Warren, Obama, the Christian Coalition, and ‘the Evangelical Agenda’

1. Fight over Warren’s Obama invitation illustrates evangelical questions over separation One of the better pieces is David Van Biema’s Time column. He notes (quoting CT’s Collin Hansen) that the battle between those who say, quite literally, “we will never work with those can support the murder of babies in the womb” and those who say “the HIV/AIDS pandemic cannot be fought by evangelicals alone” has echoes of the 1940s and 1950s. Back then, the split was between Billy Graham’s neo-evangelical camp and the more fundamentalists (in the historical, non-pejorative sense of the term) who advocated “second-degree separation.”

2. Christian Coalition gets its name back in the papers Really, the Christian Coalition isn’t that big of a name any more. Neither is Joel Hunter, though his church is big enough to be particularly noteworthy in the Florida Christian world. But the split between the two—right before Hunter was to take over as the Coalition’s president—illustrates the same narrative that the Warren/Obama controversy does. The Chicago Tribune, among others, notes the similarities.

3. Chicago stands alone in Christmas wars You have to look hard—or abroad—for fights over Christmas this year. This year, it looks a lot like Christmas (not “the holidays”) every where you go. Take a look at the Five-and-Ten.

4. Mt. Soledad Cross gets a win But the battle isn’t over, of course. Actually, it’s hard to pick among the many church-and-state battles today. Read them all, and then head over to the indispensable Religion Clause blog, which tipped us off to several of these.

5. The Pope goes to Turkey But you knew that, right?

Quote of the day “This story incorrectly stated that James Dobson, founder and chairman of Focus on the Family, believes people who don’t practice what they preach should undergo an exorcism. His quote, in a TV interview about reaction to the firing of evangelical leader Ted Haggard for ‘sexual immorality,’ was: ‘Everybody gets exercised (worked up about it) when something like this happens, and for good reason.'” —A correction to a November 23 Rocky Mountain News article on Dobson and Haggard, which had the subhead “Dobson: Haggard not a hypocrite, just in need of exorcism.”

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Rick Warren and Barack Obama | AIDS | Joel Hunter and Christian Coalition | People | Politics (U.S.) | Politics (non-U.S.) | Church and state | Nativity at Chicago’s Christkindlmarket | The Nativity Story | Nativity displays | Other holiday displays | Christmas in the marketplace | Christmas in the schools | More on “Christmas wars” | Government prayer | Blue laws | British Airways cross dispute | Religious liberty | Islam | Pope Benedict XVI in Turkey | More on Turkey | Lebanon | China | Social justice | Military | Abortion | Life ethics | Birth control | Sex and marriage | Homosexuality | Ted Haggard | Mitt Romney | Mormonism and Mitt Romney | Anglicanism | Pope and Anglicans | Church life | Church buildings | Church closings | Texas Baptist church plant scandal | Theft | Abuse | Religious hate crimes in Scotland | Crime | Money and business | Giving | Missions & ministry | Vouchers | Education | Education (U.K.) | Higher Education | Spirituality and theology | Exorcism | Atheism | Entertainment and media | Art | History | India | Other stories of interest

Rick Warren and Barack Obama:

• The real losers in the Obama-Warren controversy | Rick Warren’s invitation to have Barack Obama speak at his mega-church’s AIDS conference has sparked a furor in the evangelical community. But pro-life critics of Obama’s inclusion may end up regretting their stance (David Van Biema, Time)
• Pastor Rick Warren defends Obama invite | The senator, who supports abortion rights, will speak at a church AIDS seminar (The Orange County Register, Ca.)
• Branding a compassionate Christ a ‘liberal’ | Dissention among religious leaders sparks protests over AIDS summit (Nightline, ABC News)
• Obama’s mega-church visit spotlights waning ‘God gap’ | a number of prominent evangelical leaders recently have sought to broaden the movement’s political agenda from traditional cultural issues of opposition to abortion and gay rights that favor Republicans to include concerns more associated with Democrats, such as the environment, the AIDS epidemic and poverty (Chicago Tribune)
• Famed pastor defends invitation to Obama | Obama is one of nearly 60 speakers scheduled to address the second annual Global Summit on AIDS and the Church beginning Thursday at Warren’s Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif. (Associated Press)
• Church is urged to disinvite Obama | In a statement, 18 antiabortion leaders called on Warren to rescind the invitation because Obama supports keeping abortion legal (The Washington Post)
• Evangelical pastor, Obama join forces to battle AIDS | The O.C. leader of Saddleback Church has taken heat from his peers over the invitation and conference (Los Angeles Times)

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AIDS:

• Delivering aid—and values | New interest by faith-based groups in problems like AIDS bring church resources and hands to a cause. It also brings concerns (The Orange County Register, Ca.)
• Faith groups urge cuts to AIDS fund | Allege opposition to Christian efforts (The Boston Globe)
• Christian conservatives vs. AIDS | Bush and the evangelical movement have done more than they get credit for in efforts to stem the disease (Editorial, Los Angeles Times)
• Stop giving free condoms, say clerics | The practice, they said, was encouraging promiscuity and fuelling the spread of HIV/Aids (The Nation, Kenya)
• Programs help reduce HIV rates in parts of Africa, report says | Virus resurges in Uganda, Thailand (The Washington Post)
• Warnings, worship mark World AIDS Day | World Aids Day was marked around the globe by somber religious services, boisterous demonstrations and warnings that far more needs to be done to treat and prevent the disease in order to avert millions of additional deaths (Reuters)
• Abstinence and AIDS | There is a definite role for abstinence, especially among the young, where the training has been shown in some cases to delay the age of first sexual activity. Abstinence-only programs, however, are of little help to some of those most vulnerable to infection, including impoverished young women under pressure to have sex for economic or cultural reasons (Editorial, The Boston Globe)

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Joel Hunter won’t be Christian Coalition prez after all:

• Longwood pastor quits as coalition president | The Rev. Joel Hunter was set to take the reins of the national Christian Coalition (The Orlando Sentinel)
• Second new leader resigns from the Christian Coalition | For the second time in little more than a year, the Christian Coalition of America named a new leader and then removed him before he ever fully took the reins of the conservative political advocacy group (The Washington Post)
• Pastor chosen to lead Christian Coalition steps down in dispute over agenda | The Rev. Joel C. Hunter said the Christian Coalition of America resisted his efforts to broaden its agenda to include reducing poverty and fighting global warming (The New York Times)
• Christian Coalition chief won’t serve | The leader-to-be wanted to broaden the conservative group’s focus. (Los Angeles Times)
• Christian Coalition pres.-elect leaves | The president-elect of the Christian Coalition of America has declined the job, saying the organization wouldn’t let him expand its agenda beyond opposing abortion and gay marriage (Associated Press)
• Pastor doubts Christ hated caring ‘liberals’ | Joel Hunter may well become the most important and refreshing voice speaking for evangelical Christians today (Mike Thomas, The Orlando Sentinel)

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People:

• The gospel according to Jim Wallis | For Democrats to win back the White House, they may well have to rely on the power of the Almighty. And it’s not Bill Clinton (The Washington Post Magazine)
• Rivers to end day-to-day role at center | The Rev. Eugene F. Rivers III, under pressure in recent months over his administration of the Ella J. Baker House, said last night he will step aside from running the day-to-day affairs of the Dorchester community center (The Boston Globe)
• Also: A promoter stands mute | If there is one word that would never be associated with the Rev. Eugene F. Rivers III, that word would be silent (Adrian Walker, The Boston Globe)
• A King we hardly knew | It is not amazing that King wrote of concern for the poor yet criticized liberals who voiced only lip service. What is stunning is that he wrote the above in 1948, before age 20 (T Derrick Z. Jackson, The Boston Globe)
• Also: The continuing ‘danger’ of King | Clayborne Carson speculates that if King were alive today, he might continue to be embarrassing to an America where many Christian groups scapegoat homosexuals, limit women’s right to an abortion, or espouse general superiority over other religious groups (Derrick Z. Jackson, The Boston Globe)
• Barton: new face of the religious right? | The next wave of the religious right is arriving (William McKenzie, The Dallas Morning News)
• Weighing family’s quality time against lure of elite programs | Tulsa’s Steve Kragthorpe, whose name seems to be on every coaching short list in college football, lives by three F’s: Faith, family and football (The New York Times)

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Politics (U.S.):

