c. 1997 Religion News Service

Update: Judge rules Ten Commandments don’t belong in court

(RNS) An Alabama judge was ordered Monday (Feb. 10) to remove or modify a courtroom replica of the Ten Commandments, a religious display Gov. Fob James has said he will defend with force, if necessary.

In making the decision, Montgomery County Circuit Judge Charles Price described a wooden display hung by Etowah County Circuit Judge Roy Moore as”purely religious,”the Associated Press reported.

Price had earlier ordered Moore to cease opening his court sessions with prayer, but said that he could keep the commandments on his courtroom wall. But after viewing the display for himself, Price changed his mind.

Moore, who made the replica himself,”has unequivocally stated that the plaques are not in the courtroom for a historical, judicial or educational purpose, but rather, and clearly, to promote religion,”wrote Price.

Price said the plaques violate the Alabama and U.S. constitutions but can remain if Moore adds nonreligious items to make a larger display. Otherwise, the Ten Commandments must be removed.

Moore has 10 days to comply with the ruling. Attorney General Bill Pryor, who is representing the state, said Price’s ruling would be appealed.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Alabama, which sued Moore over the plaques and his tradition of opening court with a prayer, called the decision”a major victory for the Constitution and the rule of law.” The governor said Monday he would still use the National Guard and state troopers to prevent the plaques’ removal.

Price said the Old Testament laws”are not in peril”despite many phone calls and letters urging him to”save the Ten Commandments.””They may be displayed in every church, synagogue, temple, mosque, home and storefront. They may be displayed in cars, on lawns and in corporate boardrooms,”Price said.”Where this precious gift cannot and should not be displayed … is on government property.”

Rastafarians excused from military service in Bermuda

(RNS) Two Rastafarians have been excused from serving in Bermuda’s part-time army after their religious faith was held to be incompatible with military life.

Rastafarians often wear their hair in long, matted”dreadlocks,”and one of the two Bermuda Rastafarians, Brian Harvey, was jailed for several hours last month when he refused to allow his hair to be cut after he was conscripted into the army.

On Monday (Feb. 10), Bermuda’s governor, Lord Waddington, exempted Harvey and Juvaughan Sampson from military service one day after Bermuda’s army court did likewise, the Associated Press reported.

The Rastafarian movement originated in Jamaica in 1930 following the coronation of Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, who was known as Crown Prince Ras Tafari.

Believers held Selassie to be the fulfillment of a prophecy made by black nationalist Marcus Garvey that a king would be crowned in Africa who would redeem blacks. Rastafarians believe Selassie _ who’s titles included”King of Kings”_ is God. They grow their hair to resemble a lion’s mane because of another of Selassie’s traditional titles,”Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah.” There are estimated to be tens of thousands of Rastafarians living primarily in the Caribbean, the United States, Great Britain and Canada.

British Seventh-day Adventists oppose Sunday resolution

(RNS) British Seventh-day Adventists have voiced their opposition to a European Parliament resolution that calls on member states to respect Sunday as the day of rest.”To try to legislate religion is dangerous,”said Pastor Jonathan Gallagher, religious liberty director of the South England Conference of Seventh-day Adventists.”Just look back in history and you see what happened when states try to enforce religious observance.”To make Sunday the official day of rest for the whole European community discriminates against many other minorities and will not solve society’s problems.” Gallagher acknowledged, however, that the resolution also recognized the continent’s multicultural society and the fact that alternative days of rest observed by some groups also need to be respected.

The”resolution of urgency,”promoted by European Parliament member David Hallam urges that”the traditions and the cultural, social, religious and family needs of its citizens”should be supported by regarding Sunday as a special day, reported Adventist News Network.

The December 1996 vote on the resolution followed a European Court of Justice ruling that Sunday did not have any special significance in a case concerning work practices. That court decision angered those that support viewing Sunday as a day of rest.

The Keep Sunday Special Campaign, which is based in the United Kingdom, welcomed the parliament’s vote on the resolution and viewed it as a sign of European politicians’ support for maintaining family values.”Strong personal relationships in the family and community are a crucial factor in the health of the individual employer or employee,”said Michael Schluter, director of the campaign.”The clear statement by the European Parliament puts the Sunday issue back on the political agenda.”

