2 of 12

The World Council of Churches issued a statement that says, in part:

That a leader has been held responsible for one of his crimes is significant. However, the World Council of Churches is opposed to the death penalty. Each taking of a person's life is a part of a larger tragedy and nowhere is this more apparent than in a land of daily killings.

Weblog has not seen any comment from evangelical leaders so far. Perhaps that's because, in most evangelical circles there is little condemnation of capital punishment for far less notorious crimes.

Update: Evangelicals in Uganda, at least, are reportedly condemning the execution, too.

2. Ford's faith in focus
Most news articles on Ford memorial services have so far offered little information about the spiritual content of those services. Such religious memorial services—especially for heads of state—do tend to be more about the deceased than about God, but there are usually some nuggets about the kind of God the decedent worshiped.

It's a good thing, then, that we have Time and Newsweek. The former examines the relationship between the president and Gospel Communications founder Billy Zeoli, and also argues that Ford's intensely private (but intense) faith cost him the 1976 election. The latter's editor notes in The Washington Post that one time when Ford's religiosity was anything but private — in the religious language of forgiveness and grace he used to announce Nixon's pardon — was important in forming "America's public religion."

3. Harald Bredesen dies at 88
The Lutheran minister was one of the charismatic movement's most influential leaders. In fact, he coined the term "charismatic renewal" with his colleague, Jean Stone. Though his legacy is truly in the way he encouraged charismatic practices like speaking in tongues in mainline denominations (he once worked for the World Council of Churches) and brought a kind of respectability to the movement through his work with political leaders, most obituaries will be noting the way he promoted his former student assistant, M.G. (Pat) Robertson.

4. D. James Kennedy and Al Mohler hospitalized
Kennedy, the prominent and often political pastor of Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale, suffered a significant heart attack Friday and was in grave condition for some time. He has reportedly shown significant improvement.

Mohler was hospitalized Wednesday and underwent abdominal surgery, during which scar tissue from an older operation was removed.

5. More on Mitt's Mormonism
Weblog will probably be linking to articles about Mitt Romney and Mormonism for a while, so we won't always make special note of them. But two stories over the weekend are particularly worth noting. Damon Linker's recent book The Theocons wasn't exactly an evangelical favorite, but his cover story in The New Republic will probably shape much of the coverage to come. "Whereas [John F.]Kennedy set voters' minds at ease by declaring in unambiguous terms that he considered the separation of church and state to be 'absolute,' Romney intends to run for president as the candidate of the religious right, which believes in blurring the distinction between politics and religion," Linker writes. "Romney thus needs to convince voters that they have nothing to fear from his Mormonism while simultaneously placing that faith at the core of his identity and his quest for the White House."

next page... |  2 of 12

share this page

January (Web-only) 2007, Vol. 51