April 7, 1999

National Notes
___ Court rejects prayer appeal. The Supreme Court on March 29 rejected the appeal of a Utah man who sought to open a local city council meeting with a controversial prayer. Without comment, the high court refused to hear the case of Snyder vs. Murray City, upholding an earlier federal appeals court ruling which declared Tom Snyder's planned prayer more of a "political harangue" that fell outside this nation's "long-accepted genre of legislative prayer." In addition to addressing "our Mother, who art in heaven (if, indeed there is a heaven and if there is a god that takes a woman's form)," Snyder's proposed prayer asked "that you deliver us from the evil of forced religious worship," and questioned "if in fact you had a son that visited Earth."

___ Jury awards church employees. A Montgomery County, Md., jury has awarded $169,000 to three former employees of a Christian school who claimed they were fired based on their religion. The jury found that Montrose Christian School in Rockville violated religious protections in the county's anti-discrimination law. The school said the three employees were fired for reasons other than their religion and that membership in the sponsoring Montrose Baptist Church was not required.
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___ RU-486 could be available soon. The American company licensed to market RU-486 says the controversial abortion pill could be available by the end of this year. The Danco Group, a start-up pharmaceutical company in New York, has begun discussing with doctors how to prescribe and administer the drug, the Washington Post reported. But a Southern Baptist member of Congress still plans to work against FDA approval of the drug. The press secretary for Rep. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., said the congressman "will fight it."

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