c. 1999 Religion News Service

Appeals court sets aside graduation prayer decision

(RNS) An appellate court has set aside a ruling that declared a Florida school system’s policy permitting students to include prayers in graduation messages was unconstitutional.

The decision, made by the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on June 3, means that the full court will rehear the case. Seventeen Duval County high schools had the option of allowing prayers during graduation ceremonies this week, the Associated Press reported.”It looks like God has parted the Red Sea and we are going to get graduation messages for our seniors,”said Linda Sparks, Duval County School Board president.

The policy permitted seniors to vote on a graduation message that would be delivered by a student. The messages, which often include prayers, cannot be censored by school officials.

A three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit ruled 2-1 in May that the school system’s graduation policy violated freedom of religion, which is protected by the Constitution.

The school board appealed, requesting that the entire court hear the matter. The majority of judges voted without comment for the rehearing, which sets aside the previous decision.”This decision is a victory for free speech,”said Mathew Staver, president and general counsel of the Orlando, Fla.-based Liberty Counsel, who represented students who wished to give graduation messages.”We are optimistic about the future outcome of the case.” Staver said the decision signifies that the court probably disagreed with the panel’s previous ruling banning prayer.

But Gray Thomas, a lawyer whose firm filed the suit against the Duval County School Board, said it was”nothing more than speculation how the members of the court view the case.” The full court is likely to make its decision after receiving further briefs and hearing oral arguments.

Iranian Jews charged with spying for U.S. and Israel

(RNS) Thirteen Iranian Jewish leaders arrested almost three months ago have been charged with spying for Israel and the United States. Both the Israeli and U.S. governments demanded the release of those arrested.

If convicted, the 13 _ described by an American Jewish organization as rabbis, teachers and community leaders _ could face the death penalty.

Iran’s state-run radio announced the charges Monday (June 7), but gave no details. The men, all from the cities of Shiraz and Isfahan, were arrested in March and have been held ever since.

In Jerusalem, Israeli Foreign Minister Ariel Sharon said none of those arrested”has, or has had in the past, any connection with Israeli intelligence.” In Washington, U.S. State department spokesman James Foley said the 13 should be freed. In New York, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations called the charges”baseless.””We know from past experience that the charge of espionage, particularly relating to the U.S. and Israel, is used to justify the denial of civil and legal rights and has cost numerous Jews their lives since the Iranian revolution,”the organization said in a statement.

Since the 1979 Islamic revolution, more than a dozen Iranian Jews have been executed by the government. Prior to the revolution, more than 80,000 Jews lived in Iran, members of one of the world’s oldest Jewish communities.

Some 25,000 remain in Iran, the rest having fled to the United States, Israel and Western Europe. Tens of thousands of other Iranian Jews left their homeland for Israel following the Jewish state’s establishment in 1948.

Iran’s Muslim fundamentalist government does not recognize Israel’s right to exist.

In addition to Jews, Iranian Baha’is have been persecuted by the fundamentalist government. In March, four Baha’i teachers were sentenced to prison terms of up to 10 years for teaching about their faith, an offshoot of Islam that Muslim fundamentalists view as heretical. American Baha’i officials say more than 200 Iranian Baha’is have been executed since 1979.

Pope: Don’t ignore poor in quest for economic development

(RNS) Pope John Paul II, visiting one of Poland’s most economically distressed regions, called Tuesday (June 8) for”human solidarity”and told better-off Poles they must not forget the poor and needy.”Let us strive to act and to live in such a way that in our country no one will be without a roof over their head or bread on their table,”John Paul said in his homily at a Mass in Elk, an impoverished rural town in northeastern Poland not far from the border with Lithuania. An estimated 250,000 people, including Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus, attended the service.

John Paul noted both government and private efforts to help those increasingly left behind in the transition to a capitalist free-market economy but warned the rush to economic development must not be done at the expense of the people.”The human person must be the subject of development, that is its most important point of reference,”John Paul said, according to the Associated Press.

The pope made his comments on the fourth day of his 13-day visit to his native Poland. After the Mass, John Paul flew by helicopter to a secluded monastery where he is expected to rest on Wednesday, the one day without any scheduled events.

Quote of the day: British Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks

(RNS)”As a Jew, I want to live in a country that takes faith seriously. Someone who takes their own faith seriously is more likely to respect my faith than someone for whom all faith is superstition and all religion an irrelevance.” _ British Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks in the City Lecture, sponsored by the lord mayor of London and the dean of St. Paul’s Cathedral, as quoted by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Monday (June 7).

DEA END RNS