Diverse religious display OK, A.G. says
RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Local governments can offer religious holiday displays, provided other beliefs are allowed to display their holiday symbols, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli wrote in an advisory opinion.
Cuccinelli publicly released the opinion Tuesday, responding to a request by Del. Robert G. Marshall, who asked under what conditions Loudoun County would be permitted to display the "birth of Jesus Christ."
In his response, Cuccinelli said a local government can erect Christmas displays on public property as long as other faiths and beliefs are represented.
In an opinion loaded with footnotes, Cuccinelli wrote that Loudoun County "is free to create a nondiscriminatory forum for recognition of holidays, including Christmas, if it makes clear that the county itself is not communicating a religious message."
Home schooling on the rise in Texas
HOUSTON (AP) — The number of students being home-schooled in Texas is on the rise, with some 300,000 children staying home when the school term started Monday.
According to the Texas Home School Coalition, the number of Texans opting to home school has grown about 20 percent to an estimated 120,000 families and 300,000 children in the past five years. Roughly 4.5 million Texas children returned to public school this week.
"The economy does have an impact on folks," said Tim Lambert, coalition president. "We saw families last year who had their kids in a private school, times were tough and they couldn't afford to do that anymore, but they didn't want to put them in a public school."
The National Center for Education Statistics reports that families primarily opted to home school because they wanted to provide religious or moral lessons to their children. Parental concerns about safety, peer pressure and the academic instruction at traditional schools were other reasons cited.
In Texas, parents who wish to home school are not required to register with any agency or to get their curriculum approved. Legal rulings have upheld that parents simply are supposed to have a curriculum that teaches reading, spelling, grammar, math and good citizenship.
Vandals strike at Muslim prayer hall
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Vandals splashed red paint on a Muslim prayer hall and left a broken beer bottle there in Malaysia's first known attack on a place of worship since a string of similar incidents eight months ago.
Religious tensions had intensified in the Muslim-majority country after a court ruled last December that Malaysian Christians could use the word "Allah" in their literature to refer to God. Arson and vandalism were reported in January at 11 churches, a Sikh temple, three mosques and two Muslim prayer rooms.
The assaults abated after authorities stepped up patrols at places of worship and urged people not to undermine decades of amicable relations between the ethnic Malay Muslim majority and ethnic Chinese and Indians, who mostly practice Buddhism, Christianity and Hinduism.
On Monday, police discovered paint on the walls of a small Muslim prayer building and broken glass from a beer bottle outside the hall in central Negri Sembilan state, said Mohamad Zaki Masroh, director of the state's criminal investigation department.
Officials have no suspects yet or any leads on a motive for the attack, he said, adding that he hoped the public would remain calm and allow police to investigate the case.
Minorities sometimes complain their religious rights are not respected by the government, which denies any bias.
Diocese says Laingsburg priest molested at least half-dozen boys in 1950s and 1960s
LANSING, Mich. (AP) — A priest molested at least a half-dozen boys in the 1950s and 1960s, according to the Catholic Diocese of Lansing, which has been looking into the matter over the past two months.
Officials with the diocese announced the findings on Monday and urged others who may have been abused by the Rev. John Martin to come forward so they can receive counseling.
"I pray to God there are no more victims," said Bishop Earl Boyea, leader of the diocese that serves more than 200,000 Catholics in 10 counties. "Think about these men carrying that burden all these years."
Boyea said he learned of the abuse claims on June 10 after two men told their stories to the Rev. Duaine Pamment, who is the pastor at St. Isidore Catholic Church in Laingsburg.
Martin was pastor of St. Isidore from 1941 to 1966. He died in 1968.
Notices were placed in church bulletins asking anyone with concerns about Martin's pastorate to contact Monsignor Steven Raica, chancellor of the diocese. The additional victims then came forward.