Fort Wayne school board votes to end religious programme
FORT WAYNE, Indiana (AP) — Fort Wayne school officials have decided to stop sending students to a religious instruction programme on school grounds that triggered a federal lawsuit. The school board voted unanimously this week to end the weekday religious education programme run since 1944 by Associated Churches of Fort Wayne.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana last month filed a lawsuit on behalf of the parents of a third-grader who said she was sent to Bible classes in trailers on school property without their permission. ACLU legal director Ken Falk said he's awaiting assurances the change is permanent. The school district plans to replace the religious programme with a character education initiative, also in conjunction with Associated Churches.
* * *
ATCHISON, Kansas (AP) — A Roman Catholic college in northeast Kansas college will mark the 100th birthday of the late Mother Teresa (pictured) with several honours, including naming a building after the Nobel Peace Prize winner. Buildings at Benedictine College will be illuminated in blue from August 26, the date of the Albanian nun's birth, to September 5, the date of her death in 1997. The Atchison school is also naming its new nursing and health education building after the nun who helped the poor in Calcutta.