• The ‘God Gap’ lessened in last election | Issues such as the Iraq war lured the devout to Democrats (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
• Pastor finds Raleigh fortunes have fizzled | Jerry Falwell made his name in Lynchburg, Va., Pat Robertson in Virginia Beach, and Tom Vestal in Raleigh, Now he has been fired as pastor of Mount Olivet Baptist Church (The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.)
• Despite revived Left, religious magazines wither | It’s never been easy to make ends meet while putting out a progressive Christian publication. But in an ironic twist, a re-energized religious left may be making a tough task even harder (Religion News Service)
• Wooing the faithful in ’08 | Can Democrats maintain the inroads they’ve made among the faithful, or will Republicans rewiden the God gap that fueled their post-1994 ascent? Both parties have a lot to worry about. (Dan Gilgoff, Chicago Tribune)
• Souls on ice | While the GOP was exploiting the bigotry of the black clergy in the midterms, black piety was melting before America’s eyes (Debra J. Dickerson, Salon.com)
• Changes in the culture war | The media’s intense focus on the bitter conflicts swirling around embryonic stem-cell research and defining marriage issues masks subtle shifts in strategies and attitudes among some of the central combatants in this conflict: evangelical and other conservative Christians (Gary J. Andres, The Washington Times)
• Offended by intolerance | Freedom of religion and freedom of speech are under siege in the worst possible way — from the inside out, a cancer of wrong-headed political correctness that is rotting away America’s strength (Deborah E. Gauthier, Daily News Tribune, Waltham, Mass.)
• Lutherans and mighty fortresses | A church that tolerated the Berlin Wall now finds walls unsavory if they protect people (Mark Tooley, The American Spectator)

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Politics (non-U.S.):

• Rift erupts over church report in Zim | Church leaders in Zimbabwe attempted on Monday to head off a rift over a church report on the nation’s political and economic turmoil after priests of the Jesuit order alleged the report, issued last month, was censored by government agents (Mail & Guardian, South Africa)
• Evangelicals new kids on the political block | As strange political alignments and re-alignments unfold ahead of next year’s elections, a new blend of political activists is emerging. (Gathenya Njaramba, The East African Standard, Kenya)
• EA U.K. Responds to Sunday Telegraph | The article in last week’s Sunday Telegraph by Jonathan Wynne-Jones (Christians ask if force is needed to protect their religious values) is a case-study in bad journalism (EAUK)
• Church ‘livid’ at Stone’s return | The decision to return the Stone of Destiny to Scotland 10 years ago caused consternation among the Church of England authorities, it has emerged (BBC)
• Religious lobby rallies faithful to Morton’s camp | Church groups and religious conservatives are being called out to vote en masse for Ted Morton as the one Progressive Conservative leadership hopeful who can end their fears that, one day, evangelical pastors will be forced to bless gay marriages (Edmonton Journal)

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Church and state:

• Mt. Soledad cross vote reaffirmed by justices | Land transfer upheld in appellate decision (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Earlier: S.D. kept in cross lawsuit | Judge says ruling could affect city (San Diego Union-Tribune)
• Faith-based charities to be reviewed | The Supreme Court on Friday agreed to step into a dispute over the Bush administration’s promotion of federal financing for faith-based charities (Associated Press)
• Dixie courthouse unveils the Ten Commandments | A six-ton block of granite bearing the Ten Commandments had been installed atop the Dixie County courthouse steps. Inscribed at the base was the admonition to “Love God and keep his commandments.” (Gainesville Sun, Fla.)
• Schools await ruling in logo lawsuit | U.S. District Judge Robert Brack heard a day full of testimony and closing arguments Monday in the 3-year-old suit before announcing shortly after 5 p.m. that he would render a decision “as soon as possible” (Las Cruces Sun-News, N.M.)
• Defiant Orange County sect leader says county is ‘wrestling with God’ | Marie Kolasinski, leader of the quilt-making Piecemakers, is among those facing charges connected with the operation of the group’s store and tearoom (Los Angeles Times)
• Also: Sect’s tearoom fights health code | Three members of the small Piecemakers religious sect were convicted this week of multiple misdemeanor counts for refusing to let health inspectors into their kitchen (Associated Press)
• Ark. begins faith-based inmate program | Arkansas correction officials are dedicating a Bible-based program for female prisoners, but a national group said it’s a risky move while a similar system is being challenged in federal court (Associated Press)
• Church and state | On the church-state line, federal managers who are driven by faith themselves have some leeway to talk about religion, but must in the balance let their good works speak for them (Brian Friel, GovExec.com)

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Nativity ad at Chicago’s Christkindlmarket:

• No room in the plaza for ‘Nativity Story’ | City advises against film ads at holiday fest (Chicago Tribune)
• ‘Nativity’ booted from Ill. holiday fair | A public Christmas festival is no place for the Christmas story, the city says. Officials have asked organizers of a downtown Christmas festival, the German Christkindlmarket, to reconsider using a movie studio as a sponsor because it is worried ads for its film “The Nativity Story” might offend non-Christians (Associated Press)
• It’s beginning to look a lot like a Christmas misstep | How could anyone attending something called the Christkindlmarket — Christ child market — be offended by clips from a movie about the birth of Christ? There may be an argument for keeping business interests at bay. But that argument is weakened by the commercial presence at the market of such sponsors as Mercedes-Benz and Lufthansa, however “muted” the city says their presence is (Editorial, Chicago Sun-Times)
• Daley’s friends have a way in a manger | What manner of spirit visited City Hall to shape this statement? The ghost of George Orwell? (John Kass, Chicago Tribune)
• Down with Christmas commercialization — show us movie ads | Is the commercialization of Christmas OK as long as it’s the right kind of commercialization? (Mark Caro, Chicago Tribune)

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The Nativity Story:

• Chosen for their courage | ‘The Nativity Story’ sets out to describe the perils faced by Jesus’ parents. Its creation took faith. (Los Angeles Times)
• Movie on Jesus’ birth debuts at Vatican | Some 7,000 people showed up at the benefit screening of “The Nativity Story” in Paul VI Hall, the auditorium regularly used for audiences with pilgrims (Associated Press)
• Hollywood and the Vatican see eye to eye for a night | The Vatican was the host of the world premiere of “The Nativity Story,” giving an unprecedented stamp of approval to an American studio production (The New York Times)
• Hollywood gets religion | The greatest story ever told is increasingly becoming the stuff of movie scripts. But are such movies, including recent release on the life of Queen Esther and a film on the Nativity opening Dec. 1, up to snuff? (The Washington Times)
• Students to show ‘Nativity’ at school | A high school student club in Fairfax County plans to show on campus today the new movie “The Nativity Story,” which tells the biblical story of Joseph, Mary and the birth of Jesus Christ (The Washington Times)
• ‘Nativity Story’ actress should not be shunned, leaders say | Amid reports that the teenage actress who plays Mary in the new movie “The Nativity Story” is pregnant out of wedlock, some Christians are wondering how to respond to a lead character’s personal life in a movie they have enthusiastically embraced (Baptist Press)
• ‘Nativity Story’ retells first Christmas | The makers of “The Nativity Story” offer Christ’s sweet, humble beginnings in a stable — which, remarkably, Hollywood has not focused on before (Associated Press)
• ‘Nativity’: Old story gets youthful slant | Catherine Hardwicke’s two previous films dealt with the brutality of youth, lives fraught with doubt, pressure, anger, sexuality, violence and confusion. She is not regarded as someone who makes soft-focus, feel-good movies (USA Today)
• ‘Nativity’ on film | Tenderly gritty new movie tells story of Jesus’ birth (Cathleen Falsani, Chicago Sun-Times)

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Nativity displays:

• PETA mistakenly targets Alaska church | The pastor at Anchorage First Free Methodist Church was mystified. Why was the activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals chastising him? No animals are harmed in the church’s holiday nativity display. In fact, animals aren’t used at all (Associated Press)
• Supreme Court passes on NYC nativity case | School system displays of symbols of the Jewish and Islamic faiths, but not the Christian nativity scene (ScotusBlog)
• Christmas spirit pleasing to pastor | Nativity scene float to appear 2nd time in downtown parade (Rocky Mountain News, Denver)
• National groups weighing in on Monument Square Nativity scene | The city granted a Wind Point man’s wish to put a nativity scene on Monument Square. And a Madison-based group now calls that decision misguided and unconstitutional (Journal Times, Racine, Wis.)
• Also: Outsiders to the, uh, rescue on nativity | Dear Madison, Thank you once again for taking time out of your busy schedule to set us straight. Here, we in Racine figured we could make the call on our own whether to allow a nativity scene on Monument Square for this Christmas season (Mike Moore, Journal Times, Racine, Wis.)
• County again denies Nativity boosters | A Nativity scene will not stand on the lawn of the Tippecanoe County Courthouse this Christmas season (Journal & Courier, West Lafayette, Ind.)
• Also: Political confrontation | It makes good sense to keep nativity scenes off the grounds of the Tippecanoe County Courthouse — and any other county or city building (Editorial, Journal & Courier, West Lafayette, Ind.)

