The Associated Press
Thursday, Oct. 25, 2001; 12:02 p.m. EDT

BOSTON –– The Unitarian Universalist Association has settled a trademark lawsuit against a maverick group that accused the denomination of replacing spirituality with social activism.

The rival American Unitarian Association has agreed to change its name to the American Unitarian Conference, the two sides said in a joint statement Oct. 20.

"Our goal is to promote traditional Unitarianism," said David Burton, president of the American Unitarian Conference. "We reached the conclusion that going forward under a new name would better enable us to achieve our goals than devoting resources to continuing litigation."

The Unitarian Universalist Association had argued the name American Unitarian Association, which they never registered as a trademark, became their property in 1961 when Unitarians and Universalists merged.

The Rev. William Sinkford, president of the Unitarian Universalist Association, said the goal of the lawsuit was to protect his group's right to the name, not challenge the existence of Burton's organization.

"I will operate on the assumption that this dispute was among persons of good faith," Sinkford said.

The Unitarians, with roots in a movement that rejected Puritan orthodoxy in New England, are famously resistant to dogma, instead supporting a free search for spiritual truth. The denomination also has a long history of support for progressive causes, such as civil rights.

–––

http://www.uua.org/main.html

http://www.americanunitarian.org/

–––

Religious leaders ask Bush to remember the poor in his economic policy-making

WASHINGTON (AP) – Christian, Muslim and Jewish religious leaders have urged President Bush to remember the poor as he develops his economic stimulus plan.

The religious leaders asked Bush to increase funding for food stamps, increase the federal minimum wage by $1.50 and take other steps to help low-income people. The federal minimum wage is now $5.15 an hour.

The interfaith group expressed special concern for the thousands of workers in the hotel, restaurant and airline industries, laid off after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, along with retail and factory workers who live "paycheck to paycheck.

"With our economy sputtering, and layoffs mounting by the tens of thousands, the first to feel the effects are those at the bottom of the economic ladder," the leaders wrote in the Oct. 18 letter to Bush, sent by the Christian anti-hunger organization Bread for the World.

Among those who signed the letter were representatives of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, the Islamic Society of North America, the National Congress of Black Churches, the Unitarian Universalist Association, and the United Methodist Church, Bush's own denomination.

–––

http://www.bread.org/

–––

Conservative Jewish scholars nix Internet minyan, but OK some Web, phone prayer

NEW YORK (AP) – A panel of Conservative Jewish scholars has ruled that a person participating in prayers with other Jews over the phone or Internet cannot be counted toward the quorum needed for communal prayer.

But individual Jews can fulfill some personal religious duties over the phone or Web by linking to a quorum that is already formed, according to the Rabbinical Assembly's Committee on Jewish Law and Standards.

The ruling, published in the fall issue of the magazine of the Jewish Theological Seminary, examines the definition of the quorum, called a minyan, in light of technological advances.

The scholars based their decision on laws they say oblige Jews to be in the same physical space to form a minyan, which requires a minimum of 10 participants.

In allowing the individual to join the minyan by an audio link, the scholars looked to laws that state once a minyan is formed, someone who is not part of the group, but overhears and responds, can fulfill many prayer obligations.

Chat rooms and e-mail communications do not qualify, according to the ruling.

"To allow accessing a minyan from remote locations is to reduce the need of individuals to go out of their way to attend the minyan," the scholars wrote. "But to rule against it would also be a hardship with regard to shut-ins and nursing home patients."

–––

http://www.jtsa.edu/news/press/20012002/20011004.shtml

–––

Michigan Catholic leaders launch antisprawl campaign

DETROIT (AP) – Michigan Roman Catholics who see urban sprawl as a moral issue are backing a campaign to promote balanced growth.

Clergy and lay members of the Archdiocese of Detroit, joined experts on sprawl for two days this month at Sacred Heart Seminary, where they planned a statewide effort to raise awareness about growing inequality among southeast Michigan cities.

Detroit and many suburbs are facing more poverty, racial isolation and property abandonment, while services dwindle, they said. Subdivisions are taking over acres of land, drawing newcomers who overwhelm roads, sewers, lakes and rivers, they said.

All this is happening in an era when southeast Michigan has had little overall population growth, activists said.

"The church getting involved in sprawl could be a breakthrough," said Heaster Wheeler, of the Detroit office of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

Nine of 10 Catholics in southeast Michigan now live in the suburbs. In the late 1980s, the archdiocese closed 35 churches within the city limits. The archdiocese raises funds to keep open the remaining Catholic schools for Detroit's mostly non-Catholic population.

–––

Lawsuit claims anti-Semitism at Minnesota's St. Cloud State University

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Three Jewish professors and a student have sued St. Cloud State University, arguing Jewish faculty are paid less and are denied promotions, as part of a pattern of anti-Semitism at the school.

School administrators would not comment directly on the case, but insisted they work to create a welcoming environment at the university.

"When concerns are raised, the university takes appropriate steps to respond," administrators said in the statement.

The suit comes after the release in July of a report the school commissioned from the Jewish Community Relations Council of Minnesota and the Dakotas. That study concluded anti-Semitism was a problem on campus.

Among the plaintiffs is historian Arie Zmora, who spent two years at the school. He said he was denied an interview for a tenure-track job because of a talk he gave on the Holocaust.

"The chair of the history department asked me why Jews don't believe in Jesus Christ," he said.

The other plaintiffs are Geoffrey Tabakin, associate education professor; history professor Laurinda Stryker; and student Robbi Hoy, who is not Jewish. Hoy said a dean changed her grade from an "A" to an incomplete after she helped organize a forum on anti-Semitism.

The suit was filed in federal court Oct. 17, seeking unspecified monetary damages and class-action status.