the groups lacked standing because they never applied for exemptions as religious organizations or min- isters—titles that, according to the court, don’t necessarily require theis- tic meaning. Among other things, the atheist groups had claimed they were subject to unconstitutional discrimi- nation and coercion.
Christian party
When India’s monthlong national election ended in May, results had not yet been tallied, but a new politi- cal party was on the scene: the Indian Christian Secular Party. The group advocates for an end to discrimina- tion against Indian Christians and Muslims. Most of the party’s 60-plus political candidates are Dalit (once called “untouchable”) Christians. Unlike Hindu (and now Sikh and Buddhist) Dalits, they aren’t eligible for free education or included in gov- ernment job quotas. Some religious leaders say many Dalits are forced to hide their Christian affiliation so they can go to school or work.
Help after fire After a fi re in April consumed more than 3,000 homes and damaged another 15,500 on the hills of Valparaiso, Chile, the Lutheran-founded EPES (Educacion Popular en Salud Fundacion) is helping provide shelter and plans to offer psychosocial support for children. Some 12,500 people were left homeless and 15 people died in the disaster. ELCA missionary Karen Anderson, director of the EPES International Training Program, said the organization wants to be sure “that [people’s] voices are heard in the rebuilding process so the new homes are solid and safe and the rebuilt communities include infrastructure like roads and fi re hydrants to prevent this kind of disaster from occurring again.”
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ulation. “There’s a long, long back- ground to Holocaust studies at PLU,” said professor and historian Bob Ericksen. The university holds an annual conference on the topic and has endowed a chair of Holocaust studies since 2007. Genocides “seem to have increased in the 20th cen- tury,” Ericksen said, adding his hope that increasing awareness through
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www.thelutheran.org ACT ALLIANCE/EPES/PANCHO RAMOS
academic study may help prevent future atrocities.
Suit dismissed A federal district court in Kentucky dismissed in May atheist groups’ claims that the Internal Revenue Service treats churches and religious groups more favorably than other nonprofits. The court ruled in Amer- ican Atheists Inc. v. Shulman that
Drones & saints What’s that in the sky, over the out- door worship service? Not a bird or a plane, but a drone. On May 11 the Archdiocese of Washington (D.C.) flew a drone over a procession mark- ing the canonizations of popes John Paul II and John XXIII. The church used video captured by the drones in a YouTube post for evangelism pur- poses. It’s all part of the archdiocese’s increasing emphasis on social media, including Twitter and Instagram.
Correction
An article on father-daughter lay leaders serving in Montana and New York (June, page 28) should have said John Mundinger was commissioned into the Montana Synod Lay Pastoral Associates program.
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