Faith Digest: ACLU sues over inmate’s right to preach

ACLU sues over inmate’s right to preach. The American Civil Liberties Union has filed suit on behalf of a New Jersey prison inmate who was ordained behind bars eight years ago and now contends his religious freedoms were violated when prison officials forbade him from preaching. Howard Thompson, convicted of murder in 1985 and sentenced to 30 years to life in prison, was ordained as a Pentecostal minister in 2000 and preached regularly for other prisoners for years before corrections officials prohibited preaching by inmates in June 2007. Edward Barocus, legal director of the ACLU in New Jersey, said the ban is unnecessary and that preaching is an essential part of Thompson’s Pentecostal Christian faith.

 
Bush signs anti-trafficking bill. Religious leaders hailed President Bush’s signing of a bill that continues U.S. efforts to combat human trafficking across the globe. Two days before Christmas, Bush signed the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, which aims to prevent and prosecute trafficking of humans in foreign countries and assist its victims. The bill, which passed both houses of Congress Dec. 10, is named after a 19th-century British abolitionist.

 
Alabama church named nation’s fastest-growing. Church of the Highlands in Birmingham, Ala., has been named the fastest-growing church in the United States by Outreach magazine. In the yearlong survey of church attendance ending in spring 2008, Highlands grew by 3,418 from the previous year—a jump of 72 percent—to 8,168. And in the months since, attendance has increased by more than 2,500 at its main campus and three satellite branches, said Pastor Chris Hodges, 45, who founded the church just seven years ago. Weekly attendance exceeds 10,000 and was 11,670 on Easter. Hodges, who grew up in Baton Rouge, La., as a Southern Baptist, leans toward Pentecostal theology, but Highlands is independent. In addition to the fastest-growing churches, Outreach magazine listed the 100 largest. Church of the Highlands ranked No. 71 on that list. At the top was Lakewood Church in Houston, led by Pastor Joel Osteen, which reported weekly attendance of 43,500.

 
Obama to use Lincoln’s Bible at swearing-in. President-elect Barack Obama has chosen the Bible used at President Lincoln’s first inauguration for his own swearing-in Jan. 20, inaugural planners announced. It will be the first time a president has used the historic Bible at an inauguration since it was used by Lincoln himself in 1861. The Bible, which is accented with gilded edges and bound in burgundy velvet, is part of the collection of the Library of Congress, along with the Lincolns’ family Bible. It originally was purchased by Clerk of the Supreme Court William Thomas Carroll. The Lincolns’ family Bible was not available at the time of Lincoln’s swearing-in ceremony because it was packed with belongings that were en route to the White House from Springfield, Ill.