c. 2008 Religion News Service
Rastafarian files suit after UPS tells him to cut dreadlocks
HARRISBURG, Pa. (RNS) After being hired as a driver for UPS Freight, Nieland Bynoe, a Rastafarian, attended an orientation meeting last year and was told that he would have to shave his beard and cut off his dreadlocks to comply with the company’s grooming policy.
Bynoe, of Harrisburg, told company officials the next day that he was prohibited by his religion from doing what the company asked and requested a reasonable accommodation, but the company immediately fired him, according to a recent lawsuit filed on his behalf by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
UPS Freight officials did not return repeated calls for comment.
A federal judge is being asked to settle this dispute, and some experts said such cases are becoming more common as the country’s work force becomes more diverse.
The EEOC investigated 2,880 religious discrimination complaints in 2007, a record high and an increase of 13 percent from the previous year.
According to a manual the EEOC published this summer, employers must “reasonably accommodate” workers’ and applicants’ sincerely held religious beliefs unless doing so would impose an undue hardship, such as lowering efficiency or decreasing safety. The guidance is based on part of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, according to the EEOC.
Some people have said “undue hardship” is a vague standard that might have been purposely written that way, said Michael J. Crocenzi, an employment lawyer with Goldberg Katzman in Harrisburg.
“That’s the conundrum, because if you start coming out with a list of rules, it would be a very, very long list,” Crocenzi said. “And what may be an undue hardship for a smaller company may not be an undue hardship for a larger one. … You have to take these situations on a case by case standpoint. These are difficult cases.”
_ Carrie Cassidy
Cardinal: John Paul II survived stabbing in 1982
VATICAN CITY (RNS) The late Pope John Paul II was stabbed by a priest in Portugal in 1982, almost one year to the day after the shooting attempt on his life in St. Peter’s Square, according to a new film.
The revelation appears in the film “Testimony,” which premiered Thursday evening (Oct. 16) in Rome, to an audience that included Pope Benedict XVI.
The stabbing occurred May 12, 1982, in Fatima, Portugal, when John Paul was attacked by an ultra-traditionalist Spanish priest, Juan Maria Fernandez Krohn, who opposed the reforms of the Second Vatican Council.
John Paul was in Fatima on a pilgrimage to thank the Madonna of the famous shrine there for sparing his life after Turkish gunman Mehmet Ali Agca shot him on May 13, 1981.
Until the appearance of the new film, which is based on a memoir by the late pontiff’s longtime secretary Cardinal Stanislaw Dziwisz, it was believed that John Paul had escaped from the second attack unscathed.
“Today, I can say what up to now we have kept secret,” Dziwisz said in the film. “That priest wounded the Holy Father.”
Dziwisz said the attack left John Paul bloodied but able to continue with his normal activities.
_ Francis X. Rocca
Episcopal priest sanctioned for professing to be a Muslim
(RNS) A Seattle Episcopal priest who claims to be both Christian and Muslim has been restricted from public ministry and will be defrocked unless she “reclaims” Christianity by next April, the Episcopal Church announced.
The Rev. Ann Holmes Redding has “abandoned” the Episcopal Church by formally joining a faith “not in communion” with the national church, according to a church committee.
Bishop Geralyn Wolf of Rhode Island, where Redding was ordained in 1984, affirmed the committee’s Sept. 30 decision. Redding will be automatically defrocked if she does not recant her Muslim faith by March 31, 2009, according to the Episcopal Church.
Wolf said she has been in dialogue with Redding since 2007 and is convinced the Seattle scholar did not make a “superficial decision” when she became a Muslim two years ago.
“However, I believe that Islam and Christianity have enough differences to make it impossible to adhere to them both with integrity,” Wolf said. “The church wants to be diverse and inclusive, but we’re decidedly Christian. We’re Christ-followers.”
Muslims do not believe Jesus was the son of God, nor that salvation can be attained through him.
