c. 2008 Religion News Service
Town says church bells aren’t a noise nuisance
LONDON (RNS) A town hall in southern England has ruled that its 14th century village church has just as much right to ring its bells as the villagers have to operate their noisy lawnmowers and hedge trimmers on Sundays.
Some residents in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, had griped for months that the racket from peal practice at St. Peter and St. Paul Anglican Church _ some of it lasting nearly three hours _ was disturbing their weekend tranquillity, and they wanted it stopped.
But the local South Coastal District Council, noting that the same residents rarely complained about the din raised by their own grass-cutting and garden-trimming activities, said locals shouldn’t be complaining about the church’s bellringers.
Therefore, the council said in a statement, “our environmental protection team has concluded that there is no reason on noise nuisance grounds to take any action.”
The delighted vicar, the Rev. Nigel Hartley, told journalists that “bells have been rung in our tower since it was first built in the 14th century” and that its bells would continue to chime “to proclaim the Christian gospel aloud to remind all those who hear of their heritage within this country.”
It also serves, he said, “to remind those who choose not to come to worship that Christians are gathering” in their village.
_ Al Webb
Court: University of California can reject Christian school classes
(RNS) A California federal judge has ruled that the University of California had a “rational basis” for rejecting science and history courses taught at Christian high schools.
Calvary Chapel Christian School in Murrieta, Calif., and the Association of Christian Schools International had charged that the university had an unconstitutional admissions process because it refused to certify courses that taught creationism and other beliefs.
Private school students are required to meet certain high-school requirements before they can be eligible to apply to one of the undergraduate campuses of the University of California.
U.S. District Court Judge S. James Otero ruled Friday (Aug. 8) that concerns about a course whose primary text was called “Biology: God’s Living Creation” was deemed by UC experts to have failed at teaching critical thinking or the theory of evolution in an adequate manner.
The judge also said UC reviewers found that a text published by Bob Jones University titled “United States History for Christian Schools” taught that “the Bible is the unerring source for analysis of historical events” and did not include modern methods for historical analysis.
In these cases, and in reviews of English and government texts, Otero said the Christian school defendants did not adequately refute the findings of UC’s reviewers. The judge also found that the university system did not reject the courses out of animosity.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Court tosses challenge to VA `spiritual assessments’
(RNS) A federal appeals court in Chicago has ruled that an atheist organization lacks standing to challenge a Department of Veterans Affairs policy that incorporates “spiritual assessments” into its treatment programs.
The Wisconsin-based Freedom from Religion Foundation argued that the program violates the First Amendment of the Constitution by asking patients to answer questions about their faith.
The Aug. 5 ruling from the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals nullified a lower court ruling, which had upheld the VA policy, by saying the atheist group does not have legal standing to challenge the policy.
The ruling was the latest in a series of defeats for critics of taxpayer-financed federal programs. Judge Kenneth F. Ripple cited “Hein vs. Freedom from Religion Foundation,” a 2007 Supreme Court decision that insulated President Bush’s faith-based initiative from taxpayer legal challenges.
“Allowing taxpayer standing under these circumstances would subvert the delicate equilibrium and separation of powers that the Founders envisioned and that the Supreme Court has found to inform the standing inquiry,” Ripple wrote for the three-judge panel.
In a statement released two days later, the foundation said it intends to launch another challenge with new plaintiffs.
“The courts are rapidly moving to the position that government can fund religious activities, and endorse religion, without restraint,” said Richard Bolton, an attorney for the foundation.
The group took issue with recent changes in VA policy that expanded a chaplaincy program to include outpatient veterans and administered questionnaires to determine patients’ spiritual health. Patients were asked questions such as “How often do you attend religious services during the year?” and “How often do you read the Bible or other religious literature?”
Last year, a federal judge in Madison, Wis., ruled in favor of the voluntary VA program, concluding that it does not have “the principal or primary effect of advancing religion.“
_ Tim Murphy
Quote of the Day: Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori
(RNS) “I was surprised at several points at questions of me and others of our bishops about basic theological tenets and whether we really believe them or not. It’s a reminder that even though we may assume that all Anglicans believe the basics of the faith, not everybody believes that we believe them.”
_ Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, in an online webcast reflection on the recently concluded Lambeth Conference, which brought more than 650 Anglican bishops to Canterbury, England.
KRE/PH END RNS