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Other holiday displays:

• Mich. Capitol conifer re-christened ‘Christmas tree’ | ‘If you’re going to have a tree, you might as well call it what it is,’ Michigan Jewish Conference director says after lawmakers vote to change name (Associated Press)
• Holiday peace-sign wreath sparks fight | In a town in scenic southwestern Colorado, homeowners are battling over whether a Christmas wreath that includes a peace sign is an anti-Iraq war protest or even a promotion of Satan (The Denver Post)
• Also: Pro-peace symbol forces win battle in Colorado town | A couple in Pagosa Springs, Colo., was threatened with fines by their homeowners’ association unless they removed a wreath shaped like a peace symbol (The New York Times)
• Southfield to lose menorah | Holiday display raises a legal issue (Detroit Free Press)
• Christmas tea axed over Bible story | Town panel moved event out of church (Concord Monitor, N.H.)
• Nothing wrong with decorating Capitol in different ways | There’s nothing more “Christmasy” than a State Capitol that leaves its doors open to all kinds of seasonal displays—from Menorahs to “Freedom from Religion” displays. The more, the merrier (Editorial, Oshkosh Northwestern, Wis.)
• We should ban un-Christian festive decorations | When concerned individuals have to plead with the Scottish Parliament’s petitions committee to try to ensure that making the sign of the cross in public does not result in criminal proceedings, as will happen this week, the first week of Advent, it appears that we are already in an unholy mess (Cate Levine, The Herald, Glasgow)

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Christmas in the marketplace:

• Italy senators want IKEA boycott for Nativity snub | Two Italian politicians called on Thursday for a Christmas boycott of Swedish furniture giant IKEA for not selling Nativity scenes, which Catholics in Italy traditionally put up in their homes around Christmas (Reuters)
• Stores revert to ‘Merry Christmas’ | Wal-Mart leads way, backing off from ‘happy holidays’ (The Baltimore Sun)
• ‘Merry Christmas’ comes back | Some stores have used more traditional decorations this year (Kevin Leininger, The News-Sentinel, Ft. Wayne, Ind.)
• Welcome back, Christmas | Though cynics will say this movement is nothing more than a capitulation to the power of the almighty shopping dollar, it is still refreshing to hear a clerk wish “Merry Christmas” as he or she hands back our change (Editorial, Sheboygan Press, Wi.)

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Christmas in the schools:

• Spanish school cancels Christmas | A school in traditionally Catholic Spain has cancelled Christmas celebrations so as not to offend children who are not Christians, ABC newspaper reported on Wednesday (Reuters)
• St. Nick ban causes stir in Vienna | St. Nick, nein! A ban on St. Nicholas at Vienna’s kindergartens is taking some of the ho-ho-ho out of the holidays for tens of thousands of tots this year. And it’s creating a political ruckus, with opposition parties accusing City Hall of kowtowing to a growing Muslim population by showing Europe’s Santa the kindergarten door (Associated Press)
• Also: St Nick hasn’t been nixed this Xmas, Vienna insists | Santa Claus can still come to town, Vienna officials said on Thursday to calm an outcry over mistaken reports the jolly mythical figure had been banned from traditional pre-Christmas visits to kindergartens (Reuters)

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More on “Christmas wars”:

• Americans favor ‘Merry Christmas’ | Go ahead, say “Merry Christmas.” Americans want it that way, according to a new survey, which found that 69 percent of us prefer the traditional greeting over a generic “happy holidays,” which garnered a mere 23 percent of the vote (The Washington Times)
• Merry Christmas, Bill O’Reilly! | It’s tough for the 96 percent of us who celebrate Christmas, but the conservatives have our back (Liza Featherstone, The Nation)
• ‘Culture war’ in season of the Prince of Peace? | As we try to respect one another’s beliefs, noisy people keep intruding. They proclaim a “war on Christmas,” force retailers to put “Merry Christmas” in advertising and then proclaim that they’ve rescued the manger (Joel Connelly, Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
• Don’t like Christmas? Get a life | You may feel excluded by Christian symbolism, but you’re in America. Work with it (Garrison Keillor, Salon.com)

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Government prayer:

• Sectarian prayers continue despite several court rulings | More city council disputes (Winston-Salem Journal, N.C.)
• School Board decides to open its meetings with prayer | A prayer will replace the moment of silence observed by the Charleston County School Board at the start of its meetings (The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C.)
• Without a prayer? | Council’s Lord’s Prayer irks critics (Ottawa Sun)

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Blue laws:

• Retailers to defy blue laws | Firms’ challenge may force changes to dated state rules (The Boston Globe)
• A turkey of a blue law | Will somebody please change the state law so people can shop for groceries on Thanksgiving? (Editorial, The Boston Globe)

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British Airways cross dispute:

• BA reviews policy after crucifix row | British Airways launched a review of its uniform policy on Friday after coming under heavy criticism for refusing to allow a staff member to wear a Christian cross over her uniform (Reuters)
• Anglicans review ties to BA over cross | The Church of England is reviewing its “whole attitude” towards British Airways, in which it has investments, for refusing to let employees wear crosses over their uniforms, the Archbishop of Canterbury said on Friday (Reuters)
• Blair advises BA to end cross row | Tony Blair has advised British Airways “some battles are not worth fighting” when asked about its ban on cross necklaces being worn over uniforms (BBC)
• The Cross wins | British public opinion and strong lobbying by Christian groups have just forced bosses at British Airways — the UK’s largest airline — into a high profile and embarrassing U-turn (Ronan Thomas, The Washington Times)

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Religious liberty:

• Morocco jails German for trying to convert Muslims | The court in Agadir, Morocco’s main tourist destination, found the 64-year-old man guilty of trying to “shake the faith of a Muslim” (Reuters)
• Uzbekistan pardons prisoners after US criticism | Uzbekistan issued a decree on Friday pardoning a number of prisoners jailed for extremist activities, just weeks after the United States added the country to its list of nations that violate religious freedom (Reuters)
• Survey finds support for veil ban | One in three people would support a ban on the Muslim face-covering veil in public places, a survey suggests (BBC)
• Intolerance in Europe | Prostitutes and drug dealers are welcome in the Netherlands. Just don’t wear a veil (Editorial, The Washington Post)

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Islam:

• Real respect for Muslims among us | Pandering, whether by bishops or government officials, invites contempt, not respect (Wesley Pruden, The Washington Times)
• The end of one law for all? | Ethnic and religious courts are gaining ground in the UK. Will this lead to different justice for different people? (BBC)
• What makes a Muslim radical? | Muslim radicals have more in common with their moderate brethren than is often assumed (Foreign Policy)
• Lawmaker to take oath on Koran, faces flak | Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, will take his oath of office on the Koran, not the Bible (The Washington Times)
• Also: Oh say, can you swear on a Qur’an? | What’s correct (Eugene Volokh, National Review Online)
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Pope Benedict XVI in Turkey:

