c. 2007 Religion News Service

AME Church Leaders Join Protest of `Jena Six’ Case

(RNS) Top leaders of the African Methodist Episcopal Church have joined protests of the prosecution of six black teenagers in Jena, La., who have been charged with the alleged beating of a white schoolmate.

“We in no way condone fighting … and would expect local school officials to equitably handle this per their administrative guidelines with suspension, etc.,” reads a letter signed by more than 150 bishops, general officers, pastors and members of the historically black denomination in a letter to Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco.

“The handling of this incident is not only an injustice to the six young men but deja vu of days we thought have gone by _ days when the lives of black persons were considered as chattel.”

The AME Church’s Council of Bishops voted in August to take action on the issue involving the “Jena Six,” said Jackie Dupont-Walker, social action officer for the 2.5-million member denomination. The various leaders signed petitions during a convocation Sept. 6-8 in Orlando, Fla. Some also intend to join a protest in Jena on Sept. 20, the date one of the teenagers is scheduled to be sentenced.

The leaders also sent a letter to District Attorney J. Reed Walters of Jena.

“We are writing to ask you to remember your oath of office and pledge as an official sworn to insure justice in this land for all people,” they wrote.

Relatives of the six black teenagers charged in the alleged incident _ and facing possible sentences of more than 22 years _ spent the weekend of Sept. 8 in New Orleans, speaking at fundraisers, forums and local churches. The students and their families said the alleged attack on the white student was really a lunchtime fight that came after three months of race-related incidents. They said the tensions began last September after white students hung nooses on a tree in the yard of Jena High School and were given short suspensions.

_ Adelle M. Banks and Katy Reckdahl

No Charges in Second Katrina Nursing Home Deaths Case

NEW ORLEANS (RNS) Prosecutors will not pursue charges against a group of nuns who ran an eastern New Orleans nursing home where 22 residents died during Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath.

The home’s residents died after administrators at the Lafon Nursing Home decided not to evacuate its residents as the powerful storm approached the New Orleans area in late August 2005, fearing that the frail senior citizens would not survive the stress of an evacuation.

The circumstances that led to the tragedy share striking similarities with what happened at St. Rita’s nursing home in St. Bernard Parish, where 35 residents drowned after owners decided not to evacuate. On Friday (Sept. 7), a jury cleared St. Rita’s owners Sal and Rita Mangano on all charges of negligent homicide and cruelty to the infirm.

St. Rita’s and Lafon were among 13 nursing homes investigated for Katrina-related deaths by state Attorney General Charles Foti’s office, which prosecuted the Manganos.

Foti’s investigators forwarded the findings from the Lafon probe to Orleans Parish District Attorney Eddie Jordan’s office, which had been reviewing the case. On Monday (Sept. 10), Jordan’s office announced that “after a thorough review of the facts and applicable law, he has concluded that no criminal conduct occurred. With these findings, the investigation of the deaths at Lafon Nursing Home is concluded and will not be presented to the Orleans Parish grand jury.”

Lafon was run by nuns from the Sisters of the Holy Family, an order founded in 1842. Because no charges had been filed against the nuns, attorneys representing the Manganos suggested that their clients had been unfairly singled out.

_ Kim Chatelain

Private School Funding a Hot Topic in Ontario Elections

TORONTO (RNS) The funding of private religious schools is shaping up as a wedge issue in upcoming provincial elections in Ontario as voters head to the polls Oct. 10 to elect a premier, akin to U.S. governor.

Emerging as a hot-button issue is whether to fund Ontario’s roughly 100 private, faith-based schools, which enroll about 53,000 students. Ontario is the only jurisdiction in Canada not to extend any public funds or vouchers to private schools.

The current Ontario premier, Liberal Dalton McGuinty, is refusing to fund faith-based schools, saying the public systems need strengthening. After he was elected in 2003, his government cancelled a private school tax credit that had been enacted by the previous Conservative government.

If elected, McGuinty’s opponent, John Tory, leader of the Progressive Conservative Party, has vowed to fund faith-based schools as long they conform to teaching, curriculum and other standards. The party has earmarked $400 million in additional funding for these schools in the first year of the program.

The province has two taxpayer-funded education streams: a public system and a Catholic one, which enrolls more than 600,000 students. Until 1984, public funding of the Catholic system was only from kindergarten to Grade 10; that year, the government extended funding to all Catholic grades.

Since then, other faith groups _ notably evangelicals, Jews, Muslims and Sikhs _ have persisted in a battle to get public money for their schools, arguing that funding one religious system but not others is discriminatory. In a 1999 ruling, a United Nations human rights committee agreed.

Polls suggest that a slight majority of Ontarians oppose the public funding of religious schools.

Tory recently found himself on the defensive after he was quoted saying that he saw “no reason creationism couldn’t be taught alongside evolution and other theories” at publicly funded religious schools.

The Conservative campaign sent out a “statement of clarification” saying creationism would only be discussed as part of religious studies programming in publicly financed religious schools, adding that the Ontario curriculum does not allow it to be taught in science classes.

_ Ron Csillag

Quote of the Day: Mormon Elder Henry B. Eyring

(RNS) “What was done here long ago by members of our church represents a terrible and inexcusable departure from Christian teaching and conduct. We cannot change what happened, but we can remember and honor those who were killed here.”

Elder Henry B. Eyring, an apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, voicing “profound regret” for the massacre of 120 men, women and children 150 years ago at Mountain Meadows in southern Utah. A member of the church’s Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Eyring participated in a Sept. 11 memorial service at the grave site.

KRE DS END RNS