c. 1997 Religion News Service

Alabama official seeks to block enforcement of prayer ban

(RNS) Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor has filed papers seeking to block enforcement of a portion of a federal court order banning state-sanctioned prayer in public schools.

Pryor said he took the action so the state can appeal parts of U.S. District Court Judge Ira DeMent’s Oct. 29 ruling blocking vocal prayer, Bible devotionals and Scripture readings in public school classrooms. The order also banned school employees from distributing religious literature and other material in schools, on school grounds and at commencement ceremonies. It also said school public address systems may not be used to deliver religious messages.

Pryor said parts of DeMent’s ruling”actually violate the First Amendment and do not conform to recent decision’s of the Supreme Court because they curtail and limit voluntary expression by students and private citizens.” The attorney general also announced that Jay Sekulow, chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, the Virginia Beach, Va.-based legal advocacy group founded by television broadcaster Pat Robertson, will assist his office in filing the appeal.

Sekulow said DeMent’s order is unconstitutional because it is”vague, over-reaching, and flies in the face of numerous Supreme Court rulings.” DeMent’s ruling, in a suit brought by a DeKalb County assistant principal, has ignited a firestorm of controversy in Alabama, including a threat by Republican Gov. Fob James to defy the ruling by praying in a public school classroom if he is asked.

Study: One third of homeless are veterans

(RNS) As Americans marked Veterans’ Day Tuesday (Nov. 11), a survey of homeless men seeking shelter at the nation’s rescue missions found nearly one third of them were military veterans _ and more than 40 percent of those were Vietnam-era vets.

The survey of some 1,200 men who showed up at rescue missions in late October was conducted by the International Union of Gospel Missions.

It found Vietnam veterans make up 42 percent of homeless veterans. Korean War veterans and Gulf War vets account for 10 percent each.

The IUGM is an association of some 250 rescue missions providing shelter and other services to homeless men, women and children.”America’s armed forces have a deservedly honored place in our country,”said the Rev. Stephen E. Burger, executive director of the Kansas City-based IUGM.”Unfortunately, the evidence is clear that many veterans who served our nation honorably have had difficulty making the transition to civilian life. In particular, veterans who served in conflicts are far more likely to be living at our rescue missions.” More than 1,200 veterans were surveyed last month by 58 Rescue Missions across the country. The survey also found that a majority of veterans at Rescue missions served in the Armed Forces for at least three years. About 25 percent served two or fewer years.

James Varnhagen, executive director of the New York City Rescue Mission, said many soldiers have difficulty re-adjusting to civilian life.”Based on seven years in the Air Force, I believe some destructive habits are picked up during service,”Varnhagen said.”But also, no matter how disciplined a person is, the stress of adjusting to civilian life can lead to drugs or excessive drinking.” The survey said 71 percent of the veterans interviewed were honorably discharged, 17 percent received general discharges, 7 percent medical discharges and 5 percent dishonorable discharges.

Racially, 51 percent were white, 37 percent African-American, and 6 percent Hispanic. Men made up 96 percent of the veterans interviewed.

Forty-nine percent of the veterans served in the Army, 19 percent in the Navy, 18 percent in the Marines, 12 percent in the Air Force and 2 percent in the Coast Guard.”I’m not shocked, but I’m saddened at the figure for Vietnam vets,”said Duane Gartland, director of Light of Life Ministries in Pittsburgh.”Vietnam not only took nearly 60,000 American lives, it also caused serious psychological damage to thousands more,”he said.”None of us came back the way we were when we left. The damage is on the inside.”

Cardinal O’Connor to propose Dorothy Day for sainthood

(RNS) Roman Catholic Cardinal John J. O’Connor of New York says he will take the first steps toward proposing sainthood for Dorothy Day, the laywoman who co-founded the Catholic Worker movement and was one of the church’s best known advocates for the poor.

In a homily Sunday (Nov. 9) at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, O’Connor said he believed Day, who died in 1980 in Manhattan, should be proposed for sainthood but he would first convene a meeting with some of those who knew her to discuss and pray”if this should be,”The New York Times reported.

O’Connor’s announcement came as supporters of Day gathered in New York City to mark the centennial of her birth in Brooklyn.

Canonization is a lengthy process that can last for decades. It formally begins when a local bishop begins an examination of the candidate’s life, relying on evidence provided by an informal group, or guild, of supporters. The Chicago-based Claretian religious order has already begun gathering the required documentation.

O’Connor first raised the idea of sainthood for Day a decade ago, The Times reported.”And the more reading I’ve done, the more saintly a woman she seems to me.” Day is best known as co-founder, with Peter Maurin, of the Catholic Worker movement, embracing a life of voluntary poverty and radical, pacifist politics that she combined with a conservative theology. The Catholic Worker movement began by setting up”hospitality houses”for the poor.

Chechen women told to follow Islamic clothing rules

(RNS) Female students and women working for the government of Chechnya, the breakaway territory in the former Soviet Union, must now wear traditional Islamic clothing or risk losing their position.

The Associated Press said the new decree, issued Monday (Nov. 10), is the latest in a series of official moves aimed at instituting Islamic practices in the territory.

Most Chechen women already dress conservatively but do not necessarily follow a strict Islamic dress code, such as covering all of their hair as the new order requires.

Mormon missionary killed in Thai hit-and-run accident

(RNS) A missionary serving in Thailand for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has died of injuries suffered in a hit-and-run automobile-bicycle accident in Chiang Rai, Thailand, the church announced Monday (Nov. 10).

The church identified the missionary as Elder Joseph Israel Bookstaber, 19, of Short Hills, N.J.

According to the church, Bookstaber and his missionary companion, Joshua Jones, 21, of Missoula, Mont., were on their bicycles waiting for a light to change when a car traveling at high speed struck Bookstaber from behind.

Quote of the day: The Rev. James Heft, chancellor of the University of Dayton

(RNS)”If more religious scholars took issues that face the nation, indeed, face the world, and did so in dialogue with those scholars that typically address such issues, then religious perspectives would more likely be included in the national conversation.” The Rev. James Heft, chancellor and professor of faith and culture at the University of Dayton, in a Nov. 5 speech urging religious academics to work with scholars of other faiths on topics beyond their own denomination.

MJP END RNS