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Back to the NAE for a moment. While it didn't say anything directly about global warming, it did release a statement on torture. Media coverage is starting to pick up on it, and we have a story in the works as well. More on that soon, as we'd like to focus on it more closely rather than treating it as a sidenote to the global warming fuss.

2. News alert: Pope still against gay marriage and abortion!
Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday released a 130-plus-page document called Sacramentum Caritatis ("The Sacrament of Charity"). If you saw any news on it, you probably didn't bother to read beyond the headlines, let alone the papal statement. The New York Times headline: "Pope Reaffirms View Opposing Gay Marriage and Abortion." Reuters went with "Catholic politicians can't back gay marriage: Pope." Then there's the Associated Press' scintillating "Pope reaffirms traditional views."

"The document released Tuesday contained no surprises," Ian Fisher of the Times reports, "repeating in a more comprehensive form positions that the church has long held and that Benedict frequently addresses." Well, yes and no. There are no surprises on marriage and abortion. But that doesn't mean there's no news here. As a document largely on liturgy, Benedict's statement has much to say on how Catholics worship. And the "worship wars" can be as fierce in Catholic churches as they are in evangelical Protestant ones.

So when the pope talks about "the importance of gestures and posture, such as kneeling during the central moments of the Eucharistic Prayer" and the need for "greater restraint in [the sign of peace] gesture, which can be exaggerated and cause a certain distraction in the assembly just before the reception of Communion," religion reporters should understand Benedict is talking about issues that are very deeply felt and often very contentious in parishes throughout the world. When he gives specific instructions on encouraging the use of Latin, passions are inflamed. Likewise, when he criticizes "generic and abstract homilies" and says, "Given the importance of the word of God, the quality of homilies needs to be improved," he's talking about something on which parishioners and preachers have strongly held opinions.

Honestly, I'm not sure that "Pope criticizes gay marriage and/or abortion" still qualifies as a news story. But "Pope criticizes abstract preaching" does. One of the points that Benedict emphasizes in Sacramentum Caritatis is that the liturgy—particularly the Eucharist—correctly orients our thinking. That orientation is not mainly a political one.

3. Klouda sues Southwestern
In January, we noted that Sherri Klouda had been denied tenure at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary because the Hebrew professor is a woman. She's now suing the school. But since neither she nor the school is saying anything about the suit right now, there's little new to say about it. There are many comments at Wade Burleson's blog (he broke the news of her tenure denial), but not much news.

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March (Web-only) 2007, Vol. 51