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More on Russia and the Russian Orthodox Church:

• Taking out a copyright on God | Russian Orthodox Church leaders have hammered out a deal with the government agency in charge of trademarks to censor potentially offensive names (The Moscow Times)
• Patriarch urges not to fear tax numbers as sign of Antichrist | "INN has no confessional significance whatsoever" (Strana.ru/Russia Religion News)
• Patriarch title caught in Catholic-Orthodox rift | New cardinal for Ukrainian Greek Catholics denied title as Vatican seeks to calm Russian Orthodox concerns. (Associated Press/Beliefnet)
• Biker priest revs up his Russian flock (The Boston Globe)

And the winner of the dumbest headline contest is …
It doesn't get much more obvious than this headline, which appeared in Friday's Chicago Tribune: "Minister uses sermons to make services more relevant." All you readers in the pastorate should consider this earth-shattering idea. Actually, Weblog is being unkind. The article is actually somewhat interesting, and is about a United Methodist pastor who has quit using the lectionary and is now writing his sermons as he feels led. "I believe this is the first time in 24 years I'm not talking about why the transfiguration is important on the Sunday before Lent," Phil Sheets tells the Tribune (he instead preached on "ways to infuse patience in day-to-day living"). "It was always a struggle to find new ways to talk about the same Scripture readings, but this year, I didn't have to worry." (Chicago Tribune) There's a sermon illustration here, to be sure …

Religion, schools, and the courts:

• The Supreme Court case that pits free speech against church-state separation (Michael C. Dorf, Findlaw's Writ)
• Legal issues cloud role for religious schools | The future of vouchers probably hinges on whether the courts will allow people to use taxpayer dollars to pay for religious teaching. (The Boston Globe)
• A win for the First Amendment | The political-correctness movement took a major hit in court last week—and it's about time. (Editorial, New York Post)
• Common sense and the Constitution | The Supreme Court should rule that whenever government decides to suppress a particular kind of speech in order to avoid seeming to endorse it, that decision is inescapably based on the viewpoint expressed in the suppressed speech. (George Will, The Washington Post)

Faith-based organizations and government grants:

• Successful partnerships with faith-based groups focus on secular activities | Efforts to link religious groups and schools have been underway for years in many communities — especially in inner-city districts. (Charles Haynes, Freedom Forum)
• Inmates build faith behind bars | While officials call a Christian prison program a success, some foes say it is unconstitutional. (Associated Press/Chicago Tribune)

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February (Web-only) 2001, Vol. 45