Holiday Inn officials apologize to Southern Baptists for ad

(RNS) Holiday Inn Worldwide officials met with Southern Baptist leaders days after the Super Bowl to apologize for a controversial commercial that aired during the football competition.

The commercial, designed to introduce the hotel chain’s renovation program, featured a transsexual surprising her former classmates with her sex change.”We did everything we knew to test the commercial with all kinds of audiences but did not have any indication it would generate this negative reaction,”John Chandler, Holiday Inn’s vice president of marketing, told Baptist Press, the official news service of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC).”We apologize to those who were offended by the commercial and have instructed our advertising agency to cancel all future plans to use it,”he said.

Laurie Donachy, vice president of reservations and guest relations for the hotel chain, said telephone calls objecting to the ad began before it even aired and continued for several days after the Super Bowl, which was played on Jan. 26.

Phil Roberts, interfaith witness director for the SBC Home Mission Board, had read of plans for the commercial before it aired and called colleagues across the nation to encourage them to protest the ad.

Baptist officials seemed satisfied that their concerns about the commercial had been addressed at the Jan. 31 meeting in Atlanta.”I believe Holiday Inns understands more clearly now their responsibility as a family-friendly company and our concerns about the impact this type of perversion has on our culture,”said SBC Christian Life Commission President Richard Land.

Survey: Danish ministers don’t know Ten Commandments

(RNS) Most of Denmark’s ministers could use a refresher course in one aspect of Bible basics: A newspaper survey found they could not recite the Ten Commandments.

Ekstra Bladet newspaper reported Sunday (Feb. 10) that it telephoned more than 100 ministers in the Lutheran State Church of Denmark to learn if they could recite the commandments.

Eighty percent couldn’t remember them all or recited them in the wrong order, the Associated Press reported.

Three clergymen broke one of the commandments _ you shall not bear false witness against your neighbor _ by yelling to their wives to tell the reporters they were not at home.

Religious education is required in Danish schools and for Christians memorizing the Ten Commandments is compulsory. About 87 percent of Denmark’s citizens are members of the national church, although few attend worship services.

Taize’s Brother Roger honored by Notre Dame

(RNS) Brother Roger, the founder and prior of the ecumenical Taize community in France, has been named the winner of the 1996 Notre Dame Award for international humanitarian service.”For more than half a century, Brother Roger and his companions have borne witness to Christ in an increasingly secular Western culture,”said the Rev. Edward A. Malloy, president of the University of Notre Dame.”Their joy, mercy, and simplicity provide a tantalizing glimpse of what Christ’s church, healed and reunified, is called to become.” The 81-year-old brother, who observes the Taize community’s custom of forgoing the use of family names, is a native of Switzerland. His father was a Swiss Calvinist pastor and his mother was from the Burgundy region of France, where the Taize community has its headquarters.

Taize was founded in 1940 when the 25-year-old Roger and three other people sharing the same vision moved into the abandoned Taize village and began to live a simple, communal life. During World War II, the Taize community offered shelter to refugees and concealment for persecuted Jews.

Roger, convinced he had an ecumenical vocation, felt himself called to give a radical Christian witness”without becoming a symbol of denial for anyone, by reconciling in the depths of my heart the current of faith of my Protestant origins with the faith of the Catholic Church.” Currently, the Taize community is made up of nearly 100 Anglicans, Lutherans, Evangelicals and Catholics from more than 20 countries.

The Notre Dame award honors persons whose religious faith has”quickened learning, whose learning has engendered deeds, and whose deeds give witness to God’s kingdom among us.” Brother Roger will receive the award and address the Notre Dame community in a ceremony on campus April 24.

Quote of the day: The Rev. Tom Gray

(RNS) The Clinton administration is preparing to name its appointees to a newly created federal commission to study the impact of gambling on American life. Critics are voicing concern the White House may name a number of big-money givers to the Democratic Party who have pro-gambling ties. The Rev. Tom Gray, a United Methodist minister who heads the National Coalition Against Legalized Gambling, expressed the critics’ fear this way:”It looks to me like we’re going to get rolled. It (the commission) may be the best commission money can buy.”

MJP END RNS