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

BLESSING THE HUNT
     
Church blesses hunters before deer season

     
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - A small church in Goss, Miss., is
expecting up to 1,000 people at its annual "Blessing of the Hunt"
on this last Thursday before deer season.
     
Pastor Mark McArthur says Goss Baptist Church attracts hunters
from miles around with door prizes ranging from free oil changes
and haircuts to a shotgun and an all-terrain vehicle. Church
members also will cook several big pots of jambalaya, and a speaker
will present the gospel.
     
McArthur says 800 people attended last year, and 34 indicated
they'd made decisions for Christ.
     
The church will have a "turkey shoot" Friday and Saturday
night, in which the person who shoots the best at a target wins a
turkey. Sunday is "camo day," so hunters won't have to change
clothes.

IRELAND-PHILIPPINES-KIDNAPPED PRIEST
     
Irish priest freed in Philippines after a month

     
DUBLIN (AP) - A 79-year-old Irish Catholic priest who was
abducted in the Philippines a month ago has been freed, and
officials insist that the kidnappers' $2 million ransom demand was
not paid.
     
Irish President Mary McAleese called the Rev. Michael Sinnott's
freedom the answer to the shared prayers of millions in both
countries.
    
Six armed men abducted Sinnott on Oct. 11 from his missionary
home in the southern Philippines, then escaped by speedboat and
took him into the jungle. The priest said he was not harmed, but
had to endure arduous journeys as his captors took him by sea and
through jungles to evade government troops.
     
Sinnott said he was not angry with the kidnappers, whom the
Philippine government suspects are linked to a Muslim rebel group.

SEPT 11 MEMORIAL
     
Dispute over 'Muslim terrorists' halts town's 9/11 memorial

     
HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) - A Connecticut town's memorial to honor a
Sept. 11 victim has been halted because the victim's father insists
that it say his son was murdered by "Muslim terrorists."
     
Town officials in Kent are balking, saying it would be
inappropriate to single out a religious group in a project on town
property and paid for with taxpayers' money.
     
Peter Gadiel, whose 23-year-old son was working in the World
Trade Center when he was killed, says he's frustrated about what he
calls a growing trend across the country to soften the reality of
the Sept. 11 attacks by not mentioning a word about terrorism on
victims' memorials.
     
Town leaders acknowledge that Muslim terrorists were responsible
for the attacks, but they insist that saying it on a public
memorial plaque would be wrong.

ISRAEL-RARE COINS
     
Israel displays coins from ancient Jewish revolt

     
JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel is displaying for the first time a
collection of rare coins charred and burned from the Roman
destruction of the Jewish Temple nearly 2,000 years ago.
     
About 70 coins were found in an excavation at the foot of a key
Jerusalem holy site.
     
Donald Ariel of the Israeli Antiquity Authority says the coins
give a rare glimpse into the period of the Jewish revolt that
eventually led to the destruction of the Second Jewish Temple in 70
A.D.
     
The coins sit inside a glass case, some melted down to
unrecognizable chunks of pockmarked and carbonized bronze from the
flames that destroyed the Temple.
     
The coins were excavated from an ancient street below the Temple
Mount. To find the coins, archaeologists had to sift through debris
and remove boulders thrown down by the Romans.

    
POPE-EUROPE
     
Pope urges Europe to defend its Christian heritage

     
VATICAN CITY (AP) - Pope Benedict says everyone who cares about
Europe's future should "rediscover, appreciate and defend the rich
cultural and religious heritage" of past centuries.
     
The pontiff spoke to pilgims Wednesday during his weekly general
audience at the Vatican.
     
Reviving Christianity in an increasingly secular Europe is a
central theme of Benedict's papacy.
     
He's been urging Europeans to return to their Christian roots,
saying that Christian values are fundamental for the survival of
societies.
     
Last week, the Vatican denounced the European court of human
rights for ruling that the display of crucifixes in Italian public
schools violates religious and educational freedoms. The Vatican
said the court was ignoring the role of Christianity in forming
Europe's identity.

HOMELESS SHELTER OBJECTION
     
Parents don't want homeless shelter in church next to school

    
FOND DU LAC, Wis. (AP) - Some parents in Fond du Lac, Wis., are
objecting to a Catholic church's plans to open a shelter for the
homeless next to an elementary school.
     
Holy Family Catholic Community wants to set up the shelter at
St. Joseph Church because the building is barely used during the
week. Shelter organizers want to have it open by next month.
     
But Sarah Brinkley, who has two small children at St. Mary's
Primary School, says the young students are naive and trusting, so
the shelter location isn't the best.
     
Sister Judith Schmidt is president of St. Mary's Springs
Academy, attended by about 200 students from preschool to second
grade. She says the community should take a closer look at the
proposal.

GAY RIGHTS-MORMONS
     
Salt Lake OKs gay rights laws with Mormon backing

     
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) - The Mormon church for the first time has
supported gay rights legislation, an endorsement that helped gain
unanimous approval for Salt Lake City laws banning discrimination
against gays in housing and employment.
     
Church spokesman Michael Otterson said, "The church supports
these ordinances because they are fair and reasonable and do not do
violence to the institution of marriage."
     
Tuesday's passage made Salt Lake City the first Utah community
to prohibit bias based on sexual orientation or gender identity.
     
Exceptions in the legislation allow churches to maintain,
without penalty, religious principles and religion-based codes of
conduct or rules. Gays are welcome in the Mormon church, but must
remain celibate to retain church callings and full membership.

MEDICS-RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION
     
Orthodox Jewish medics call beard ban discrimination

     
PIKESVILLE, Md. (AP) - Three Orthodox Jewish medics in Maryland
say a volunteer fire department's ban on beards is religious
discrimination.
     
Baltimore County bans facial hair if it interferes with the use
of respirator masks.
     
The medics say they don't enter burning buildings and that other
respirators are available which can be worn by those with beards.
     
The three medics say in a complaint filed with the U.S. Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission that they have not responded to a
call since January when they were told their beards posed a safety
concern.
      The three claim the fire department is retaliating for their
membership in a largely Orthodox emergency response organization.
But officials say they want all medics to have masks in case they
must enter a building with hazardous fumes.

     
      (Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved.)
     
AP-NY-11-12-09 0337EST