c. 2006 Religion News Service

Egyptian Court Rules Against Baha’is on ID Cards

(RNS) In a move described by many as an assault on religious freedom, an Egyptian court ruled Saturday (Dec. 16) against including the Baha’i faith on government-issued identification cards and other official documents.

The Higher Administrative Court concluded that the government could continue its policy of recognizing only the nation’s three official religions: Christianity, Islam and Judaism.

While religious freedom is guaranteed as a right in the Egyptian constitution, the Baha’i faith is not an option when citizens list their religious affiliation on mandatory state identification cards.

The case originated with a lawsuit filed against the government by a married couple when the government confiscated their passports and refused to allow them to register their daughters as Baha’i.

A lower court ruled in April that the couple had the right to list their religion on official documents even if the government refuses to recognize the Baha’i faith. After an onslaught of pressure from Islamists and religious conservatives, however, the government appealed that ruling.

The policy has so far proven troublesome to individuals dealing with any form of official documentation, including those associated with education, financial services and medical care.

Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha’i International Community to the United Nations, issued a statement saying the decision “threatens to make non-citizens of an entire community, solely on the basis of their religious belief.”

Dwight Bashir, a senior policy analyst at the U.S. Commission on Religious Freedom, also called the ruling a basic denial of rights and urged the U.S. government to pressure Egypt to reverse the policy.

“There’s no doubt the commission deeply regrets the decision,” he said. “This is a clear violation of both Egypt’s constitution and international standards.”

The Baha’is split from Islam more than 150 years ago and are still considered heretical by most Muslims. There are more than 6,000 practitioners of the faith in Egypt, according to the Association of Religion Data Archives.

_ Jason Kane

Harvard Drops Proposed Mandatory Religion Course

BOSTON (RNS) Harvard College students don’t need a religion requirement after all, following a recommendation of a key faculty panel which had proposed in October making coursework in “reason and faith” mandatory for all undergraduates.

Now, after soliciting professors’ feedback, the Task Force on General Education is calling instead for required coursework in the area of “what it means to be a human being.”

“Courses dealing with religion … can readily be accommodated in other areas,” the nine-member panel wrote in a Dec. 7 letter to members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences.

To satisfy the newly suggested requirement, students could take courses in such areas as evolutionary biology, cognitive sciences, social sciences, religious thought, art, literature or philosophy.

In October, the panel noted in its preliminary report: “religion is a fact that Harvard’s graduates will confront in their lives both in and after college.” A “faith and reason” requirement would have made sure they “examine the interplay between religion and various aspects of national and/or international society and culture.”

For Harvard, the current curriculum review marks the first major overhaul in about 30 years. Proposed changes to the curriculum will take effect only after a majority vote among assembled members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. That group includes 713 full-time faculty members as well as several dozen community members with voting privileges.

After receiving the panel’s letter, members of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences met Dec. 12 but declined to take a vote.

Task force co-chair Louis Menand cautioned that more changes are likely.

“We’re in the middle of working this program out,” Menand told Religion News Service. “Things are very fluid, and there are many competing imperatives.”

_ G. Jeffrey MacDonald

Jews Use Hanukkah to Focus on Environmental Protection

(RNS) As Jews celebrate the eight days of Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, synagogues around the country are changing their light bulbs. It’s not housekeeping _ it’s one small step to stop global warming.

“We are helping to get energy-efficient and cost-effective compact fluorescent light bulbs to congregations and individuals around the country,” said Barbara Lerman-Golomb, executive director of the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish life (COEJL).

The effort, known as “How many Jews does it take to change a light bulb?” is sponsored by COEJL and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. It’s being promoted in connection with Hanukkah, which began Dec. 15 at sundown.

Almost 500 synagogues and Jewish institutions from all the major Jewish movements will participate in the Hanukkah light bulb program. It’s part of a larger campaign, “A Light Among Nations,” a Jewish response to global warming that also encourages energy efficiency and the examination of public policy.

“Change is hard, changing a light bulb is easy,” Lerman-Golomb said. “The goal is that simple step will lead to larger actions, such as greening their homes, greening their congregations and purchasing more energy-efficient cars.”

While the goals reach far beyond light bulbs and Hanukkah, the connection to the holiday is significant, said Rabbi Steve Gutow, executive director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. Hanukkah celebrates the rededication of the Temple by the Maccabees, and that the oil in the temple judged sufficient for one day lasted for eight days.

“This idea of using the light to wake up people and that this is the kind of energy that will last much, much longer than any regular light bulb and use much less energy is the perfect metaphor,” he said.

COEJL has drafted a prayer and installation service for the new bulbs, to be said in addition to traditional Hanukkah prayers.

“This Hanukkah, as we kindle the lights, we kindle our own light of sustainability, the first of many,” part of the installation service reads.

_ Ansley Roan

Alabama Church Remembers Christmas Day Church Bombing

NORTH BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (RNS) They couldn’t bomb the little church out of business, and they couldn’t silence its messenger. On Sunday (Dec. 17), Bethel Baptist Church recalled the year Christmas was interrupted by more than a dozen sticks of dynamite.

The church commemorated the 50th anniversary of the Dec. 25, 1956, bombing that attempted to kill its former pastor, the Rev. Fred Shuttlesworth, the now legendary civil rights leader who openly defied Birmingham’s segregation laws.

Shuttlesworth, 82, took the pulpit for a few minutes Sunday at the church he led from 1953 through 1961. A contemporary and sometimes critic of Martin Luther King Jr., Shuttlesworth was an unstinting advocate of the nonviolent quest for social change perfected in the 20th century by India’s Mahatma Gandhi.

Shuttlesworth’s church was bombed three times, his home was dynamited and he was beaten with blunt instruments when he tried to enroll his children in an all-white high school.

“I was trying to kill segregation, and segregation was trying to kill me,” Shuttlesworth said in an interview before the church service Sunday. “Segregation didn’t brook any interference, but I never tried to incite hatred of white people.”

Bethel Baptist, in a new building just down the street from the original structure, celebrated in style with a 50-voice choir and local officials.

The 1956 bombing came a day after Shuttlesworth had instructed parishioners on the basics of defying “white only” sections on city buses. On Christmas night, 16 sticks of dynamite were placed between the church and Shuttlesworth’s on-site home. No one was seriously injured, but the home was badly damaged. Bethel Baptist rebuilt the home, stationed guards and continued about its business.

Shuttlesworth said Sunday the beatings, threats and bombings were part of his job and that he didn’t think too much about it. “I just had the unmitigated gall to challenge things.”

_ Russell Hubbard

Quote of the Day: Singer Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens)

(RNS) “Being in the position I am today, I do feel like a looking glass, where people living in the West can view Islam, and Muslims can view another culture. I feel comfortable looking at both and living in these two distinct zones.”

_ Singer/songwriter Yusuf Islam, the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens, speaking to USA Today about how his 1978 conversion to Islam allows him to live in two different realms.

KRE/PH END RNS