Religion News Briefs

Bible verse use: School apologizes

LAS VEGAS — A public charter school in North Las Vegas has apologized to a sixth-grader after telling her she couldn’t use a Bible verse for a classroom assignment.

Nonprofit legal group the Liberty Institute said the Somerset Academy issued a formal apology May 22.

Mackenzie Fraiser can now resubmit her technology class assignment with the Bible’s John 3:16 verse. The assignment asked students to include an inspirational quotation in a PowerPoint presentation about themselves.

Somerset Academy board chairman Cody Noble says in the letter that the teacher and assistant principal made an inadvertent error interpreting the Department of Education’s guidelines on religious expression.

— The Associated Press

Inquiry is sought in mosque threats

PHOENIX — A civil rights group has asked the FBI to investigate a threatening letter sent to a Phoenix mosque that was once a place of worship for suspects in a shooting three weeks ago at a Texas cartoon contest featuring cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations says one of its lawyers spoke with an FBI agent about the letter mailed to the Islamic Community Center of Phoenix, where Texas shooting suspects Elton Simpson and Nadir Soofi used to worship.

Simpson and Soofi opened fire May 3 in a Dallas suburb on an unarmed security officer stationed outside the contest, authorities said. The security guard was wounded in the leg before the gunmen were killed.

The letter opens with a reference to Simpson’s and Soofi’s connection to the Phoenix mosque, threatens the lives of the mosque’s president and his family, and makes a disparaging comment about Muhammad.

— The Associated Press

Police investigate shooting of pastor

HARTFORD, Conn. — Police in Hartford are investigating the shooting of a pastor who was placing flags outside a church for Memorial Day.

Deputy Police Chief Brian Foley told WVIT-TV that investigators are keeping open the possibility that the shooting of 54-year-old Augustus Sealy of Shrewsbury, Mass., outside First Church of the Nazarene was a hate crime.

Foley said the church is accepting and open to gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people and comments were made at the crime scene that were hateful toward that community.

— The Associated Press

Knotty exhibit set for visit by pope

PHILADELPHIA — A knotty exhibit being created for Pope Francis’ forthcoming trip to Philadelphia will let visitors acknowledge the challenges in their daily lives.

The installation, to be built in the shape of a grotto next to the city’s Roman Catholic cathedral, is inspired by a painting called Mary, Undoer of Knots that holds special meaning for the pope.

People will be invited to write down their own problems on provided material, most likely ribbon, and tie them to the grotto, leaving them behind. They’ll also be encouraged to help others by loosening and removing a knot already in place.

Artist Meg Saligman hopes to gather hundreds of thousands of knots before the September papal visit.

Upcoming Events