National Notes
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Court upholds Bible-quoting. In a unanimous decision, the Ohio Supreme Court has upheld a 51-year prison sentence imposed by a judge who quoted a Bible verse when punishing a man for the rape of an 8-year-old girl. Last year an appeals court overturned the sentence, saying the judge acted outside Ohio's sentencing guidelines. The state Supreme Court disagreed. The state's high court decided in a 7-0 ruling that Hamilton County Judge Melba Marsh did not violate the due process rights of the defendant. During her 1988 sentencing, Marsh quoted a verse that says anyone who offends a child would be better off if "a millstone were hanged around his neck, and that he were drowned in the depths of the sea."
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___ Court supports student fees. Public universities may use mandatory student fees to fund a variety of college groups, even if students find some of those groups objectionable, a unanimous U.S. Supreme Court ruled March 22. The court upheld the University of Wisconsin's program of disbursing student fees to campus groups and reversed a lower-court ruling. The program was challenged by conservative students who said they should not be forced to subsidize groups counter to their religious and political views.
___ Commandments OK in Indiana. Indiana Gov. Frank O'Bannon signed legislation March 14 declaring it legal to post the Ten Commandments in schools and other government offices. O'Bannon, a Democrat, also ordered a new monument to be erected on the statehouse grounds that will feature a display of the Ten Commandments, the preamble to the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. The new Indiana legislation allows posting of the Commandments if displayed alongside other historical documents.
___ Survey portrays average atheist. A new survey finds the typical U.S. atheist or agnostic is male, 58 years old and has at least one college degree. The Freedom from Religion Foundation surveyed its nearly 4,000 members and found 17 percent had been raised in areligious or anti-religious homes, 29 percent had rejected Roman Catholicism, 19 percent left behind Methodist teachings, 14.5 percent rejected the Baptist faith, 12 percent gave up Lutheranism and 9 percent rejected Presbyterianism.
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