USA Update
___ Alabama judge keeps commandments. Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore, who became famous when he placed his homemade plaque of the Ten Commandments in his federal courtroom, has chosen to hang the biblical laws in his office rather than the Supreme Court chamber where he now presides. Moore now is chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. Moore's clerk said the justice placed the ornament on a wall in his outer office rather than in his new courtroom. He fought in federal and state court to keep the plaque in his Gadsden courtroom, where he was a circuit judge until he won the November race for chief justice.
___ Attention focused on Sudan. Aiming to draw attention to the Sudanese government's treatment of Christians, a federal commission on religious freedom Jan. 30 urged the Bush administration to help ease the plight of Christians in the war-torn country. In its annual report issued last May, the commission urged Washington to help end the 17-year-old civil war in Sudan by, among other actions, tightening sanctions against the country, creating a "military no-fly zone" over Sudan, and pressuring the Sudanese government to end human rights violations.
___ Clinton will keep advisers. President Clinton has decided to continue meeting weekly with three spiritual advisers after leaving the White House. Tony Campolo, one of the three clerics who have met regularly with Clinton, said the president wants to keep the meetings going.
___The other two advisers are Philip Wogaman, senior minister at Foundry United Methodist Church in Washington, and Gordon MacDonald, a writer and speaker based in Canterbury, N.H.
___ Illinois adds standards for capital cases. Joining just a handful of states that have such written regulations, the Illinois State Supreme Court voted Jan. 22 for some of the nation's toughest experience standards for attorneys and judges involved in capital murder trials. The new rules require a minimum of five years of experience in criminal litigation (including at least two murder trials) for both the lead defense attorney and the prosecuting attorney. No experience levels had been required in the past.
___ Samaritan's Purse ranked tops. Samaritan's Purse, the Christian relief agency headed by evangelist Franklin Graham, has been cited as the most efficient religious charity by Smart Money magazine. The designation was based on the magazine's calculations of charities' program, fund-raising and savings ratios. The rest of the top five religious charities were, in descending order, Wycliffe Bible Translators, Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, Focus on the Family and Campus Crusade for Christ. The survey only encompassed para-church ministries and did not examine denominationally based mission programs and ministries.
___ Utah claims missionaries should be counted. Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt has filed suit to challenge the U.S. Census for not including more than 14,000 Mormon missionaries working overseas in its count, possibly costing the state a congressional seat. If Utah wins, North Carolina would lose the seat it just gained. The U.S. Census Bureau counts diplomats, military personnel and other federal employees and dependents living overseas temporarily, but does not include missionaries.
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