• Aim of Papal visit was to mend fences | It has taken a combination of Vatican diplomacy, negotiations through Catholic bishops in Turkey and Benedict’s own carefully nuanced gestures to create the climate to make his visit to Turkey an apparent success (Associated Press)
• Pope offers goodwill message to Muslims | Friday’s news on the trip (Associated Press)
• Pope: Christian divisions a ‘scandal’ | Thursday’s news on the Turkey visit (Associated Press)
• Pope holds intimate Mass in Turkey | Wednesday’s news on the visit (Associated Press)
• Silent prayer, words of hope as Pope visits mosque | Pope Benedict XVI slipped out of his red Prada loafers and padded in white slippered feet across the carpeted floor of Istanbul’s revered Blue Mosque on Thursday, in only the second papal visit ever to a Muslim house of worship (The Washington Post)
• Pope prays in visit to Turkish mosque | Move is seen as gesture of conciliation toward Muslims. He also tries to mend rifts with Orthodox Christians (Los Angeles Times)
• Christian schism is focus of Pope’s second day in Turkey | Pope Benedict XVI focused on healing the rift between the once-united Roman Catholic and Orthodox churches (The New York Times)
• Pope prays in Turkey with Muslim and Orthodox leaders | Pope Benedict showed that many of his basic concerns about the relationship between Christianity and Islam, as well as between West and East, had not vanished.
• In Turkey, Pope reaches out to Islam | After enraging some with earlier remarks, Benedict calls for ‘authentic dialogue’ (The Washington Post)
• Al-Qaida denounces pope visit to Turkey | Vatican spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi said “neither the pope nor his entourage are worried” by the statement (Associated Press)
• Pope and Patriarch ponder an EU-member Turkey | Pope Benedict and the spiritual leader of Orthodox Christians said on Thursday minority rights must be protected as the EU expands and appeared to jointly support Turkish membership if it protected religious liberties (Reuters)
• Pope meets with Turkish Christians | The pontiff joins Orthodox leader in prayer and calls for more protections for religious minorities (Los Angeles Times)
• Pope strikes conciliatory tone in Turkey | Stresses need for dialogue with Muslims (The Boston Globe)
• The Pope tones down his act in Turkey | Long known for his rigid thinking, Benedict XVI shows new flexibility in trying to mend fences in the wake of his controversial speech about Islam (Time)
• Benedict goes to Turkey | Pope Benedict XVI’s role in furthering the debate over minority and religious rights and promoting better interfaith relations may prove to be helpful in both Turkey and the West (Editorial, The New York Times)
• More Catholic than the … | During his visit to Turkey, the Pope will try to mend fences with Orthodox Christians as well as Muslims (Editorial, Los Angeles Times)
• The pope in Turkey | Genuine dialogue between civilizations is not made up of wane, inoffensive platitudes (Editorial, The Washington Times)
• Papal trip sends dual message | The pontiff’s visit is an acknowledgment that despite the repeated blows against it, the Phanar remains the center of Orthodox Christianity and that the patriarch is its representative and interlocutor (Editorial, Kathimerini, Athens)
• A question of freedom | When Benedict XVI goes to Turkey, the media talk will be of Islam, but the Pope’s visit could advance religious liberty for Orthodox Christians (George Weigel, Newsweek)
• Western Civ 101 | Pope Benedict’s seminar on fundamentals (Daniel Henninger, The Wall Street Journal)
• The man in white’s burden | Who else but the pope can speak for Christianity? (Father Raymond J. de Souza, National Review Online)
• Pope Benedict in the lion’s den | Lamentably, the time is past (if it ever existed) when mere benign expressions of convivial tolerance could have any lasting, positive effect on inter-religious and inter-cultural relation (Tony Blankley, The Washington Times)
• Islam’s unlikely soul mate — the pope | Both bemoaning the West’s secularism, Benedict XIV and Mideast Muslims have a shot at true dialogue (John L. Allen Jr., Los Angeles Times)

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More on Turkey:

• A tense time for a papal visit | Turkey, which doesn’t recognize the Roman Catholic Church, is still rankled by Benedict’s comments on Islam (Los Angeles Times)
• Turkey is unsure about ties to West | Turkey is navigating a treacherous path between the forces that want to pull it closer toward Islam and the institutions that safeguard its secularism (The New York Times)
• For Turkey’s Armenians, painful past is muted | Mesrob II, the Armenian Patriarch of Istanbul and All Turkey says the one topic he won’t bring up with Pope Benedict XVI he is the one that most intensely interests his people around the world: the Armenian genocide (The Boston Globe)
• Christian converts on trial in Turkey | Two men who converted to Christianity went on trial Thursday for allegedly insulting “Turkishness” and inciting religious hatred against Islam, the Anatolia news agency reported (Associated Press)
• Turkish president vetoes EU-sought religion law | Turkish President Ahmet Necdet Sezer vetoed an EU-inspired law to improve the property rights of non-Muslims, the president’s office said on Wednesday (Reuters)
• Christians in Turkey frustrated by popular distrust (Reuters)
• Bartholomew I holds great sway in Turkey | Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I is the spiritual leader of the world’s more than 250 million Orthodox Christians and is often called the “first among equals” of the Orthodox religious leaders (Associated Press)

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Lebanon:

• In Lebanon, a crisis for Christians | Pierre Gemayel’s murder is yet another blow to the Christian bloc, sidelined by a Sunni-Shiite political divide (The Christian Science Monitor)
• Lebanon on the brink | A political murder could spark a disastrous chain of events. The U.S. must help protect its fragile regime (Editorial, Los Angeles Times)

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China:

• Lawyer: China court executed sect leader | The Intermediate People’s Court in the northeastern city of Shuangyashan executed Xu Shuangfu, the charismatic founder of the Three Grades of Servants group, and at least two other leading members last week without notifying their lawyers or family members, said Xu’s lawyer (Associated Press)
• China executes at least 12 members of a secret Christian sect | The executions were part of a crackdown by Chinese authorities on big underground churches that they deem cults (The New York Times)
• China bishop ordained without Vatican okay | China on Thursday ordained a new bishop in its state-approved Catholic church, a move that could aggravate efforts to improve relations with the Vatican (Associated Press)
• Cardinal faults China for installing bishop without approval | Cardinal Joseph Zen accused China of having threatened and kidnapped clergy to make them participate in the ritual (The New York Times)
• China again convicts rights advocate | A blind Chinese legal expert who exposed forced abortions was convicted for the second time on charges that he destroyed property and disrupted traffic (The New York Times)

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Social justice:

• Why only Darfur? | Darfur is not the only place in the world where there has been mass murder, even ethnic mass murder, on a large, historically familiar scale (Anne Applebaum, The Washington Post)
• Amazing grace and other things | Those crazy Christians. What will they think of next? (Kathleen Parker, The Orlando Sentinel)

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Military:

• In D.C. Circuit, Navy chaplain loses constructive discharge suit | Philip Veitch claimed that he was being required to endorse “pluralism” in his religious practices, and that this violated his religious beliefs (Religion Clause)
• AFA religion suit dismissed | Graduates’ allegations of bias, evangelizing vague, judge says (The Gazette, Colorado Springs)
• Wiccans sue to change VA policy | Lawsuits filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State ask the government to change its policies, arguing that Wiccans’ constitutional right to religious freedom has been abridged (USA Today)
• Archbishop of York attacks UK and US policy in Iraq | The Archbishop of York last night launched an outspoken assault on US and UK policy in Iraq, warning of the dangers of “militarism out of control” (The Guardian, London)

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Abortion:

• Republicans want vote on abortion bill | While they still can, House Republicans are looking at scheduling a vote next week on a fetal pain abortion bill in a parting shot at incoming majority Democrats and a last bid for loyalty from the GOP’s base of social conservatives (Associated Press)
• Court stays out of abortion records case | The Kansas Supreme Court refused Thursday to intervene on behalf of two abortion clinics in a dispute with the state attorney general over patient records that were leaked to “The O’Reilly Factor” (Associated Press)
• Abortion foes look to the big screen | An invited audience that included Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez gathered at National Geographic Society’s auditorium Monday night for a screening of “Bella,” an independently produced feature film. No mere movie, it offers hope for the beleaguered antiabortion movement to reverse the political tide running against it (The Washington Post)
• Abortion pill thwarts breast cancer gene | Scientists used the abortion drug RU-486 to keep tumors at bay in mice bred with a gene destined to give them breast cancer (Associated Press)
• Nicaragua’s total ban on abortion spurs critics | The controversy is the latest twist in a debate over the proper limits on abortion that is raging not just in Nicaragua but across Latin America (The Washington Post)
• Nicaragua abortion ban called a threat to lives | Doctors and women’s groups are warning that Nicaragua’s ban on all abortions — even to save the mother — will endanger the lives of thousands of women every year (The Boston Globe)
• Abortions should be made easier on demand, says charity | Laws that require two doctors to approve an abortion should be dropped to allow women complete control over their family planning (The Times, London)
• Portugal sets abortion vote date | Portugal’s president has said the country’s predominantly Roman Catholic population will vote on whether to legalize abortion on 11 February (BBC)
• Most ‘favor right to abortion’ | Most people think women have a right to choose an abortion, but the number is falling, a survey has indicated (BBC)
• Also: ‘Still hard to discuss abortion’ (BBC)
• Life after Roe | Hysterical references to “back-alley abortions” are absurd (Curt Levey, National Review Online)
• An opening on abortion? | Supporters of abortion rights tend to favor programs that encourage effective contraception, which some in the right-to-life movement oppose. Opponents of abortion emphasize helping women who want to carry their children to term. The Ryan bill, one of several congressional initiatives to reduce the abortion rate, does both (E. J. Dionne Jr., The Washington Post)
• Ignorance and abortion | The core question: When do we become human beings? (Nat Hentoff, The Washington Times)

