c. 1997 Religion News Service
Government seeks to retry anti-abortion protestors
(RNS) Prosecutors have filed an appeal in the case of two anti-abortion protestors who a judge ruled committed no crime because they acted out of religious conviction when they blocked the entrance to an abortion clinic in Dobbs Ferry, N.Y., in 1995.”The court’s new rule that individuals may evade criminal responsibility on grounds of religious motivation has wide ramifications for the enforcement of the criminal laws generally,”said the appeal filed Tuesday (April 22) by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
In February, Federal District Court Judge John E. Sprizzo ruled that retired Catholic Bishop George Lynch, former auxiliary bishop of Raleigh, N.C., and Christopher Moscinski, a Franciscan friar, were innocent of criminal contempt charges because their repeated protests at the abortion clinic resulted from their religious beliefs. Lynch and Moscinski had been charged with violating the 1994 federal Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act.
Sprizzo said he based his ruling on a 1970 U.S. Supreme Court decision in favor of conscientious objectors who opposed the Vietnam War.
In it’s appeal, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said Sprizzo’s decision”would potentially create a defense to prosecution under these laws for anyone claiming to act with a religious motivation, according to The New York Times.
Meanwhile, the New York Civil Liberties Union filed legal papers in the case arguing the Constitution bars Lynch and Moscinski from being retried for alleged crimes for which they have already been exonerated.
Update: Faith healers receive second manslaughter conviction
(RNS) A Pennsylvania couple who believe in faith healing was convicted Tuesday (April 22) of involuntary manslaughter and child endangerment in the death of their 16-year-old daughter.
Shannon Nixon, daughter of Dennis and Lorie Nixon, died last June of treatable diabetes after her parents relied on prayer instead of medicine for a cure.
It was the Nixons’ second conviction in the death of an untreated child. The Nixons have eight surviving children and Lorie Nixon is pregnant.”God is the giver and taker of life,”Lorie Nixon testified Tuesday.
The Nixons belong to Faith Tabernacle Congregation, a church that advocates prayer instead of medicine. Prosecutors charged the family with violating a Pennsylvania state law requiring parents to protect their children until age 18.
Judge Norman Callan told the jury Shannon’s parents had a responsibility to protect her health and safety, even though the defense argued Shannon was old enough to make her own decisions and had not requested a doctor.
Callan said the defense that the Nixons were following their religious beliefs was not valid under Pennsylvania law, the Associated Press reported.
The couple will be sentenced to no more than a year in jail, said District Attorney William Haberstroh. In the 1991 death of their son Clayton, the Nixons pleaded no contest and were given probation and required to perform community service.
Scientologists organize new coalition in its struggle with Germany
(RNS) The Church of Scientology unveiled Wednesday (April 23) a new interfaith coalition to fight alleged human rights abuses against it and other non-traditional or non-Christian religious groups in Germany.
As its first act, the coalition, called Freedom for Religions in Germany, issued an open letter to Germany’s minister of justice demanding an investigation into discrimination against Scientologists, Islamic communities, charismatic Christian groups and Jehovah’s Witnesses.
It accused the German government of fomenting a religious persecution geared”to economically, socially and politically ruin members of minority religions.” But Ernst Pfeifle, a press officer at the German embassy, rejected the charges and said that in Germany, Scientology is considered a commercial enterprise and not a religion.”The German constitution guarantees the undisturbed practice of religion,”Pfeifle said.
Scientology claims 30,000 members in Germany.
At the news conference, actress Anne Archer and jazz musician Chick Corea, both Scientologists, made urgent pleas for dialogue with the German government.
George Robertson, a religion professor at Maryland Bible College, told the news conference that recognized religions in Germany, such as the Lutheran and Catholic churches,”condone the persecution by their silence,”when they do not speak out against the government.
No U.S. retaliation for Iraqi helicopters
(RNS) The State Department said Tuesday (April 22) it does not see a need to confront Iraq over Iraqi helicopters violating the so-called”no-fly”zone as they transported pilgrims returning from the Hajj, or annual pilgrimage to Mecca.
Despite a warning from President Clinton that appropriate measures would be taken if the government of Saddam Hussein violated the no-fly sanction imposed at the end of the 1991 Gulf War, the United States did not retaliate when Iraqi helicopters entered the zone to transport the pilgrims.
State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns accused Iraq of”trying to pick a fight”with the United States over the issue and of”pushing its nose under the tent”in an effort to test the United States and its willingness to enforce the no-fly zone.”The United States … which has many millions of Muslims as citizens in our own country, will be the first country in the world to defend the right of Muslims to observe their religious practices,”Burns said.”We are a democratic country with liberal traditions,”he added.”We obviously are not going to take any negative actions against pilgrims, because we respect their right to visit the holy places and the holy cities.” Earlier, Clinton told Iraq to stop playing politics with religion, saying he does not”want to see religion in effect used and distorted in a way to avoid international obligations.” Iraqi state-controlled media, however, boasted that the lack of action by the United States demonstrated American impotence. The United States also failed to retaliate April 9, when Iraqi helicopters carried more than 100 elderly and ill pilgrims to Mecca for the Hajj.
The United States has been unable to get the United Nations to condemn the actions of Iraq, which does not recognize the no-fly zone.
Islamic radicals kill 93 in Algeria
(RNS) Islamic radicals are suspected of slaughtering 93 villagers in Algeria on Tuesday (April 23) in the worst attack yet in the ongoing struggle between the radicals and the Algerian government since the conflict began in 1992.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but the government blamed rebels who want to overthrow Algeria’s secular government and replace it with strict Islamic rule, the Associated Press reported.
The attack took place in Haouch Mohkfi, about 12 miles south of Algiers. Men with shovels, knives and hatchets hacked to death 93 villagers, including 43 women and children. Another 25 people were injured.
The massacre took place six weeks before Algerian legislative elections, but Islamic parties are not allowed to participate in them.”Humanity has not known such crimes over the centuries and continents,”said Algerian Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia, who referred to the Islamic group as a”band of criminals.” Ouyahia called on Algerian village militias, formed to combat the rebel groups, to strengthen their efforts. More than 370 villagers have died in massacres in the past month.
At least 60,000 people have died in the ongoing struggle, which began after the Algerian army canceled 1992 elections to prevent a victory by the Muslim fundamentalist party.
Quote of the day: The Rev. Elder Troy D. Perry, founder and moderator of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches
(RNS) The Rev. Elder Troy D. Perry, founder and moderator of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, a gay-oriented denomination with some 300 congregations in 19 countries, recently wrote an open letter of encouragement to actress Ellen Degeneres, who recently announced that she is a lesbian and whose TV character will also come out of the closet later this month:”I know … you come from a family of faith. It is my prayer that you will continue to draw strength from all that is positive and powerful in your heritage of spiritual faith.”
MJP END RNS
