Library must stop blocking access
ST. LOUIS - A federal judge has ordered a small library in southern Missouri to stop blocking access to websites related to Wicca and other minority religions, calling it a violation of patrons’ First Amendment rights.
U.S. District Judge E. Richard Webber issued the ruling Tuesday in St. Louis in a case involving the Salem Public Library.
The American Civil Liberties Union sued last year on behalf of Salem resident Anaka Hunter.
Salem is a largely Christian community of 5,000 residents.
Hunter was researching death and death rituals in minority religions in an effort to get more in touch with her American Indian roots through spirituality, the ACLU said.
- The Associated Press
Chaldean church has new patriarch
BAGHDAD - Iraq’s Chaldean Catholic Church enthroned a new patriarch during a ceremonial Mass held under tight security in Baghdad.
The Wednesday Mass at St.
Joseph’s Chaldean church in downtown Baghdad marked the final step as Louis Sako, 64, replaced Emmanuel III Delly, who has retired.
Iraqi troops sealed off all roads leading to the church in the middle-class neighborhood of Karradah. Worshippers were searched by security forces before going in.
Last month, bishops of the Eastern rite church chose Sako, archbishop of Kirkuk since 2003, as their patriarch. Later, Pope Benedict XVI approved the election.
Since the 2003 U.S.-led invasion, Iraqi Christians have experienced repeated violence by Islamic militants and hundreds of thousands have fled the country.
- The Associated Press
Hamas move ends marathon in Gaza
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - The United Nations canceled a planned marathon in Gaza after the Palestinian territory’s Hamas rulers banned women from participating, in a new attempt by the Islamic militant group to impose its ideology inside the crowded coastal strip.
The dispute threatened to further strain the already delicate relationship between Hamas and the United Nations. Gaza women met the news with resignation, saying their conservative society had made it difficult to train even before the ban.
Since seizing power in Gaza in 2007, Hamas has issued a number of edicts meant to constrain the freedoms of women.
The race was meant to run the entire length of the tiny territory - which is slightly shorter than the official length of a 26.2-mile marathon. Some 800 people registered, including 266 Palestinian women and 119 women from abroad.
- The Associated Press
Painting returned to dealer’s estate
BERLIN - A Stuttgart museum has returned a 600-year-old painting to the estate of Jewish art dealer Max Stern, who was forced to sell his collection before fleeing Nazi Germany.
The oil painting The Virgin With Child, attributed to the Master of Flemalle - an unidentified Flemish artist from the early 1400s - was turned over by Staatsgalerie Stuttgart at a ceremony Tuesday at the Canadian Embassy in Berlin.
Stern closed his gallery in 1937 under pressure from the Nazis and sold its paintings before fleeing Germany and resettling in Montreal. He died in 1987.
Religion, Pages 14 on 03/09/2013