Briefly noted

Christian Century, Sept 8, 1999

* A Mississippi school board has reversed its controversial decision that barred a Jewish student from openly displaying a Star of David necklace. On August 23 the Harrison County School Board voted unanimously to exempt religious symbols from a policy that prohibits students from wearing items that could be considered gang symbols that might prompt violence. The parents of Ryan Green, an 11th grader, requested that school officials rethink the policy. Mississippi American Civil Liberties Union officials had also filed suit in an effort to overturn the board's initial vote. The board had originally said that the boy's necklace could only be worn inside his shirt while he was at school. But the board, which meets in Gulfport, Mississippi, reconsidered its stand following an onslaught of criticism. "We realized that it infringed on freedom of religious expression, and that freedom supersedes the safety issue," said board president Randy Williams.

* Christian Coalition President Pat Robertson said it might be "practical" foreign policy to assassinate some international leaders. He was quoted August 9 on The 700 Club, a program airing nationally on his Christian Broadcasting Network. "I know it sounds somewhat Machiavellian and evil, to think that you could send a squad in to take out somebody like [terrorist] Osama bin Laden or to take out the head of North Korea," the religious broadcaster said. "But isn't it better to do something like that, to take out [Serbian President Slobodan] Milosevic, to take out [Iraqi President] Saddam Hussein, rather than to spend billions and billions of dollars on a war that harms innocent civilians and destroys the infrastructure of a country? It would just seem so much more practical to have that flexibility."

* The United Church of Christ has approved a restructuring plan that had been in the works for a dozen years. The plan reduces the number of denomination officials from more than a dozen to just five with more or less equal authority and responsibilities. The five will be known as the Collegium of Officers. The intent is to move away entirely from a hierarchal leadership model--something the Cleveland-based liberal denomination has gradually sought to eliminate over the years.

* Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, have created the wealthiest charity in the country. Gates, the world's richest man, and his wife donated an additional $6 million to their Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The Seattle-based charity, a merger of two foundations previously supported by the Gateses, now has a total worth of $17.1 billion, The Chronicle of Philanthropy reported. The nation's second largest charity is the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, which has about $13 billion in assets. The Welcome Trust of London, England, is the world's largest charity, with assets of $19.2 billion. The primary focus of the Gates Foundation is to make sure that technological advances in global health and education reach the people least able to afford them.

* Delegates attending the recent biennial convention of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada voted nearly unanimously to approve in principle a declaration of full communion with the Anglican Church of Canada. The full communion agreement, if finally approved, means the two churches will share resources and work closely together on common goals but will stop short of merger.