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Life ethics:

• Spanish woman prompts euthanasia debate | Euthanasia is illegal in Spain and people who help someone else die can be punished with at least six months in prison. But Spain’s Socialist government wants to legalize it as part of a wave of liberal reforms that have largely transformed this traditionally Roman Catholic country (Associated Press)
• Democrats plan to revive stem cell bill | The same embryonic stem cell bill that prompted President Bush’s only veto is headed to his desk again, this time from Democrats who have it atop their agenda when they take control of Congress in January (Associated Press)
• Journal clarifies report on a stem cell finding | The scientific journal Nature has issued a clarification of a recent report that human embryonic stem cells can be derived without harm to the embryo, but has affirmed the report’s validity (The New York Times)
• No tax money for stem cells | Bungled bureaucracy and waste have turned promises of funding into obstacles. An unfettered private sector is better (Sigrid Fry-Revere, Los Angeles Times)

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Birth control:

• Vatican concludes study on condoms | Long-awaited report on it is now being examined by the Vatican’s doctrinal watchdog, a senior cardinal said Tuesday (Associated Press)
• For Plan B, a broader reach | ‘Morning after’ pill goes on sale OTC (The Washington Post)
• HHS nominee has prescribed birth control | Spokeswoman stresses Keroack’s private practice over role in Christian group (The Washington Post)
• Family planning farce | Americans who were expecting a more moderate administration in the wake of this month’s elections will be shocked by the appointment of Eric Keroack to head family planning programs at the Department of Health and Human Services (Editorial, The New York Times)

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Sex and marriage:

• More longtime couples in France prefer l’amour without marriage | In France, the country that evokes more images of romance than perhaps any other, marriage has increasingly fallen out of favor (The Washington Post)
• First comes junior in a baby carriage | Four in 10 kids are now born to unmarried moms (Newsweek)
• Teen births down; unwed moms up | The U.S. teen birthrate fell again in 2005 to a new historical low, however, almost all of these births were to unwed mothers, which helped push the percent of unwed births to a record high (The Washington Times)
• Childless: Some by chance, some by choice | I lost a baby — and found a community of women who won’t be mothers (Nancy Rome, The Washington Post)
• Polygamists fight to be seen as part of mainstream society | An estimated 40,000 men, women and children in polygamous communities are part of a new movement to decriminalize bigamy (The Washington Post)
• Want great sex? Wait, says S.African chastity campaign | Silver Ring Thing keeps on thinging (Reuters)
• South Africa legalizes gay marriage | South Africa on Thursday legalized gay marriage, the first country in Africa to do so (Reuters)
• In Trenton, a move to define marriage | The lawmaker, Senator Gerald Cardinale of Bergen County, said the proposed amendment was modeled after successful efforts in other states that essentially banned same-sex marriage (The New York Times)
• Gay marriage issue delays city church unity plan | An annual worship service recognizing the common baptism of Anglicans, Lutherans and Roman Catholics will be cancelled for the third consecutive year this January because Catholic leaders fear their flock might become “confused” that their church is considering gay marriage (The Hamilton Spectator, Ont.)
• Marital problems | The faltering consensus against same-sex marriage (W. James Antle III, The American Spectator)
• Play-by-pray | Premarital counseling didn’t get into balancing church with hockey. But that’s now our common goal (Polly Ingraham, The Boston Globe)

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Homosexuality:

• Debate over gays is wide-ranging | Local, national groups take up divisive topic (The Gazette, Colorado Springs)
• Group drops plans to protest Wal-Mart | A conservative group that had called on supporters to boycott Wal-Mart’s post-Thanksgiving Day sales to protest the retailer’s support of gay-rights groups withdrew its objections Tuesday (Associated Press)
• Reading the Bible the gay-friendly way | A forum offers rare affirmation (The Boston Globe)
• In conservative Chile, a push for change | Gays and others grow bolder in their challenge to nation’s cultural arbiters (The Washington Post)
• Anglican bishop threatens to close youth clubs in protest at gay rights | The Bishop of Rochester, the Right Reverend Michael Nazir-Ali, has warned that Anglican youth clubs, welfare projects and charities may close because of new gay rights laws (Evening Standard, London)
• Christian magistrate in legal battle | A Christian magistrate in Sheffield has launched a legal challenge against the Government after he was forced to resign from family court duties because the new rules on same-sex couples clashed with his religious and moral beliefs (The Star, Sheffield, England)
• Panel faces tough debate on gay Jews | Rabbinical council will review bans on homosexual rabbis and same-sex rites (Los Angeles Times)

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Ted Haggard:

• Correction of the year: Dobson didn’t call for Haggard exorcism (Rocky Mountain News, Denver)
• Interview with Dr. James Dobson | On Ted Haggard, the elections, and other subjects (Larry King Live, CNN)
• Haggard in Ariz. for counseling at restoration center | Ted Haggard is in Arizona to find “spiritual and emotional” counseling, a church official said Thursday. His wife, Gayle, will spend the next several weeks there too (The Denver Post)
• ‘Long journey’ lies ahead for Haggard | Ted Haggard is eager to begin what church leaders call his restoration “and has absolutely assured me he will do whatever it takes,” the Rev. Mike Ware, an overseer of the disgraced pastor’s church, said Tuesday (Rocky Mountain News, Denver)
• Man who outed Haggard stands by his decision | Mike Jones, who this month brought down evangelist Ted Haggard, stopped in Miami Beach for a photo shoot and an interview for an upcoming book. The title: Escort (The Miami Herald)
• Jones not likely to face charges | Haggard accuser questioned by police (Associated Press)
• Church looks to find its next life | Like many megachurches that have lost founders, New Life Church is in uncharted waters (The Denver Post)
• New Life begins pastor hunt | With brisk efficiency, New Life Church in Colorado Springs has taken the first step toward finding a successor to disgraced Pastor Ted Haggard (Rocky Mountain News, Denver)
• Profile: Leith Anderson | Pastor of the 5000-member Wooddale Church outside Minneapolis insists the Haggard tragedy will have no effect on the health of the NAE (Religion and Ethics Newsweekly, PBS)
• Shelving Ted Haggard’s marital advice | What’s in From This Day Forward, Making Your Vows Count a Lifetime (Jennifer Hunter, Chicago Sun-Times)

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Mitt Romney:

• Same-sex marriage hearing expedited | Judge rules SJC should take on suit (The Boston Globe)
• Earlier: Marriage vote suit delivered to SJC | Romney, 10 others see constitution violation (The Boston Globe)
• Massachusetts governor sues to compel vote on same-sex marriage amendment | Gov. Mitt Romney of Massachusetts filed a lawsuit asking the state’s highest court to order the legislature to vote on a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage (The New York Times)
• After newspaper report, Falwell says he hasn’t endorsed Romney | The Clarion-Ledger, however, did not quote Romney saying directly that Falwell supported him (The Boston Globe)
• Earlier: Romney ‘courting’ at Rankin GOP event | Romney said he has the support of leaders like the Rev. Jerry Falwell (The Clarion-Ledger, Jackson, Miss.)
• Romney’s dance to the right | For more than a decade, Mitt Romney has been dancing around some hot-button social issues. Now, he is running hard to the right to position himself for the 2008 presidential contest (Joan Vennochi, The Boston Globe)
• Beyond same-sex marriage | Can Mitt Romney spur a broader debate? (Brendan Miniter, The Wall Street Journal)

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Mormonism and Mitt Romney:

