c. 2006 Religion News Service
U.S. Muslim Leaders Welcome Death of Al-Zarqawi
(RNS) American Muslims on Thursday (June 8) welcomed the death of terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, whose radical Islamic forces have wreaked havoc in Iraq, but they remained split over whether the United States and its allies should stay in the war-torn nation.
“I think this guy has caused a lot of damage to the image of Islam and to the stability of Iraq by killing so many innocent people and trying to cause sectarian civil war among Iraqis,” said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations in Washington, D.C.
“We have condemned his acts as un-Islamic, and we hope his killing will lead to the decrease of death in Iraq and slow down the spiral of sectarian violence.”
The Jordanian-born al-Zarqawi, killed in a U.S. airstrike Wednesday, was Iraq’s most wanted terrorist and had a $25 million bounty on his head. As leader of al-Qaida in Iraq, he oversaw a wave of suicide bombings, beheadings and kidnappings while declaring war against the country’s majority Shiite Muslims, regarded by some extremist Muslims as heretics.
“It’s great that he’s dead. Iraqis have suffered so much under this brutal terrorist. It’s time for him to taste a little of what he’s been giving others,” said Zainab al-Suwaij, an Iraqi-American and executive director of the American Islamic Congress, an advocacy group.
But U.S. Muslim leaders cautioned that al-Zarqawi’s death probably does not mean an end to terror and efforts to stoke sectarian violence.
“Zarqawi does not have a monopoly on this ideology of terror and dividing the communities,” said Ahmed Younis, national director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Washington. “This takes the heat down one notch lower, but we have to stay on top of things. There is no time to rest.”
According to the Associated Press, al-Qaida in Iraq vowed to continue its “holy war,” according to a statement posted on a Web site.
“We want to give you the joyous news of the martyrdom of the mujahed sheik Abu Musab al-Zarqawi,” the statement said. “The death of our leaders is life for us. It will only increase our persistence.”
_ Omar Sacirbey
Bush Pushes Immigration Reform at Hispanic Prayer Breakfast
WASHINGTON (RNS) President Bush took his message of immigration reform to Hispanic Christians on Thursday (June 8) with a speech to the fifth annual National Hispanic Prayer Breakfast.
“There are people who are coming to our country who are doing jobs Americans are not doing,” Bush said. “And we need a legal and orderly system. If we want to enforce the border, we must have a system that says you don’t have to sneak across our border in order to find work. You don’t need to risk your life.”
Bush transformed his podium into a pulpit at the breakfast, sponsored by the Hispanic Christian organization Esperanza USA. He said he is thankful that people are praying for him, and stressed that all religions, as well as non-believers, are welcome in America.
Biblical stories and prayer dominated the speeches of other politicians who took the stage at a downtown hotel. But they too talked about immigration and defended the Senate’s version of reform.
“It’s not perfect, but it protects our country and recognizes the value that immigrants bring to your community by giving them a pathway to earn citizenship,” said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev. “… People stay out of trouble, work to pay their taxes, learn English, and pay penalties and fines. They come out of the shadows and become part of the American dream.”
Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., argued the Senate alternative is preferable to the House bill, in which illegal aliens and those who aid them could be tried as felons.
“We rejected the view that undocumented immigrants are criminals,” Kennedy said. “We rejected the view that the Good Samaritans who lend them a helping hand are felons.”
The Rev. Luis Cortes Jr., president of Esperanza, urged supporters of the Senate plan to seek the support of conservative Christian leaders, including James Dobson of Focus on the Family and religious broadcaster Pat Robertson, who have been opposed to the Senate proposal.
“All those Christian people that we have supported with our money, prayers and love, we need to tell them … do not forget our (Latino) brothers and sisters,” Cortes said.
_ Piet Levy
Appellate Court Rules Against Teacher Supporting Abortion Rights Ad
(RNS) An appeals court has upheld the dismissal of a teacher at a Catholic school who filed an employment discrimination claim after she was fired for signing an abortion-rights advertisement.
Michele Curay-Cramer was an English and religion teacher at a private Catholic school in Wilmington, Del., when she signed an ad marking the 30th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v. Wade decision that legalized abortion.