Redding, who teaches at a Jesuit seminary in Seattle, according to Episcopal News Service, told ENS that “I do not believe the canons were written with this situation in mind. … My situation gives the church an opportunity to re-examine what it means to be in communion.”
_ Daniel Burke
Judge: Can’t serve God with a lawsuit: His address is unlisted
(RNS) A judge has dismissed a Nebraska legislator’s lawsuit against God, saying the Almighty could not be served notice of the litigation.
“Given that this court finds that there can never be service effectuated on the named defendant, this action will be dismissed with prejudice,” wrote Douglas County District Court Judge Marlon Polk of Omaha, Neb., on Tuesday (Oct. 14).
State Sen. Ernie Chambers filed suit in 2007 to seek a permanent injunction against God, the Associated Press reported. He accused God of causing “widespread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth’s inhabitants.”
Chambers has said he filed the suit to demonstrate that everyone _ rich or poor _ should have access to the court system.
The law school graduate who never took the bar exam questioned the judge’s ruling, the AP reported. “Since God knows everything, God has notice of this lawsuit,” Chambers said.
Chambers has 30 days to determine if he will appeal.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Latino Protestants swinging Democratic, survey shows
WASHINGTON (RNS) Latino Protestant voters appear to be swinging away from the Republican Party, a new poll shows, and immigration is a key factor.
The survey of 500 Latino Protestant registered voters found that 50.4 percent favored Democrat Barack Obama, while 33.6 percent favored Republican John McCain. Ten percent were undecided.
Those figures compare dramatically to post-election surveys that found President Bush won 63 percent of Latino Protestants in 2004 and 32 percent in 2000.
“This is a clear indication that the vote is indeed swinging dramatically from 2004 to 2008 but we’ll see on Election Day how things actually turn out,” said Katie Paris, a spokeswoman for Faith in Public Life, one of the co-sponsors of the poll.
Eighty percent of the Latino Protestants polled were self-identified “born-again” Christians and/or attended a congregation affiliated with an evangelical denomination.
The immigration issue factored significantly in the findings, ranking close to abortion as a priority issue for this segment of voters. While 75 percent said abortion was “extremely” or “very” important in determining their vote, 71 percent felt that way about immigration reform. A smaller percentage, 56 percent, said gay marriage was extremely or very important.
“The lack of immigration reform may very well determine the outcome of the election,” said the Rev. Samuel Rodriguez, president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, a poll co-sponsor.
“Immigration is a profoundly religious issue for Hispanic evangelicals. We will vote our faith and we will vote our values.”
The poll also found that 83 percent of Latino Protestants said a candidate’s position on immigration is key in determining their vote this year. Three out of four respondents said their religious beliefs are important in influencing their views on immigration.
The poll of 500 Latino Protestant registered voters also was sponsored by the Jesse Miranda Center for Hispanic Leadership at Vanguard University, America’s Voice Education Fund and Gaston Espinosa, associate professor of religious studies at Claremont McKenna College. It was conducted by SDR Consulting in Atlanta and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.4 percentage points.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Priest says he had permission to allow Maher to film in church
PARK RIDGE, N.J. (RNS) The pastor of a Catholic church, facing criticism from his archbishop for letting comedian Bill Maher film part of his movie “Religulous” there, said he actually had been given advance permission by the archdiocese to do so.
The contention by the Rev. Charles Grandstrand came after reports that Archbishop John J. Myers of Newark was upset that the priest let Maher shoot the scene on church property at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Church.
The controversial movie derides organized religion of all kinds. Myers’ spokesman, James Goodness, had said he had told Grandstrand not to let Maher film there because the archdiocese forbids commercial filming on its property.
Grandstrand had not responded to requests for an interview.
But on Thursday (Oct. 16), in a letter to the editor of The Star-Ledger, Grandstrand wrote that Goodness had told the church’s administrative assistant that it would be all right to let Maher talk to his mother in the church, which the Maher family attended decades ago. He said Goodness told the church to reject the production company’s request to film a Mass.
