c. 2005 Religion News Service

Judge: Intelligent Design Still a Legal Issue, Despite Pa. Election

(RNS) A federal judge says a Pennsylvania school district’s dispute over intelligent design doesn’t end with the Election Day ouster of eight school board members.

The federal court battle between the Dover Area School district and 11 parents opposed to the required reading of a statement on intelligent design to science students has yet to be resolved.

The election results “will have absolutely no effect on what I do _ zero,” U.S. Middle District Judge John E. Jones said Wednesday (Nov. 9). Jones, who finished hearing six weeks of testimony last week, has said he might rule by year’s end.

Dover’s dance with intelligent design _ a theory that life and the universe are so complex they must have been created by an unspecified higher power _ has received international attention, but one of the school directors elected Tuesday says she will try to return the district to a degree of normalcy.

Bernadette Reinking, a retired nurse who ran on the slate of Dover Citizens Actively Reviewing Educational Strategies, also called Dover CARES, said the intelligent-design issue doesn’t top her agenda.

“Intelligent design is not the reason I ran,” she said Wednesday. “I went to a school board meeting about a year ago and was appalled by the way people were treated. It made me angry.”

She said intelligent design _ and how to handle the controversy _ was not even on her pre-election plate.

“That’s really a very difficult question,” she said when asked how the new directors will deal with the dispute. “We have focused on winning the election. There has not been any discussion on that.”

The school board last fall voted to require that a statement saying evolution is not a fact and referring to intelligent design as an alternative explanation of the origin of life be read to students embarking on an evolution unit in science class.

It was read to students in January, and the parents sued in federal court, claiming a violation of the constitutional separation of church and state.

Eight of the school board’s nine seats were on Tuesday’s general election.

_ Matt Miller and Bill Sulon

Florida Request for Muslim School Holiday Still Not Resolved

(RNS) A school board in central Florida has voted to reinstate three Jewish and Christian religious holidays in its school calendar after having voted to remove them two weeks ago.

It made no decision, however, on a request to include one day off for a Muslim holiday.

The Tuesday (Nov. 8) move to restore the former calendar _ which includes “non-teacher, non-student” days coinciding with Yom Kippur, Good Friday and Easter Monday _ was an apparent attempt to quell what had become a national controversy. Left unresolved is the increasingly common problem of how local communities accommodate the religious needs of growing Muslim populations.

Although the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Central Florida chapter, which made the original request for a one-day holiday at the end of Ramadan, had asked the school board not to eliminate Jewish and Christian religious holidays, many blamed the Muslim community for the school board’s initial decision to remove them.

When television broadcaster Bill O’Reilly of FOX News addressed the issue two weeks ago, for example, he called it “absurd” to accommodate Muslim holidays in a “Judeo-Christian” country.

Ahmed Bedier, director of CAIR’s Central Florida office, said that the Muslim population in Hillsborough county was slightly higher than the Jewish population _ an estimated 35,000 Muslims compared with 25,000 Jews.

Because Yom Kippur is a school systemwide holiday, “we saw a precedent, and we did not think it was an unreasonable request,” Bedier said.

Several school districts across the country with significant Muslim populations _ such as Dearborn, Mich., and Atlantic City, N.J., _ offer several days off for the two major Muslim holidays, Eid al-Fitr at the end of Ramadan and Eid al-Adha at the close of the yearly pilgrimage to Mecca.

But Robert Boston, association communications director at the Washington-based Americans United for Separation of Church and State, said that the county’s now-discarded proposal for a more secular school calendar may be the “inevitable” solution to an increasing demand for public school religious holidays.

“As the country becomes more diverse religiously, members of faiths like Islam, Hinduism and Buddhism are going to request these accommodations. It’s unrealistic to think the (school) system(s) can honor them all,” Boston said.

_ Andrea Useem

World Council of Churches Urges Police, Military Restraint in Ethiopia

(RNS) The World Council of Churches has urged the government of Ethiopia to “exercise utmost restraint” in dealing with unrest and to release detained political prisoners “as soon as possible.”

