2 of 14

9. Latin American politics is getting Jesusy
Hugo Chávez made headlines by repeatedly invoking Jesus in his election victory speech. One example: "The kingdom of Christ is the kingdom of love, of peace; the kingdom of justice, of solidarity, brotherhood; the kingdom of socialism. This is the kingdom of the future of Venezuela." Andres Oppenheimer writing in The Miami Herald notes that Chávez is not alone: Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega, Ecuador's Alvaro Noboa, and others have made religion part of their political message, too. "Religious populism is on the rise worldwide, and may be growing in Latin America as well," he writes.

10. Who's buried in Paul's tomb?
"Vatican archaeologists have unearthed a sarcophagus believed to contain the remains of the Apostle Paul that had been buried beneath Rome's second largest basilica," says a widely circulating Associated Press report. That basilica is called St. Paul Outside the Walls. It's named that because it's the place where Paul's remains have been believed to have been buried since the first centuries of the church. And if this story sounds familiar, it should.

Quote of the day
"Without being able to utilize churches, we'll be in dire straits. There are many areas of the county where we don't have suitable polling locations, if we were not able to utilize churches, synagogues, and whatever else. They are essential to us being able to service our community adequately and being able to avoid congestion."
—Arthur Anderson, supervisor of elections in Palm Beach County, Florida, which has been sued for using Emmanuel Catholic Church as a polling site.

Bonus story:
We couldn't stop at ten. One of the odder church-state cases in recent years—a suit against the school district logo in Las Cruces, Nevada—has been dismissed. The plaintiff yesterday appealed his case against the city's logo. Both logos depict three crosses, in reference to the city's name.

Australia okays human cloning | Fetal pain bill aborted | Life ethics | Saddleback AIDS summit | Iraq | Crime | Abuse | Theft | Past major crimes | Religious freedom | Bible desecration in Australia | Malaysia | Islam | Qur'an oath | China | Fiji | Politics (non-U.S.): | Politics (U.S.) | Come on ring those bells? | Christmas wars in the U.K. | Christmas commerce | More Christmas | Voting in churches | Church and state | University of Georgia frat ban | Higher education | Missions & ministry | Homosexuality | Anglicanism | Church life | Private prayer language | Spirituality | Money and business | Entertainment and media | Left Behind: The Video Game | Music | History | Richard Dawkins | Other stories of interest

Australia okays human cloning:

• Embryo cloning gets the go-ahead | Australian scientists will be able to clone human embryos for medical research under legislation passed by Parliament which divided the country's most senior politicians (The Sydney Morning Herald)
  
  
• A clear conscience on therapeutic cloning | The bill's emphatic victory in the House suggests the community is comfortable with relativism (Editorial, The Age, Melbourne, Australia)
  
  
• Stem cell bill gives an important research tool to the scientific community | The Patterson Bill gives Australian scientists an opportunity to fully explore every aspect of embryonic stem cell research (Stephen Livesey, The Sydney Morning Herald)
  
  

next page... |  2 of 14

share this page

December (Web-only) 2006, Vol. 50