words,”to reach peace, teach peace.” Prejean, whose book on her ministry with death row inmates, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and became an Oscar-winning movie starring Susan Sarandon, is an advocate for the abolition of capital punishment.”She is truly a prophet for our times,”said Nancy Small, national coordinator for Pax Christi USA.”Her ministry as a spiritual advisor to death row inmates witnesses to the truth that all life is sacred, whether guilty or innocent.”She has shown that reconciling love knows no boundaries by reaching out to the families of victims of death row inmates,”Small added.”Her persistent spirit and impassioned stories have moved many sleeping hearts to contemplate the horrible reality of the death penalty.” The award will be presented to Prejean by Bishop Walter Sullivan of Richmond, Va., on Saturday (Aug. 10).

Bishops set up office for celebrating the new millennium

(RNS) The U.S. Roman Catholic bishops have voted to establish and fund an Office for the Millennium which will coordinate activities to mark what Pope John Paul II has called the Great Jubilee Year 2000.

Although the bishops voted unanimously to establish the office during their June meeting in Portland, Ore., the vote on funding the office was inconclusive and a mail ballot of bishops was needed.

On Tuesday (Aug. 6), the Rev. Dennis Schnurr, general secretary of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, announced that the bishops had agreed to the funding _ about $1.2 million between now and 2001.

Schnurr also announced the appointment of Paul K. Henderson, the bishops’ advisor on youth and young adult activities since 1988, to be director of the millennium office.

Henderson, a staff member of the bishops’ Secretariat for Family, Laity, Women and Youth, was program and events director for World Youth Day ’93, the meeting in Denver that drew 500,000 young people to see the pope.

Quote of the day: Marie Ishihara and Seijun Sasaki, on the 51st anniversary of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima

(RNS) On Aug. 6, 1945, precisely at 8:15 a.m., the United States dropped the world’s first atomic bomb, devastating the city of Hiroshima, Japan. The cummulative death toll from the bombing now stands at more than 197,000. Each year, residents of the city commemorate the bombing, remembering the dead by floating 10,000 paper lanterns down rivers that run through the city to console the souls of those who died, and expressing hope for a peaceful future by releasing a flock of doves. During Tuesday’s ceremony, two children, representing Hiroshima’s future, spoke dramatically of the past:”Burned and tattered clothing … A tricycle melted by the heat … A watch stopped at 8:15 … When we see how a single bomb turned the whole city of Hiroshima into a scorched plain, we understand what a horrifying weapon the atomic bomb is.”

MJP END RNS