LOS ANGELES — A University of California, Los Angeles student can thank Jesus in a personal statement to be read during graduation ceremonies, even though an administrator initially barred use of the Christian reference, the university said.

The university supports "the First Amendment and in no way intended to impinge upon any students' rights," senior campus counsel L. Amy Blum wrote in a letter.

Students in the Molecular Cell and Developmental Biology Department were asked to submit short statements that will be read as they cross the stage to receive their degrees today.

Student Christina Popa's statement read, in part, "I want to thank my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."

The student affairs adviser for the department objected to the Jesus reference and asked her to substitute it with "I want to thank God" instead, according to the Alliance Defense Fund, a religious-freedom group that took up Popa's cause.

When Popa protested, the administrator told her the only other option would be to forgo any statement, the ADF said.

WIKIPEDIA BANS SCIENTOLOGY EDITING

Popular online encyclopedia Wikipedia has banned Scientology's more vocal friends and foes from editing articles about the religion, a move that worries some in the Internet community.

Wikipedia has blocked contributions from computers at the Church of Scientology's Los Angeles headquarters, as well as some critics of the religion.

The move is aimed at diminishing a long-running war of words between the two groups, said Dan Rosenthal, a spokesman for English Wikipedia.

Some bloggers worry the site is stifling free speech. Rosenthal said it is standard practice to ban users found violating rules designed to keep people with an agenda from propagandizing.

The decision to shut out the Scientology computers was made after hundreds of articles became virtual battlefields.

APPEAL UPHELD ON COURT MONUMENT

DENVER — A federal appeals court has ruled that a Ten Commandments monument outside the Haskell County, Okla., courthouse endorses religion based on public comments made by county commissioners after it was installed.

A three-judge panel of the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the monument, which is part of a historical display, "has the primary effect of endorsing religion" when taken in context with the small community of Stigler, Okla., where it sits.

They sent the case back to Muskogee, Okla.-based U.S. District Judge Ronald A. White so he could issue a new ruling consistent with their ruling. In August 2006, White rejected arguments that the monument promotes Christianity at the expense of other religions.

SUIT FIGHTS FIRING FOR WEARING SCARF

NEWARK, N.J. — The U.S. Justice Department has sued Essex County over its firing of a corrections officer for wearing religious headwear.

The suit was filed in federal court in Newark on Monday on behalf of Yvette Beshier.

It claims Beshier was first suspended and then fired by the county for wearing a khimar, or Muslim head scarf.

The suit seeks monetary damages and also to require Essex County to adopt a policy that accommodates the religious observances and practices of employees. Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination based on race, color, sex, national origin or religion.

A county spokesman would not comment on the lawsuit.