June (Web-only) 2004

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U.S. soldiers have recovered the body and head of Kim Sun Il, the South Korean translator who wanted to be a Christian missionary to the Arabic world.

Reuters describes the murder this way:

Monday, Kim Sun-il stood gesticulating as he shouted desperately at the camera, "I don't want to die."

On Wednesday, the Arabic interpreter and devout Christian who dreamed of missionary work in the Arab world knelt silently and impassively before his Muslim militant captors beheaded him

South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun called Kim's murder a "crime against humanity. … When we think of his desperate appeals for life, our hearts are wrenched with grief."

Widely published photos clearly show Kim's parents and sister are wrenched with grief. The Korea Times reports that some Koreans have threatened to retaliate against a local mosque.

Meanwhile, other non-American Christians were killed by Iraqi insurgents yesterday. Two sisters, Assyrian Christians who were working with the U.S. company Bechtel in reconstruction projects, were shot to death as they arrived home, Reuters reports. That home happens to also be a church, where the girls' father works. (There are also photos of the grieving relatives in this case.)

Peyote okay in Utah religious services:

• Utah high court okays non-Indian peyote use | In a unanimous decision, the court found in favor of a couple charged in 2000 with drug distribution for providing peyote to members and visitors at their church in Benjamin, about 50 miles southwest of Salt Lake City (Associated Press)
• Justices uphold religious peyote use | The Utah Supreme Court on Tuesday ensured that Utah members of the Native American Church, regardless of their race, cannot be prosecuted for using peyote as part of their religion (The Salt Lake Tribune)