c. 2000 Religion News Service
Lawsuit Filed Under New Law on Religious Land Use
(RNS) The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty has filed a lawsuit under a brand-new federal law dealing with religious land use.
The case, believed to be among the first filed under the new law, involves a church denied the use of a storefront location in Grand Haven, Mich. The Washington-based Becket Fund sued the city on behalf of Haven Shores Community Church in March but amended its complaint in light of the new Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act.
President Clinton signed the bill on Sept. 22 and the public-interest law firm amended its complaint on Tuesday (Sept. 26).
The suit now argues that the city has deprived the church “of its right to be free from discrimination, as secured by the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, by treating it on less than equal terms as a nonreligious assembly or institution, by imposing and implementing a land use regulation that discriminates against it on the basis of religion.”
The suit also cites the new law in saying the city is “imposing and implementing a land use regulation that imposes a substantial burden on (the church’s) religious exercise.”
In response to the original suit, the city council issued a resolution defending its denial of the church’s request that it amend a zoning ordinance. The council said churches are permitted in nine other zoning districts, but not in the particular business district where the church wished to hold services.
Pope Reportedly Will Proclaim Thomas More Patron Saint of Politicians
(RNS) Pope John Paul II reportedly plans to proclaim a patron saint for politicians, and his choice is said to be Thomas More, the 16th century lord chancellor beheaded by King Henry VIII for his loyalty to the pope.
The Italian news agency ANSA said Thursday (Sept. 28) that the pope is expected to sign the proclamation Oct. 5 but will not make it public until Nov. 5 when he celebrates a Jubilee Holy Year Mass for members of parliament and government.
Nov. 5 also is Guy Fawkes Day, when English revelers light bonfires to recall the foiled Catholic conspiracy to blow up the Houses of Parliament 400 years ago.
More clashed with Henry VIII over the English sovereign’s plan to divorce Catherine of Aragon and the ensuring Act of Supremacy, which the king issued in 1534 to sever the English church from Vatican authority.
A humanist who strongly opposed England’s nascent capitalism, More is best known for his 1516 book “Utopia,” in which he imagined an ideal country built on principles of democracy and religious tolerance.
He was canonized in 1935.
Honduras’ Congress Orders Bible Reading in School
(RNS) Legislators in Honduras approved Wednesday (Sept. 27) a law requiring schools to begin classes with 10-minute Bible readings each day.
But the measure is a violation of the predominantly Catholic nation’s constitutional mandate for secular education, religious leaders and other opponents of the measure told Reuters news agency.
“In Honduras, education is secular and we can’t just ignore the Constitution,” said the Rev. Ovidio Rodriguez, deputy to the archbishop of Tegucigalpa, adding, “It’s our task to announce the reign of Jesus Christ, but we can’t invade all areas because, in a plural society, respect for freedom of conscience prevails.”
Coritza Diaz, a member of the Federation of Honduran Teachers, said her colleagues would not follow Congress’ decision.
“This is a step back in the advances in education that we have made,” said Arnaldo Pinto, the president of the teachers’ federation.
Vatican Refurbishes the Tomb of St. Peter in Holy Year Project
(RNS) In the latest of its Holy Year projects, the Vatican has completed two years of work to restore, preserve and illuminate what Christians have believed for two millennia to be the tomb of St. Peter in a complex of ancient mausoleums under St. Peter’s Basilica.
Vatican restorers worked with chemists, physicists and lighting experts to clear away the mold, microscopic algae and fungi and layers of salt, which had accumulated over the centuries on frescoes, mosaics, stucco decorations and marble urns and sarcophaguses.
The apostle’s tomb is located directly below the high altar where only popes may celebrate Mass. Above the altar is Bernini’s towering baldaquin, or canopy.
The site had been a circus and a garden, which little by little became a burial ground for pagans and early Christians alike. The mausoleums stood side by side in streets of tombs but were covered over by the Emperor Constantine in the fourth century when he built a sanctuary over the tomb of St. Peter.
Excavation of the tombs, now 6 to 16 yards underground, began only in 1939 during the papacy of Pius XII. The site is open to tourists who make appointments for a guided tour in small groups.
The team of experts from the Vatican and the Italian electrical utility ENEL installed 200 unobtrusive points of light in a fiber optic system regulated by a computer. Concealed equipment will monitor humidity and control the microclimate.
Cardinal Virgilio Noe, president of the St. Peter’s Workshop, told a Vatican news conference that the bones many Christians believe are St. Peter’s will now rest in a “prudently secure” setting.
