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Better, Safire says, to "change the physical desecration of to something like 'the ostentatious destruction or mockery of' or 'the outrageous disrespect for.'"

Better indeed, unless you think the American flag really is a holy object. And then, my friend, you've got some serious problems.

Religion & politics:

• Divided, we stand | America's long struggle to balance church and state isn't getting any easier (Jay Tolson, U.S. News & World Report)
• Rallying the humanists | Christian right backlash may be invigorating a new wave of neosecularist activity (U.S. News & World Report)
• A Dem, no extremist -- he'd 'serve as if Jesus were serving' | Wheaton College professor Lindy Scott is running for Congress (Chicago Sun-Times)
• Federal program would give D.C. couples impetus to marry | Every dollar saved to be matched by $3 (The Washington Post)
• Two Rivers Baptist to shine spotlight on Supreme Court | A 6,800-member church in Nashville is at the forefront of conservative Christians, in part because of its pastor and his connections (The Tennessean)
• Tax plan still gets attention | Almost two years after Alabamians routed Gov. Bob Riley's $1.2 billion tax and accountability plan in a statewide referendum, that effort continues to draw both admiration and scorn in the pages of the national media (Mobile Register, Ala.)
• Moderation in the pursuit of victory | The early list of Republican White House contenders is dominated by politicians whose commitment to conservative orthodoxy is newfound (Nicholas Confessore, The New York Times)
• Listen for the moderates, not the zealots | Do evangelicals and Muslims need a pope? (Bill Wineke, Wisconsin State Journal, Madison)

Non-U.S.:

• Enter the evangelicals | U.S. fundamentalist groups have a foot in Canada's political door, and they're pushing it open (Vancouver Sun)
• The great morality debate | Has Labour lost touch with the values of middle New Zealand? And if so, will voters punish them for it? (Sunday Star Times, New Zealand)
• Moral issues concern voters | It was the day morality came down from the pulpit and marched on Parliament. August 23, 2004: Destiny Church's Enough is Enough protest attacked Wellington like a swarm of locusts sent to plague the sinners (The New Zealand Herald)
• Behind the Hillsong phenomenon | But who is the driving strength behind the movement in Australia? (ABC News, Australia)

War & terrorism:

• Patriarch backs party led by war-crimes suspect | Patriarch Pavle, the head of Serbia's Orthodox Church, has shocked liberal Serbs by appearing in public for the first time at a nationalist rally organized by the far-right Radical Party, whose fanatical leader, Vojislav Seselj, is on trial for war crimes at The Hague (The Independent)
• Driving force behind terror: fundamentalism | Eric Rudolph is a Christian terrorist (Leonard Pitts Jr., The Miami Herald)

John Roberts:

• Roberts nomination raises the issue of the role of religious faith in public life | Americans assume that serious religious commitments can be related to professional or public life in general (Peter Steinfels, The New York Times)
• The fight behind the fight | The fight over John Roberts's nomination to the Supreme Court isn't only about abortion, but that's a big part of it (The Washington Post)

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August (Web-only) 2005, Vol. 49