Christian Hate Zone

CATHOLIC LEAGUE FOR RELIGIOUS AND CIVIL RIGHTS, Aug. 27 — While Illinois' Black Hawk College is a “Hate Free Zone,” it “did no good, for hatred of Christians,” opined the League's William Donohue in reaction to sociology professor Bruce LeBlanc, who recently wrote “F--- God” on his classroom blackboard.

LeBlanc, an openly homosexual former priest, is known for his classroom practice of graphically describing homosexual acts and for openly mocking Christian beliefs, Donohue said.

A faculty committee said LeBlanc violated the school's harassment policy and should apologize but no disciplinary action has been taken.

Ramadan Canceled

NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO, Aug. 30 — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security revoked the visa of Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan nine days before he was to take up his new post as a lecturer at the University of Notre Dame.

He was impeded under a provision of the Patriot Act that bars foreign visitors with a “position of prominence to endorse or espouse terrorist activity.”

Ramadan, a Swiss citizen, lives in France, where a number of municipalities have forbidden him to speak because of the violent reaction of Muslim youth.

Vibrant Schools

CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, Aug. 26 — Though it runs one of the oldest Catholic-school systems in the country, the Archdiocese of Chicago will open three new schools this year while consolidating two others, reported the Chicago daily.

The archdiocese also an nounced that Chicago's Catholic-school students scored well above the national average on standardized tests this year.

Growth and good performance were on display as Catholic schools superintendent Nicholas Wolsonovich announced the test results at a press conference at a new $8 million wing of the school at Old St. Pat's Church, the first Catholic school built in the city in 43 years.

Christians Standing Up

TOWNHALL.COM, Aug. 31 — Columnist Mike Adams has seen a new willingness to speak out by Christian faculty and staff at secular colleges.

He singled out Ed Geh-ringer and the 135-member Christian Faculty/Staff Community of the University of Nor th Carolina-Chapel Hill for publicly challenging the administration for a seeming bias against Christianity.

The university was legally compelled to fund a student-run Christian newspaper and is now being sued by a Christian fraternity that has been denied funding because it includes only Christians and requires members to abstain from sex outside of marriage (which the university considers unfair to homosexuals).

Alleged MIT Persecution

BOSTON HERALD, Aug. 22 — A devout Christian working at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology claims co-workers carried out a 15-year campaign of harassment and ridicule against him because of his beliefs.

Machinist Mark Peterson claims the trouble began in 1987 when he and another employee began meeting during breaks to discuss the Bible. He says he was told not to bring his Bible to work again.

In a discrimination lawsuit pending in federal court, Peterson contends supervisors at MIT's Lincoln Lab in Lexington refused to reprimand workers for bad behavior and joined in the harassment.