Iraq-Christians
State Department urged to help Iraqi Christians
WASHINGTON (AP) - Virginia Congressman Frank Wolf is calling on the U.S. State Department to develop a comprehensive policy to address what he calls "the unique plight" of ancient Christian communities in Iraq.
Wolf says the American embassy should advocate for Iraqi Christians and use it resources to help. Wolf says the Christian minority "is being wiped out."
He says Christian churches and convents are being bombed and that many Iraqi Christians, including Assyrians, have fled Iraq for security reasons.
Wolf says Christians living near the northern city of Mosul are especially vulnerable. He favors the appointment of an envoy or other high official to monitor human rights abuses.
Anti-Semitism
B'nai Brith links anti-Semitic incidents to economy
OTTAWA - A Canadian Jewish group says the number of anti-Semitic incidents climbed nearly 9 percent last year.
B'nai Brith Canada's executive director Frank Dimant (DYE'-muhnt) believes Jews are being used as scapegoats by disgruntled citizens suffering under an ailing economy. Dimant says evangelical churches in Canada have been supportive in the wake of the attacks.
Dimant says nearly half the 1,135 reported incidents of harassment, vandalism and abuse took place in the last four months of the year. He also notes that there was an unusually high number in December, during Israel's invasion of Gaza, which killed more than 1,400 people. Palestinian human rights groups say most of those killed in Gaza were civilians.
Uganda-Gay Rights
Ugandan gays and lesbians demand equal rights, criticize religious leaders
KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) - Ugandan gay rights activists say they've received harassment from religious leaders and ordinary Ugandans.
About 20 activists staged a rare public protest yesterday to call for equal rights and the decriminalization of homosexuality in the socially conservative east African country. The demonstration followed several days of anti-gay protests last week in Kampala in which protesters accused gays of attempting to convert schoolchildren to homosexuality.
One woman said she was publicly stripped naked and taunted by a pastor and his congregation as they attempted to exorcise her.
Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda and carries a penalty of up to seven years' imprisonment. However, there are no known cases of gays or lesbians being convicted.
Ugandan officials staunchly rejected the activists' call. The minister of state ethics (Nsaba Buturo) says, "Uganda is a Christian country" that loves gays and homosexuals but in his words, hates their activities. In recent years, Ugandan church officials have distanced their church from the Anglican Communion after a U.S. church ordained a gay bishop.
Denmark-Terror Threat
Intelligence report: Danes face 'considerable risk' for abductions in Muslim countries
COPENHAGEN (AP) - The Danish intelligence service is warning that Danes living abroad face "a considerable risk" of being abducted, especially in predominantly Muslim countries.
The Danish Security and Intelligence Service says militant extremists in Muslim countries still have a heightened focus on Denmark because of the 2005 publication of 12 Danish drawings of the Prophet Muhammad.
In 2006, Muslims around the world staged riots to protest the publication of the cartoons in a Danish newspaper. One of the cartoons was reprinted in 2008 in other Danish newspapers in support of free speech after police revealed a plot to kill the creator of the caricature. Islamic law generally opposes any depiction of the prophet, even favorable, for fear it could lead to idolatry.
On June 2, 2008, a car bomb killed six people outside the Danish Embassy in the Pakistani capital of Islamabad. Since 2005, Danish police have foiled four alleged terror plots, mostly involving homegrown extremists accused of preparing terror acts in Denmark or other countries.
Vatican-Legionaries Scandal
Vatican inspectors to Legionaries after word late founder had mistress, fathered a child
VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Benedict has taken the extraordinary step of ordering an investigation into a conservative Roman Catholic order that recently disclosed that its late founder fathered a child.
The Vatican says investigators will visit all of the institutions run by the Legionaries of Christ, one of the fastest-growing orders in the Roman Catholic church.
The Legionaries of Christ was much admired by the late Pope John Paul for its conservative view, strict loyalty to Vatican teaching and success in enrolling recruits. However, its Mexican founder, the Rev. Marcial Maciel (mahr-see-AHL' mah-see-EHL'), was long dogged by allegations he sexually abused seminarians. Individual Legion leaders have confirmed that Maciel had a relationship with a woman and fathered a daughter who is now in her 20s and living in Spain.
Maciel is held up as a hero whose life is to be emulated. Seminarians and members of its lay affiliate study Maciel's writings and pray that the spirit of the founder lives on in their behavior.
Tall Cross
Church wins approval to erect 199-foot cross
HAUGHTON, La. (AP) - A church in northern Louisiana has been cleared to erect a 199-foot cross.
Central Assembly of God, located east of Shreveport-Bossier City in Haughton, has been green lighted by local officials to put up a cross that will be one of the largest in the state, if not the nation.
Pastor Andy Harris says the steel cross also had to be approved by the Federal Aviation Administration. Harris says he has always been inspired by crosses he has seen at churches while traveling the nation.
Harris says the cross will cost about $700,000 and will take a few months to be fabricated by a plant in Mississippi. It will be trucked in sections and erected on church property.
Harris says it will be visible to motorists on nearby major highways including Interstate 20. He says his church is glad to "join the fellowship of crosses."
VT-GAY MARRIAGE
Vt. House committee makes some changes, votes in favor of gay marriage bill
MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) - A Vermont House committee has taken the next step on legislation that would allow same-sex couples to marry in the state.
The House Judiciary Committee has approved the bill that would replace civil unions with full marriage for gay and lesbian couples.
The full House is expected to take up the measure Thursday. Gov. Jim Douglas has vowed to veto it. That raises the question of whether supporters will be able to muster the two-thirds majority in the House to override the governor's veto.
The Vermont House made three amendments to the bill, including adding an exemption to the public accommodations law for churches that don't want their facilities used for same-sex weddings or receptions.
Church Shooting
Grand jury indicts accused church shooter
PATERSON, N.J. (AP) - A New Jersey grand jury has indicted a California man accused of fatally shooting his estranged wife and two bystanders in a Clifton, N.J., church in November.
A prosecutor says 28-year-old Joseph Pallipurath (pal-ee-PYOR'-ath) of Sacramento was indicted on two counts of murder, one count of attempted murder and several weapons counts.
The Nov. 23 shooting took place inside the St. Thomas Syrian Orthodox Knanaya (kah-nahn-NIGH'-ya) Church in Clifton.
Pallipurath is accused of killing his estranged wife and a church member. Another member was shot in the head but survived.
Priest Killer
Wis. judge: Release priest killer from hospital
LA CROSSE, Wis. (AP) - A La Crosse County judge has approved the release of a man found insane in the killing of a Catholic priest and two others in a church nearly 30 years ago.
Judge Ramona Gonzalez's decision Tuesday follows a November ruling by a state appeals court that determined prosecutors failed to prove that releasing Bryan Stanley from a mental hospital would present a danger to himself or the public.
Stanley had claimed to be a prophet sent to cleanse St. Patrick's Catholic Church in Onalaska when he gunned down the victims in 1985.
Stanley was found not guilty by reason of mental disease and was committed indefinitely to a state psychiatric hospital in Madison.
All conditions of Stanley's release were ordered confidential.
Prayer Death
Mother in prayer death case to get legal aid
WAUSAU, Wis. (AP) - A Wisconsin judge says a mother accused of reckless homicide for praying instead of taking her daughter to a doctor is indigent and that her legal bills must be picked up by county officials.
The decision means county taxpayers will pay the legal bills for Leilani Neumann and her husband for separate trials later this year. An attorney says the total cost could be $50,000.
The parents are charged with second-degree reckless homicide in the Easter death of their 11-year-old daughter at their rural Weston home. The girl died of undiagnosed diabetes.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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