Korean Children’s Choir to perform Sept. 14
The First United Methodist Church of Durango, 2917 Aspen Drive, will host Billy Kim and Far East Broadcasting Co.’s Korean Children’s Choir at its 8, 9:30 and 11 a.m. Sept. 14 worship services.
For more information, call 247-4213 or visit www.fumcdurango.org.
Universalists to present ‘Courage of the River’
The Rev. Katie Kandarian-Morris, Lisa McCorry and Judy Hook will present “The Courage of the River,” a multi-generational service, at 10 a.m. Sunday at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 419 San Juan Drive.
Participants are invited to bring water from their journeys near or far, and the group will muddle the waters together in a river of joy and possibility for the year ahead.
Child care will be available. For more information, visit www.durangouu.org.
Tenn. Supreme Court to hear faith-healing case
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – An East Tennessee woman convicted of child neglect in her teenage daughter’s cancer death is asking the state Supreme Court to declare she is innocent because she relied on prayer to heal the girl.
Jacqueline Crank was sentenced to unsupervised probation after her 15-year-old daughter died of Ewing’s Sarcoma in 2002. Despite the light sentence, Crank has continued to pursue the case, arguing that faith healing should be legal for everyone.
The Tennessee Supreme Court was scheduled to hear oral arguments in the case in Knoxville on Thursday.
State law makes it a crime to fail to provide medical care to children, but there is an exception for those who rely on prayer alone for healing. However, the Spiritual Treatment Exemption Act applies only to faith healing performed by an accredited practitioner of a recognized church or religious denomination.
In turning to prayer for her daughter’s healing, Crank relied on the advice of Ariel Ben Sherman, who called himself the girl’s “spiritual father.” Testimony showed Sherman was accredited by the Universal Life Church, which will accredit anyone who fills out an application.
Records from the Department of Children’s Services said Crank and her children lived “in a cult type religious environment with many people (estimated 30) living in their home and all of whom they consider ‘family,’ although none are actually related.”
Church to close after more than a century
SAN ANTONIO – A San Antonio church known for its inclusiveness is set to close this month.
When a group of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender Catholics was banned from a nearby parish, Beacon Hill Presbyterian Church opened its doors. The neighborhood association, artists and recovery groups also used the space.
But the San Antonio Express-News reports Beacon Hill will hold its last service after 117 years this weekend. Over the years, its congregation has dwindled as has the money for covering the church’s operational costs.
Church lay leader Sally Lewis says it’s sad that the church will close, but the congregation has become too small for the space.
Longtime Beacon Hill congregant Betty Smith likens the church’s closure to a death.
Settlement in dispute between temple, city
MIAMI – A settlement has been reached between a South Florida city and a Jewish temple in a long-running dispute pitting religious freedom and property rights against historic preservation.
Temple B’nai Zion attorney Keith D. Silverstein said Tuesday the agreement keeps in place the Sunny Isles Beach temple’s historic designation but allows some valuable new development rights. The temple also is being paid $175,000.
The temple had claimed in the four-year legal fight that Sunny Isles Beach was improperly using its historic designation powers to prevent any changes. The lawsuit was dismissed once by a Miami federal judge but reinstated by a federal appeals court.
The settlement also allows a Jewish congregation currently leasing the temple to continue occupying the structure and holding services.
American Muslim group denounces beheading
WASHINGTON – The Council on American Islamic Relations is expressing “horror, disgust and sorrow” at the new video purporting to show the beheading of U.S. journalist Steven Sotloff by the Islamic State group.
CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad says no one who believes in the Islamic tradition of peace and justice would kill an innocent civilian.
In the video distributed Tuesday and called “A Second Message to America,” the militant who performs the beheading says it’s retribution for continued U.S. airstrikes against Islamic State fighters in Iraq.
Awad insists there’s nothing Islamic about the extremists, despite their claim to be establishing a Muslim caliphate in Syria and Iraq.
He says some young Muslims who have joined the Islamic State group have been horrified by what they’ve seen but can be killed themselves if they try to leave.
Herald Staff & Associated Press