“Mr. Maher and his family were parishioners of Our Lady of Mercy,” Grandstrand wrote. “Mr. Maher was baptized and received his first Communion at Our Lady of Mercy. Based on the information I had, I chose to allow a former parishioner access to his childhood church.”
Goodness, reached Thursday for comment, said he remembered the events unfolding differently. He said he had told Grandstrand not to let the company film anything inside the church.
_ Jeff Diamant
California clerics ousted for leaving Episcopal Church
(RNS) An Episcopal Church committee voted Friday (Oct. 17) to oust more than 50 California clerics who left the denomination last year to join a more conservative province in the Anglican Communion.
The 16 deacons and 36 priests have six months to recant and return to the Episcopal Church before they are defrocked by Bishop Jerry Lamb of the Fresno-based Diocese of San Joaquin, according to Episcopal News Service.
Charged with “abandoning” the Episcopal Church, the 52 deacons and priests would no longer be allowed to function as Episcopal clergy.
Diocesan spokeswoman Nancy Key said two clergy have decided to rejoin the Episcopal Church since the committee began considering charges against them.
“It is our hope, actually, that everybody will decide to remain part of the Episcopal Church,” Key told ENS.
In late 2007, 42 of 47 parishes in the diocese left the Episcopal Church and joined the Argentina-based Anglican Province of the Southern Cone. Bishop John-David Schofield, who seceded with his diocese, was defrocked by the Episcopal Church last January, though he remains a bishop in the Southern Cone.
The Episcopal Church has since worked to rebuild the San Joaquin Diocese, appointing Lamb to oversee the estimated 1,500 Episcopalians who stayed with the denomination.
Last month, a conservative majority in the Diocese of Pittsburgh also split from the Episcopal Church, the U.S. branch of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and aligned with the Southern Cone. Two more dioceses _ Fort Worth, Texas, and Quincy, Ill. _ are poised to make similar moves next month.
_ Daniel Burke
Vatican-Israeli tensions flare over wartime pontiff
VATICAN CITY (RNS) Catholic-Jewish tensions over Pope Pius XII flared again after a church official suggested on Saturday (Oct. 18) that a Jerusalem museum exhibit about the World War II-era pontiff was an impediment to Israeli-Vatican relations.
The statement prompted a response from Israeli President Shimon Peres, and was followed by an Israeli Web site displaying an image of Pope Benedict XVI covered by a swastika.
Critics allege that Pius, who reigned from 1939 to 1958, failed to do or say all he could to stop the Nazis’ persecution and genocide of the Jews. The late pope’s defenders counter that he heroically condemned anti-Semitism throughout Hitler’s reign, and both directly and indirectly saved thousands of Jewish lives during the Holocaust.
This latest episode in the long-running controversy began when the Rev. Peter Gumpel told the Italian news agency ANSA that Benedict would not visit Israel unless the Yad Vashem Holocaust museum removed a plaque suggesting that Pius had been indifferent to the survival of the Jews.
Gumpel is the official advocate for Pius in the process that will determine if the wartime pontiff becomes a saint. In May 2007, a Vatican body voted unanimously to declare Pius “venerable,” a prerequisite to sainthood, but Benedict has yet to sign the decree.
On Saturday, Gumpel said Benedict’s delay stemmed from concerns about the reactions of Jewish groups.
The Rev. Federico Lombardi, head of the Vatican press office, said afterwards in a statement that the Yad Vashem display was not the “determining factor” in Benedict’s decision about whether to make his first visit to Israel as pope.
Peres said on Monday (Oct. 20) that a papal “visit to Israel should not be tied to controversy over Pius XII.” Peres reiterated a standing invitation offered to Benedict when the two met at the Vatican in September 2007.
Also on Monday, an Israeli Web site supportive of the country’s governing Kadima party briefly displayed a photograph of Benedict superimposed with a Nazi swastika, but removed the image shortly after it was publicly condemned by the party’s leader, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.
