Louisiana

More than 10,000 protesters filled the streets of the small town of Jena, La., on Thursday to protest what they consider unjust treatment of six black teenagers in the beating of a white schoolmate last year.

The Revs. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson joined scores of students from historically black colleges and supporters from across the nation for a rally that Sharpton said could mark the beginning of the 21st century's civil rights movement.

College students said they wanted to make a stand for racial equality just as their parents did in the 1950s and '60s, according to The Associated Press. Thursday's rally, however, went without the hate-filled campaigns and fire hoses of their parents' time. more >>

Episcopal bishops meeting in New Orleans this week for highly publicized closed-door talks with the Anglican Communion’s spiritual leader remained tight-lipped on Thursday about the progress on key issues, including homosexuality.

At a news briefing held after nearly seven hours of meetings with Archbishop of Canterbury Dr. Rowan Williams on Thursday, the Rt. Rev. Robert O’Neill, the bishop of Colorado, said the bishops had engaged in “a very open and forthright conversation.”

He also expressed a continued commitment to the Anglican Communion. more >>

Some in The Episcopal Church strongly feel that they need to repent and change course while other Episcopalians feel they need to maintain and stay their course – a course that has divided the worldwide Anglican Communion to a near schism.

These responses from around a third of The Episcopal Church's dioceses have been sent to the House of Bishops to help them as they meet this week amid forecasts of rupture in the third largest Christian denomination in the world.

The House of Bishops has invited the Most Rev. Rowan Williams, archbishop of Canterbury and spiritual head of the communion, to New Orleans for their semiannual Sept. 20-25 meeting. It's the first time Williams is meeting with the Episcopal House of Bishops since the 2003 consecration of openly gay bishop, V. Gene Robinson of New Hampshire, which heightened controversy in the 77-million-member communion. The Episcopal Church is the U.S. branch of Anglicanism. more >>

A disputed portrait of Jesus Christ will remain at the Slidell city courthouse in Louisiana after a federal judge refused to grant a demand by the American Civil Liberties Union to have the painting removed.

“The court today recognized that the First Amendment allows public officials, and not the ACLU, to determine what is appropriate for acknowledging our nation’s legal and cultural heritage,” said Mike Johnson, senior legal counsel for the Christian legal group Alliance Defense Fund, in a statement Friday.

“The ACLU’s sole and stated objective in this case was to have the Jesus painting removed. But the Constitution does not prohibit public buildings from memorializing great figures from our history.” more >>

More than 1,000 children will be spending a fun-filled, God-centered day with their imprisoned fathers in one of the nation’s most notorious jails on Saturday.

The grounds of Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola has been transformed into a carnival where some 1,100 kids will enjoy crafts, games and a meal with their fathers. The event is the largest of its kind in the United States.

The Returning Hearts Celebration, 8 a.m. - 4 p.m. CT, will provide 500 participating inmates the opportunity to memorize Scripture verses together with their children in a joint effort by their prison and a youth ministry to foster better parents and children of imprisoned dads. more >>

A city courthouse in Louisiana recently mounted portraits of 15 of history’s preeminent lawgivers alongside its painting of Jesus Christ in an attempt to appease a legal group trying to force the removal of the portrait.

The American Civil Liberties Union, however, has not been persuaded to drop the lawsuit against the city of Slidell and maintains that the display violates the separation of church and state.

"The question of whether Jesus needs to come down is the same question," Marjorie Esman, ACLU's new executive director, said Wednesday, according to The Times-Picayune newspaper of New Orleans. "You can't cure a problem by dressing it up." more >>