AP-Religion Roundup
     
Update on the latest in religion news:

HATE CRIMES-RELIGION
     
Hate crimes law gets mixed reactions from churches

     
UNDATED (AP) - The law that President Barack Obama signed
Wednesday extending federal hate crimes protection to gays and
lesbians has alarmed some religious groups and delighted others.
     
The Rev. Meg Riley, director of Advocacy and Witness for the
Unitarian Universalist Association, says her church believes that
"homophobia, not homosexuality, is a sin."
     
But the Rev. Gerald Kieschnick, president of the Lutheran Church
Missouri Synod, worries that his church and others may face
persecution for proclaiming what he calls "the truths of Holy
Scripture."
     
In a statement, Kieschnick says, "We live in difficult times,
when the traditional moral and religious foundations of our country
are being slowly but steadily eroded."
     
Riley, however, says the law won't restrict freedom of the
pulpit.

RUNAWAY CONVERT
    
Runaway convert's lawyer hopes Ohio will protect her

     
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) - Rifqa Bary's Florida attorney says he hopes
the 17-year-old Christian convert will be declared a dependent of
the state of Ohio now that she's living with a foster family there.
     
Bary said she ran away to Florida in July out of fear that she
might be killed for leaving Islam.
     
She was returned to Ohio Tuesday after investigators said they
found no credible threat to her safety.
     
Attorney John Stemberger, who represented Bary in Florida, says
the girl loves her family, but doesn't trust them. He says Bary
fears they might send her back to their native Sri Lanka where she
could be killed or placed in an asylum for being an apostate to
Islam.
     
But Stemberger says he believes she'll be safe with the Ohio
foster family as long as her confidentiality is protected.

     
HALLOWEEN WEDDING
     
Church rejects Halloween-themed wedding

     
SLEEPY HOLLOW, N.Y. (AP) - A church made famous by Washington
Irving's short story, "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow," has rejected
a couple's request to hold a Halloween-themed wedding.
     
Lisa Panensky and Jim Nieves signed a contract 13 months ago to
get married on Halloween at the Old Dutch Church in Sleepy Hollow,
N.Y.
     
But church officials have said no to the couple's plan to hold a
"fun gothic" civil wedding in costumes and include theme music
from "The Addams Family" and "The Munsters."
     
The Rev. Jeff Gargano said he was unaware of the Halloween theme
until recently, and offered instead to marry them in the cemetery
of the 17th-century church, but the couple declined.
     
Gargano said he couldn't allow a sacred place to be
"trivialized."

CHRISTMAS CONTROVERSY
     
Christmas jeer: 'Holiday tree' angers critics

     
FRANKFORT, Ky. (AP) - Some Christians in Kentucky are angry over
the governor's yuletide terminology.
     
A giant evergreen that will brighten the Capitol lawn this
winter won't be called a Christmas tree. Instead, Gov. Steve
Beshear's administration has dubbed it a "holiday tree."
     
The Rev. Jeff Fugate of Lexington says the change is offensive
to Christians.
     
Beshear administration spokeswoman Cindy Lanham says the holiday
tree reference is meant to be inclusive of Thanksgiving, Christmas,
Hanukkah and New Year's. People found out about it Tuesday when the
state sent a letter looking for someone to donate a tree.
     
State Senate President David Williams accused the governor of
putting political correctness ahead of Kentucky values.

SCHOOL-BIBLES
     
Student Bible study lawsuit argued in court

     
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) - A Tennessee family's lawsuit over
religious freedom in their son's former school is before a federal
court.
     
Samuel and Tina Whitson sued after their then-fourth-grade son
Luke and a handful of other students were told they couldn't read
and discuss Bible passages during recess.
     
The Knoxville News Sentinel reports that the elementary school's
principal stopped the Bible discussions in 2004 after a parent
complained.
     
The Whitsons filed a federal lawsuit against the Knox County
Board of Education and Charles Lindsey, who was then school
superintendent.
     
School officials testified Tuesday that the issue could have
been resolved before the suit was filed.

PRAYING ROBBERY SUSPECT
     
Praying robber suspect appears in court

     
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) - Prosecutors in Indiana say Gregory Smith's
remorseful prayer during a crime in progress doesn't change the
fact that he robbed two check- cashing stores.
     
A judge entered a not guilty plea for Smith, who appeared on
"The Oprah Winfrey Show" last week after a security video showing
a gunman praying with the store's clerk during an Oct. 19 robbery
was widely shown on television and the Internet. The 23-year-old
Smith has apologized and said he was driven to the robbery after he
lost his job and his family was threatened with eviction.
     
