State Church Bulletin

Court: Religious Refusals Invalid

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals says a lower court erred in a ruling that allowed Washington state pharmacies to refuse to fill valid prescriptions. The ruling sends the case, Stormans v. Selecky, back to a federal district court. The district judge had blocked on grounds of religious liberty the Board of Pharmacy rules mandating that prescriptions be filled.

The appeals court noted that “the rules actually provide for religious accommodation,” but the Board of Pharmacy must eliminate any policy harming patient care.

Pentagon Nixes Godfest Flyover

The Treasure Valley God and Country Festival in Nampa, Idaho, had to do without an Air Force flyover July 1.

The USAF turned down the request due to the festival’s religious focus, said board member Patti Syme, relating the phone discussion she had with someone in officialdom: “And he said, ‘Well, we have looked up your Web site and everything on your Web site seemed to focus on Christianity, ministry booths.’

“And he said, ‘In fact, ma’am, it sounds like it focuses on Christianity.’ And he said, ‘In fact, it would be great to go to. In fact, if I personally could come I would, but we can’t endorse such an endeavor,’ so they couldn’t do the flyover.”

A Defense Department official told FOX News the Air Force denied the request because it violates a Pentagon policy against supporting any event “that provides a selective benefit to any individual, group or organization, including any religious or sectarian organization, ideological movement, political campaign or organization, or commercial enterprise, to include a shopping mall or motion picture promotion.”

Commandments Re­moved in Kentucky

The Ten Commandments are no more in the Jackson County Courthouse in Lexington, Ky.

The county voluntarily removed nine displays of the commandments in the courthouse, including a 3-by-5-foot copy behind the judge’s bench in the courtroom. Gideons International in­stalled them in 1999.

William Smith, county executive, said the move was taken to protect taxpayers from potential civil suit judgments.

Eugene Phillips Jr. and the ACLU are co-plaintiffs in a current suit which seeks to remove the displays. Phillips said he’s a Christian and has nothing against the commandments, but thinks “the government shouldn’t be reaching into religion.”

Two Kentucky counties were ordered earlier this year by a federal judge to pay more than $400,000 to the ACLU and citizens who challenged Ten Commandments displays.

The ruling is being appealed. The cases started in 1999.

2 Virgin Sightings

Usually the Virgin of Guadalupe gets very little ink in the mass media, but that changed in late July, when two different stories made headlines.

The first, datelined Bryan, Texas, told of one family’s experience, which they called a miracle. Salvador Pach­uca was washing his truck when he saw the image of what he says was the Virgin on the outside mirror in the form of a bird dropping.

“I told my brothers come over here and see what this is, and they say this is the Virgin,” Pachuca said.

The colors and shape of the bird leavings were drop-dead similar to the one of the Virgin that is so familiar to the Pachucas.

“We just all feel protected. It's a blessing to our family and to everybody that comes to see it,” said Cristal Pachuca, Salvador’s wife.

The second story is from Marcellus, N.Y., where an artist’s creation as part of a library exhibit has raised hackles.

Artist Geri Keil titled the piece “Bebe Coca.” It’s a papier-mache de­pic­tion of the Virgin of Guadalupe that blends pop culture and religion. At least that was Keil’s intention.

Some saw sacrilege in using a Coke bottle as part of the Virgin’s body and tried to get the exhibit removed. Not true, said Keil, who has lived in Mexico and attests to Coke’s popularity there.

The library board denied the removal request.

Church members held a “Rosary of Reparation to ask God's forgiveness for the sculpture” outside the library.

Parents Acquitted in Daughter’s Death

A jury in Oregon City, Ore., deliberated for six days before acquitting parents of manslaughter in the faith-healing death of their daughter. Carl Worthington, 29, and his wife, Raylene, 26, who is now pregnant, were charged with second-degree manslaughter and criminal mistreatment of their daughter, Ava, who died last year at 15 months of pneumonia. The father was found guilty of misdemeanor criminal mistreatment. The case is the first since the Legislature passed a law in 1999 that bars defenses based on religious practices in most abuse cases.

Worthington was asked by prosecutors if he ever thought of calling a doctor, and replied: “No, it never crossed my mind.” He testified he and members of Followers of Christ Church laid hands on Ava three times the day before she died and gave her watered-down wine. During an interview the night she died, he told police he didn’t believe in doctors.

Ava’s uncle died last March at age 16 of complications from an untreated urinary tract infection. His parents, who belong to the Followers of Christ, go on trial in January for criminally negligent homicide.