c. 2008 Religion News ServiceReligious hate crimes dropped in 2007, FBI saysWASHINGTON (RNS) Hate crimes directed against a person’s religion decreased in 2007, but hate crimes against gays and lesbians increased slightly, according to the FBI’s 2007 Hate Crimes Statistics.In 2006, the FBI reported 1,597 hate crimes motivated by a religious bias. That figure dropped to 1,477 in 2007, according to the report. Of the religiously based hate crimes, attacks against Jews rose from 64 percent in 2006 to 68 percent in 2007. Anti-Muslim hate crimes, meanwhile, decreased from 12 percent in 2006 to 9 percent in 2007. Hate crimes against Catholics accounted for 4 percent of the reported hate crimes motivated by religious biases _ down from 5 percent in 2006. Four percent of the hate crimes were motivated by anti-Protestant biases, and 9 percent were against other religions. Of the reported hate crimes motivated by religious bias, 18 percent occurred in churches, synagogues or temples; 26 percent occurred in or near residences or homes; and 12 percent occurred in schools or colleges. The FBI reported 1,415 hate crimes based on a person’s sexual orientation in 2006 and 1,460 hate crimes in 2007. Of those offenses, 59 percent targeted gay men, 13 percent targeted lesbians, and 25 percent were more generally anti-homosexual. _ Ashley GipsonCatholics begin occupation of shuttered New Orleans parishesNEW ORLEANS (RNS) Parishioners occupying two Catholic churches in defiance of closure orders from the Archdiocese of New Orleans began laying plans Monday (Oct. 27) to live in the churches in shifts.Parishioners from both St. Henry and Our Lady of Good Counsel met Monday night with Peter Borre, a Boston energy consultant who has been involved in Boston parishes’ resistance to a wave of parish closings Cardinal Sean O’Malley ordered in 2004. Five Boston-area parishes have been occupied around the clock _ or under “vigil” _ for four years. In an interview earlier Monday, Borre said he would urge New Orleans parishioners to resist the closings with occupations, in part because “these vigils are the only thing these bishops understand.” Later, he told a group of two dozen St. Henry parishioners that Boston parishes are being occupied by traditional, mainstream Catholics who are finding their faith enriched in the struggle. “Here in Catholic America, some people are standing up and saying these are our parishes, and we will protect them against the depredations of our appointed bishops,” he told the group. Parishioners of the two churches, and those of a third Catholic parish, St. Francis de Sales in Central City, gathered at their churches Sunday for their last Masses as their parishes formally dissolved under a closure order by Archbishop Alfred Hughes. Their closure nearly ends a long post-Katrina reorganization of archdiocesan worship life, shrinking the regional church from 142 to 108 parishes.Archdiocesan spokeswoman Sarah Comiskey said the archdiocese would keep supplying power to the churches, as it does to dozens of other buildings it has closed, to control temperature and humidity, reduce mold and other threats to the property. _ Bruce Nolan Embryonic stem cell measure draws big bucks in MichiganGRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (RNS) The hottest campaign in Michigan this fall features no candidate, but an embryo. In the fight over Proposal 2, advocates and opponents are spending millions to shape voter opinion on a proposal to loosen current restrictions on embryonic stem cell research in the state.In West Michigan, Amway co-founder Richard DeVos has given $200,000 to fight the proposal to free up state funds for the research, according to recent campaign finance statements. Meanwhile, Pete Wege, the retired Steelcase executive, pitched in with $100,000 to Cure Michigan, the committee trying to pass the Nov. 4 ballot issue to expand the research. Records show more than $7.5 million had been spent statewide through Oct. 19 promoting or attacking the proposed amendment. Most of the cash raised by the two sides is funding weeks of statewide television advertising. In the absence of a bare-fisted fight for president or U.S. Senate in Michigan, the Proposal 2 campaign is the most contentious statewide political battle of the season. Michigan is one of three states that bar the destruction of a human embryo for laboratory research purposes. That restricts research in Michigan to stem cell lines created before August 2001 that qualify for federal funding, or to stem cell lines derived from embryos in other states. Proposal 2 would change that. The proposed amendment to Michigan’s constitution would allow federally regulated research on otherwise discarded Michigan embryos created through in-vitro fertilization and donated by the person receiving the fertility treatment. Proponents argue current state law chills important biomedical research in a state that has committed tens of millions of taxpayer dollars in the past 10 years to build a burgeoning life sciences research industry. The amendment would specifically bar state and local laws that “discourage” such research and allow any embryo research permitted by federal law to be conducted in Michigan, as is the case in 47 other states. _ Ted Roelofs and Peter LukeQuote of the Day: Former President Jimmy Carter(RNS) “The foundation for this unequal treatment (of the sexes) is within the major religions, which are almost impervious to either criticism or change.”_ Former President Jimmy Carter, speaking at Mercer University in Macon, Ga., about how discrimination against women is a violation of basic human rights. Quoted by Associated Baptist Press, Carter cited African religious leaders who condone female circumcision and Southern Baptist Convention encouragement of women to be submissive to their husbands.KRE/RB END RNS