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	Religion News in Brief Associated Press October 28, 2009 http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iYBBKXT68dZ3b67tDQ4pVkbwVtIAD9BK7AK80 LONDON — A leading Jewish school asked Britain's Supreme Court on Tuesday to overturn a ruling that it racially discriminated against a boy when it refused to accept him as a pupil because it did not recognize his mother as Jewish. In June, the Court of Appeal ruled that London's JFS, or Jews' Free School, racially discriminated against a 13-year-old boy identified as M. His father is Jewish by birth, but his mother converted at a progressive synagogue not recognized by Orthodox Judaism. The Court of Appeal ruled that because Jews are defined as an ethnic group in British law, denying a child admission because his mother is not Jewish constituted racial discrimination. The school's lawyer, David Pannick, said the dispute was about religious law, not race. He said M would be regarded as Jewish by Reform, Masorti or Liberal Judaism, but not by Orthodox Jews. "Our case is that the refusal of the place to M was not an act of race discrimination," Pannick said. Pannick said M was rejected "because and only because of the religious criteria applied by the Chief Rabbi as to who is Jewish." ___ NM high court rejects sect leader's bond petition SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — The state's highest court has denied a request from sect leader Wayne Bent for prison release on bond while he appeals his convictions for sexual misconduct with teenage female followers. The Supreme Court denied the petition without explanation, as had the Court of Appeals. Bent is serving 10 years for criminal sexual contact of a minor and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor. The leader of The Lord Our Righteousness Church said the touching was part of a religious healing ritual and there was no sexual activity. Bent was sentenced in December. He has been fasting, and his lawyer says he is being fed through a tube. A judge cleared the way for the feeding last month. The court's ruling was announced Tuesday by the attorney general. ___ 'Praying robber' suspect seeks mercy from court INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — He may have hugged the clerk. He may have prayed with her, too. But prosecutors say Gregory Smith's contrition during a crime in progress doesn't change the fact he still robbed a check cashing store. "One of the commandments is 'Thou shalt not steal,'" said David E. Wyser, Marion County's chief deputy prosecutor. A judge entered a not guilty plea Tuesday for Smith, who appeared on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" last week after a security video showing a gunman praying with clerk Angela Montez during an Oct. 19 robbery of an Indianapolis check cashing business was widely shown on television and the Internet. The 23-year-old apologized and said he was driven to the robbery after he lost his job and his family was threatened with eviction. "I didn't want to see my family out on the street," he told Winfrey. "I'm not condoning it, but that's why I got to that point." Prosecutors have accused Smith of holding up two check cashing businesses this month, and he appeared in court Tuesday to face charges of robbery, criminal confinement, pointing a firearm and carrying a handgun without a license. He faces six to 76 years in prison if convicted on all charges, although Wyser said the maximum penalty was unlikely. His attorney, Jack Crawford, said it was too early to negotiate a plea agreement with prosecutors, adding Smith hopes the court will "temper justice with mercy." Wyser said Smith's remorse and its religious nature "doesn't alleviate the fact that he still committed a crime." ___ Mich. man files lawsuit after Nativity scene nixed WARREN, Mich. (AP) — A man who for 63 years has placed a Nativity scene on a suburban median has filed a federal lawsuit against a commission that put a halt to the tradition. John Satawa says in a filing in U.S. District Court in Detroit that the Macomb County Road Commission violated his constitutional rights by denying him a permit for the Nativity scene in Warren because it "displays a religious message." County Highway Engineer Robert Hoepfner issued the formal denial on March 9, claiming the display would violate the First Amendment. Satawa said in the suit that he was given permission in 1945 to display scene in Warren. He is seeking the court's permission to display the Nativity scene this Christmas season and in the future. Hoepfner said he had not seen the suit and had no comment.
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