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0296
Marcellinus is elected pope.
1270
King Louis IX of France (Saint Louis) leads the Eighth Crusade (his second Crusade) as an attack against Tunisia.
1294
Jews are expelled from Berne, Switzerland.
1629
Samuel Skelton was elected the first pastor of Salem, Massachusetts. The church covenant created by Skelton made his congregation the first non-separating congregational Puritan Church in New England.
1860
Thomas Henry Huxley and Bishop Samuel Wilberforce of the Church of England engaged in their famous debate on Darwin's theory of evolution.
1909
According to the Catholic Pontifical Biblical Commission in Rome, Christians were to interpret the first 11 chapters of Genesis as history rather than as myth.
1958
Decided: First Unitarian Church of Los Angeles v. County of Los Angeles
Can religious tax exemptions be conditioned on a oath of adherence to some particular political ideas? According to the Supreme Court, it is impermissible to deny tax exemptions to organizations which refuse to participate in certain kinds of speech.
1971
Decided: Coit v. Green
Black families who had children attending public schools in Mississippi filed suit to have the IRS revoke the tax exempt status of private schools in Mississippi that excluded black students from enrolling. The United States District Court for the District of Columbia ruled in favor of the families.
1980
In Harris vs. McRae, the Supreme Court upheld the Hyde Amendment which prohibited the use of Medicaid funds for abortions except to save a woman's life.
1982
The Equal Rights Amendment failed, with just 35 states having approved it by the deadline. (Thirty eight states are needed for ratification.)
1986
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in the case of Bowers v. Hardwick that homosexual activity between consenting adults in the privacy of the home was not protected by the Constitution.
1988
Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre of Switzerland consecrates four bishops in defiance of orders from Pope John Paul II. Lefebvre had broken with Rome following the Second Vatican Council and, over the years, consecrated hundreds of priests who agreed with his traditionalist views. Elevating four new bishops, however, effectively created a new religious hierarchy that was capable of renewing itself and this finalized his schism. Within hours of the ceremony the Vatican confirmed that Lefebvre and the four bishops had been excommunicated.
1994
In Madsen v. Women's Center Inc., the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that judges can create buffer zones to keep pro-life demonstrators away from abortion clinics.
2004
The Archbishops of Canterbury and York write to British Prime Minister Tony Blair on the involvement of the UK in Iraq. On behalf of all 114 Anglican bishops, they complain about the "deeply damaging" cases of Iraqi prisoners being abused and the government's double standards.
2004
The United States officially hands Saddam Hussein over to the Iraqi government.
2004
Juan Fernando López Aguilar, Spain's minister of justice, announces that his government intended to legalize same-sex marriage, introduce rights for common-law couples, and allow transgendered people to change both their names and sex designations without surgery.
2004
The Israeli Supreme Court rules that a 30km stretch of a barrier in eastern Jerusalem violates the rights of local Palestinians and must be moved.
2005
Oharai: The Shinto festival of Oharai, or "The Great Purification," is celebrated so that people can take care of impurities they have acquired. Purifications can involve simply sprinkling salt, cleaning hands, or having an exorcism performed at a shrine.
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