CHRISTIAN COLLEGE-HOMOSEXUALITY
     
Calvin College faculty balks at trustees' memo

     
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) - Calvin College professors are urging
school trustees to withdraw a memo calling for adherence to the
Christian Reformed Church's stance against homosexuality and gay
marriage.
     
The board's memo says "advocacy by faculty and staff, both in
and outside of the classroom, for homosexual practice and same-sex
marriage is unacceptable."
     
The Grand Rapids Press reports that the Calvin College Faculty
Senate voted 36-4 for a resolution characterizing the Board of
Trustees' action as a restriction on academic freedom.
     
The newspaper says board President Bastian Knoppers responded
that the trustees must uphold the church's teaching "that
homosexual orientation is not a sin, but homosexual practice is."
     
Knoppers added, however, that the trustees are willing to
continue discussions with faculty.

NOTRE DAME-PRESIDENT
     
Notre Dame trustees elect Jenkins to a second term as president

     
SOUTH BEND, Ind. (AP) - The Rev. John Jenkins, who came under
fire for inviting President Barack Obama to speak at the University
of Notre Dame's commencement, has been re-elected to a second
five-year term as president of the school.
     
Notre Dame trustees also approved a resolution expressing their
"respect and full confidence" in Jenkins, saying he has nurtured
an environment where "the Catholic faith and intellectual
tradition are celebrated and lived."
     
Jenkins faced widespread criticism last spring from Catholic
bishops and anti-abortion activists after inviting Obama to deliver
Notre Dame's commencement address and receive an honorary degree.
     
Opponents objected to Obama's support for positions that
contradict church teachings.
     
Jenkins said last month that he planned to travel to Washington
in January to take part in an annual anti-abortion march.

CREATION DINOSAUR MUSEUM
     
Montana museum's fossils presented in biblical context

     
GLENDIVE, Mont. (AP) - Another museum presenting the biblical
view of creation has opened.
     
The Glendive Dinosaur and Fossil Museum in Montana mixes
life-size dinosaur skeletons with exhibits suggesting that most of
the behemoths probably perished in Noah's flood a few thousand
years ago.
     
At 20,000 square feet, it's about one-third the size of the
Creation Museum that opened in Kentucky in May 2007, and the
Glendive museum focuses on the dinosaur fossils abundant in eastern
Montana.
     
Founder and director Otis Kline says the new museum is only open
on Fridays and Saturdays, but has attracted more than 6,000
visitors since it opened in May. Most of them, he says, already
believe that God made people and dinosaurs on the sixth day of
creation, and the rest leave with "a lot to think about."

     
On the Net: www.creationtruth.org/museum.htm
     
     
RAPTURE PET SERVICE
     
Atheists offer to care for pets left behind by rapture

     
ALSTEAD, N.H. (AP) - Christians who believe they'll vanish from
Earth in the rapture can now hire a company to care for their pets.
     
For $110, Eternal Earth-Bound Pets offers a 10-year contract
guaranteeing that an atheist will adopt the pet that's left behind
by its raptured owner. Additional pets can be covered for $15.
     
The company's owner, Bart Centre, says his pet rescuers
definitely won't be raptured because they've all blasphemed the
Holy Spirit in writing, committing what they believe Jesus called
the unforgivable sin. His Web site says the rescuers are animal
lovers who "are committed to step in when you step up to Jesus."
     
Centre says he doesn't believe in God or the rapture, but is
offering a service for those who do.

     
     
BIBLE CASTLE
     
Church hopes to preserve "Bible castle" home

     
VICKSBURG, Miss. (AP) - Vicksburg, Mississippi's, "Bible
castle" is being taken over by a local church that hopes to
preserve it.
     
The red, pink and yellow home of the Rev. Herman and Margaret
Dennis is decorated with Bible verses, scrap iron columns,
sculptures and welcoming signs of God's love.
     
The home that was once Margaret's Grocery was turned into a sort
of biblical castle 25 years ago when Margaret met and married the
Rev. Dennis.
     
