Only hours after accepting the post, Daniel P. Coughlin, the vicar for priests in the Chicago archdiocese, was sworn in as the first Roman Catholic chaplain for the U.S. House of Representatives. Hopefully this will put to rest the accusations of anti-Catholicism consuming the House—especially Speaker Dennis Hastert—for the last four months. "I am a patient man," Hastert told the Associated Press. "But even I did not easily take in stride carelessly tossed accusations of bigotry. Where I come from such slander is an ugly business." (see more coverage in The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Times)

"When a university requires it students to pay fees to support the extracurricular speech of other students, all in the interest of open discussion, it may not prefer some viewpoints to others," wrote Anthony M. Kennedy for the court. ChristianityToday.com's earlier coverage of the case is available here. The court's opinion is online (or try here). See also reports in the Associated Press, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and the Badger Herald of the University of Wisconsin (the defendant in the case).

A minister and three others were shot during a Wednesday night service at Iglesia Cristiana Esposa del Cordero Pentecostal Church in Pasadena, Texas. The attacker was reportedly upset that a church member had rejected his romantic advances.

In November, Christianity Today ran an article about an exhibit at the Provincial Museum of Alberta, Canada, that was ...