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On Monday, the Institute on Religion and Democracy's Erik Nelson issued a list of outstanding questions on the controversy. None had to do with the Melnyks themselves.

Likewise, Archbishop Drexel Gomez, head of the Anglican Church in the West Indies, saw the liturgy as a problem of the Episcopal Church USA, not simply of a couple of priests. He is apparently the only Anglican primate to publicly discuss the rites.

Hey, I thought religious conservatives won the election
Well, that didn't take long. Religious conservatives / "values voters" / whatever have been credited with re-electing Bush, but they may not get the biggest prize of all: judicial appointees who oppose abortion. The debate over Sen. Arlen Specter's apparent promise not to approve "judges who would change the right of a woman to choose" as chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee is pretty old, and the story is extremely convoluted at this point.

But suffice it to say that religious conservative groups haven't taken time off after the election. Specter seems to have recanted (maybe), but folks are still calling for his head.

"Let the Battle Begin," says the Family Research Council. "Our pro-life President and his colleagues in the Senate MUST NOT ALLOW Senator Specter to determine the makeup of our courts."

Specter is engaged in "the worst kind of political bullying, not to mention arrogant grandstanding," says James Dobson in a press release. The press release is from Focus on the Family Action, Dobson's lobbying group that's separate from his large ministry. But Dobson also spent much of today's Focus on the Familybroadcast calling for listeners to make sure Specter doesn't take the committee chairmanship. "This has to be one of the most foolish, ill-considered comments ever made in politics," Dobson said of Specter's warning. The broadcaster pointed out that he and Specter frequently fought this election season. (He also spent a few minutes getting complaints about John Kerry off his chest—something he couldn't do before the election without violating IRS guidelines, and warning that values voters will abandon the Republican Party if they don't see serious movement in the next four, "or maybe two," years.)

Concerned Women for America is likewise calling for Senate Republican leaders to keep Specter from the chair.

The real engine behind the anti-Specter movement is National Review Online, especially its pro-life stalwart, Kathryn Jean Lopez. Look there for updates, not here.

Bush: Vote doesn't suggest America divided on religion
Purely out of self-interest, Weblog kinda hoped that articles about religion and the election would drop off after November 2. Instead, of course, Weblog's key search words (including evangelical, Christian, Christianity, church, religious, and religion) are appearing in almost every news article. (Rob Moll deserves credit for helping to organize the links below, as he does most days.) Some of the commentary is crazy, some of it is insightful. But we figured we'd let President Bush speak for himself on a subject many are writing about.

"Mr. President, your victory at the polls came about in part because of strong support from people of faith, in particular, Christian evangelicals and Pentecostals and others," a reporter asked at yesterday's press conference (audio | video). "And Senator Kerry drew some of his strongest support from those who do not attend religious services. What do you make of this religious divide, it seems, becoming a political divide in this country? And what do you say to those who are concerned about the role of a faith they do not share in public life and in your policies?"

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November (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48