Faith Digest

Britons want the Queen to keep title as "Defender of the Faith."

Brits want queen as head of church. Nearly three-quarters of people in England believe Queen Elizabeth II should retain her position as titular head of the Church of England, according to an opinion poll commissioned by Britain's largest television and radio broadcaster. The survey, conducted by the polling organization ComRes for the BBC, showed 73 percent favor her remaining as the church's "Supreme Governor" and "Defender of the Faith"—titles held by the monarch since King Henry VIII broke with the pope and Roman Catholicism in the 16th century. ComRes interviewed 2,591 adults in England by telephone between March 30 and April 15. Despite the growing influence of other faiths, largely through immigration and including Muslims, Jews and Sikhs, the English remain steadfast in their support of Queen Elizabeth as head of the Church of England. The BBC poll showed only one-fourth of those interviewed thought the queen and her successors should have no religious role or religious title of any sort—a percentage that has held firm for the past several decades. But should her son and heir apparent, Prince Charles, succeed his mother to the throne, about 50 percent would favor a change he himself has suggested—that instead of "Defender of the Faith," he wear the title of "Defender of Faiths."

Muslims eye legal fight over Kansas law. Muslim civil rights groups are calling a new Kansas law that essentially bans Shariah in state courtrooms an expression of Islamophobia that is vulnerable to a legal challenge. The law, signed by Republican Gov. Sam Brownback, does not specifically mention Shariah, or Islamic law, but it forbids state courts from basing decisions on foreign laws that contradict rights granted by the U.S. Constitution and state constitutions. The Council on American-Islamic Relations and other Muslim groups called the law little more than anti-Muslim propaganda. When asked whether the law would be challenged, CAIR spokesman Ibrahim Hooper said, "Stay tuned." Three states—Arizona, Tennessee and Louisiana—have similar laws on the books. Oklahoma voters approved a ballot initiative that expressly forbids the use of Shariah in legal decisions, but a federal appeals court struck it down in January, calling it a violation of the First Amendment.

Conservative Jews in Israel OK gay rabbinical candidates. The Israeli branch of Conservative Judaism announced its rabbinical school will begin to accept gay and lesbian candidates for ordination. Board members of the Schecter Rabbinical Seminary in Jerusalem voted to enroll gay and lesbian students starting in September. The decision follows years of disagreement between leaders of the Conservative movement in the United States, which permits openly gay and lesbian rabbis, and Masorti leaders in Israel, who have long resisted demands to be more inclusive. The disagreement came to a head about two years ago, when some gay and straight rabbinical students from two U.S.-based seminaries began to refuse to study at Schecter during their mandatory year of study in Israel.