Churches

WASHINGTON - Can a public high school hold its graduation ceremony in a local church? The Supreme Court has been pondering that question in its private conference for six weeks, discussing whether to take up a Wisconsin case that could reset the line separating church and state. Last year, the U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals in Chicago ruled that the Elmbrook School District, near Milwaukee, violated the 1st Amendment and its ban on "an establishment of religion" by holding a high school graduation ceremony in the sanctuary of an evangelical Christian church.

On occasion, my wife and I have taken out-of-town visitors on Sunday outings to the First African Methodist Episcopal Church in Los Angeles to expose the uninitiated to the joy of a live gospel choir. I sometimes wonder how I stand with that power greater than myself while intruding on a house of worship solely to observe a spectacle. But we're always received so warmly that I quickly lose myself in the music and forget where I am. In that state, I've paid little notice to hats and shoes and dresses.

An Anglican church campus in Newport Beach belongs to the larger Episcopal Church Diocese of Los Angeles, an  Orange County Superior Court  judge ruled last week. St. James Anglican Church members split from the Episcopal Church nine years ago after a fissure over the ordination of a gay bishop and other issues. The court order, which comes at what could be the end of a series of court battles over three church properties on 32nd Street, was reaffirmed Monday by Judge Kim G. Dunning.

KAMPALA, Uganda - He is a celebrity across eastern and central Africa, a gospel music star known to many as the "Dancing Priest. " But for years he also was a keeper of painful secrets - his own and many others'. In going public, Anthony Musaala has forced the Roman Catholic Church in Uganda to confront a problem it had insisted didn't exist. And he may stir a debate far beyond Africa's most Catholic of countries. The Ugandan priest has been suspended indefinitely by the archbishop of Kampala for exposing what he calls an open secret: Sex abuse in the Catholic Church is a problem in Africa as well as in Western Europe and North America.

Former Green Bay Packers safety LeRoy Butler says a church he was scheduled to speak at canceled his appearance after Butler sent out a tweet in support of Jason Collins, the NBA player who said earlier this week that he was gay. According to Butler, not long after sending the following tweet: "Congrats to Jason Collins", Butler got a call from a member of the church and was told the church would cancel his presentation unless he removed the tweet,...

Jacaranda, the Santa Monica new music series, began its current season in September with a significant contribution to the local ad hoc celebrations of the 100th anniversary of John Cage's birth that month. It is now ending the season with a significant contribution to "Britten 100/LA," the citywide festival celebrating the 100th anniversary of Benjamin Britten's birth later this year. These are not obvious bookends. There is little to connect the composers - one a leader of the American avant-garde, the other the first British composer to accept a life peerage - who had no regard for each other, musically or otherwise.

At least four people were hurt at an Albuquerque church Sunday when a visitor jumped out of the pews and stabbed a choir member during a song, police and witnesses said. The victims did not appear to have life-threatening injuries, police said. Two parishioners told the Los Angeles Times that after communion at the St. Jude Thaddeus Catholic Church on Sunday morning, a man in his teens or early 20s leaped from the pews and stabbed the choir's lead singer while the choir was singing.

A special task force of fire, police and federal agencies is investigating a church fire that erupted early Friday at a Leimert Park church. The fire was reported before 2 a.m. at Bethesda Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith on Crenshaw Boulevard. Flames tore through the church windows, and plumes of black smoke climbed into the night sky. Witnesses said they could see the flames up to three miles away. Firefighters were on the scene within four minutes of the first call, said Los Angeles Fire Department Capt.

Los Angeles Fire Department arson investigators are using accelerant-detecting dogs in their probe of a Friday morning fire that gutted a Leimert Park church. “We're treating it as a criminal fire at this time, suspicious in nature until we can determine otherwise,” LAFD Capt. Jaime Moore told KTLA. The fire was reported before 2 a.m. at Bethesda Temple Church on Crenshaw Boulevard. Video showed flames tearing through church windows and plumes of black smoke climbing into the night sky. More than a dozen fire engines and nearly 100 Fire Department personnel responded to the blaze, officials said.

A special task force of fire, police and federal agencies is investigating a church fire that erupted early Friday at a Leimert Park church. The fire was reported before 2 a.m. at Bethesda Temple Church of the Apostolic Faith on Crenshaw Boulevard. Video showed flames tearing through church windows and plumes of black smoke climbing into the night sky. Firefighters were on the scene within four minutes of the first call, said Los Angeles Fire Department Capt. Jaime Moore.