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Luther himself once quoted this poem—in a Christmas sermon, no less!

Devil: Monk on the latrine! You shouldn't be reading matins here!
Monk: I am purging my bowels
While worshiping almighty God.
You can have what goes down
While God gets what goes up.

"This is a great find particularly because we're talking about someone whose texts we have concentrated on for years, while little attention has been paid to anything three-dimensional and human behind them," Luther Memorial Foundation director Stefan Rhein told The Telegraph. "This is where the birth of the Reformation took place. … We just had no idea where this sewer was. Now it's clear what the reformer meant."

The Telegraph wrongly notes that Luther claims to have written his 95 theses there. No theses; just feces. But the paper does add this note about the loo, located in a previously undiscovered annex of his Wittenberg house: "The 450-year-old lavatory, which was very advanced for its time, is made out of stone blocks and, unusually, has a 30cm-square seat with a hole. Underneath is a cesspit attached to a primitive drain."

If you're a Luther fan, by the way, you'll be interested to know the Joseph Fiennes biopic is out on DVD November 30, and is apparently just now playing in Canada.

Religion & politics:

• Faith and patriotism | We don't serve our country — in fact we weaken it intellectually — if we downplay our principles or fail to speak forcefully out of some misguided sense of good manners (Charles J. Chaput, The New York Times)
• Who's afraid of Christian Right? | Some Jewish voters feel distant from the Bush-Cheney ticket is a fear of extending the influence of the Christian Right. (David Twersky, New York Sun)
• Rocking the Christian vote | Redeem the Vote encourages young evangelicals to register to cast their ballots (Rachel DiCarlo, The Weekly Standard)
• Living on a prayer | Pro-abortion candidates like Kerry face long-term trouble from Catholics (Colleen Carroll Campbell, National Review Online)
• Talk that diminishes faith | This may sound impolitic and even un-Christian, particularly coming from a Christian theologian, but I don't want to hear any more from the presidential candidates about their personal faith (Tom Beaudoin, The Washington Post)
• Bush, Kerry turn to religion in final weeks | Both presidential candidates, one a Roman Catholic and the other an evangelical Protestant, are conversant about their faith, with each man making religious pitches down the stretch (The Washington Times)
• George, God here … | President Bush has words with the Almighty (Terry Jones, The Guardian, London)
• Liberal evangelical voters come out swinging | These are Jesus-loving, church-going, Bible-believing Christians who take their faith seriously but don't let Jerry Falwell set their agenda. Call them Jesus-centric centrists (Cathleen Falsani, Chicago Sun-Times)
• Fire and brimstone | A wild U.S. Senate debate spilled into living rooms Thursday night as Republican Alan Keyes and Democrat Barack Obama rocked each other with blistering attacks on religious faith, crime, gun control, abortion and sex education (Daily Herald, Chicago suburbs)

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October (Web-only) 2004, Vol. 48