_ Francis X. Rocca
BYU yanks diploma from creator of shirtless Mormon calendar
(RNS) The creator of the calendar featuring shirtless Mormon missionaries, who had already been excommunicated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, now says Brigham Young University has rescinded his diploma.
After finishing his degree online in June, Chad Hardy walked in graduation ceremonies in August, and while waiting for his diploma to come in the mail, found out he would not be getting one.
Church officials excommunicated Hardy in July for creating the calendar, which they believed was in poor taste.
“I was led to believe I had successfully completed my education,” Hardy said Tuesday (Oct. 21). But after a month of waiting for the actual diploma, he called the school to learn that his graduation had not been posted.
“My counselor informed me that there was a nonacademic hold on my diploma,” he said.
He then received a letter from the school’s executive director of student academic and advisement services, Norm Finlinson, saying his name had been deleted and he would not be granted a degree.
“They were aware I had been excommunicated,” he said, “and that was not a good honor. If I had been accused of adultery or apostasy, I’d be in the same situation.”
Hardy contacted Finlinson, but was told that the school would stand by the letter.
“You do not have to be a member of the church to go to BYU,” BYU spokeswoman Carrie Jenkins said. “Every student signs a principled-based honor code and on a yearly basis, students renew the agreement to uphold the code.”
Hardy was told he was not in good standing with that code.
“The church censored me, and because of that BYU can dig their heels in,” Hardy said. “The issue I have is that I’m already finished and they allowed me to walk at graduation. They are backpedaling to make an example of me.”
Hardy said he plans to file a civil liberties lawsuit against Brigham Young University.
_ Ashley Gipson
Catholics try to block Eucharist desecration videos
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (RNS) Roman Catholics in North America and Britain are calling for a series of YouTube videos showing a Canadian teenager destroying Communion hosts to be removed from the Internet.
The Quebec teenager named Dominique, who tags himself “fsmdude,” has posted more than 40 videos featuring him desecrating the host, the small circular wafer that Catholics ingest during Eucharist service.
Dominique’s videos, many seen by more than 20,000 viewers, show the wafers being burned, hammered, placed in a blender, fed to animals and flushed down a toilet.
“If they want blasphemy, we’ll give them blasphemy,” Dominique says in one video.
The Toronto-based Catholic Civil Rights League claims the videos are “hate speech.” The organization and thousands of its supporters have petitioned YouTube officials to remove what they claim are sacrilegious videos.
The short clips were shut down for a few hours in early October, but soon returned.
Now YouTube, which is owned by Google, has “age-gated” Dominique’s videos. The videos have been marked as not appropriate for everyone, and restricted, ostensibly, to viewers over age 18.
To convict someone of hate speech, Canadian prosecutors not only have to prove someone is expressing contempt or hatred for an identifiable group based on their gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation or religion, but that he or she is also inciting others to discriminate against members of that group.
Bill Donohue, president of the New York-based Catholic League, insists the Quebec teenager’s videos violate YouTube’s “community standards,” which do not permit hate speech.
“In August, YouTube took down a video of a teenager who urinated on the Holocaust memorial in Rhodes, Greece. That was not only the right moral choice, it was consistent with its own strictures. Catholics deserve the same sensitivity,” Donohue said in a public statement.
Dominique, in response to a series of videos that Catholics have put on YouTube to counter his videos, said he’s not attacking the religion, but satirizing the concept of transubstantiation _ the Catholic belief that the wafer and wine at Communion become the literal body and blood of Christ.
“I’m attacking the belief that this thing, this cracker, is someone that can feel pain,” he said, calling the host “just an object you can eat.”
_ Douglas Todd
Quote of the Week: Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin
(RNS) “Faith in God in general has been mocked through this campaign, and that breaks my heart and that is unfair for others who share a faith in God and choose to worship our Lord in whatever private manner that they deem fit.”
_ Republican vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin, in an interview with the Christian Broadcasting Network.
KRE/LF END RNS
