IRAN-NUCLEAR TALKS-VATICAN
Vatican pleased that nuclear accord is reached
VATICAN (AP) — The Vatican has welcomed the nuclear agreement between Iran, the U.S. and other world powers.
It hopes that the progress will extend to other areas. Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi told journalists the agreement “is viewed in a positive light by the Holy See” and noted that continued efforts “on the part of all involved will be necessary in order for it to bear fruit.”
Lombardi said that “it is hoped that those fruits will not be limited” to the nuclear program alone.
HEALTH OVERHAUL-BIRTH CONTROL
Court: New health law doesn’t infringe on religious freedom
DENVER (AP) — A federal appeals court in Denver has ruled that the federal health care law doesn’t infringe on the religious freedom of faith-based nonprofit organizations that object to covering birth control in employee health plans.
The case involves a group of Colorado nuns and four Christian colleges in Oklahoma.
Religious groups are already exempt from covering contraceptives. But the plaintiffs argued that the exemption doesn’t go far enough because they must sign away the coverage to another party, making them feel complicit in providing the contraceptives. The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals disagreed. The judges wrote that the law with the exemption does not burden the exercise of religion.
The same court ruled last year that for-profit companies can join the exempted religious organizations and not provide the contraceptives. The U.S. Supreme Court later agreed with the 10th Circuit in the case brought by the Hobby Lobby arts-and-crafts chain.
The birth-control rule has been among the most divisive aspects of the health care overhaul. Some advocates for women praise the mandate, but some religious groups have decried it as an attack on religious freedom.
Sound:
278-c-16-(Kristen Wyatt, AP correspondent)-“religious beliefs”-AP correspondent Kristen Wyatt reports the same appeals court that had held that some for-profit companies can be exempted from providing birth control coverage on religious grounds ruled against the religious groups who objected to even applying for exemptions. (14 Jul 2015)
< 279-c-14-(Kristen Wyatt, AP correspondent)-“to provide it”-AP correspondent Kristen Wyatt reports the decision upholds the current rule that allows religious groups and some some for-profit companies to obtain exemptions from providing birth control coverage by completing a waiver form. (14 Jul 2015) < 280-c-08-(Kristen Wyatt, AP correspondent)-“religious beliefs”-AP correspondent Kristen Wyatt reports that a group of Colorado nuns and four Christian colleges from Oklahoma had argued that their rights were violated even though they were entitled to exemption from providing birth control coverage. (14 Jul 2015) < GAY MARRIAGE-TEXAS OPPONENTS Group of Texas conservatives call for defiance of Supreme Court ruling DALLAS (AP) — Several Christian conservative groups that oppose gay marriage have joined forces to call for a national campaign of defiance of last month’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down state same-sex marriage bans. The group, which calls itself “Real Marriage: One Man, One Woman for Life,” says there should be a mass civil disobedience movement. It didn’t detail what steps it will take other than to protest against businesses and lawmakers who support gay marriage. One participant is David Pickup, a Dallas-area reparative therapist. Pickup practices gender reparative therapy, which is not recognized by some medical groups and is banned in some states. Pickup describes gay marriage as “alternative sexuality that is a freedom too far.” Sound: 330-a-05-(Dr. Steve Hotze, spookesman, Campaign for Texas Families)-“a lie”-Campaign for Texas Families spokesman Dr. Steve Hotze says same-sex marriages are not real. (14 Jul 2015) < 328-a-13-(David Pickup, reparative therapist, with reporters)-“of self destruction”-Reparative therapist David Pickup says the campaign being launched is needed to save the nation. (14 Jul 2015) < 329-a-12-(David Pickup, reparative therapist, with reporters)-“freedom too far”-Reparative therapist David Pickup says people of faith should join the campaign against gay marriage. (14 Jul 2015) < CHURCH VANDALISM Police say vandalism at Florida church was a hate crime MELBOURNE, Fla. (AP) — Authorities say the vandalism of a black church on Florida’s Space Coast was a hate crime. Melbourne