Faith Digest: Appeals court upholds ban on religious songs

Appeals court upholds ban on religious songs. A federal appeals court in New Jersey has upheld a policy that allows secular holiday songs but prohibits religious Christmas carols in Maplewood-South Orange public schools. A three-judge panel of the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said there was “no constitutional violation” in the policy because other constitutional principles require public schools to remain strictly secular environments. A parent, Michael Stratechuk, filed a lawsuit five years ago, saying the school district’s ban on all religious music is a violation of the First Amendment. Stratechuk’s lawyer, Robert J. Muise of the Thomas More Law Center, said: “The establishment clause requires the government to be neutral to religion. A policy that makes exclusions based solely on religion is hardly a policy that is neutral to religion.” Muise said he and his client will ask the full court to rehear the case. If denied, they may appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Americans oppose funding for Muslim charities. Americans look less favorably on mosques applying for government funding than other religious charities, a new survey shows. While 27 percent of U.S. adults polled oppose religious charities applying for government funding to provide services to the needy, more than half—52 percent—were against Muslim houses of worship being eligible for such money, reports the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. The results of the telephone survey were based on a total nationwide sample of 4,013 adults and have a margin of error of plus or minus 2.0 percentage points.

Religion-based hate crimes up. Hate crime incidents targeting people based on their religion were at their highest frequency last year since 2001, according to a new report, compiled by the Anti-Defamation League from FBI data. The report found 1,519 religious hate crimes in 2008, accounting for about 20 percent of all bias crimes. It was an increase from 2007, when 1,400 crimes of religious bias were reported. There were 1,013 hate crimes against Jews last year, accounting for about two-thirds of all religious bias crimes. Overall, hate crimes rose slightly in 2008, with participating agencies reporting 7,783 bias crimes. Racial bias accounted for about half of all those reported, with attacks aimed at ethnicity and sexual orientation accounting for much of the balance.

Higher calling, smaller crowd for organist. For six seasons, Ed Alstrom has performed regularly as organist for 50,000-plus fans at weekend games in one of the nation’s highest-profile venues—Yankee Stadium. Now, he’s got a second gig where crowds usually top out at about 200 at Morristown’s Episcopal Church of the Redeemer. He began his job at Redeemer one week after his organ music accompanied the Yankees’ clinching victory over the Los Angeles Angels in the American League Championship Series and four days after he played for Game 1 of the World Series, which the Yankees went on to win. Alstrom’s Yankee Stadium experience dates to 2004, but his church experience is far deeper. He has more than 30 years of playing at churches across northern New Jersey.