News Briefs

India sets age for

pyramid climbers

NEW DELHI -- India's top court said Thursday that children as young as 12 can climb atop towering human pyramids in a popular Hindu celebration that has seen deaths and injuries in past years.

Devotees celebrate the birthday of the child-god Krishna each August by forming a pyramid with the last climber, usually a child, clambering to the top to break the "dahi handi," an earthen pot filled with curd. It honors Krishna's effort to steal butter. Several children have been killed, injured or disabled in falls from pyramids that can reach 40 feet high.

A court in Mumbai last week set the country's first minimum age for participants at 18.

But the Supreme Court put that ruling on hold Thursday and said children who've reached their 12th birthday can participate.

-- The Associated Press

Gay coach to stay

at Catholic school

DELL RAPIDS, S.D. -- A volleyball coach at a private Catholic school in South Dakota who has publicly announced he's gay says he's being allowed to keep his job.

Nate Alfson announced he was gay last week on the website outsports.com and later said he was concerned about his future with St. Mary High School.

Alfson met with school officials Tuesday and later said in an email to outsports.com and on his Facebook page that he will not lose his job.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sioux Falls issued a statement Tuesday night saying "all persons, whatever their attraction, are to be treated with respect, compassion and justice," the Argus Leader newspaper reported.

-- The Associated Press

Muslim inmates

win Ramadan suit

DES MOINES, Iowa -- A federal judge has ruled that two Iowa prison inmates must be provided nightly meals and chapel time during Ramadan and allowed the same religious accommodations as other Muslims.

The inmates, Michael Williams-El and James Blair-Bey, sued prison officials in 2012 when they were at the Iowa State Penitentiary in Fort Madison.

Magistrate Judge Thomas Shields said in a Tuesday ruling that federal law requires the men to be able to participate in their religion.

The men identify themselves as members of the Moorish Science Temple of America. In 2012, they were denied participation in Ramadan activities by the prison imam, who says their beliefs are contrary to traditional Islam.

-- The Associated Press

Muslims ask FBI

for investigation

MANASSAS, Va. -- A Muslim rights group is asking the FBI and local police to investigate whether vandalism at a Virginia mosque was a hate crime.

The Manassas Mosque on Center Entrance Drive was vandalized some time between late Monday night and early Tuesday morning. Vandals sprayed orange paint on the windows and wrote an obscenity. A window and door were also damaged.

Prince William County Police say the damage itself does not indicate a hate crime, but that an investigation could uncover a hate crime if the intent of the vandals can be determined.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations asked police and the FBI to investigate whether a hate crime occurred.

-- The Associated Press

Religion on 08/16/2014

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