Police Department officials are offering a cash award for information leading to any arrests. Police say vandals wrote “SS Charleston 2” on the side of a pickup truck parked at New Shiloh Christian Church and then ransacked a section of the church. Police say they believe the graffiti refers to the June 17 massacre of nine churchgoers at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. It’s the third time in six months New Shiloh has been vandalized. Florida Today reports that the 1,500-member church previously was set on fire, and that juveniles scrawled a swastika and spray-painted a noose on a storage unit. Bishop Jacquelyn Gordon, the senior pastor, says the vandalism is a financial setback and happened in area of the 125,000-square-foot building where an expansion effort was in the works. Gordon says she’s praying that the culprits will be revealed. She says calls of encouragement have come from throughout the community. Sound: 333-a-12-(Bishop Jacquelyn Gordon, pastor, New Shiloh Chistian Center, in AP interview)-“a hate crime”-New Shiloh Christian Center pastor Bishop Jacquelyn Gordon says the ministry will move forward. (14 Jul 2015) < 332-a-08-(Bishop Jacquelyn Gordon, pastor, New Shiloh Chistian Center, in AP interview)-“change the generation”-New Shiloh Christian Center pastor Bishop Jacquelyn Gordon says the suspected hate crime is a bit unnerving. (14 Jul 2015) < 334-a-09-(Bishop Jacquelyn Gordon, pastor, New Shiloh Chistian Center, in AP interview)-“make you nervous”-New Shiloh Christian Center pastor Bishop Jacquelyn Gordon says the nature of the crime is troubling. (14 Jul 2015) < 331-a-05-(Bishop Jacquelyn Gordon, pastor, New Shiloh Chistian Center, in AP interview)-“trying to do”-New Shiloh Christian Center pastor Bishop Jacquelyn Gordon says repeated vandalism has hurt building improvement efforts. (14 Jul 2015) < MUSLIM THREAT-INDICTMENT Tennessee man pleads not guilty to Muslim assault plot CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. (AP) — An East Tennessee man has pleaded not guilty to soliciting another person to burn down a mosque in a small Muslim enclave in New York. The Chattanooga Times Free Press reports that 63-year-old Robert Doggart entered his plea during an arraignment in a Chattanooga federal court. Protesters gathered outside the courthouse, demanding that Doggart, a resident of Sequatchie County and a 2014 congressional candidate, be charged with a hate crime and kept behind bars while he is tried. Doggart agreed to plead guilty in April to a charge of plotting an attack that involved killing residents and burning at least three buildings in “Islamberg,” a self-named community outside Hancock, New York. The plea agreement was thrown out by a federal judge in June. PLANNED PARENTHOOD-FETAL PARTS Covert video targets Planned Parenthood fetal-parts policy NEW YORK (AP) — Anti-abortion activists have released an undercover video showing a Planned Parenthood official discussing the disposition of parts from aborted fetuses. The activists contend the video released reveals illegalities. Planned Parenthood says the activity in question is the legal, not-for-profit donation of fetal tissue to research firms. The video was made covertly last year. It depicts a conversation between Planned Parenthood medical services senior director Dr. Deborah Nucatola and anti-abortion activists posing as potential buyers for a biologics company. Commercial sale of human fetal tissue is illegal under federal law. Non-commercial tissue donation is allowed if the person undergoing an abortion gives consent. The video was produced by the Irvine, California-based Center for Medical Progress. It was released with support from several anti-abortion organizations that call for a congressional investigation. MISSIONARY CRASH SETTLEMENT Quadriplegic missionary receives $26M settlement after crash HELENA, Mont. (AP) — Insurers for the Southern Baptist Convention have agreed to pay $26 million to a South Carolina man who was paralyzed and suffered brain damage in a rollover crash during a 2009 missionary trip in Montana. That’s according to Attorney Anders Blewett. The insurance companies agreed to pay the full coverage limits of their policies within days of a judge’s ruling that the North American Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention was liable for Jeremy Vangsnes’ injuries. A judge ruled last month that a driver was acting within the course and scope of his association