• Can a Mormon be president? | Why Mitt Romney will have to explain a faith that remains mysterious to many (Time)
• GOP strategists: Impact of Romney’s Mormonism exaggerated | The Mormon problem for Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney’s expected presidential run has been overblown, a panel of Republican strategists said Thursday (The Salt Lake Tribune, Ut.)
• Voting for an LDS prez not an option, 43% say | 53% of evangelicals say they wouldn’t consider it, bad news for likely ’08 hopeful Mitt Romney (The Salt Lake Tribune, Ut.)
• The Mormon who might just go all the way | Personally, I have no interest in someone’s private faith in his or her pursuit of public office. Romney, to my mind, should be judged on his public record. The trouble is: this is not what the religious right has come to expect in a leader. (Andrew Sullivan, The Times, London)
• Time to talk Mormon, Mitt | Romney needs to get past the faith issue, fast (John Dickerson, Slate)

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Anglicanism:

• Episcopalians reach out to conservatives | Episcopal leaders offered conservatives more independence from the national church Thursday, as a California diocese quietly backed down from its threat of a swift break with the denomination (Associated Press)
• Diocese could ask for split | Church’s stance on gay clergy ‘heretical,’ S.J. bishop wrote (The Record, Stockton, Ca.)
• Beliefs embolden new diocese bishop | Parish leader to leave city for South Carolina (The Bakersfield Californian)
• Calif. diocese lays groundwork to secede from Episcopal Church (Religion News Service)
• Church: Presiding Bishop’s comments taken out of context | Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori is drawing fire for comments that some say demean other faiths, but a church official says the question-and-answer format didn’t capture the interview with “complete accuracy” (Religion News Service)
• Q&A: Bishop: Rift matter of faithfulness | The leader of the Episcopal reform movement meets with Florida Anglicans (Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville)
• Anglican leaders launch robust defense of faith | Offering a telling twist in Britain’s highly charged debate about religion and integration, the two Anglican leaders most vociferously defending British traditions are originally from Pakistan and Uganda (Reuters)
• Church ‘in need of women priests’ | The Church of England would struggle in the future without women priests, researchers claim (BBC)
• Also: Women priests given worst positions | Women priests are given the worst positions in the Church of England even though they make up half of all newly ordained ministers, research published on Sunday said (Reuters)
• Not much thanksgiving for Episcopalians | Under their new presiding bishop, America’s neo-Shakers are doing their best to disappear from the face of the earth (Mark Tooley, The American Spectator)

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Pope and Anglicans:

• Catholic and Anglican leaders vow united effort | Pope Benedict XVI and the Most Rev. Rowan Williams pledged to work together on problems like poverty, the environment and finding peace in the Middle East (The New York Times)
• Pope, Anglicans acknowledge differences | Pope Benedict XVI and Anglican leader Rowan Williams acknowledged there were “serious obstacles” to closer ties between their churches, a blunt reference to Vatican disapproval of gay bishops, women priests and blessings of same-sex unions in the Anglican church (Associated Press)

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Church life:

• Can shared beliefs bring RCA and CRC together? | On the eve of the CRC’s 150th anniversary next year, many in both Dutch Reformed denominations feel they could offer a stronger Christian witness as one reunified church. But in a newly released comparative study of the CRC and RCA, the authors caution that an organizational merger would come at considerable cost. (The Grand Rapids Press, Mi.)
• Hamilton parish votes to withdraw | Ties broken with Church of Christ (The Boston Globe)
• Supersized worship | Megachurches hit growth spurt and spin off campuses across the region (The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky.)
• From the pulpit, conservative politics | The rise of the conservative Christian political movement in recent decades has come from many sources — including publications, direct-mail appeals, Web sites, activist organizations such as the Christian Coalition and broadcasters such as Jerry Falwell. And megachurches have played a role, too (The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky.)
• Megachurch phenomenon largely associated with conservative evangelical movement | But several Roman Catholic Churches in the Archdiocese of Louisville also have congregations with more than 2,000 worshippers a week (The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky.)
• Cleric wants talks about married priests | “This is a groundswell movement — a church within a church — that is forming and the Vatican is in a state of denial,” Emmanuel Milingo said Tuesday at a news conference (Associated Press)

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Church buildings:

• Scottsdale holy war | One proposal would ban established churches from creating on-site religious schools if there is another private school nearby. Another proposal would require “large assemblies,” such as churches and private schools, to get permits to operate in neighborhoods (East Valley Tribune, Scottsdale, Az.)
• A rebirth for church | Building leveled on 9/11 to rise again (New York Daily News)
• Church is denied waiver of noise restriction | St. John Neumann’s bells disturbed some residents (The Washington Post)
• Iconic church in Trafalgar Square takes advert break | St Martin-in-the-Fields church is to erect a hoarding in Trafalgar Square, which it hopes will raise thousands of pounds towards its £36 million restoration program (The Times, London)
• Church on the edge of Rome offers a solution to smog | Hailed by some scientists as a breakthrough, a new coating material used on a church in Rome has been found to “eat” surrounding smog (The New York Times)
• Clergy angry over bats in church | An MP claims clergy are suffering stress because of the damage bats cause in their churches (BBC)
• Church, Southfield on the way to trial | City’s eviction notice is fought in a federal lawsuit (Detroit Free Press)
• The circus that is RLUIPA | How the land-use law that favors religious landowners is introducing chaos into the local land use process (Marci Hamilton, FindLaw.com)

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Church closings:

• Parishioners say they own their church | Fight its closure in superior court (The Boston Globe)
• Archdiocese considers closing 2 more churches | Newton, South End parishes in question (The Boston Globe)
• Ex-parish leader quits diocesan council | Protests how closings handled in Medford area (The Boston Globe)
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• Texas Baptist church plant scandal:
• Doubts swirl around churches that may have never existed | In a church whose former leader is accused of being the main misuser of $1.3 million that belonged to God and Texas Baptists, Pastor Thomas Whitehouse asked the congregation to “put your eyes on Christ,” nobody else (San Antonio Express-News, Tex.)
• Baptists to share report on misspending | The executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas has decided to give law enforcement officials a report that found misuse of funds intended for new churches (Associated Press)

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Theft:

• Priest accused of relic ripoff | Even sold some of the pews, St. Demetrios parishioners say (The Jersey Journal, Jersey City, N.J.)
• Also: All over the map | Before St. Demetrios, accused priest was a frequent mover (The Jersey Journal, Jersey City, N.J.)
• Pa. mayor charged in theft from church | More than $9,000 taken. Tally sheets changed. She was caught stealing money on camera, official says. (The Express-Times, Easton, Pa.)
• Woman’s £13,000 church fund theft | A 55-year-old woman who admitted stealing £13,000 from the funds of a church has been warned by a judge she could face a jail sentence (BBC)
• $25,000 reported missing from church in Jupiter | About $25,000 in offerings collected from four Thanksgiving services has been reported missing from the vault at St. Peter Catholic Church (The Jupiter Courier, Fla.)
• Church embezzler gets three years’ probation | An Iowa woman accused of stealing nearly $167,000 from a Nebraska church has been given three years’ probation and told to continue making restitution (Associated Press)

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Abuse:

• L.A. archdiocese agrees to pay $60 million in abuse cases | The settlement is the first by the church and represents 8% of the 562 cases brought by people who claimed the archdiocese failed to protect them from pedophile priests (Los Angeles Times)
• LA archdiocese to settle 45 abuse cases | The deal is the most significant step to date toward resolving extensive litigation against the archdiocese that has dragged on for years (Associated Press)
• FW Diocese concealed abuse | 700 pages of unsealed records show 7 priests allowed to stay on job despite repeated warnings (The Dallas Morning News)
• Documents outline sex abuse allegations | Leaders in the Fort Worth Roman Catholic Diocese withheld information about the extent of sexual abuse allegations against half a dozen priests and helped them stay in the ministry, according to secret files released by a judge Tuesday (Associated Press)
• Process to defrock 2 under way | Fort Worth Bishop Kevin Vann said Wednesday he is seeking to have two priests accused of sexual abuse defrocked (Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, Tex.)
• Bishop apologizes for priest abuse but not for cover-ups | Victims angry over response of Fort Worth Diocese (The Dallas Morning News)
• Accused of abuse, priest put on leave | Hudson parish, state notified (The Boston Globe)
• Dispute about church lawyer’s conduct leads to judge disqualification request | Judge Ben Joseph is too biased to preside over a hearing on allegations that an attorney for the statewide Roman Catholic diocese withheld church documents in a priest sex abuse case, the church attorney’s lawyer said Wednesday (Burlington Free Press, Vt.)
• Diocese attorney in priest abuse case withdraws | A longtime attorney for the statewide Roman Catholic diocese has withdrawn from the team of lawyers representing the church in a priest sex abuse case pending in Chittenden Superior Court (Burlington Free Press, Vt.)
• Former youth coordinator pleads guilty to sex charges | A former youth coordinator of a Bedford County church pleaded guilty Tuesday to 15 felonies for molesting a 14-year-old boy (The News & Advance, Lynchburg, Va.)
• Also: Church worker pleads guilty (Bedford Bulletin, Va.)
• N.Y. priest pleads guilty to possessing child porn | A Roman Catholic priest from New York’s borough of Queens pleaded guilty on Thursday to possessing more than 600 images of child pornography, the U.S. attorney’s office said (Associated Press)

