City Council keeps opening prayer

PUEBLO, Colo. – The Pueblo City Council will start its regular meetings with a prayer after all.

The Wisconsin-based Freedom of Religion Foundation had complained that the council's opening prayer was typically Christian, prompting Council President Chris Kaufman to say that the City Council might substitute a moment of silence for the prayer.

But The Pueblo Chieftain reports that the council’s own rules and bylaws call for an invocation.

Rules pitched to keep circumcision

BERLIN – Germany’s Justice Ministry has proposed new rules for religious circumcision of infant boys in an effort to ensure that those who carry out the special procedure aren’t being prosecuted.

A June regional court ruling prompted outrage in Germany’s Jewish and Muslim communities by stating that circumcision can amount to criminal bodily harm.
The Justice Ministry said Wednesday that the draft rules were aimed at “removing the uncertainty” caused by the verdict.

The proposal submitted to lawmakers would allow properly trained religious practitioners to conduct circumcisions on boys up to six months old. Effective pain relief would need to be provided.

Staff urges campus to protect gays

 SOUTH BEND, Ind. – University of Notre Dame employees have signed onto a statement urging the Roman Catholic school to add sexual orientation to its nondis-
crimination clause.

A full-page ad published in the campus newspaper that carries the names of 366 faculty and staff members urges Notre Dame “to make the protection, recognition, and equal treatment” of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people part of school policy.

Organizer sociology professor Richard Williams told the South Bend Tribune that about a dozen more employees have signed the statement since it was published.

Williams joined the Notre Dame faculty in 1986. He says attitudes have changed on campus.

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