c. 2003 Religion News Service

Jewish Group Urges Rabbis to Discuss Patriot Act During High Holy Days

(RNS) A Jewish social justice organization has published a packet that urges rabbis and Jewish communal leaders to discuss the controversial USA Patriot Act during High Holy Day services.

The Chicago-based Jewish Council on Urban Affairs published “Proclaim Liberty: A High Holy Day Resource Guide on the USA Patriot Act” as a call to Jews to consider the Act in terms of its ramifications for immigrant Muslim communities and their civil rights and liberties.

JCUA leaders say that the packet, which includes background on the law, a sample letter to elected officials, relevant Jewish texts and stories from immigrant communities in Chicago, deserves the attention of Jews.

“The Act is of great concern to the Jewish community,” said Jane Ramsey, JCUA executive director. “At the very least, we, who are so familiar with the immigrant experience, understand the need to protect those who are not yet citizens.”

Additionally, she said, Jewish support for Muslims should come from a desire to build bridges between the often-estranged communities.

“It is particularly important now to build bridges with Muslim communities and to break down the fears and prejudices that allow us to make assumptions about members of these communities,” Ramsey said in a statement releasing the packets.

Muslim groups have also objected to the Patriot Act, which was passed shortly after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and which opponents argue erodes the civil liberties guaranteed by the Constitution.

The law expands the powers of the FBI to perform Internet and phone surveillance and allows the agency to obtain medical, financial and other records without proving probable cause.

The High Holy Days packet is part of a Jewish and Muslim Community Building Initiative, in which the group is working with the leaders of Muslim organizations to “create opportunities for Jewish and Muslim religious leaders to come together and learn more about each other’s communities and address issues of common concern.”

_ Holly Lebowitz Rossi

Amish Sue Health Agency, Say Rules Violate Religious Freedom

(RNS) Five Amish farmers in rural Michigan are suing the local health department, charging that strict enforcement of septic system rules is violating their religious freedom.

Health agency officials maintain that Amish families in Gladwin County, 150 miles north of Detroit, must install septic systems large enough to meet health codes.

The Amish, who use indoor water only for washing dishes and bathing, say installing standard-size septic systems would be wasteful and would violate their religiously mandated simplicity.

“What the government is asking is unconstitutional,” John Whitehead, president of the Charlottesville, Va.-based Rutherford Institute, told the Associated Press. “These people have essentially been persecuted for their religious beliefs.”

Lawyers for the civil liberties organization, which is representing the farmers, filed a federal lawsuit Sept. 15 in U.S. District Court in Kalamazoo, Mich. The defendant is the Central Michigan District Health Agency, which covers six counties, including Gladwin County.

The suit claims that the farmers were denied religious accommodation and requests permission for the Amish of central Michigan to use alternative systems that still meet basic sanitary requirements.

“This denial of septic variance is part and parcel of a campaign of harassment and discrimination against the Amish community,” said Steven H. Aden, chief litigation counsel for the Rutherford Institute.

The federal suit follows a December 2002 motion filed in state court by the Amish farmers, appealing the health department’s denial of their request to install alternative septic systems.

The Amish had offered to install simpler, 300-gallon systems _ which would not require electric pumps _ but authorities say septic systems need to hold at least 750 gallons in order to meet health codes. Both sides are still awaiting a ruling.

The health department has defended its actions, saying it must apply its rules equally.

“We can’t treat different segments of the population differently. We can’t discriminate,” Mary Kushion, the agency’s top administrator, told the Associated Press last year.

For the Amish farmers of Michigan, said Aden, the conflict is “a matter of religious and cultural survival.”

_ Christina Denny

Update: Judge Sets Aside Wisconsin Ten Commandments Decision

(RNS) A federal judge has set aside a decision declaring a Ten Commandments monument in La Crosse, Wis., unconstitutional.

Chief U.S. District Judge Barbara B. Crabb in Madison, Wis., said in a Wednesday (Sept. 24) decision that she “erred” in issuing a July 14 ruling because she did not permit the Fraternal Order of Eagles to be a party to a lawsuit about the monument. She had decided at that time that the monument, which is owned by the fraternal organization, should be removed from a city park.

Francis J. Manion, senior counsel for the American Center for Law and Justice, said he was pleased with the judge’s declaration.

“It is highly significant that the court has not only allowed the Eagles to intervene, but also has nullified its own order declaring the monument’s presence to be unconstitutional,” he said in a statement. “This means we’re back to square one.”

He expressed confidence that the court could be convinced that the purchase of the monument by the Eagles was a “valid and constitutional way” to end the dispute.

