Peace & Justice

WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court announced Monday that it will not reopen a case in which a lower court ruled that highway crosses memorializing Utah state troopers are unconstitutional.

The court's decision was harshly criticized by Justice Clarence Thomas, the lone dissenter, who said it "rejects an opportunity to provide clarity" to an area of church-state law that is "in shambles."

Dave Silverman, president of American Atheists, which filed the suit in 2005, said he hopes the court's announcement will bring the case to an end and lead to an alternative way of honoring troopers who died in the line of duty.

"Erecting divisive religious icons that violate the very Constitution the fallen troopers had sworn to uphold is not the way to honor those troopers who gave the ultimate sacrifice for the citizens of their state," he said.

The conservative Alliance Defense Fund, which asked the court to consider the case, was disappointed.

"Justice is not well-served when unhappy atheists can use the law to mow down memorial crosses and renew the suffering for the survivors," said ADF Senior Counsel Byron Babione.

ASSISI, Italy -- Taking 300 religious leaders with him on pilgrimage to Assisi, Pope Benedict XVI said people who are suspicious of religion cannot be blamed for questioning God's existence when they see believers use religion to justify violence.

"All their struggling and questioning is, in part, an appeal to believers to purify their faith so that God, the true God, becomes accessible," the pope said Oct. 27 during an interfaith gathering in the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels.

Marking the 25th anniversary of the first Assisi interfaith gathering for peace, hosted by Blessed John Paul II in 1986, Pope Benedict brought together the religious leaders and -- for the first time -- four philosophers who describe themselves as humanists or seekers who do not identify with any single religion.

After a train ride of almost two hours from the Vatican, Pope Benedict and his guests arrived in Assisi and were driven to the Basilica of St. Mary of the Angels for the morning gathering focused on "testimonies for peace."

Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace urges major economic reform

The Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace released a document Oct. 24 calling for a radical reform of the world's financial and monetary systems. It also proposed the creation of a global political authority to manage the economy and a new world economic order based on ethics.

The note entitled “Towards reforming the international financial and monetary systems in the context of the global public authority” was presented to journalists at a press conference today presided over by the President of the Council, Cardinal Peter Turkson.

“We are talking about finding solutions to issues, finding solutions to problems”.

Cardinal Turkson also told Lydia O’Kane, who participated at the conference, that the document was also a way of giving a voice to the voiceless.

“Definitely, that’s part of it and in fact in asking the G20 to pay attention to this or currently start doing a reflection in this direction, it is actually in view of those who suffer from this phenomenon, so giving a voice to the voiceless, that’s what it is”.

VATICAN CITY -- Catholic social teaching and the Occupy Wall Street movement agree that the economy should be at the service of the human person and that strong action must be taken to reduce the growing gap between rich and poor, Vatican officials said.

Except when it’s a rare sure thing, I stay clear of gambling. In recent years, the one bet I’ve been making with certainty -- besides the wager that Sarah Palin’s goofiness will continue to entertain America -- is that the designers of the new memorial to Martin Luther King Jr. in Washington would trivialize his message.