AROUND THE STATES.

Alabama Town Considers Rule By Bible

A tiny Alabama community is considering establishing a local government based on the Bible.

According to The New York Times, the Rev. James Henderson and others are circulating petitions to make the King James Version of the Bible the charter of the town of Brooksville and the Ten Commandments its ordinances. Henderson said the now-unincorporated village's 500 residents would vote in their churches on any disputes that come up.

"I've watched the issue of the separation of church and state get out of control," Henderson told the Times. "What we are trying to do, with this little country crossroads, is bring together the church and the state. We want to make life make sense again, for people."

Experts at the Alabama League of Cities said the plan appears to conflict with state law, which requires cities to be governed by a mayor and city council. It also appears to conflict with the U.S. Constitution.

Drunk Driver Gets Manslaughter Sentence In Death Of Jehovah's Witness Who Refused Transfusion

A drunk driver was convicted of manslaughter rather than murder in the death of a Jehovah's Witness who died after refusing a blood transfusion.

Keith Cook, 32, was convicted Dec. 18 of gross vehicular manslaughter, driving under the influence and injuring the daughter of the woman who died. The Pomona, Calif., jury deliberated for three and a half days.

Defense attorney Charles Unger admitted that Cook could be held responsible for the traffic accident, but argued that his client should not be found guilty of murder. Jadine Russell died, Unger contended, because she refused blood transfusions in accordance with her religious beliefs.

Court To Ohio City: Lay Down Your Cross

An Ohio town that features a Christian cross on its official seal is violating the separation of church and state, a federal court has ruled.

In a Dec. 16 decision, Judge Dan Poster said the Stow seal, which includes a cross on one of its quadrants, has the unconstitutional effect of "advancing and promoting the Christian religion." He rejected the city's argument that the cross on the seal is not necessarily Christian because it is stylized and does not have nails.

Observed Poster, "A `reasonable observer,' when looking at the Stow seal on official documents, vehicles, etc., would conclude that there is some official connection between the city and Christianity. This is precisely what the Constitution of the United States prohibits."

The federal judge noted, however, that a more generic nod to religion, such as hands clasped in prayer or a reference to God, might pass constitutional muster.

Mayor Donald J. Coughlin Sr. told the Cleveland Plain Dealer he thinks the ACLU of Ohio v. City of Stow decision should not be appealed, but the council voted 5-2 Jan. 14 to do so anyway. The city has received legal assistance from TV preacher Pat Robertson's American Center for Law and Justice.

West Virginia Teacher May Skip `Mark Of The Beast'

A West Virginia teacher won't have to wear a bar-coded ID card he believes may be the biblical "mark of the beast."

Philip Hudok, a physics and chemistry teacher at Elkins High School, has struck a deal with school officials that allows him to wear an identification card without a bar code. Hudok thinks the bar code may be the Antichrist emblem prophesied in the Book of Revelation.

The Randolph County Board of Education adopted the ID system as part of a new safety plan for students and teachers. In January, the board approved the compromise with Hudok, but rejected his request that all students also be given the choice of omitting the bar code.

Hudok receive legal help from the Rutherford Institute, a Religious Right group based in Charlottesville, Va.

Court Blocks Preaching At Public School Graduation

Public school students do not have a constitutional right to preach to a captive audience during public school graduation ceremonies, a federal court in California has ruled.

U.S. District Judge Lawrence Karlton dismissed a lawsuit against the Oroville Union High School District filed by former students Ferrin Cole and Chris Niemeyer last June. Niemeyer, the valedictorian and Cole, who was selected by the senior class to give an invocation, sued the school after administrators refused to let them deliver sermon-like addresses during the ceremony.

Karlton ruled that the graduation ceremony "was not a public forum" and that the district had legitimate concerns in making certain that the ceremony did not "offend or intrude upon the religious sensibilities of other students."

Cole and Niemeyer's case was handled by the Rutherford Institute, a Virginia-based Religious Right legal group. (Cole and Niemeyer v. Oroville Union High School District)

Wisconsin Assembly Speaker Calls For `Faith-Based' Solutions To Fix Social Problems

The newly re-elected speaker of the Wisconsin Assembly has called on the state to use "faith-based" resources to solve a variety of social problems.

Scott Jensen (R-Waukesha) made the comments after his swearing in Jan. 4, reported the Madison Capital Times. He criticized the government for elbowing "faith out of the public square and attempt[ing] to fill the `God-shaped hole' in our cultural fabric with legions of bureaucrats, reams of regulations and a torrent of taxes."

Continued Jensen, "For too long ... government has made communities of faith adversaries in its bureaucratic attempts to build a civil society. It is time we welcome back our churches and temples, our synagogues and mosques as full participants in our work to address the pressing issues facing our state."

Falwell Says Antichrist Is Alive And Jewish

The Rev. Jerry Falwell has angered Jewish and other religious leaders by claiming that the Antichrist prophesied in the biblical Book of Revelation is a Jewish man living today.

Addressing a Jan. 14 conference of fundamentalist pastors in Kingsport, Tenn., Falwell said the Antichrist has to be Jewish because Christ was a Jew. "Is he alive and here today? Probably," Falwell said. "Because when he appears during the Tribulation period, he will be a full-grown counterfeit of Christ. Of course, he'll be Jewish. Of course, he'll pretend to be Christ. And if, in fact, the Lord is coming soon, and he'll be an adult at the presentation of himself, he must be alive somewhere today."

Abraham H. Foxman, director of the Anti-Defamation League, accused Falwell of promoting anti-Semitism. "In identifying the Antichrist as a living Jewish man, Rev. Falwell draws from an especially vicious tradition of Christian theological anti-Judaism," Foxman said. "It appears clear that after years of Christian-Jewish dialogue, Rev. Falwell hasn't learned a thing."

In Richmond, Va., Roman Catholic Bishop Walter F. Sullivan issued a statement condemning Falwell's remarks. "Rev. Falwell's claims are an absolute offense to our Jewish sisters and brothers," read the statement. "They deserve our strictest rejection, rebuttal and condemnation." In a separate letter to the Richmond Times-Dispatch, Sullivan added that Falwell's comments are "as reprehensible as they are outrageous" and that they "incite prejudice and hatred."

Falwell later issued a statement attempting to clarify his remarks. "This belief is 2,000 years old and has no anti-Semitic roots," Falwell said. "This is simply historic and prophetic orthodox Christian doctrine that most theologians, Christian and non-Christian, have understood for two millennia."