Faith and Values

The Family Foundation has filed response briefs with the Kentucky Supreme Court laying out its argument for allowing discovery in the instant racing case. In January, the high court agreed to review a ruling by the state Court of Appeals that would send the instant racing lawsuit back to Franklin Circuit Court. The Franklin court ruled in 2011 that historical wagering, a form of electronic gambling on anonymous old horse races, is legal and pari-mutuel even though it resembles a slot machine. Slots are not legal in Kentucky. But the conservative Family Foundation, which challenged the legality, appealed and argued it was not allowed to pursue questions about how the games actually work.  Read more...

In anticipation for the Dalai Lama's visit next week, Louisville is offering several events centered around compassion. Below are several events open to the public (some include tickets) throughout the next week.  Read more...

The 62nd National Day of Prayer was celebrated in communities all across Kentucky today.  A small crowd gathered in Lexington’s Phoenix Park during the noon hour.   A variety of public prayers were offered for first responders, educators, reporters, government officials and families.   Organizer David Fultz of the Church of the Savior says the event focuses on more than an hour in a downtown park.

After 15 years of uncertainty, two Congolese sisters who live in central Kentucky have rediscovered their father.  The Bluegrass Red Cross Chapter played a role in reuniting the African family.  In 1998, a military conflict in Congo resulted in a family tragedy for Sifa and Marie Ndusha.  Masked Militia members invaded their home and killed their mother as the sisters and their siblings watched.

In 1957, Bobby Cain was the first black graduate of a court-ordered desegregated public school in the South. “When people start talking about things that have happened in civil rights, they talk about Little Rock and other areas and for some unknown reason they have not spoken about Clinton,” he says. There were 700 white students registered at Clinton High School when Cain started his then-senior year. Cain was one of twelve black students. “We were greeted with a throng of people there saying certain things; things we probably didn’t wish to hear,” he remembers.

Kentucky’s state epidemiologist hopes a just released report on vaccinations and autism eases many parents concerns.  The study included in the latest Journal of Pediatrics shows no connection between vaccines early in a child’s life and the development of autism.  Dr. Craig Humbaugh says there are certain risks to putting off recommended childhood vaccinations.

One of Leonardo da Vinci’s most famous paintings comes to life the next couple of days in a Versailles church.  It’s a play called ‘The Living Lord’s Supper.’  Director Linda Roscoe says actors depicting Jesus and his disciples take a turn in front of the table.  “They drop pose and they step out of the painting.  So, many of them get up from the table, come around to the front of the table and then they tell how they came to know Christ and their relationship with him and some of the other disciples sitting at the table,” said Roscoe.

In a sweeping bipartisan vote, both chambers of the General Assembly overturned Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear’s veto of the controversial religious freedom bill.  Earlier this week, the House Democratic caucus met behind closed doors to hold a secret ballot, which ultimately favored bringing the measure back to the House floor.  After a half hour of debate, the House rejected the gubernatorial veto by an overwhelming 79-15 margin.  Supporters of the legislation affirmed it does not undermine anyone’s civil rights protections, and only safeguards First Amendment rights.

The naming of a new Pope this week brings with it questions about how he will lead the Catholic Church.  Bishop Ronald Gainer, head of the Diocese of Lexington, doesn’t look for any change in doctrinal teachings. He says issues like the ordination of women, allowing priests to marry, or contraception are not up for debate.

As refugees flee the civil war in Syria, few will probably settle in the Commonwealth.  Barbara Kleine with Kentucky Refugee Ministries says many displaced Syrians still remain within that nation’s borders.  “There are just multiple layers of security checks before people are admitted to the U.S. and that can takes months up to years really.  So right now, there is no process in place that is processing Syrian refugees who are outside the country,” said Kleine.

The bells toll. The noon mass at the Cathedral of the Assumption in downtown Louisville happens every Monday, and the stream of people walking into the doors showed no signs that something significant had happened within the Roman Catholic Church just hours before. Pope Benedict XVI had announced that he was retiring on Feb. 28, citing his health and age. He's the first to resign in more than 600 years; the first to willfully do it since the 1200s.

Tickets to hear the Dalai Lama speak in May in Louisville  go on sale Wednesday morning. The Buddhist leader and Nobel laureate will speak on May 19-20 at the KFC Yum Center in an event called Engaging Compassion, focusing on "how an individual can engage with compassion from within his or her own religious tradition in order to build world peace from the local level to the world community," according to a news release from the KFC Yum Center. The Monday talk will be a two-part public Buddhist teaching called "Attisha's Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment."

A major is effort underway to map small cemeteries in Fayette County.  So far, researchers with the Lexington Public Library have mapped just half an estimated 200 graveyards.  Head Librarian Virginia McClure says rural cemeteries, some with 15 to 20 headstones, are often found in walled-off areas of the county.

At 9:30 this morning, people across the country paused for a moment to reflect on last Friday’s massacre at a Connecticut school. In downtown Lexington, WEKU’S Stu Johnson listened while a church bell tolled.  Just prior to 9:30, Lauren Maat walked along Short Street.  She says the murders of 26 people in a Newtown elementary school have been a topic of conversation for her and her friends.   “Yes, a lot of my friends have talked about it.  Unfortunately, it has been more about the political side of things, gun control, and that sort of thing, but definitely talking about it, yes,” said Maat.

The wording at the top of the web page simply reads ‘Ichthus Ministries closes its doors after 42 years.’  The message popped up on the internet Saturday.  It means that apparently the long running Christian Music Festival has run its course.  Since 2006 the organization based in Wilmore has faced significant financial challenges.  Those included declining attendance, mounting debt, market changes, and adverse weather conditions.

  A Kentucky woman is making history in her new position as a church leader in Alabama.  The Reverend Debbie Wallace Padgett is making her mark on history in a couple ways.  This fall the Eastern Kentucky native became the first female Methodist Bishop in Alabama.  Padgett is also the first woman from Kentucky elected to such a position.  She believes ministerial opportunities for women are growing all the time.

Lexington’s Nathaniel United Methodist Mission is inviting citizens to take a ‘journey’ through downtown Saturday morning.  The event is designed to give participants a feel for those living ‘on the margins.’  It’s called ‘The Journey’ and it begins with an early breakfast at the De Roode Street Mission.  From there, people will be invited to travel the route of many area homeless.