Kerry: Life begins at conception
DUBUQUE, Iowa — Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) told an Iowa reporter that he personally opposes abortion and believes life begins at conception. However, he said, in an interview that appeared July 4 in the Dubuque Telegraph-Herald, it's not his place to legislate such religiously-based beliefs on people of different faiths.
Kerry has often said abortion should be “safe, legal and rare,” but this is reportedly the first time he has publicly discussed his beliefs on when life begins.
Some Roman Catholic officials have recently said Kerry should be denied communion for his stance on the legality of abortion, which conflicts with official Catholic beliefs. Kerry told parishioners at an Iowa church — where he received communion — July 4 that he would not have voted against the recent bill banning late-term, or “partial birth,” abortion if it had contained an exception for the health of the mother.
In response, President Bush's campaign said Kerry's abortion statements were further evidence supporting their charge that Kerry wavers in his opinions on major issues. (ABP)
European court allows ban on Muslim garb
WASHINGTON — The European Court of Human Rights ruled June 29 that banning Muslim headscarves in state schools does not violate freedom of religion and will help counter Islamic fundamentalism — prompting sharp criticism from one American religious-freedom group.
Joseph Grieboski, president of the Institute on Religion and Public Policy, said in a press release that the ruling “undercut a fundamental extension” of religious freedom. He argued that the ruling equates the wearing of religious garb to a political act and could lead to a ban on such religious expression in all public places.
The court decision takes precedence over national decisions and could affect expected trials in France and Germany. The French government plans to impose a ban on headscarves in high schools in September, and Muslim teachers in Germany are appealing bans against donning the garb.
The ruling applies to the 45 member states of the European Convention on Human Rights that have signed and ratified the European Convention on Human Rights. (ABP)
Religious-freedom panel elects officers
WASHINGTON — A federal panel charged with monitoring religious freedom around the globe elected new officers June 30.
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF), an independent and bipartisan federal agency advising the administration and Congress, elected member Preeta Bansal as chairperson. Bansal is a constitutional lawyer with a New York firm. She also has served as New York's solicitor general and as a lawyer for the White House and the Department of Justice under former President Bill Clinton.
Bansal succeeds Michael Young, who just resigned as dean of the George Washington University Law School to become president of the University of Utah.
The commission also elected Felice Gaer and Nina Shea as vice chairpersons. Gaer is director of the Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights at the American Jewish Committee. Shea is the director of the Center for Religious Freedom at Freedom House, a Washington-based human-rights group. (ABP)
Bush appoints priest as U.N. ambassador
WASHINGTON — President Bush has named an Episcopal priest as the United States' ambassador to the United Nations. Bush named John Danforth to the post July 1. He replaces former U.N. Ambassador John Negroponte, who was sworn in June 30 as U.S. ambassador to Iraq.
In addition to his work as a priest, Danforth, 67, served as a U.S. senator from Missouri for 18 years and as Missouri's attorney general before that. A Republican, Danforth was also Bush's envoy to Sudan and special counsel to the Department of Justice during its investigation of the disastrous FBI raid on the Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, in 1993.
President Bush said at Danforth's appointment that he will be a “strong voice for the humane and decent conscience of America.”
Danforth said in his acceptance speech that the “United Nations is important, indeed, it is essential to winning the war against terrorism.” He said, as he takes his new position, “the task is to build on the momentum begun” by the transference of sovereignty in Iraq “by seeking consensus and working together.”
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