c. 2008 Religion News Service

Egyptian court allows Muslims to become Christians

(RNS) Egypt’s Supreme Civil Court has permitted 12 Coptic Christians who had converted to Islam to revert to their original faith, the second such recent victory for religious minorities in the predominantly Muslim nation.

The ruling, which overturns an April decision by a lower court, allows the 12 Christians to carry government identity papers indicating their religious choice. Egypt’s secular courts often defer to Shariah, or Islamic law, which forbids conversions from Islam, in such circumstances, according to international human right’s experts.

At least some of the Coptic Christians were men who converted to Islam in order to obtain a divorce, which is proscribed by the Coptic Orthodox Church, according to international news reports.

“The judges’ decision marks a happy ending to an absurd and unnecessary court fight,” said Hossam Bahga, director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. “It was only the stubborn insistence of Interior Ministry officials to place their prejudice above the law that made it necessary to go to court at all.”

The National ID cards are required for education, employment, financial transactions and other purposes. The Muslim ID subjected the Christians to Muslim family law, and determined their children’s religion and education, according to Human Rights Watch, which says it has documented 211 similar cases in Egypt.

“The state should not be in the business of controlling religious conversion,” said Joe Stork, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “This court decision will have repercussions for all Egyptians who wish to change their faith without facing administrative or criminal punishment.”

The Supreme Civil Court’s Saturday (Feb. 9) ruling comes less than a month after it decided to allow Baha’is to obtain government ID papers. Previously, Baha’is were forced to register as Muslims, Christians or Jews. The small community’s faith is still not recognized by the government, however, according to international reports.

_ Daniel Burke

Holocaust survivor Rep. Tom Lantos dies at 80

(RNS) Rep. Tom Lantos, D-Calif., the only Holocaust survivor to serve in Congress and a longtime champion of human rights, died Monday (Feb. 11) at age 80 at the Bethesda Naval Medical Center outside Washington, D.C.

“He will be difficult to replace,” said Rabbi Marvin Hier, dean and founder of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. “The generation of Holocaust survivors, in another decade … there won’t be any Holocaust survivors.”

Lantos was a respected voice for global human rights during his long stretch on the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which he chaired after the Democrats took control of Congress in 2006.

Lantos died from cancer of the esophagus, said spokeswoman Lynne Weil. At the congressman’s bedside were his wife of 58 years, two daughters and “many of his 18 grandchildren and two of his great-grandchildren,” a press statement said.

The Jewish Democrat, who represented San Francisco’s Peninsula suburbs for 27 years, earned widespread bipartisan respect. His cancer diagnosis last year had prompted him not to seek a 15th term in 2008.

Jewish groups praised Lantos for his advocacy. “How often did his powerful words carry the day on a critical issue!” read a statement from the Washington-based Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.

Lantos was a teenager when the Nazis marched into Budapest in 1944 during World War II. He was sent to a forced labor camp but escaped and returned to Budapest to join the resistance, living with an aunt in an apartment under the protection of Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg, who rescued Hungarian Jews.

After being elected to Congress in 1980, Lantos founded the Congressional Human Rights Caucus and has defended practicing Christians in overwhelmingly Muslim Sudan and Saudi Arabia, and Tibetan Buddhists persecuted by their Chinese communist rulers. He was a strong advocate for Israel and co-chair of the House’s anti-Semitism task force.

_ David Finnigan

Clark Sisters gain three Grammys in gospel categories

(RNS) The Clark Sisters, Christian artists whose reunion tour has brought them renewed attention, won three times at the Grammy Awards Sunday (Feb. 10).

They were among the performers in a tribute to gospel music during the Los Angeles ceremony marking the awards’ 50th show. Other performers _ singing beneath a glowing cross _ included Aretha Franklin, BeBe Winans, Trin-I-Tee 5:7 and Israel and New Breed.

The Clark Sisters’ reunion recording, “Live _ One Last Time,” was named best traditional gospel album. A track on that album, “Blessed & Highly Favored,” was named best gospel song, and tied with “Never Gonna Break My Faith,” recorded by Aretha Franklin, Mary J. Blige and the Harlem Boys Choir, for best gospel performance.

The four women _ Dorinda Clark-Cole, Twinkie Clark, Jacky Clark-Chisholm and Karen Clark-Sheard _ had pursued solo recording careers.

Winners in other gospel categories were:

_ Best rock or rap gospel album: “Before the Daylight’s Shot” by Ashley Cleveland

_ Best pop/contemporary gospel album: “A Deeper Level” by Israel and New Breed

_ Best Southern, country or bluegrass gospel album: “Salt of the Earth” by Ricky Skaggs & The Whites

_ Best contemporary R&B gospel album: “Free to Worship” by Fred Hammond.

The awards were shown on CBS and gospel-category winners received their honors in ceremonies before the telecast.

_ Adelle M. Banks

Jerusalem OKs first non-Orthodox cemetery

JERUSALEM (RNS) Non-Orthodox groups are praising the Jerusalem municipality’s decision to approve the establishment of the city’s first non-Orthodox cemetery.

All Jewish cemeteries in Jerusalem are maintained by ultra-Orthodox burial societies that conduct burials according to the strictest standards of Jewish law. Jerusalemites seeking another type of burial must find a cemetery outside the city.

Jerusalem’s Orthodox cemeteries do not permit burial in a coffin and prohibit the burial of non-Jews _ including the first-degree relatives of a Jew buried in the cemetery. Nor do they permit women to say kaddish, the memorial prayer, out loud, or Reform and Conservative Jews to conduct burials according to their respective religious practices.

The municipality’s decision comes a decade after the Israeli High Court ordered the government to provide pluralistic options. Since then, non-Orthodox Jews have tried, unsuccessfully, to force the city’s ultra-Orthodox mayor and other religious officials to allot land for this purpose. Non-Orthodox cemeteries are already operating in several other Israeli cities.

Mayor Uri Lupolianski appeared to welcome the decision, saying “Jerusalem is a pluralistic city that has a duty to allow people to choose their way of life and their burial,”

But Rabbi Andy Sacks, director of the Rabbinical Assembly in Israel, said he was perturbed by Lupolianski’s statement.

“It’s incredible that he’s being praised for what the court demanded of him,” Sacks said. “It’s not like he came around and understood the needs of the non-Orthodox community.”

Sacks predicted that the proposed cemetery will appeal to families from all denominations, including some in the modern-Orthodox community.

“A Lot of people want to be buried within Jewish law and tradition, but not necessarily according to the customs and style of the Orthodox movement,” Sacks said.

_ Michele Chabin

Quote of the Day: Los Angeles attorney Lowell C. Brown

(RNS) “I was surprised at the level of intensity and sometimes flat-out animosity. I had no idea. I’m in my 50s, I’ve been a Mormon all my life, I’ve lived in L.A. for 25 years, and it floored me.”

_ Lowell C. Brown, an attorney in Los Angeles, commenting to the Associated Press about a perceived rise in anti-Mormon sentiment with Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign.

KRE DS END RNS