His Virginia-based law firm had filed motions with the court in August seeking that the fraternal order intervene as a defendant and asking for reconsideration of the July decision.

Annie Laurie Gaylor of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, which sued the city of La Crosse, said she thinks the judge was just being careful about hearing all sides.

“I don’t believe that she would change her mind on the outcome at all, and she seems to be giving us a lot of hints to that effect,” Gaylor told the Associated Press.

In her decision, Crabb said, “Although chances are slim that any of the order’s factual challenges will be successful, I will not deny it the opportunity to try.”

A new trial date for the case has been set for Feb. 17, 2004.

In a separate but related matter, a Ten Commandments monument has been moved from a courthouse lawn in Miles City, Mont., ending a six-year dispute. It has been relocated to a privately run museum after the American Civil Liberties Union argued that it violated church-state separation, the AP reported.

In another separate but related matter, suspended Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore has received a trial date of Nov. 12 on ethics charges related to his refusal to obey a judge’s order to remove a Ten Commandments monument from the rotunda of Alabama’s judicial building.

_ Adelle M. Banks

German Court Says Muslim Teacher Can Wear Head Scarf

(RNS) Germany’s highest court ruled Wednesday (Sept. 24) that a Muslim teacher cannot be prohibited from wearing a head scarf in a public school.

The teacher, Fereshta Ludin, was denied a teaching job in 1998 in the southern city of Stuttgart because school officials said the head scarf _ a religious requirement for Muslim women _ would be a religious symbol in the classroom.

The Federal Constitutional Court ruled 5-3 that Ludin can wear the head scarf, or hijab, because there is no law that prohibits it. Last month, the court ruled that Muslim shopworkers could not be fired for wearing a head scarf.

“It is not the task of the local authorities and courts to decide such a question,” the court said, according to The New York Times. “It is the task of the legislator.”

After the ruling, government officials in Bavaria, Lower Saxony and Hesse said they would enact laws to prohibit the head scarfs. In France, a government commission is studying whether Muslim girls should be kept from wearing the scarves.

Ludin, who was born in Afghanistan and is married to a German, has taught in a Muslim school since being turned down in the public school. She said she hopes to return soon.

“For years in all the court cases, I felt stigmatized because I wear a head scarf,” she said, according to the Reuters news agency. “The decision is a big relief for me.”

Former Presbyterian Seminary President Suspended for Having Affairs

(RNS) The former president of a flagship Presbyterian seminary has been suspended from ministerial duties for 14 months after admitting to extramarital affairs with women.

The Rev. John Mulder, who resigned abruptly as president of Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary last October citing “health problems,” asked forgiveness from the seminary he led for 21 years.

“To my friends and colleagues, to the seminary community, to the church, to the women involved, and especially to my family, I wish to say simply, `I am sorry.”’ Mulder said in an Sept. 16 letter.

Mulder was suspended by the Eastern Kentucky-based Transylvania Presbytery, where he is registered as a minister of the Presbyterian Church (USA). The suspension, which was effective Sept. 4, also includes counseling and rehabilitation.

Mulder agreed to the suspension _ and resigning from office _ after admitting to affairs “in the final years of my presidency.” A church investigatory panel examined Mulder’s confession in a nine-month inquiry.

After arriving in 1981, Mulder doubled the size of the school’s faculty, increased the number of endowed chairs 10-fold and raised the endowment from $11 million to $73 million. A respected scholar on Presbyterianism, he helped bring the denominational headquarters to Louisville and helped design the church’s logo.

“We worship a God whose grace and love restore broken and hurting people to new life,” said Dorothy Ridings, chairwoman of the seminary’s board of trustees. “Confident in God’s care and guidance, Louisville Seminary will continue in its mission to prepare women and men for the reconciling ministry of Jesus Christ.”

Mulder said he is also being treated for manic depression, alcohol abuse and injuries sustained in several strokes. “I lost my way; I am now trying to find it again,” Mulder wrote. “With God’s grace, and with the help of others, I will.”

_ Kevin Eckstrom

Quote of the Day: Sturgis, S.D., Pastor Roger Crowhurst

(RNS) “I like to use `Wow, that is a unique tattoo.’ Then they’ll start talking about that, and it usually opens a door to a spiritual conversation.”

_ Roger Crowhurst, pastor of First Baptist Church in Sturgis, S.D., discussing evangelism efforts with bikers attending the annual Black Hills Motorcycle Rally in his town. He was quoted by Baptist Press.

DEA END RNS