The couple sold the home to Cool Springs M.B. Church, on
condition that they be allowed to live there as long as they were
able. Margaret Dennis died Oct. 5 at the age of 94. Herman Dennis
has lived at the Vicksburg Convalescent Home for years.

PATRIARCH VISIT
     
Orthodox church leader visiting US

     
ANNAPOLIS, Md. (AP) - The spiritual leader of the world's
Orthodox Christians is set to visit Louisiana, New York, Georgia,
Maryland and Washington, D.C., during a trip to the United States.
     
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I arrived in New Orleans on
Tuesday to preside over a symposium on religions, science and the
environment. Next week, he'll celebrate the 10th anniversary of the
enthronement of Archbishop Demetrios of America in New York.
     
Bartholomew is also expected at an Ecumenical Gathering of Peace
in Atlanta next week and will mark his 18th year as ecumenical
patriarch in a service in Annapolis, Md., on Nov. 2.
     
In Washington, the patriarch is scheduled to meet with Vice
President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

CATHOLIC CHURCH-SEX ABUSE
     
Texas men urge priest abuse victims to speak out

     
DALLAS (AP) - Two Dallas-area men who were part of a $4.6
million settlement over alleged sexual abuse by a now-deceased
Catholic priest are urging other victims to speak out.
     
Robert Sanchez and Jaime Cantu made their first public comments
yesterday after they and four other men reached a deal in their
case against the Catholic Diocese of Dallas and the Oklahoma
religious order of the late Rev. Thomas Behnke.
     
Behnke worked in Dallas in the 1970s and 1980s. He was accused
of abusing boys around the time they were sixth-graders.
     
The Dallas diocese agreed to pay $500,000, with insurance
covering most of that amount. Behnke's religious order will pay the
rest.

SCHOOL TAX CREDIT
     
Court upholds challenge to private school tax credit

     
PHOENIX (AP) - A federal appeals court is letting stand a ruling
that revives a challenge to Arizona's income tax credit for
donations to private scholarships.
     
The full 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals yesterday declined to
review a three-judge panel's April ruling that the program could be
unconstitutional by favoring religion.
     
A lawyer for supporters of the program, Tim Keller of the
Institute for Justice, says a dissent by eight judges presents a
strong case for review by the U.S. Supreme Court.
     
The American Civil Liberties Union of Arizona contends the tax
credit unconstitutionally supports religious schools, but
supporters note that the program gives students a wide range of
education options.

JEWISH CENTER SHOOTING
     
2nd trial begins in Seattle Jewish center shooting

     
SEATTLE (AP) - A second trial is under way to determine whether
a man who stormed a Seattle Jewish center in 2006, killing one
woman and wounding five others as he railed against Israel and U.S.
foreign policy, was legally insane at the time.
     
Naveed Haq's (nah-VEED' hahkz) first trial ended last year with
jurors deadlocked on that question.
     
On July 28, 2006, Haq forced a teenage girl at gunpoint to let
him into the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle. Once inside, he
opened fire, shooting some people in their cubicles, some in the
hall and one, Pamela Waechter, fatally as she tried to flee.
     
Before surrendering, he told a 911 operator he wanted to get on
CNN.
     
Prosecutor Don Raz told jurors yesterday that Haq attacked the
Jewish center because he felt that "no one was listening to the
Muslim point of view."

MALAYSIA-SECT LEADER JAILED
     
Islamic court sentences man to jail and caning for false
teaching

     
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - A lawyer says a Malaysian Islamic
court has sentenced a Muslim sect leader to 10 years in prison and
six lashes from a rattan cane for spreading false teachings.
     
Abdul Kahar Ahmad pleaded guilty in an Islamic Shariah court
last month to charges of spreading false doctrines, blasphemy and
violating religious precepts.
     
He had been charged in 2006, but went into hiding for three
years to evade trial before Islamic religious police tracked him
down last month.
     
Islamic state prosecutor Muhamad Nazri Basrawi says the Shariah
court decided to jail Abdul Kahar for 10 years and to cane him six
times.

     
      (Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)
     
AP-NY-10-22-09 0350EDT