%1

The House of Representatives has rejected a proposed amendment that would have allowed military chaplains to close public events with faith-specific prayers.

The amendment, offered by Tea Party favorite Rep. Michele Bachmann (R., Minn.) to the Military Construction Authorization Act, was deemed not relevant to the bill, her office said on May 27.

The amendment would have specified that “a chaplain shall have the prerogative to close the prayer according to the dictates of the chaplain’s own conscience.’’

A federal judge has ruled that a Connecticut school board’s decision to hold graduation ceremonies inside a megachurch was unconstitutional. Com mencements for two schools in Enfield—Enfield High School and Enrico Enfermi High School—were to be held at First Cathedral in Bloomfield in late June.

The American Civil Liberties Union joined Americans United for Separation of Church and State to represent two Enfield High School students and their parents who opposed the use of the religious venue. The school board said its decision was a matter of space and price.

Iraqi immigrant Saad Mohammad Ali worked for six months as a volunteer with World Relief, helping the nonprofit Christian-based agency resettle Iraqi refugees in the Seattle area. Apparently he was good at his work, for his superiors at World Relief encouraged him to apply for a job as a caseworker. But then, according to the Seattle Times, the agency called to say it could not hire him after all because he is not a Christian.

Many evangelicals cheered when the Supreme Court ruling allowed a cross to remain as a war memorial in California’s Mojave Desert. However, some Christians, including some in the evangelical camp, caution that a celebration may not be in order.

The high court’s decision on April 28 was based largely on Justice Anthony Kennedy’s determination that “one Latin cross in the desert evokes far more than religion.” Rather, he said, it “evokes thousands of small crosses in foreign fields marking the graves of Americans who fell in battles.”