c. 2005 Religion News Service

Atheists Mull Appeal of Decision Allowing Ten Commandments Monument

(RNS) An atheist group is considering an appeal after a federal appeals court ruled that a Ten Commandments monument may remain in a La Crosse, Wis., park.

The 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday (Jan. 3) that the city was within its rights to sell the monument and the property around it to the fraternal organization that donated it to the city decades ago.

The decision came two months before the U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear two Ten Commandments cases on March 2 as the legal battle over the monuments simmers in lower courts.

“The city is able to extricate itself completely from the implied endorsement of the purpose and content of the religious symbol, yet the monument can remain in the location it has occupied for many years,” the court said in a 2-1 ruling.

Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Wisconsin-based Freedom From Religion Foundation, which joined the suit challenging the monument, said her organization wished the appeals court had waited until the U.S. Supreme Court hears the Ten Commandments arguments in March. It may ask for a full panel of the appeals court to rehear the case.

“We’re rather indignant, and pleased with the dissent,” she said of the separate opinion by Circuit Judge William J. Bauer.

Bauer wrote that the city’s solution “borders on a fraud” and questioned the disclaimer posted on the fence around the monument that states the city does not endorse the monument’s religious expression.

“The disclaimer seems to me to be taken from a scene in the movie `The Wizard of Oz’ in which the phony wizard, whose fraud has been exposed, directs the onlookers to `pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.”’

Supporters of the monument _ including Mathew Staver, president of the Florida-based Liberty Counsel, who will argue before the Supreme Court on behalf of two Kentucky counties with public displays of the Ten Commandments _ were pleased with the appeals court decision.

“This case shows what extreme positions groups like Freedom From Religion Foundation will take to erase all references to God from public sight,” Staver said in a statement. “The court made a common-sense ruling in the La Crosse case.”

_ Adelle M. Banks

Group Questions Prohibition of Crosses at Inaugural Parade

WASHINGTON (RNS) An evangelical Christian group planning a prayer vigil and demonstration near the inaugural parade has criticized a U.S. Secret Service ruling prohibiting crosses and other structures along the route.

The Christian Defense Coalition sent a letter Thursday (Jan. 6) to officials of the federal agency that protects the president and requested that it redraft the rules to remove crosses from the list.

“We were stunned on a number of levels that somehow crosses are included on a Secret Service letter detailing what items should be prohibited from the inauguration parade,” the Rev. Patrick Mahoney, director of the Washington-based group, told Religion News Service.

“To somehow single out a cross and imply that it can be used as a weapon is ludicrous.”

A Secret Service letter _ which the group received with its permit to gather along the parade route on Jan. 20 _ outlined items that would be excluded from the event, including firearms, explosives and structures.

“The prohibition on structures includes props, folding chairs, bicycles, displays such as puppets, papier-mache objects, coffins, crates, crosses, theaters, cages and statues,” said the mid-December memo.

Tom Mazur, a spokesman for the U.S. Secret Service, told RNS: “The reference to crosses is strictly in regards to structures, certainly not the symbol. There is no prohibition against signs or images of a cross or other symbols made out of approved materials.”

Cardboard, poster board and cloth materials are permitted. He said someone choosing to wear a cross necklace would be allowed to attend the parade.

Mazur said the goal of the Secret Service is to have a safe inauguration.

“Without question, the Secret Service respects the right of the public to … demonstrate,” he said.

_ Adelle M. Banks

Mohammed Enters Top 20 Most Popular Names in Britain

LONDON (RNS) The name Mohammed has entered the top 20 names for boys in Britain and Wales for the first time, a reflection of the growing strength and size of Britain’s Muslim community.

Mohammed and Charlie bumped Adam and Alfie out of the top 20 list of baby names for 2004; last year it was 22nd. But the name can be spelled various ways _ Mohammed, with 2,279 boys, came in 20th place, but Muhammad occurred 1,086 times and placed 54th. Other variants are Mohammad with 770 in 72nd place, Mohamed with 305 at 139, Muhammed with 287 at 144, and Mohammod with 27 at 751. That makes 4,754 boys given the Islamic prophet’s name in various spellings.

However, the Office for National Statistics said that it was inaccurate to place _ as The Times of London did in its report _ Mohammed in the No. 5 spot when all its variant spellings are added together.

To make such a claim, one would need to take into account all the other variants in the list, such as Alexander and Alex, Isabelle and Isabel, or Jacob and Jake, which are ranked in various places.

There are 1.5 million Muslims in the United Kingdom, according to the 2001 census, comprising about 2.7 percent of the population. There were no specifically Muslim girls’ names in the top 50.

Jack continued to top the list of boys’ names for the 10th consecutive year, while Emily reigned again for the second year. Lewis and Emma topped the list of names in Scotland. The name of Britain’s heir apparent, Charles, came in at a sobering 49th, but Charlie moved up nine places to come in at No. 16.

Officials were puzzled by the appearance of Madison at No. 43 on the list of girls’ names. One official wondered if Britons were importing the names of American cities, following the lead of soccer star David Beckham and his wife, Victoria, who named their daughter Brooklyn.

_ Robert Nowell

Community of Christ Receives Anonymous $40 Million Gift

(RNS) The Community of Christ received a $40 million donation from an anonymous family this month, the largest contribution in the church’s 175-year history.

The Independence, Mo.-based church, which has 250,000 members in 50 nations, broke with the Mormon church after the death of founder Joseph Smith in 1844. Until 2001, it was known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

The church will put most of the money in reserve to grow its ministries and use some to augment the operating budget, according to spokeswoman Linda Booth. Its annual operating budget is $29.7 million.

The donating family members, who are known only to a handful of church leaders, attend one of 1,400 congregations in North America, Booth said. The family earned the money through a business the husband and wife started 41 years ago.

“We’re not naming a building after them,” Booth said. “I think that is a testimony to the quality and the nature of who these people are. They are models for all of us.”

Booth said the husband donor told her in an interview, “If you put a tail on the gift, then in a way you still own it, you still have a hold of it. That’s not what we want.”

Church officials told members through its monthly magazine that the organization still needs donations. The donating family worried that the gift would further decrease tithes, which have been dropping.

“We didn’t want people to say, `Well, they gave that large gift and now I don’t need to give, or, my gift isn’t important,”’ the husband donor told Booth.

Church officials knew about the gift for 18 months before it was announced.

“We felt as if we had been given a wonderful gift from God, a great blessing,” Booth said. “We were just stunned and elated and very thankful.”

_ Andrea James

Quote of the Day: Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind.

(RNS) “We are not talking about establishing a theocracy. Such accusations are laughable. I know evangelical churches that split … over whether the minister waved his arms too much when preaching. We evangelicals could never do a theocracy.”

_ Rep. Mark Souder, R-Ind., speaking at the 109th Congressional Bipartisan Prayer Service in Washington on Jan. 4.

KRE/PH END RNS