LITTLE ROCK — Pastor: Return confiscated snakes
MIDDLESBORO, Ky. - An eastern Kentucky pastor wants Tennessee wildlife officials to return five venomous snakes confiscated in Knoxville.
Gregory Coots, who’s known as Jamie Coots, is pastor at the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Jesus Name Church in Middlesboro.
Coots handles the snakes as part of worship services.
He told WYMT-TV in Hazard, Ky., he bought three rattlesnakes and two copperheads in Alabama on Jan. 31. While he was driving through Knoxville, police stopped Coots for dark window tinting and saw the cages containing the snakes. A state wildlife officer confiscated them.
The district attorney general’s office in Knoxville says Coots is charged with illegally possessing and transporting wildlife. Coots said he now has a permit for snakes in Kentucky.
- The Associated Press
Lutheran regrets pastor reprimand
ST. LOUIS - The president of a conservative Lutheran denomination has apologized for reprimanding a Newtown, Conn., pastor who participated in an interfaith prayer vigil in apparent violation of the church’s constitution.
The Rev. Rob Morris of Christ the King Lutheran Church offered the benediction at the Dec.
16 vigil with other religious leaders - including Jewish, Muslim and Baha’i - for victims of the shootings at the Sandy Hook Elementary School.
Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod President Matthew Harrison subsequently reprimanded Morris, saying the synod constitution bars joint worship for fear of giving the appearance that theological differences about salvation and other doctrines are not significant.
On Monday, Harrison posted a video apology on the synod website saying his actions had only made things worse.
- The Associated Press
OK given to bury Jewish holy items
MONROE, N.Y. - A Hudson Valley organization has been given authorization from New York state to properly dispose of Jewish books and other sacred objects damaged by Superstorm Sandy.
State Assemblyman Dov Hikind of Brooklyn says the Department of Environmental Conservation has granted burial rights to Beth Genizah Olam in the Orange County town of Monroe, 45 miles north of New York.
The Jewish religion forbids certain holy objects from being discarded in the trash. Such objects, known as shaimos, must be disposed of in a respectful manner.
- The Associated Press
Phony counselor sentenced to jail
WEST JORDAN, Utah - A state judge has sentenced a man accused of posing as a Mormon marriage counselor to three years in jail and five years’ probation for sexual misconduct.
In August, a jury convicted 59-year-old Arturo Tenorio of two counts of felony forcible sex abuse involving two female victims. On Tuesday, Tenorio was charged with two more counts of felony sex abuse involving two additional victims.
Police said Tenorio posed as a therapist, counseling couples referred to him through a Utah County bishop from a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints congregation.
Religion, Pages 12 on 02/16/2013