The WCC’s Nov. 7 letter to Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, echoed similar pleas from the United States and the European Union, which urged the government to end its crackdown on opposition leaders. Thousands of demonstrators were arrested during clashes between police and protesters during the first week of November. At least 46 people were killed and an estimated 4,000 people were detained.

On Wednesday (Nov. 9), Meles told reporters in Addis Ababa that he believed the worst of the violence was over but at least some of the 24 opposition leaders under arrest would be charged with treason.

The Rev. Samuel Kobia, general secretary of the WCC, said in his Nov. 7 letter to Meles that “further military action against the people is an escalation of violence and will further damage the political climate and make dialogue even less possible.”

On the same day, the U.S. and European Union issued a joint statement with a number of demands, including lifting restrictions on opposition leaders, freeing all political detainees and allowing families and humanitarian workers access to those arrested during the fighting. Together, the EU and the U.S. provide some $1.3 billion in aid to Ethiopia.

The violence began Nov. 1, the second day of demonstrations called by opposition political parties to protest disputed May 15 parliamentary elections, which gave Meles’ Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front control of nearly two-thirds of parliament. Similar protests in June resulted in 36 deaths.

Also on Sunday, leaders of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, the Islamic Affairs Supreme Council, the Roman Catholic Church and the Evangelical Church, issued a joint statement calling for calm. “Let peace be our agenda,” they said.

_ David E. Anderson

Gay Church Agrees to Change Name of AIDS Campaign After Dobson Complains

(RNS) A predominantly gay denomination has agreed to change the name of its new AIDS program, “Focus on the Human Family,” after lawyers for James Dobson’s Focus on the Family ministry raised objections.

The Metropolitan Community Churches will now call the 10-year initiative “Unfinished World, Unfinished Calling” in order to avoid a legal fight with Dobson’s Colorado Springs, Colo.-based evangelical empire.

“It’s a David vs. Goliath situation,” said the church’s new moderator, the Rev. Nancy Wilson.

“As a relatively small Christian denomination, we don’t have the financial resources to go up against one of the largest right-wing organizations in existence, and quite frankly, we wouldn’t want to invest our funds to fight them.”

Dobson, a psychologist, founded Focus on the Family in 1977 and his daily radio show is heard on 3,500 radio stations. A key part of Dobson’s work is opposition to homosexuality, as well as the belief that sexual orientation can be changed.

“Even though many of our views are diametrically opposed, apparently Dobson’s organization feels the name of (the MCC’s) new campaign could create confusion for people,” Wilson said.

_ Kevin Eckstrom

After Hindu Protest, British Christmas Stamp Partially Withdrawn

LONDON (RNS) A Christmas stamp that British Hindus protested against as “insensitive and inappropriate” has been partially withdrawn by the Royal Mail.

Post Office branches have been asked only to give customers the 68p stamp _ the airmail postage for a Christmas card _ if they specifically ask for it, and the stamp will not be reprinted.

The offending stamp is a reproduction of a 1620 painting from the Mughal Empire showing an Indian version of the Holy Family, with the figures of what are presumably Joseph and Mary bearing Hindu marks on their foreheads.

Offering its “sincerest apologies” for any upset caused, Royal Mail said: “Our intention for Christmas 2005 was to use the enduring image of `mother and child,’ and we specifically wanted to explore how the theme had been interpreted across the world. It was certainly not our intention to offend the Hindu community.

“We apply a rigorous research process to all our stamp developments, and in this instance we sought and acted on the advice we were given. With hindsight we now recognize that we should have consulted further, and we are currently reviewing processes to improve and reinforce them.

The Hindu Forum of Britain, which raised the objections to the stamp, welcomed the talks between the government’s Department of Trade and Industry and the Royal Mail which resulted in the decision only to issue the stamp if it were specifically asked for and not to reprint it.

_ Robert Nowell

Quote of the Day: Christian musician Nicole C. Mullen

(RNS) “Don’t waste my time. If you just want `Redeemer,’ hire the best singer in your church. I will send you my personal soundtrack.”

Christian singer Nicole C. Mullen, speaking of her frustration when concert promoters seem to only be interested in her for one or two songs instead of her entire presentation. She was quoted by Charisma magazine.

MO/JL END RNS