Religion News Briefs

Ebola survivor returning to Liberia

WORCESTER, Mass. — The Massachusetts doctor who beat Ebola says he’s returning to Liberia, where he contracted the deadly virus.

Dr. Rick Sacra says he’ll spend several weeks helping overworked colleagues in the missionary hospital where he worked for years, and then return to the United States next month.

The 52-year-old Sacra expects to mostly treat patients with malaria and health issues such as high blood pressure and diabetes at ELWA, a hospital in the Liberian capital of Monrovia that is run by Serving In Mission, a North Carolina-based Christian organization.

Sacra says he won’t be working directly with Ebola patients but might be asked to help from time to time, since doctors say he’s now immune.

— The Associated Press

Rally backs fired Atlanta fire chief

ATLANTA — Supporters of fired Atlanta Fire Chief Kelvin Cochran packed Georgia’s capitol Rotunda to protest what they consider unjust persecution he has suffered for expressing his religious beliefs.

Mayor Kasim Reed suspended and then fired Cochran after learning he had self-published a book that described homosexuality as a perversion.

At Tuesday’s rally, Cochran said his termination sent a message to Bible-believing Christians that “you’d better keep your mouth shut or you’ll be fired.”

Cochran said he was given approval to publish his book by the city’s ethics officer, but Reed has said the officer never granted the approval. Reed said Cochran was fired for poor judgment, not for his faith, and for leaving the city vulnerable to discrimination lawsuits.

— The Associated Press

King Bible, Nobel focus of lawsuit

ATLANTA — One of the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s sons has declined to say whether his father’s 1964 Nobel Peace Prize and traveling Bible would be sold if an Atlanta judge rules they belong to the civil rights icon’s estate.

Dexter Scott King spoke to reporters after a hearing in a legal dispute that has pitted King’s two sons against his daughter.

King’s estate includes Martin Luther King III and Bernice King. The two brothers voted last year to ask a judge to order their sister to surrender the Bible and Nobel Peace Prize so it can be sold to a private buyer.

Bernice King said in February that her brothers’ plan to sell two of their father’s most cherished items was unthinkable.

— The Associated Press

Cleric praises Paris attackers

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A hard-line cleric in northwest Pakistan has led a memorial service for the two brothers who attacked the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo in Paris, praising their assault.

Pir Mohammad Chishti, who runs a religious seminary in the city of Peshawar, led the prayers Tuesday. About 40 people attended, with some carrying banners condemning the magazine. They chanted praise for Said Kouachi and Cherif Kouachi, who massacred 12 people in the newspaper attack last week and were later killed by police.

Charlie Hebdo often lampoons religions, including Islam, by drawing cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad. Such depictions are considered blasphemous by many Muslims.

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