with the mission group at the time of the July 2009 wreck. The mission group argued the paralyzed man and three others were on a personal trip during off time. POPE’S VISIT-JAILED CHURCH OFFICIAL Ex-church official moved from jail that pope plans to visit PHILADELPHIA (AP) — A former church official jailed for his handling of priest sexual abuse complaints is no longer housed at a Philadelphia jail that Pope Francis plans to visit. Monsignor William Lynn is serving a minimum three-year sentence for endangering children in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia. He’s the first U.S. church official prosecuted over the alleged church cover-up. Lynn has been held at the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Center while appealing his 2012 conviction. But defense lawyer Thomas Bergstrom says his client is back at a state prison. Appeals courts have been split on whether Lynn should have been convicted under the child-endangerment law, and he has been in and out of prison. Pope Francis is scheduled to visit inmates at the city prison during his U.S. trip in September. CHURCH CLOSING DISPUTE Appeals court to consider evicting protesters from church BOSTON (AP) — Parishioners holding a round-the-clock protest in a closed Catholic church for nearly 11 years will have their day in court. The Massachusetts Appeals Court is hearing arguments in the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Boston’s bid to evict the Friends of St. Frances X. Cabrini from the deconsecrated Scituate church. A three-judge panel will only hear arguments; they are expected to issue a written decision at a later date. The hearing comes after an appeals court judge in June ruled the protesters could continue their vigil while they appeal a lower court decision that declared them trespassers and ordered them to vacate. The group is the last of a number that had physically occupied Boston-area churches after the archdiocese closed dozens of them to stabilize its finances in 2004. PRIEST-CHILD PORN 12-year prison sentence for priest in child porn case DETROIT (AP) — A Catholic priest who was a teacher years ago at a Detroit high school has been sentenced to 12 years in prison in a child pornography case. The government calls the Rev. Richard Kurtz a “wolf in shepherd’s clothing.” His collection of child porn was discovered in 2011 when priests were packing his belongings in Oakland County and Chicago. The 70-year-old Kurtz got his sentence Tuesday in Detroit federal court. In 2001, he was dismissed from University of Detroit Jesuit High School when a student accused him of sexual assault on a trip to Colorado. The family didn’t pursue charges at the time, but Kurtz was convicted 10 years later and placed on probation. He was living in Missouri last year when he was arrested in the child porn case. INDIA-FESTIVAL STAMPEDE Rush for shoes at India festival triggers deadly stampede HYDERABAD, India (AP) — Authorities say tens of thousands of pilgrims taking part in a Hindu religious bathing festival surged forward and triggered a deadly stampede on a riverbank in southern India. At least 27 people were killed and dozens were injured. The stampede was so massive that rescuers struggled to respond quickly. The stampede — along the Godavari River in Andhra Pradesh — was triggered by some pilgrims who were trying to retrieve their shoes, which had fallen off in the rush to the riverbank. Festival participants believe a bath in the river can rid them of their sins, and many believe it is more auspicious to bathe on the first day of the 12-day festival. CHURCH EMBEZZLEMENT-SENTENCES Phoenix couple sentenced in a church embezzlement case PHOENIX (AP) — A Phoenix woman accused of embezzling nearly $425,000 from a regional church group with her husband has been sentenced to 21 months in federal prison. Prosecutors say 38-year-old Marie Ann Stoltz also was ordered Monday to pay back the money she and her spouse embezzled from the Free Methodist Church between June 2011 and September 2013. They say 44-year-old Mark Edwin Stoltz was sentenced to five years’ probation that will begin with nine months of house arrest. The couple both pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud. Prosecutors say Marie Stoltz worked as the secretary and treasurer for the Arizona Light & Life Conference of the Free Methodist Church. They say she drafted more than $79,000 in church checks made payable to her spouse and misused its credit cards.
