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Religion Briefs
Star-Bulletin Staff &
Associated Press
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NATION
Rally supports biblical display at courthouse
TULSA, Okla. » A group of pastors fired up a crowd of more than 300 people during a rally around a Ten Commandments monument on the Haskell County Courthouse lawn.
U.S. Sen. Tom Coburn spoke in favor of the display, which a recent American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit opposes, arguing government is favoring one religion over another.
The case indicates that two recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings, which allowed one commandments display and barred another, did not settle the dispute.
Coburn and others at the rally contended that the Commandments' tenets are guidelines to a moral, law-abiding society regardless of religious beliefs. Some 2,835 citizens have signed a pro-display petition, the Tulsa World reported.
"I wish this was in every courthouse on the lawn," said Coburn, a Republican. "We need more of this, not less."
Jim Green of Stigler, Okla., the plaintiff in the ACLU case, declined comment.
The 8-foot-by-3-foot granite slab contains the Ten Commandments on one side and the text of the Mayflower Compact on the reverse.
WORLD
Muslims decry policy against veils
LONDON » Security concerns following the July bombings in London have prompted the University of London's Imperial College to ban clothing that obscures the face, including the full veils some Muslims wear.
The new dress code, in effect in about a month, allows hoods and scarves that only cover the head, as long as the entire face is visible.
The policy is raising concern among some Muslims. Ajmal Masroor, spokesman for the Islamic Society of Britain, said the college should not dictate the clothing students and employees wear.
In the name of security "individual liberties are constantly violated, and this is a dangerous development," Masroor said, and that will alienate youth and violate Britain's multicultural tradition.
But college spokesman Abigail Smith said "this policy is all about security, so people on the campus can be recognized or identified."