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Christian & Sikh Students Rights in the USA
 
Catholic League president Bill Donohue comments on two news stories that emerged this week on the religious rights of students:- Tomorrow, a fifth-grader in a Los Angeles public school will be allowed to sing a song at a talent show that mentions Jesus, but only because his mother acquired the services of the Alliance Defense Fund threatening a lawsuit: he was initially denied the right to sing the song, "We Shine," because it mentions Jesus too many times (it was not disclosed how many times it would take to violate the unwritten quota).
 

Earlier this week, a Michigan public school district overturned a school-board ban on wearing a kirpan, a dagger carried by Sikh students for religious reasons; the new rule says the blade of the knife must be dull, not exceeding two-and-one-fourth inches. The right of students to sing a religious song at a school event should not even be  contested—it’s a free speech issue. But dropping the name Jesus is enough to set off the alarms, at least in Los Angeles. On the other hand, no lawyers were necessary to secure an exception to a "Zero Tolerance" policy on students carrying weapons to school in Michigan.

 
These cases are not an anomaly: in a nation that is 80 percent Christian, Christian students have to fight for their rights more vigorously than Sikh and Muslim students do. What’s at work is more than an anti-Christian bias—what’s at work is the logical residue of a highly politicized multicultural curriculum. Quite frankly, it is the animus against the Judeo-Christian ethos that marks Western Civilization that accounts for such disparate treatment. Instead of celebrating our roots, the educrats are bent on trashing them. But they have plenty of tolerance for those who do not share our heritage. It’s as perverse as it is unjust.

Living the Christian faith in India is a challenge
 

Cardinal William Joseph Levada said the Church believes in the freedom of conscience that the Indian Constitution upholds. Living the Christian faith in multi-religious India is a challenge for the minority community and promoting inculturation within the Catholic Church in India is a natural process, a top Vatican official said. The Vatican is concerned about the continued attacks on Christian minority community in India, Cardinal William Joseph Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, said. The cardinal was in Pune to visit the students and staff of the Jesuit-run Jnana-Deepa Vidyapeeth, a pontifical seminary. The Vatican official acknowledged living the Christian faith amid such attacks is a challenge. He noted that the Indian prelates have taken up with their government the need to provide protection to Christians in the country.
 

“We understand that these attacks are mainly because of the baseless conversion charges against the Christians,” the cardinal explained and asserted, “We are not in favor of forced conversions in India.” The Vatican official said violence was not a way to resolve any problems, and clarified the Church believes in the freedom of conscience that the Indian Constitution upholds. It gives its citizens the right to profess and practice one’s faith, he noted. The cardinal termed as “natural” that the Church in India tries to imbibe and assimilate local ancient cultures and traditions in the Church worship. Since India houses all major religions, solid dialogue between different faiths is necessary to foster harmony and dispel misgiving and distrust, he added.
 

Earlier on Jan. 28, Cardinal Levada met theologians at the seminary and urged them to foster “inculturated catechism.” He also asked them to take science into account, especially “science connected with the theory of evolution” while reflecting on the mystery of God since the “bioethical questions are very important” for the Catholic Church. The Vatican official told more than 780 seminarians their study of theology should lead them to deeper insights into God that they should share with others.