US Episcopalians challenge travel ban in court

SIX bishops of the Episcopal Church in the United States are among a multi-faith group of leaders who filed an amicus brief this week in the US Supreme Court case challenging President Trump’s Executive Order that put in place a temporary entry ban on people from seven Muslim-majority countries (News, 3 February). The order is being challenged by the state of Hawaii and the International Assistance Refugee Project. The brief says that it violates the First Amendment, which prohibits the establishment of religion by Congress.

Jerusalem’s churches undermined, they say

LEADERS of 13 Churches in Jerusalem, including the Anglican Archbishop in Jerusalem, the Most Revd Suheil Dawani, have issued a statement of concern about “a systematic attempt to undermine the integrity of the Holy City of Jerusalem and the Holy Land, and to weaken the Christian presence”. It refers to a recent judgment that ordered the Greek Orthodox Church to sell three buildings to a Jewish settler organisation (rejecting the Church’s claim that the deal it had entered into was corrupt), and a proposed Bill in the Knesset that would make all church land sold to private citizens the property of the state.