Groups File Brief On Commandments
An alliance representing Hindus, Buddhists and Jains is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to remove a Ten Commandments monument from government property, arguing that the Decalogue is a Judeo-Christian moral code, not a universal one.
The Hindu American Foundation, spearheading a group of nine organizations, made its position official this month by filing a brief in a case in which the plaintiff aims to purge the Texas Capitol grounds of a six-foot-tall Ten Commandments monument.
In submitting its brief with signatories from such groups as the Federation of Jain Associations in North America, the Hindu American Foundation said it was speaking on behalf of millions of religious minorities. Robert Thurman, a prominent Buddhist scholar and director of Tibet House in New York, also signed the brief.
"The brief makes it clear that the co-signatories regard the Ten Commandments with utmost respect," said Suhag Shukla, the foundation's legal counsel. "But the overtly religious monument is a blow to pluralism, and its prominent presence on Texas Capitol grounds implies political and social exclusion of Hindus, Jains and Buddhists alike."
The Supreme Court in October agreed to review a federal appeals court ruling in favor of keeping the monument. The court will hear a similar case from Kentucky. Decisions in both cases are expected in 2005.
Religious organizations are lining up on both sides of the issue. The Washington-based Becket Fund for Religious Liberty also filed a brief this month, supporting the petitioners' position in the Kentucky case that a Ten Commandments display on public property does not violate the Constitution's establishment clause.
-- Religion News Service
Baptists Seek Unity
The 25 regional executives of the 1.5 million-member American Baptist Churches in the USA jointly announced that the denomination's controversy over homosexuality "threatens to break us apart."
A pastoral statement to "preserve unity," released this month after a meeting of denominational leaders in Valley Forge, Pa., said the leaders had agreed to "voluntarily refrain from" naming sexually active gay men and lesbians to national and regional positions.
The leaders also said they would not participate in same-sex marriage ceremonies but pledged to shun "homophobic behavior."
"We further pledge to continue listening to those who hold differing viewpoints," they said.
The executives will give a follow-up report to the Baptists' General Board in June, before the denomination's biennial meeting.
Liberal policy on gays in some American Baptist congregations was one reason cited by the Southern Baptist Convention decision in June to end 99 years of affiliation with the Baptist World Alliance, of which American Baptist Churches is part.
-- Associated Press
