Faith Digest: Campus Crusade ditches name

Campus Crusade ditches name. Campus Crusade for Christ is out. "Cru" is in. The 60-year-old evangelical ministry announced its new name at a recent staff conference in Fort Collins, Colo., saying the old name had become problematic. "We've been having issues with two words in the name—'campus' and 'crusade,'" said Steve Sellers, a vice president who oversees the ministry's U.S. operations. Although the Orlando, Fla.-based organization began on campuses in 1951, it has expanded to more than two-dozen ministries. And while the word "crusade" once referred to the large, stadium events held by evangelists like Billy Graham, officials believe it now is more associated with the historic Crusades in the Middle East.

Court says store discriminated against Muslim. Abercrombie & Fitch violated civil rights law when the clothier refused to hire a Muslim woman because she wears a headscarf, a federal district court has ruled. Samantha Elauf applied for a job at the retailer in Tulsa, Okla., in 2008, and learned she was rejected because she wears a headscarf, known as a hijab. The company, known for its catalogs of models in skimpy clothes, argued that the hijab violated its "look policy," and that it has a right to pursue its branding strategy. But the Oklahoma federal judge ruled the company did not prove it would hurt business to allow Elauf to wear the hijab, a symbol of faith and modesty for many Muslim women. Abercrombie & Fitch could not be reached for comment.

Greek churches feel economic pinch. Minority Protestant Christian churches in Greece are closing down their charity work and are having trouble paying clergy salaries because of the economic crisis, according to church leaders in Athens. Dimitrios Boukis, general secretary of the Greek Evangelical Church, noting a sharp drop in revenue, said, "We're already unable to pay the pensions of older pastors and their widows, and we've seen a rapid increase in requests for help from local parishioners." Even the Orthodox Church of Greece, which covers 97 percent of the population and enjoys state recognition, is cutting back its social and charitable work. Greek Orthodox clergy must accept a 50 percent reduction in their state-paid salaries.

Hindus sue restaurant over meat mistake. A New Jersey state appellate court panel ruled a group of Hindus can sue a restaurant for the cost of a trip to India, where they say they must purify their souls after eating meat. The decision reinstates a lawsuit filed against Moghul Express, a restaurant that admitted it accidentally served meat-filled pastries to 16 Hindus whose religion forbids them from eating nonvegetarian food. The diners said the mix-up has harmed them spiritually and monetarily, and that to cleanse themselves of their sin—even though it was committed unknowingly—they must participate in a purification ritual in the Ganges River. Hinduism, the third largest religion in the world and dominant in the Indian subcontinent, holds that meat consumption affects the purity of the soul and that those who eat meat cannot be with God after death.

—Compiled from Religion News Service