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Religious hate crimes in Scotland:

• Religious hate crimes occur across whole of Scotland, says report | The belief that sectarianism is a “west of Scotland problem” associated with football has been confounded by a new report, which reveals acts of religious hatred are being reported in almost every part of the country (The Scotsman)
• Catholics bear brunt of Scottish sectarian abuse | Religiously motivated incidents rise by 50% (The Guardian, London)
• Row over religious crime figures | The majority of Scotland’s religious crime takes place in the west of Scotland with a third linked to football, new statistics have shown (BBC)

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Crime:

• Prison figures show a link between sex crime and religion | Some use faith to justify wrongs (The Times, London)
• Preacher arrested in alleged murder plot | Even in 2004, when the Rev. Howard Douglas Porter eulogized a friend killed in a car crash in which Porter was driving, the victim’s friends and relatives were suspicious. They feared Porter deliberately planned the crash to get his hands on the multimillion-dollar trust fund of Frank Craig, an 85-year-old farmer (Associated Press)
• Man pleads guilty in shrine desecration | A 21-year-old man pleaded guilty Monday to desecrating one of Wisconsin’s most popular religious shrines to commemorate “Satan’s birthday.” (Associated Press)
• Vandalized church gives gifts to suspect | Congregants of a church that was badly vandalized have collected “love baskets” full of electronics for the three suspects (Associated Press)
• Gun-waving sermon lands pastor in pokey | Jerry Wayne “Dusty” Whitaker said the gun was a toy prop (Associated Press)
• Angry, ‘troubled soul’ | Priest admits to harassing mayor’s accuser (Sun Journal, Lewiston, Me.)
• Police keep eye on places of worship | Patrols increase after 9/11 attacks (The Boston Globe)

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Money and business:

• Swedes trust IKEA more than the church | What do Volvo, Ericsson, Saab and IKEA have in common? The people of Sweden have more faith in them than in the church (Der Spiegel, Germany)
• Religious ‘crusader’ takes on eBay | The ancient trade in the most coveted religious relics has moved into the global flea market of online bidding (Associated Press)
• Principle over profits for Chick-fil-A | Unlike most competitors, fast-food chain closes shop on Sundays (CBS Evening News)

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Giving:

• Home-cooked food is back on the menu | Amid outrage, county’s ban vanishes (The Washington Post)
• Earlier: Freshly baked handouts forbidden in Fairfax | County says health of homeless is at issue (The Washington Post)
• Also: C’mon, Fairfax County | People who just want to do their part shouldn’t be held back by the march of the nanny state (Editorial, The Washington Times)
• Critics urge charities to give up the goat | The promotion of feelgood Christmas gifts such as goats for poor African farmers has provoked an unseasonable war of words between charities (The Times, London)
• Also: Why giving a goat for Christmas ‘hinders those in poverty’ | Critics now claim that buying a goat, cow or even half a dozen chickens through schemes run by Oxfam, Christian Aid and others is doing more harm than good (Evening Standard, London)
• Charity’s political divide | Republicans give a bigger share of their incomes to charity, says a prominent economist (The Chronicle of Philanthropy)
• 2 unrepentant about sale of Katrina home | A church that wanted to do something special for Hurricane Katrina victims gave a $75,000 house, free and clear, to a couple who said they were left homeless by the storm. But the couple turned around and sold the place without ever moving in, and went back to New Orleans (Associated Press)
• Church gift to miss deadline | Denverite Stanley Anderson’s finances came into question after he pledged $150 million to the Presbyterian Church (The Denver Post)
• Bases refuse offering of nuns | Three nuns were thwarted yesterday in their effort to pay their debt to society with food instead of cash when officials at two Colorado Air Force bases refused to accept their donations (The Washington Times)
• Exonerated man in giving mood | Flush with a settlement from the City of Chicago after being wrongly jailed for rape, Rollins stood nervously before an army of media cameras Thursday and handed over a $10,000 check to leaders of the historic Pilgrim Baptist Church, which was devastated by fire earlier this year (Chicago Tribune)

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Missions & ministry:

• Religion rebounds at YMCA | More branches are showing a spiritual side, with ministry services and Christian rock. For some members, it’s just not working out (Los Angeles Times)
• Turning the page | As landmarks go, the Massachusetts Bible Society Bookstore is about as low-key as they come (The Boston Globe)
• Sanctuary movement still has a heartbeat | Both sides watch the case of a woman sheltered in a Chicago church so she can stay with her U.S.-born son (Los Angeles Times)
• Privacy claim against Jews for Jesus survives on appeal in Florida | In the case, plaintiff Edith Rapp, a traditional Jew, claimed that Jews for Jesus (JFJ) falsely portrayed her in an online newsletter as a convert to the group’s beliefs (Religion Clause)

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Vouchers:

• No court review of Maine law on tuition | The Supreme Court refused Monday to take up the issue of school choice in Maine, where a state law bars the use of public funds to send students to private religious schools (Portland Press Herald, Me.)
• Court declines school-choice appeal | The Supreme Court yesterday declined to hear a school-choice case out of Maine, where a group of families says it’s unfair that state law bars them from using funds provided by the state’s existing school-choice program to send their children to religious schools (The Washington Times)
• Court won’t take school vouchers case | The Supreme Court decided Monday not to plunge into the issue of school choice, passing up a dispute over a Maine law that bars the use of public funds to send students to private religious schools (Associated Press)

• Voucher ruling good law supporting a flawed policy | States shouldn’t be compelled to pay tuition to religious schools, but doing so can make sense (Editorial, Portland Press Herald, Me.)

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Education:

• Classroom postings’ removal defended | The principal of a Virginia public school had the discretion to remove Christian-themed postings from a classroom and didn’t violate the teacher’s First Amendment rights, a school district attorney told a federal appeals court Thursday (Associated Press)
• Blending religion, taxes | Questions raised about school’s funding, huge overhead, lax oversight (Rocky Mountain News, Denver)
• Also: Shifting of money could be illegal | Lakewood Christian school using public funds to support religious program (Rocky Mountain News, Denver)
• Home schoolers content to take children’s lead | Some parents are opting to “unschool” their children, perhaps the most extreme application of home-schooling (The New York Times)
• Religion classes leave school site | To settle a lawsuit, instruction is moved from trailer on school property to church (The Indianapolis Star)
• Court takes ‘Bong Hits 4 Jesus’ case | The Supreme Court stepped into a dispute over free speech rights Friday involving a suspended high school student and his banner that proclaimed “Bong Hits 4 Jesus” (Associated Press)
• Ex-principal accused of kissing feet | The principal told authorities that the kissing was pay-up for a bet over a student-teacher volleyball game. He paid each student $15 and kissed their feet 50 times in the school’s library and gym (Associated Press)
• Church preschool may reopen | Closing angered parents, but pastor says situation was handled well (Record Searchlight, Redding, Ca.)
• Not the same story: Church kicking out day care | Parents scramble to find alternative (San Bernardino Sun, Ca.)
• Christian school call for funds | Low-fee Christian schools are asking for the same level of Federal Government funding given to Catholic schools (The Sydney Morning Herald)

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Education (U.K.):

• Christian unions warned against legal action | Court battles would not resolve underlying issues of religious identity on university campuses and would only create division, a report from an independent thinktank has warned. (The Guardian, London)
• Also: Bishops blast ‘anti-Christian’ student groups | Christian students at many British universities, including Edinburgh, face “considerable opposition and discrimination,” church leaders have claimed (The Evening News, Edinburgh)
• Also: Unity in diversity | Since when did universities start banning things? (Richard Cunningham, The Guardian, London)
• How Genesis crept back into the classroom | Hundreds of state schools may be teaching the Biblical story of creation in science lessons, a leading academic said last night (The Telegraph, London)
• Let us test Darwin, teacher says | Science teaching materials deemed “not appropriate” by the government should be allowed in class, Education Secretary Alan Johnson has been urged (BBC)
• Catholic veto ‘is un-Christian’ | The right of the Roman Catholic Church to veto the appointment of teachers in denominational schools in Scotland has been attacked as “un-Christian” (The Herald, Glasgow)

