About a year ago, we saw the case of Jane Doe, the University of Nebraska employee who claimed she was fired for being a witch. The woman, who was hired in February 2007, received satisfactory performance reviews at work. When her employer found out she was a member of the Reclaiming tradition of witchcraft, she was fired and replaced. She originally filed a complaint with the Nebraska Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, which "found reasonable cause to believe religious discrimination had taken place."

Now, the university has settled out of court for $40,000. Attorney David Buntain said the university made the offer "solely to compromise the claim ... without admitting the validity of plaintiff's contention or any allegations of wrongdoing by the defendants." The plaintiff's attorneys will take a quarter of her settlement. The article does not state whether or not Jane Doe will be reinstated at her job, which was one of the requests in the original suit.

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The film Agora, starring sci-fi darling Rachel Weisz, has finally found a distrubutor in the United States. The movie tells the story of Hypatia, an enlightened philosopher who lives in Roman-governed Alexandria. As Christianity moves in, shoving the old Pagan ways aside, Hypatia faces the violence of her own world, and the powerlessness of human reason in the face of political change.

Agora, directed by Alejandro Amenabar, has been breaking box-office records in Spain, but American companies were reluctant to stake their claims on something so intellectual and heavy. After all, there are no sparkly vampires or car chases, so despite a good showing in Cannes, the movie basically sat on a shelf for several months. Now Newmarket Films has picked up the U.S. rights, and hopefully it should be available for American viewers some time early next year.

This is one of those movies that I'll probably have to go see alone, because none of my friends are likely to sit through a 2 1/2 hour drama about religion, history, reason, politics, and an intellectual woman who is passionate about both astronomy and the two men in her life. But I'm looking forward to it, and I hear that Weisz' performance is just stunning. Here's hoping Newmarket follows through!

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The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) recently filed a complaint against a high school in Enfield, Connecticut, because the district uses local churches for graduation ceremonies. Instead, the ACLU wants the schools to hold the events at a secular location, and they're threatening to file a lawsuit if that doesn't happen.

The group says that "graduating students, their families and other guests are unconstitutionally and "coercively subjected to religious messages as the price of attending high school commencement," and that "students and family members of minority religions, as well as those who do not subscribe to any religion at all, are immersed in a religious environment of a faith not their own."

This is an ongoing issue in many parts of the United States. Churches typically have large facilities, and can accomodate more people that the standard high school gym or auditorium setting. My teenage daughter will be graduating in 2010, and there are approximately 800 kids walking the stage that day to collect diplomas. Factor in the notion that each will invite five to ten parents, siblings, and grandparents. Our school district doesn't have a facility that can accomodate that capacity, so guess where our graduation ceremony is held each year?

The uber-fundamentalist World Harvest Baptist Church, home of evangelist Rod Parsley (and yes, he lives about five minutes away from me in a heavily gated compound).

Now, I live just outside a major metropolitan area with several universities and event centers. I find it hard to believe that no one could come up with a better location that World Harvest -- then again, it's a whole lot closer than anything else. Do I feel like my religious rights will be infringed upon next June when I have to walk into WHBC to watch my kid graduate? Not particularly, truth be told, because I know that even though there will be religious iconography all over the place, I'm there for a graduation ceremony, not a church service. Do I think it would be better to have it in a secular location? Absolutely, but logistically speaking, in my community, I don't know if it's possible.

What about the rest of you folks? Does your local high school have graduation ceremonies in a church or other relgious facility because of space constraints? Is it possible for them to hold it elsewhere, or are you in a community in which the church is the biggest place around?

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