US-SAUDI-FREE SPEECH
Religious rights advocates offer to endure Saudi’s lashes
CONCORD, N.H. (AP) β Seven members of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom have offered to personally endure most of the whippings that a liberal Saudi blogger has been sentenced to endure for “insulting Islam.”
USCIRF (YOO’-surf) Chair Katrina Lantos Swett says she and her fellow commissioners made their offer to Saudi officials as individual followers of Islam, Christianity and Judaism rather than as representatives of the government agency.
Raif Badawi was sentenced in May to 10 years in prison and 1,000 lashes and was fined $266,000. He received the first 50 lashes in a public square earlier this month.
In a letter, the seven signatories, including former U.S. ambassador to the Holy See Mary Ann Glendon, call Badawi’s sentence a “grave injustice” and say they would rather present themselves to each suffer 100 of his lashes “than stand by and watch him being cruelly tortured.”
Sound:
223-a-13-(Katrina Lantos Swett, chair, U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, in AP interview)-“would do this”-Katrina Lantos Swett, who chairs the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, says she her fellow signatories hope their offer to suffer lashes in Raif Badawi’s place brings attention to his plight. (20 Jan 2015)
< 221-a-06-(Katrina Lantos Swett, chair, U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, in AP interview)-“whip him again”-Katrina Lantos Swett, who chairs the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, says liberal Saudi blogger Raif Badawi has been sentenced to receive 1,000 lashes over a period of 5 months. (20 Jan 2015) < 220-v-31-(Steve Coleman, AP religion editor)–Seven members of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom have offered to personally endure most of the whippings that a liberal Saudi blogger has been sentenced to endure for “insulting Islam.” AP Religion Editor Steve Coleman reports. (20 Jan 2015) < 222-a-07-(Katrina Lantos Swett, chair, U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, in AP interview)-“Mr. Badawi’s place”-Katrina Lantos Swett, who chairs the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, says she and her fellow commissioners have appealed to Saudi officials as individuals rather than as government representatives. (20 Jan 2015) < IRAN PASTOR-PRESIDENTIAL VISIT Obama to meet with wife of American pastor jailed in Iran BOISE, Idaho (AP) β The wife of an American pastor held prisoner in Iran says President Barack Obama will meet with her during his short visit to Idaho on Wednesday. The Idaho Statesman reports that Naghmeh Abedini received confirmation Tuesday that Obama agreed to meet with her and her two young children. Abedini recently had written an open letter to the president requesting a face-to-face meeting. Abedini declined to reveal any other details about the meeting. Christian pastor Saeed Abedini has been in Iranian custody since September 2012. He was given an eight-year sentence in 2013 for what was termed undermining state security when he attempted to build a church network in private homes. The 34-year-old man is of Iranian origin but had been living in Boise. SUPREME COURT-PRISON BEARD Supreme Court rules for bearded Muslim inmate WASHINGTON (AP) β The Supreme Court is siding with a Muslim prison inmate in Arkansas who sued for the right to grow a short beard for religious reasons. The court’s unanimous ruling in a religious liberty case stands in contrast to its Hobby Lobby decision last June that narrowly found that family-owned corporations could mount religious objections to paying for women’s contraceptives under the health care overhaul. The justices said that inmate Gregory Holt could maintain a half-inch beard because Arkansas prison officials could not substantiate claims that the beard posed a security risk. Holt is serving a life sentence for a brutal assault on his girlfriend. He bases his desire to grow a beard on a statement attributed to Islam’s prophet Muhammad. Sound: 204-v-33-(Steve Coleman, AP religion editor)–The Supreme Court is siding with a Muslim prison inmate who sued for the right to grow a short beard for religious reasons. AP Religion Editor Steve Coleman reports. (20 Jan 2015) < SUPREME COURT-PRIEST TESTIMONY Court won’t hear priest’s appeal of ruling reviving lawsuit WASHINGTON (AP) β The Supreme Court is allowing a lawsuit to proceed against a Roman Catholic diocese and priest over allegations that a teen was kissed and fondled by an adult parishioner. The justices did not comment Tuesday in rejecting an appeal of a Louisiana Supreme Court decision. That earlier ruling revived a lawsuit that contends the teen told the priest what had happened to her and that the priest should have reported the allegations. The Diocese of Baton Rouge and the priest argued that allowing the lawsuit to go forward could lead to the priest being required to testify about information that was disclosed during private confessions. 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Jan Brewer vetoed last year β giving a property tax break to private property owners who lease space to churches β has been introduced again in the new legislative session. The bill’s sponsor says it’s designed to give churches that lease their buildings nearly the same property tax break that churches that own their own buildings receive. The idea is that their lease payments will decrease if the property owner is getting a tax break. Gov. Brewer’s veto letter last year said there are too many administrative challenges in accurately classifying rental properties and that the bill would have exacerbated those woes by requiring that the state track the way commercial property is used. She also worried property owners might not pass on the savings. SPAIN-STOLEN CODEX Church electrician: Can’t remember Codex stealing confession MADRID (AP) β The former electrician for Spain’s famed cathedral in Santiago de Compostela has denied having ever seen the priceless 12th-century Codex Calixtinus that authorities found in his garage and has insisted he doesn’t remember confessing that he stole it. The richly-decorated Codex, which went missing in 2011, is considered the first guide for Christians making the pilgrimage to venerate St. James. Jose Manuel Fernandez Castineiras, who is in his 60s, made the declarations a day after his lawyer argued that the confession should be thrown out. The lawyer, Carmen Ventoso, also said judges should throw out the security video that appeared to show her client in a cathedral office stuffing money into his pockets. Authorities who searched the electrician’s home in 2012 also found other valuable religious works and recovered more than $1.2 million. Fernandez Castineiras faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted. GERMANY-VATICAN-RABBIT BREEDERS German rabbit breeders criticize pope’s sex comments BERLIN (AP) β The pope’s comment that Catholics don’t have to breed “like rabbits” has caused offense β among Germany’s rabbit breeders. Pope Francis said Monday that Catholics should instead practice “responsible parenting” and use Church-approved forms of birth control. But Erwin Leowsky, president of the central council of German rabbit breeders, told the news agency dpa on Tuesday that only rabbits which live in the wild are sexually overactive. He said those in captivity have tamer reproductive habits. Leowsky says he feels the pope should allow Catholics to use contraception rather than resorting to misleading cliches about rabbits.
