Muslims Encourage Schoolgirls to Defy Scarf Ban

REUTERS, July 5 — A Muslim group in France has told Muslim school-girls to defy the government's ban on head scarves when schools reopen in the fall, much to the disdain of French officials.

The Union of French Islamic Organizations pledged at the end of June to provide legal aid to any girl expelled for wearing a head scarf to school, Reuters reported. The ban, announced in March, is set to go into effect after summer break. It has already sparked debates between Muslims and the government. Its intent is to outlaw open signs of religious affiliation.

Muslim groups have already approached Catholic schools to see if girls would be allowed to wear head scarves there and were “well received,” one Muslim leader said.

However, Catholic schools would not necessarily be a place of refuge, a Church leader said, noting that Muslims would not be able to skip sports, biology classes or challenge subjects such as the Holocaust.

Bill Would Take Away Church Control in Hong Kong

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, July 6 — Hong Kong Church leaders fear a new government-sponsored education bill would take away Church control of its schools and violate their religious freedoms.

The bill would put all private schools that receive public funds — which includes Catholic schools — under the control of management committees that would report directly to the government, the Associated Press reported.

A Church representative said the bill would violate Hong Kong's mini-constitution, known as the Basic Law, which guarantees religious freedom and says churches can control their seminaries and other schools.

Hong Kong's education director called the Church's fears “totally unfounded” and another representative said it would not force the Church to change the way it runs its schools.

Church leaders are still concerned, however, because the Church's support of democracy and other issues during the years has left it at odds with the government.

Group Tries to Encourage Prayer to Mary for Abortion

C-FAM, July 2 — Participants at the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean meeting in Puerto Rico at the end of June were shocked to receive prayer cards of the Virgin Mary with the words, “The love of God and of Mary of Guadalupe is greater … For women's lives, safe and legal abortion.”

The cards, created by the dissident group Catholics for a Free Choice and its Latin American counterpart, suggest prayers should be made to Our Lady of Guadalupe for legal abortion, according to the Friday Fax newsletter from the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute. Our Lady of Guadalupe's intercession is often sought by Catholics for unborn children, especially those in danger of abortion.

“How insulting it is,” said one participant at the meeting, “that Catholics for a Free Choice, a rich American pro-abortion group, would attempt to use the Latin American people's strong devotion to the Virgin Mary to impose their abortion agenda here.”