Bishop endorses firing gay teacher
COLUMBUS, Ohio - The Roman Catholic bishop in central Ohio says the firing of a gay teacher at a Columbus Catholic school was based not on her sexual orientation but on the need to maintain the institution’s marriage values.
Bishop Frederick Campbell told The Columbus Dispatch that Carla Hale was fired in March because she violated the church’s moral teaching through what he described as a “quasi-spousal relationship” with a woman. He said an extramarital affair by a heterosexual couple would go against the same teaching.
Hale said she was fired by the principal at Bishop Watterson High School after her mother’s published obituary included the name of Hale’s partner, and someone complained. The physical education teacher is fighting to get her job back through a grievance with a teachers’ union and a complaint to the city.
- The Associated Press
Groups: Don’t pick Nablus sister city
BOULDER, Colo. - Some Jewish organizations and residents are calling on Boulder to reject a proposal to make the West Bank town of Nablus the city’s eighth sister city.
Opponents say Nablus would be an inappropriate sister-city partner because of alleged human rights violations under the Palestinian Authority, including reports of honor killings of women.
“That should be disqualifying. Those activities are so far removed from the values of Boulder, which is one of the criteria for a sister-city community that it should not even be considered,” said Bill Cohen, who opposes the proposed pact.
The City Council is expected to hear a presentation on the requests later this year.
- The Associated Press
Groups say imam detained illegally
BANJUL, Gambia - Activists in Gambia are calling on the government to release an imam who has been jailed for five months.
Imam Baba Leigh has been missing since December and is believed to have been detained by Gambia’s National Intelligence Agency.
Hamat Bah of the opposition National Reconciliation Party (NRP) called on the Gambian government to release the Muslim cleric late Tuesday, describing his detention as unconstitutional.
Human rights groups have accused the government of Gambia of carrying out arbitrary arrests, summary executions and torture in recent years. President Yahya Jammeh has ruled the country since he came to power in a coup in 1994.
- The Associated Press
Sex ed book now in Hebrew edition
JERUSALEM - A how-to book translated into Hebrew aims to teach Israel’s Orthodox Jews about sex, targeting an audience typically mum on the steamy subject.
The book, The Newlywed’s Guide to Physical Intimacy, is meant for Israel’s Orthodox Jews, who make up about a quarter of the country’s population.
Under Orthodox Judaism, intercourse is permissible only after marriage and public displays of sexuality are taboo. Many Orthodox Jews do not even touch members of the opposite sex except their spouses and children. But sex is not considered shameful, and procreation is seen as a “mitzvah,” or commandment from God. For this reason, large families are commonplace in Orthodox communities. Yet for many young newlyweds, romance and intimacy are mysteries.
Religion, Pages 12 on 05/04/2013