LEWISTON – A professor of comparative religion at Wake Forest University Divinity School, will talk Wednesday at Bates College about the dangers of mixing religion and politics.

The public is invited to attend the 2006 Bertha May Bell Andrews Lecture, sponsored by the chaplain’s office, free of charge.

Charles Kimball’s presentation is titled “Hope for the Perilous Journey Ahead: Engaging the Volatile Mix of Religion and Politics in Christianity, Judaism and Islam.” He will speak at 7 p.m. in the Edmund S. Muskie Archives, 70 Campus Ave.

An ordained Baptist minister, Kimball received his degree from Harvard University in comparative religion with specialization in Islamic studies. He is an expert analyst of the Middle East who has worked closely with Congress, the White House and the State Department for the past 20 years.

A signature talk at Bates since 1975, the Andrews Lecture is a memorial to Bertha May Bell Andrews, who served on the Bates faculty from 1913 to 1917 and established the women’s physical education program at the college. Her son, Dr. Carl B. Andrews of the Bates class of 1940, established the lectureship.

Anglican leader: No gay sex debate

LONDON (AP) – The leader of the international Anglican Communion has ruled out new debate on the teaching that gay sex is “incompatible with Scripture.” Looking ahead to a 2008 conference of the world’s Anglican bishops, Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams said he detected little support for re-examining the 1998 conference’s resolution that condemned gay sex, clergy ordination of persons in same-sex relationships and church blessings for gay couples.

Battle continues on girl’s death

CALGARY, Alberta (AP) – A grieving father says he will continue his fight against Jehovah’s Witnesses and their prohibition of blood transfusions after a court decision partially cleared the way for a wrongful-death lawsuit.

Lawrence Hughes filed the 2004 claim as executor of the estate of his daughter, Bethany, who died from acute leukemia in 2002 at age 17 after repeatedly refusing conventional treatment because of the faith’s teaching.

A judge decided Hughes cannot proceed with claims against the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society because the court cannot arbitrate religious dogma. But Hughes can continue suing lawyers Shane Heath Brady and David Miles Gnam, Witnesses who represented Bethany, her mother Arliss and the Watch Tower.

The judge said the lawyers were not in a position to advise Bethany objectively, so that she could make a free and informed decision.

Brady called the ruling “silly.”

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