But prosecutor David Wyser said, "One of the commandments is
'Thou shalt not steal."'
     
Smith faces at least six years in prison if he's convicted on
all charges.

TEN COMMANDMENTS-REVIEW
     
Oklahoma county seeks review of 10 Commandments ruling

     
OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) - The U.S. Supreme Court is being asked to
review a ruling that a Ten Commandments monument on the lawn of
Oklahoma's Haskell County Courthouse was unconstitutional.
     
Attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund have asked for the
review by the nation's highest court.
     
Appellate judges with a federal appeals court agreed with the
American Civil Liberties Union and a local resident that the
monument was unconstitutional because its primary effect was to
endorse religion.
     
After the county asked the full appeals court to reconsider the
decision of the three-judge panel, the judges split 6-6, falling
short of the necessary seven votes needed to overturn the ruling.

RAID-IMAM KILLED
     
Feds: Leader of radical Islam group killed in raid

     
DETROIT (AP) - Federal authorities in Detroit say they fatally
shot the leader of a radical Islamic group after he failed to
surrender on several criminal charges.
     
The U.S. attorney's office says Luqman Ameen Abdullah was killed
while exchanging gunfire with federal agents Wednesday at a
warehouse in Dearborn, Michigan.
     
A court document says Abdullah is the imam, or prayer leader, of
a group whose goal is to establish an Islamic state within the
United States. Authorities say he's also known as Christopher
Thomas.
     
The FBI was trying to round up Abdullah and 10 followers on many
charges, including conspiracy to sell stolen goods and illegal
possession and sale of firearms.
     
The FBI says Abdullah regularly preached anti-government
rhetoric.
    

PRIEST SLAIN
     
Slain NJ priest spoke about firing suspect

     
WIND GAP, Pa. (AP) - Officials have scheduled a court appearance
for the janitor accused of fatally stabbing a New Jersey priest 32
times.
     
Jose Feliciano is due in court in Morristown, N.J., today.
     
Court documents filed in Wind Gap, Pa., say the Rev. Ed Hinds
discussed firing Feliciano one day before he was attacked in the
rectory kitchen of St. Patrick Church in Chatham (CHAT'-um), N.J.
     
The documents say Hinds told the principal of the church's
school that he might have to "let go" Feliciano due to problems
with a criminal background investigation.
     
The 64-year-old custodian had worked at the church for 17 years.
     
A wake for Hinds is scheduled tomorrow.

BIBLE-SEXUAL ASSAULT
     
Teacher allegedly quoted Bible for sex with girls

     
SAN ANTONIO (AP) - A teacher in San Antonio who allegedly quoted
the Bible to lure teenage girls into being intimate with him is
charged with aggravated sexual assault.
     
Robert Louis Rosseau was jailed Wednesday on bail of $100,000.
     
The 37-year-old was arrested Monday after a girl told police she
balked at having sex with him. The affidavit says Rosseau would
read Bible passages "to legitimize" having sex with the girls.
     
Rosseau was fired Tuesday from the Christian Academy of San
Antonio. He was put on administrative leave earlier this month.
     
Just one of the three girls involved in the investigation
attends the school.

SECT LEADER
     
Court rejects sect leader's bond petition

     
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - New Mexico's Supreme Court has denied
church leader Wayne Bent's petition to be released on bond while he
appeals his convictions for sexual misconduct with teenage female
followers.
     
Bent is serving a 10-year prison sentence for criminal sexual
contact of a minor and two counts of contributing to the
delinquency of a minor.
     
The leader of The Lord Our Righteousness Church says the
touching was part of a religious healing ritual and there was no
sexual activity.
     
Bent was sentenced in December. He has been fasting, and his
lawyer says he is being fed through a tube. A judge cleared the way
for that last month.

KUWAIT-WOMEN'S RIGHTS
     
Kuwait: Headscarf not a must for female lawmakers

     
KUWAIT CITY (AP) - Kuwait's highest court has ruled that women
lawmakers are not obliged to wear the headscarf, a blow to Muslim
fundamentalists who want to fully impose Islamic law in the
oil-rich state.
     
The Constitutional Court dismissed a case raised by a voter who
claimed that two of four women elected to parliament in May cannot
serve in the legislature because they don't comply with the Islamic
dress code. The other two elected women wear the headscarf and
clothes that fully cover their arms and legs.
     
The landmark ruling was the second recent breakthrough for
Kuwaiti women.
     
Last week, the same court granted married women the right to
obtain a passport without their husband's approval, saying the
decades-old requirement was "unconstitutional" and "compromised
their humanity."

     
     
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)
     
AP-NY-10-29-09 0357EDT