“We conclude that Curay-Cramer did not engage in protected activity when she signed a pro-choice advertisement that did not mention employment, employers, pregnancy discrimination or even gender discrimination,” a panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Wednesday (June 7).
Curay-Cramer was questioned by the president of Ursuline Academy on the day the advertisement appeared in the News-Journal, a Wilmington newspaper. She stated her right to protest the school’s position on abortion without retribution. She soon was fired.
In her suit, Curay-Cramer claimed that her firing related to her being a woman and said male academy employees were treated less harshly for similar behavior. The court decided it was not its place to rule on that claim.
“Were we … to require Ursuline to treat Jewish males or males who oppose the war in Iraq the same as a Catholic female who publicly advocates pro-choice positions, we would be meddling in matters related to a religious organization’s ability to define the parameters of what constitutes orthodoxy,” the 22-page decision reads.
But the court added that such matters must be determined on a case-by-case basis: “It is by no means the case that all claims of gender discrimination against religious employees are impermissible.”
The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which joined the case in support of the academy, called the ruling a victory for religious hiring.
“The Third Circuit reaffirmed what should have been obvious all along: Title VII was not designed to prevent a religious school from firing a teacher for publicly repudiating the school’s religious teaching,” said Anthony Picarello, president of the Washington-based law firm.
“To rule otherwise would threaten fundamental religious freedom interests of the school guaranteed by the First Amendment.”
Curay-Cramer’s lawyers could not be reached immediately for comment.
_ Adelle M. Banks
Jerusalem Ordered to Pay $75,000 to Gay Rights Group
JERUSALEM (RNS) The Jerusalem District Court has ordered the city of Jerusalem to pay a gay and lesbian rights organization more than $75,000, after the city failed to provide it with mandatory funding.
The May 29 ruling said the city had discriminated against the Jerusalem Open House (JOH), a meeting place and advocacy center for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered people (LGBT), by withholding a total of 350,000 shekels (about $77,000) in funding in 2003, 2004 and 2005.
Every year, Jerusalem, which is holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims, allocates millions of dollars to a wide variety of local organizations.
In her decision, Judge Judith Tzur wrote: “Even if municipal officials have a hard time accepting the community, and believe this is an unwanted phenomenon, the municipality cannot veer off from fundamental principles and ignore this community. It must treat this community equally, out of recognition of the supreme value of equality, and out of respect for the values of tolerance and pluralism, which are at the core of democratic values.”
This is the second time that Jerusalem Open House has scored a victory against the city government, which since 2003 has been headed by Uri Lupolianski, an ultra-Orthodox Jew. In 2005 Lupolianski tried to prevent the annual Gay Pride march from taking place, according to JOH officials.
In August, Jerusalem will host WorldPride, a weeklong gay pride festival featuring lectures, films and other events that is expected to draw people from around the world.
Prominent Jewish, Muslim and Christian leaders launched a campaign last year to pressure the city to cancel WorldPride, which initially had been scheduled to take place in Jerusalem in August 2005. Ultimately, the organizers decided to postpone the event until August 2006, so as not to coincide with Israel’s “disengagement” from Gaza.
Hagai El-Ad, director of JOH, lauded the ruling.
“This is the right decision at the right time. We hope this case will set a strong precedent for LGBT people here in Israel and elsewhere. With WorldPride coming up in August, this win generates even more positive energy among JOH activists working toward WorldPride.”
A Jerusalem Municipality spokeswoman said the city “will act in accordance with the court’s ruling.”
_ Michele Chabin
Quote of the Day: National Council of Churches General Secretary Bob Edgar
(RNS) “Let us learn the lessons of silence. Let us learn the sin of omission can contribute to the deaths of our sisters and brothers. Let us commit to stopping this killer disease for the sake of God’s world, God’s creation and God’s people.”
_ The Rev. Bob Edgar, general secretary of the National Council of Churches, commenting on the AIDS crisis at the time of the United Nations special session on AIDS, which concluded June 2.
KRE/PH END RNS
