Airport renamed for civil rights pastor. The Birmingham Airport Authority has voted to rename Alabama's largest airport for civil rights leader Fred Shuttlesworth. Shuttlesworth, 86, grew up in Birmingham and was pastor of Baptist churches in Birmingham and Cincinnati. He helped Martin Luther King lead demonstrations that led to the Civil Rights Acts of the mid-1960s, as well as change racial attitudes nationwide.
Audio Bible wins Christian Book of the Year award. For the first time in its 30-year history, the Christian Book of the Year award from the Evangelical Christian Publishers Associa-tion is going to a Bible and an audio product. The Word of Promise New Testament Audio Bible, produced by Nashville, Tenn.-based Thomas Nelson Inc., took home the award. The New Testament dramatization features the voices of actors Jim Caviezel, Stacy Keach, Louis Gossett Jr. and Marisa Tomei, among others.
British clerk wins discrimination claim. A city clerk who refused to conduct same-sex partnership ceremonies because they violated her Christian beliefs has won her legal action claiming discrimination against supervisors who threatened to fire her. Lillian Ladele declared it a “victory for religious liberty” when an employment tribunal found the Islington Council in London guilty of religious discrimination, degradation and hostility. Ladele, who has held the job nearly 16 years, testified she “felt harassed and victimized” by the council when she insisted she would not carry out gay ceremonies as a matter of religious conscience.
Church postpones gun giveaway. An Independent Fundamentalist Baptist church in Oklahoma City canceled plans for a gun giveaway at its annual youth conference, but officials said the contest will resume next year despite criticisms. Windsor Hills Baptist Church canceled the gun giveaway and a shooting competition after a local television station announced an AR-15 assault rifle would be given away as part of the shooting contest. In a statement released on the church's website, Youth Minister Bob Ross said the giveaway was canceled because Pastor Emeritus Jim Vineyard injured his foot and would be unable to attend the event. Ross told the local ABC affiliate the gun giveaway is a marketing strategy to attract young people to the youth conference.
EEOC issues new religion manual. Citing changing demographics and a steady increase in complaints from people of faith, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission released an updated compliance manual on religious discrimination in the workplace. It provides safeguards for workers who request time off for religious observances and protects workers whose faith requires they wear specific religious garments, such as a hijab, a head covering worn by some Muslim women. Allegations of religious discrimination still make a small fraction of the total number of complaints reported each year. Last year, just 3.5 percent of cases handled by the agency were religious in nature.
Compiled from Religion News Service