c. 2007 Religion News Service

Twin Cities Airport Boosts Fines for Muslim Taxi Drivers

(RNS) Starting next month, taxi drivers at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport who refuse to pick up passengers having alcohol will face stiffer penalties.

The Metropolitan Airports Commission adopted the measure Monday (April 16) in large part because of Somali Muslim cab drivers who refused take passengers carrying alcohol.

Since January 2002, there have been more than 4,800 cases in which taxi drivers have refused to transport customers who had or were suspected of having alcohol. Patrick Hogan, an airport spokesman, said that figure was kept by airport taxi officials.

Penalties were stiffened after nearly 300 instances in which drivers refused to take passengers who only needed to travel short distances, and a handful of cases in which drivers refused to transport passengers with dogs.

More than 900 taxi drivers are licensed at the airport, and about three-quarters of them are Somalis, many of whom are Muslims. Islam forbids alcohol consumption, and some Muslims believe transporting and selling alcohol makes one complicit in sin.

The Muslim American Society of Minnesota, which had supported the taxi drivers, could not be reached for comment.

Starting May 11, a driver who refuses a passenger will face a 30-day suspension of their taxi license, while a second refusal will result in a two-year taxi license revocation.

The current penalty for refusing a fare is going back to the end of the taxi queue. Hogan the said the average wait for an airport fare is three to five hours.

Late last year, airport commissioners considered _ and then rejected _ a plan to mark no-booze taxis with special lights to distinguish them from taxis who would transport alcohol.

“Initially we thought it might be feasible, but the public reaction convinced us it would not work,” Hogan said.

_ Omar Sacirbey

Judge OKs Portland Archdiocese Bankruptcy Deal

PORTLAND, Ore. (RNS) A federal judge has approved a $75 million settlement plan for the Archdiocese of Portland that will provide financial relief for about 175 people who say they were sexually abused by priests.

The archdiocese, which in 2004 became the first U.S. diocese to seek bankruptcy protection, secures its financial future, collecting $52 million in insurance money and paying priest accusers without selling churches or schools. The archdiocese also limits how much money it would pay to any sex abuse victims who come forward in the future.

But if parishioners seem pleased with the results, priests’ accusers may not be happy simply because financial terms have been settled.

“The fact that there may be a settlement in monetary terms may not, in fact, cure or remedy all the underlying harms,” said Jonathan C. Lipson, a professor at Temple University’s James E. Beasley School of Law. “There’s a limit to what money can buy.”

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Elizabeth L. Perris was expected to sign an order Tuesday (April 17) making the settlement official and lift a gag order that has prevented accusers, church officials and their lawyers from talking publicly since August.

Questions remain about how the church will reorganize. The bankruptcy plan calls for the archdiocese to separately incorporate parish churches and schools to protect them from future lawsuits. That will be legally complicated, and additional independence of the parishes could at some point cause friction with the archbishop.

“It’s a Pandora’s box here that the dioceses have to deal with,” said Chuck Zech, a professor at Villanova University. Bishops, he said, will have to ask, “How are we going to maintain control of the parishes?”

Still, most experts agree that the Portland Archdiocese’s decision to seek bankruptcy protection turned out to be an unqualified success from a financial perspective.

“This works for them. They can put it behind them,” said Carl Tobias, a professor at the University of Richmond School of Law. “And it could have been a lot worse.”

Barbara Blaine of Chicago, president of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, said in a statement that she hoped the settlement would bring “some well-deserved and long-overdue healing for some of the hundreds of deeply wounded adults who were sexually assaulted as kids by Oregon priests.”

But Blaine blasted Archbishop John Vlazny, accusing him of using the bankruptcy system “to keep a lid on the Catholic hierarchy’s cover-up of horrific child sex crimes.”

_ Ashbel “Tony” Green and Steve Woodward

Evangelical Leader Named to Religious Freedom Panel

WASHINGTON (RNS) Former National Association of Evangelicals President Don Argue has been appointed to a federal panel that monitors international religious freedom.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., announced Friday (April 13) that Argue will join the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom.

Argue is expected to start the position May 15, replacing the commissioner seat held by Roman Catholic Bishop Ricardo Ramirez of Las Cruces, N.M.

Commissioners serve two-year terms, with some appointed by the president and others selected by congressional leaders. Clinton, who called herself a “friend” of Argue’s, said his voice will add to the commission’s work.

“His expertise is surpassed only by his dedication to achieving the goal of religious freedom for people around the world,” she said in a statement. “I’m proud to recommend such a respected and valued leader.”

Argue is president of Northwest University in Kirkland, Wash. In 1996, he was appointed to serve on President Clinton’s Advisory Committee on Religious Freedom, which led to the establishment of the commission. In 1998, President Clinton chose Argue to be part of an official delegation of U.S. religious leaders to China.

Argue was president of the National Association of Evangelicals from 1995 to 1998, when he resigned to take the university position. This summer, he plans to resign from the Assemblies of God-affiliated university’s presidency but will work with its newly established Center for Evangelical Vision.

“You cannot put a fence around conscience,” Argue said in a statement. “Religious freedoms are basic human rights and religious freedom starts with the ability to practice your religion.”

_ Adelle M. Banks

Quote of the Day: Evangelical Author Tony Campolo

(RNS) “I’m afraid that people have gotten to the point where they are worshipping America. I want to be loyal to America as a nation, but my loyalty ultimately belongs to Jesus. I respect America and want to serve American interests, but if those interests run contrary to serving Jesus Christ, then in fact I must stand against my nation.”

_ Evangelical author Tony Campolo, who has recently written the new book “Letters to a Young Evangelical,” quoted by The Washington Times.

KRE/CM END RNS