Update: Six Expelled From Mexico For Helping Iraqi Christians
(RNS) Six U.S. residents who helped Iraqi Christians in Mexico seek asylum in the United States have been deported by Mexican immigration officials.
Mexican authorities believed the group was giving illegal help to the Iraqi Chaldeans, members of an ancient Christian sect, many of whom say they fear religious persecution in their home country, the Associated Press reported.
The six who were deported were arrested Sept. 19 at a Tijuana hotel where Mexican immigration officials detained 133 Iraqi asylum seekers the next day. About 45 other Iraqis fled the hotel for the United States/Mexico border and were taken into custody by U.S. immigration officials.
Last week immigration authorities in Mexico released the Iraqis _ mostly Chaldeans _ to U.S. immigration officials, who have so far allowed 152 Iraqis to enter the United States while their asylum applications are processed.
Charges of immigrant smuggling filed against the six were dismissed by a judge in Mexico, who concluded there was not enough evidence for prosecution, said an aide to Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif. They are banned from Mexico for two years.
“We’re relieved,” said Clint Wright, a spokesman for the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana. “It seems to have come out the way everyone wanted it to.”
Gabriel Barno, the brother of one of the U.S. residents, said the group had served as translators for the Iraqis and helped them file applications for asylum. Barno said his brother once worked as an inspector for the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service and now works with a business providing services to immigrants.
Tijuana is just 30 minutes away from San Diego County, which is home to an estimated 15,000 Chaldeans.
The Chaldeans, sometimes called Nestorians or Assyrians, are an ancient Christian sect who broke away from other Christians during the fifth century because of a dispute concerning use of the term “Theotokos,” or God-bearer, to describe Mary, the mother of Jesus. The Chaldeans, however, are in communion with the Roman Catholic Church.
Update: Indianapolis Church Must Surrender Property to IRS
(RNS) A federal judge has ordered an Indianapolis church to relinquish its building to the IRS to pay a delinquent $5.9 million tax bill.
In a ruling handed down Thursday (Sept. 20), U.S. District Judge Sarah Evans Barker ordered the Indianapolis Baptist Temple Church to vacate its church building by Nov. 14. The IRS will then sell the church, the Associated Press reported.
“We are very thankful she didn’t order an immediate seizure, which gives us time to get our house in order and to get personal items in the church,” said the Rev. Gregory Dixon Sr., whose son succeeded him as pastor of the congregation three years ago.
Barker’s ruling stems from a dispute between Baptist Temple and the federal government over the church’s failure to pay federal taxes. Last year Barker ruled the Baptist Temple must pay $5.9 million in back taxes, penalties and interest for the years 1987 through 1993, when the church stopped withholding federal income, Medicare and Social Security taxes from employees’ paychecks.
Officials from Indianapolis Baptist Temple insist that payments made to employees were “love gifts” instead of paychecks, and thus not taxable, The New York Times reported.
The church, who lost its tax-exempt status in the mid-1990s, has also refused to pay property taxes. In 1995 the IRS took control of 20 acres of undeveloped land the group owned.
The Rev. Gregory A. Dixon Jr. insists the federal government is encroaching upon the church’s freedom of religion, even though a number of courts have affirmed the government’s right to tax churches.
“I’m not a prophet, but I believe we’re going to be in this building longer than Nov. 14,” Dixon said. “We’ve had deadlines before, and those deadlines have been pushed back.”
Dixon and his father have said they do not intend to leave the church voluntarily, but Barker’s ruling does permit federal authorities to use force to take the property if necessary.
English Horse Racing Center Gets Mosque
(RNS) Newmarket, the center of English horse racing since the days of Charles II in the 17th century, will get a new mosque to cater to the growing number of Muslim grooms working for Sheikh Mohammed bin Rachid al Maktoum, a member of the ruling family of the Gulf state of Dubai.
Planning permission has been granted by the city’s planning authority for a mosque to be built at Stanley House Stables in the town.
According to a report in the East Anglian Daily Times, the number of Muslim grooms working seasonally for Sheikh al Maktoum will increase to more than 100 in the next few months.
Quote of the Day: Southern Baptist Convention Executive Jimmy Draper
(RNS) “There’s more gossip passed around under the guise of prayer request than anything I know.”
Jimmy Draper, president of LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention, speaking Sept. 21 at a chapel service at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. He was quoted by Baptist Press, the news service of the Southern Baptist Convention.
DEA END RNS
