January (Web-only) 2002

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Pentagon drops abayah requirement
Lt. Col. Martha McSally, the Air Force's highest-ranking female fighter pilot, has won her fight against a military rule requiring her to wear a head-to-toe Muslim robe whenever she leaves the U.S. base in Saudi Arabia. "Wear of the abaya in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is not mandatory but is strongly encouraged," the new policy says. McSally had argued that the old requirement violated her religious freedom as a Christian, and filed suit with the help of the Rutherford Institute. U.S. Central Command says the lawsuit had nothing to do with the policy change and that the policy had been under review even before the suit was filed.

The case isn't over yet, however. McSally and other female soldiers stationed in Saudi Arabia are still prohibited from driving—or even sitting in the front seat of a vehicle. And they can't leave the military base without a male soldier accompanying them. "I think the mountain has moved, but I don't know how far," Rutherford Institute president John Whitehead tells The Washington Post. He was a bit more negative when talking to the USA Today: "What it says to us is that [the rule has] not been rescinded. It's like saying, 'You're equal to us but you can't eat in the same restaurant because you're strongly encouraged to eat at one more fitting with your lower class.'"

DeMoss Foundation won't go to court to overturn German ban on PowerforLiving ads Arthur S. DeMoss Foundation President Mark DeMoss flew to Hamburg this week to straighten people out about his organization and the evangelistic book it's famous for distributing, Power for Living. Two weeks ago, Germany banned ads for the book at the request of liberal German church leaders who opposed the group's conservative ...