Americans pin poverty passage on president, not proverbs. More Americans believe a statement about giving “justice to the poor and homeless” came from President Obama instead of its true source, the Bible. A survey conducted by Harris Interactive for the American Bible Society found 54 percent of adults in the United States polled believe the statement—“You must defend those who are helpless and have no hope. Be fair and give justice to the poor and homeless”—came from a celebrity or politician, when the statement actually comes from Proverbs 31:8. Of the 1,001 adults surveyed, 16 percent believed the statement came from Obama; 13 percent said it came from the Bible. Other popular answers included the Dalai Lama, Martin Luther King Jr. and Oprah Winfrey.
Christian Legal Society case headed to Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to hear the case of an evangelical Christian group prevented from being recognized as a campus organization at a California law school because it excluded gays and lesbians. The Christian Legal Society sued to be officially recognized at the public Hastings College of Law at the University of California in San Francisco but was denied because it excluded gays. Officials from the group said the school’s policy violated their freedoms of speech, religion and association. Hastings maintained the organization must comply with the school’s nondiscrimination policy to receive formal recognition, which gives them access to resources and travel funds. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in favor of the school.
Prisoner/minister wins right to preach. A New Jersey inmate who was ordained a Pentecostal minister in prison nine years ago but was banned from preaching behind bars won back that right in a negotiated settlement stemming from his lawsuit. Howard N. Thompson Jr., convicted of murder in 1985 and sentenced to 30 years to life in prison, had preached at New Jersey State Prison in Trenton regularly for years until corrections officers prohibited preaching by inmates in 2007. A negotiated settlement between the state attorney general and the American Civil Liberties Union, working on Thompson’s behalf, permits Thompson to preach with the consent of a prison chaplain or volunteer leading the service who must review an advance outline of his message.
Muslim group reports increased discrimination. Muslim Americans faced more anti-Muslim bias but fewer physical assaults in 2008, according to a report released by the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations. According to the study, the council recorded 2,728 incidents of anti-Muslim discrimination or bias in 2008—an increase of 3 percent from 2007, but hate crimes—incidents involving threats or physical violence—fell 14 percent, from 135 to 116. Almost 31 percent of the complaints stemmed from hate mail and Internet abuse; 21 percent related to legal discrimination; and more than 12 percent stemmed from job discrimination.
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