Religion Notes

Close the Bible

The Nebraska Supreme Court overturned the sentence of a man who pleaded guilty last summer to sexually assaulting a 13-year-old boy he met in an Internet chat room. The high court said Sarpy County judge George A. Thompson erred in reading a Bible passage before sentencing Aaron T. Pattno, 26, to up to five years in prison. "Allowing the court to recite scripture, and thereby proclaim its interpretation of that scripture, implies that the court is advancing its own religious views from the bench," the justices wrote. Although the high court acknowledged the sentence fell within statutory guidelines, it ordered resentencing by another judge. Judge Thompson had quoted, in part, Romans 1:26-27 (RSV): "For this reason, God gave them up to dishonorable passions. Their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural, and the men likewise gave up natural relations with women and were consumed with passion for one another, men committing shameless acts with men...."