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"The agreement bridged two administrations and benefited from both," writes Post reporter Carol D. Leonnig. "In the waning days of the Clinton administration, officials waived the minimum standards required under the program at the request of [Fauntroy]. … Under the Bush administration, officials promoted the agreement because its core mission exemplified the president's faith-based agenda."

Politics:

• Church aisle is wide cultural divide | Religion lies at the heart of the cultural divide that split American voters evenly in the 2000 election (USA Today)
  
  
• The anti-war religious left | George W. Bush, like Truman before him, knows evil, whatever the churches say. (Ernest W. Lefever, National Review Online)
  
  
• Change nation's flag, says Ghana Evangelical Society | Group wants to replace black star with cross and crown of thorns on a white banner (The Accra Mail)
  
  

Persecution:

• Georgian Orthodox prelate endorses religious violence | "Sectarians have to be shot dead," says Metropolitan Atanase Chkhvashvili (Keston/Catholic World News)
  
  
• Vietnam denies religious persecution | Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Phan Thuy Thanh said Saturday that the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom slandered Vietnam by distorting the status of religion in the Communist nation. (Associated Press)
  
  
• Pakistani government says no to repealing blasphemy laws | International pressure increasing, but officials say issue is settled (The News International, Pakistan)
  
  
• Also: Pakistan Peace Coalition condemns filing of blasphemy case against activist (Dawn, Karachi, Pakistan)
  
  

Liberia for Jesus declares "emergency":

• Christians declare State of Emergency | Liberia for Jesus Prayer Crusade pushes for major changes in nation (The News, Monrovia)
  
  
• Concrete action required to skip the emergency | We agree with Liberia for Jesus (Editorial, The News, Monrovia)
  
  

Reporting abuse:

• Secrets confided to the clergy are getting harder to keep | Thanks, in part, to a spate of sexual abuse scandals involving priests, clergy-penitent privilege is no longer considered inviolable (The New York Times)
  
  
• Clergy 'may be urged to reveal secrets' | Ministers would be instructed to tell all "in extreme circumstances, particularly where the safety of children is concerned" (The Daily Telegraph, London)
  
  
• Senator prods House on abuse bill | Measure would require clergy to report sex cases (The Boston Globe)
  
  

Sex & marriage:

• Welfare chief is hoping to promote marriage | The Bush administration official who oversees welfare wants to spend $100 million to promote marriage among the poor. (The New York Times)
  
  
• Marriage pledge rings hollow | If you think an institution is essential to civilization, how can you bar some citizens from it? (Rob Morse, San Francisco Chronicle)
  
  

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February (Web-only) 2002, Vol. 46