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"The e-mail appears to be a thinly veiled attempt to push negative talking points on Mormonism to influence power brokers in Iowa," The Washington Post reported. When asked about it, the Brownback campaign disavowed the e-mail message, said Nemecek was reprimanded, and said it wouldn't happen again.

"Although the forwarded e-mail did not originate from campaign staff and was not sent from a campaign account or on behalf of the campaign, it is unfortunate and regrettable that this e-mail was forwarded by someone working for the campaign, even if for fact-checking purposes on behalf of a publication," Brownback's Iowa communications director John Rankin told the Post. (Unanswered: What Brownback-related publication is/was looking at Mormon beliefs?)

The Los Angeles Times Saturday reported that some evangelicals are wary enough of Mormonism not to vote for Romney. Stephanie Simon writes, "This is not an arcane theological dispute; to some born-again Christians, it's at the very core of presidential leadership. If Romney does not understand what they take to be God's true nature, can he still receive divine guidance? If he doesn't accept the Trinity as they conceptualize it, can he still be filled with the strength of the Holy Spirit?"

Nemecek says she's actually not critical of Romney's faith. "I didn't intend to smear anyone," she told blogger John Deeth. "I don't think people should choose [a president] based on how a person worships — I have six Mormon family members myself." She says she forwarded the e-mail "with no opinion of my own or anything."

Or apparently any knowledge that the "Christian Council of Churches" doesn't even exist. (If the e-mail meant the National Council of Churches, it could add almost every evangelical church to the list of non-members.)

4. The face of Regent University
"What is the real face of Regent's law school?" asks its hometown paper, The Virginian-Pilot. The newspaper juxtaposes a local billboard for Regent Law, featuring two students who had just won the American Bar Association's national negotiation competition, with coverage of Monica Goodling, the Regent grad at the center of the Justice Department firing scandal. Though writer Steven G. Vegh never directly spells it out, the underlying message is that to outsiders, the real face of Regent is its founder, Pat Robertson. But Robertson isn't a big factor inside the school itself — or even a big draw for students. "There are a number of people attending that school who do so strictly because of what Pat Robertson represents to them," 1994 graduate Joe Migliozzi Jr. told the paper. "I don't think that is a majority anymore." Stephen Pfeiffer, one of the two faces on that billboard, says he hadn't even heard of Robertson before he enrolled at the school.

5. Wine, wine, wine
Public schools renting space out to churches is controversial in several parts of the country, but in Wake County, North Carolina, it's not for the usual reason. The school board policy absolutely forbids all alcohol on school premises at all times — which means that Roman Catholic churches renting space in one of the schools can't use sacramental wine. (Another church says it has been using wine at services in another school without any complaints.) A board member is seeking to change the policy.

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June (Web-only) 2007, Vol. 51