c. 1998 Religion News Service

Appeals court says church can keep donations of bankrupt couple

(RNS) A federal appeals court in Minneapolis has ruled that a Minnesota church may keep money donated to it by a couple who shortly thereafter declared bankruptcy.

In its decision, the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals based its ruling on the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a law the Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional because the Congress exceeded its power in applying RFRA’s provisions to state laws.

But the appeals court said the Supreme Court’s ruling did not apply to federal laws such as the bankruptcy code, the Associated Press reported.

At issue in the case were tithes _ 10 percent of income _ Bruce and Nancy Young gave to the Crystal Evangelical Free Church in New Hope, Minn., between February 1991 and February 1992.

The couple filed for bankruptcy in 1992.

Although the appellate court first sided with the church two years ago, saying it could keep the money, citing the 1993 RFRA law, the Supreme Court sent the case back after ruling last June the act was unconstitutional when applied to state laws.

Under RFRA, government had to show a compelling interest before it enforced laws that would interfere with religious practices.

Religious groups active in church-state relations called the victory an important one for religious freedom.

But they also said their remains a need for a law that applies to the states.”With today’s ruling, churches have regained a shield against creditors, but haven’t won the war,”said Steven McFarland, director of the Christian Legal Society’s Center for Law and Religious Freedom.

Legislation is currently pending in both the House and Senate to amend the bankruptcy code to prevent creditors from suing churches to confiscate offerings received in good faith from parishioners who later go bankrupt.

Disgraced Austrian cardinal sent into exile

(RNS) Cardinal Hans Hermann Groer, the disgraced Austrian cardinal facing sexual abuse charges, will be sent into monastic exile abroad, the Austrian Roman Catholic news agency said Tuesday (April 14).

Groer, Kathpress said,”will no longer appear as bishop or cardinal and will be sent to a foreign monastery.” The cardinal was forced to resign as head of the church in Austria in 1995 following reports he sexually molested a schoolboy some 20 years ago. Since then, there have been further allegations Groer, now 78, abused several monks, sometimes during confession.

The charges against Groer have generated a firestorm of criticism among lay Catholics in the largely Catholic country, angered by the Vatican’s lack of action in investigating and punishing Groer.

Tuesday’s announcement apparently is meant to dampen some of the criticism as Pope John Paul II prepares to visit Austria in June.

Last week, a prominent Austrian bishop predicted angry demonstrations against the pope could materialize in the country if the Vatican did not act on the Groer case.”He will always remain a bishop and a cardinal but he will not appear in public and will not take part in the election of the pope,”the Catholic news agency said.”He will be in complete segregation in prayer and study.” Although Groer has never publicly acknowledged or denied the charges, in February a panel of Austrian bishops issued a statement saying they believed the accusations were”essentially correct.” Earlier Tuesday, Groer said in a statement,”Of course, I am prepared to give up my sphere of duties withing the church”if the pope so wished.

Alabama legislature seeks to extend protection for religious freedom

(RNS) The Alabama Senate has voted for a religious freedom amendment to the state constitution that would give religious groups broader protection in the expression of their beliefs.

The proposed amendment would accomplish on the state level what the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act sought to do at the federal level by making governments show a compelling interest in enforcing laws that interfere with religious practices.

Last June, the Supreme Court ruled Congress had exceeded its power by making RFRA apply to state laws.

The legislation, which now goes to the Alabama House for consideration, would bar government from”the burdening of the freedom of religion unless the government demonstrates that it has a compelling interest in doing so and that the interest is achieved by the least restrictive means.”

Hindu bathing ritual world’s largest religious gathering

(RNS) In what may be the world’s largest religious gathering, some 10 million Hindu pilgrims gathered on the banks of the Ganges in Haridwar, India, for the climax of Kumbh Mela, a bathing ritual that devotees believe breaks the cycle of reincarnation.

The pilgrims, some covered only by ashes, plunged into the river believing its waters would wash away their sins and free them from the cycle of death and rebirth, the Associated Press reported.”I came to do some good and put 10 years of bad luck behind me,”Chapala Sadhu Khan, a 50-year widow who made the 14 hour train trip from Calcutta, told the AP.

Hindus believe the Ganges to be ritually pure and is relatively clean at Haridwar, the river’s source. However, Indians are becoming increasingly concerned about its earthly state as nearly 700 cities and towns flush some 312 million gallons of waste into the river each day.

The Kumbh Mela bathing ritual, called the globe’s largest religious gathering by The Guinness Book of World Records, happens every 12 years in Haridwar, a temple-filled town at the foothills of the Himalayas.

Quote of the day: The Rev. Craig Barnes

(RNS)”I would give anything to have seen what she saw. I would even be willing to let a tornado tear our church apart today if in the process all of us got to see a bunch of angels protecting us.” _ The Rev. Craig Barnes in his Easter Sunday sermon at Washington’s National Presbyterian Church commenting on a report that a little girl said she saw angels protecting her and the other members of the Open Door Church in Birmingham, Ala., as a tornado ripped their church apart.

DEA END RNS