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Higher Education:

• Brown offers reinstatement to religious group | The president of the Reformed University Fellowship says the university wasn’t specific about why the group was suspended in the first place (The Providence Journal, R.I.)
• Suspension of disbelief | Art student expelled—for atheism? (The Portland Mercury, Ore.)
• Citing financial crisis, Salt Lake Theological Seminary restructures | The seminary, Utah’s only graduate school for Protestant clergy, is no stranger to financial concerns (The Salt Lake Tribune, Ut.)
• Evangelical students return atheists’ volley at UTSA | Last year, the Atheist Agenda student group attracted MSNBC and other media for its first “smut for smut” campaign, where passers-by exchanged the Bible, Koran, and Torah for Playboy and Hustler magazines on the University of Texas at San Antonio campus. This year, as the group set up its table again Tuesday in a large campus plaza, a rival evangelical group countered (San Antonio Express-News)
• Religion Today: The battle for Belmont | It’s the new Baylor (Associated Press)
• Conflict over book on Baylor U. | Baylor University has backed out of an agreement to publish a book about a tumultuous period in its recent history. The volume’s editors have vowed to find another publisher, despite e-mail messages from a former Baylor president warning that the book could “plunge the university into a new era of conflict and renewed animosities.” (The Chronicle of Higher Education, sub. req’d.)
• Also: Open minds suppress books at Baylor | Volume on the campus battle has been shelved (Hunter Baker, The American Spectator)
• Religious schism | Nine Georgetown University students have declared themselves a religious organization in hopes that authorities will allow them to continue to live in a $2.4-million off-campus home (The Chronicle of Higher Education, sub. req’d.)
• Also: ‘Apostles’ ordered to abide by zoning laws | Nine moved into the house in August, filing to incorporate as a nonprofit religious organization exempt from the six-person limit (The Washington Post)
• A free-for-all on science and religion | Some scientists at a recent conference called on their colleagues to be less timid in challenging teachings about nature based only on scripture and belief (The New York Times)
• Religion scholars break attendance record | Special report from the American Academy of Religion/ Society of Biblical Literature meeting (Religion Bookline)
• God and man at Harvard | Should religion have a place in the new curriculum? Absolutely, writes Mark D.W. Edington, chaplain to Harvard College in the Memorial Church of Harvard University (The Chronicle of Higher Education, sub. req’d.)
• Author Tyson wins religion award | The Grawemeyer Foundation cites ‘Blood Done Sign My Name’ as helping to heal racism (The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.)
• Also: Scholar at Duke wins Grawemeyer Award for Religion | Timothy B. Tyson, a senior scholar of documentary studies at Duke University, will receive the 2007 Grawemeyer Award in Religion for his 2004 memoir about a racially charged murder in his hometown, officials at the University of Louisville and the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary will announce today (The Chronicle of Higher Education, sub. req’d.)
• ‘Civil religion’ and beyond | As the influential sociologist Robert N. Bellah turns 80, three scholars consider his work (The Chronicle of Higher Education, sub. req’d.)

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Spirituality and theology:

• A human imperative that crosses religious lines | Communication with God — whether written, spoken, sung or silent — is considered ‘universal and natural for all,’ regardless of religion (Los Angeles Times)
• Church-goers are happiest | Childless couples and regular attenders at a place of worship are among the most contented people in the UK, claims a new study of what makes us happy (The Independent, London)
• Speaking in tongues | Worshippers say the Holy Spirit moves them to use a language known only to God (Sacramento Bee, Ca.)
• Thankful for our sacred places | Mindless development often encroaches upon ‘the map of the American soul.’ Yet we still have our Walden Ponds and our Shaker Villages because our fellow citizens won’t allow others to bulldoze our past — or our future (Alcestis “Cooky” Oberg, USA Today)
• The limits of tolerance | Liberal theologians welcome Africans and South Americans–as long as they don’t talk back (Naomi Schaefer Riley, The Wall Street Journal)

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Exorcism:

• Exorcising demons and saving souls in a 14th street storefront | Soul-saving happens at the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God for an hour every Thursday and Sunday (The Washington Post)
• Exorcisms become big business in Phoenix area | An estimated 600 non-Catholic groups are now performing exorcisms, allegedly ridding people of their demons (KTVK, Tucson, Az.)
• Finally, a thoughtful exorcism film | For those who thought last fall’s Hollywood horror-thriller “The Exorcism of Emily Rose” was the last you’d hear of that satanically possessed coed, you were wrong. It’s the Germans’ turn to have a say, and their telling, the well-acted and sober-minded “Requiem ” is a lot better (The Boston Globe)

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Atheism:

• Fundamentalism for adults only | The intricacies of religious fundamentalism reveal it to be just as complex and valid as science (Michael Bywater, Los Angeles Times)
• Atheists agonistes | The current counterattack on religion cloaks a renewed and intense anxiety within secular society that the story of the Enlightenment may be more illusory than real (Richard A. Shweder, The New York Times)
• Doubters do it from the pulpit | ‘I may be wrong’ is not a phrase one ever associates with Richard Dawkins (Giles Fraser, The Independent, London)

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Entertainment and media:

• Brian Murphy named U.S. religion writer | Brian Murphy, a veteran foreign correspondent who has covered religion internationally for The Associated Press since 2004, will now cover the beat in the United States (Associated Press)
• Dover trial on silver screen? | A Pa. man was recently hired to write a screenplay about the landmark trial (York Daily Record, Pa.)
• Cartoons (seriously) can teach us about faith | ‘The Simpsons’ and ‘South Park’ would seem to be the antithesis of religion, right? In reality, many such shows illuminate our own beliefs and cultivate dialogue in a serious way (Mark I. Pinsky, USA Today)
• Christian groups cross with Left Behind | Religious organizations take exception to faith-based real-time strategy game, saying it promotes violence and intolerance. (GameSpot)
• Also: Christian groups assail video game | Left Behind distorts biblical prophecy, promotes religious intolerance, minister says (The Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville)
• Also: The new God game | In the Christian video games developed by Left Behind Games, players aren’t omnipotent—they’re just one of the faithful (BusinessWeek/GameDaily)

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Art:

• Sackler Gallery sets record as multitudes flock to Bible exhibit | Even prompts long lines with 40-minute waits last weekend (The Washington Post)
• Teen angel | 15th-century girl makes good in ‘Joan of Arc’ at the Corcoran Gallery of Art (The Washington Post)
• Powerful Christ images overwhelm in pairs | Diptychs by Albrecht Bouts and other 15th- and 16th-century Northern Renaissance masters, such as Jan van Eyck, Hugo van der Goes, Hans Memling and Rogier van der Weyden, show the inherently emotive tensions in this art form, on display at the National Gallery of Art’s “Prayers and Portraits: Unfolding the Netherlanderish Diptych” (The Washington Times)
• Crucified pregnant teen statue shown | A provocative Danish artist raised a statue of a crucified pregnant teenager outside Copenhagen’s Lutheran cathedral to mark World AIDS Day on Friday (Associated Press)

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History:

• Is 1,400-year-old treasure evidence of Christianity’s first foothold in Britain? | Archaeologists excavating near the edge of Trafalgar Square in London have found evidence of early Christianity in England, suggesting the area has a much older religious significance than was originally believed (The Independent, London)
• Biblical past unearthed in Holy Land construction | Building a housing complex or a road in the Holy Land can often have grave implications (Reuters)

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India:

• India’s Christians dig deep for graveyard plot | India’s Christians are running out of space to bury their dead, leading some to pay small fortunes to book their final resting place in a relative’s grave (Reuters)
• India sees God as creator, not controller: report | Most Indians perceive God as a macro-manager responsible for controlling things like the earth’s rotation, rather than being in charge of the actions of humans on a day-to-day basis, a survey said on Saturday (Reuters)

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Other stories of interest:

• US temporarily suspends premium service for religious workers | The United States has announced a temporary suspension of the premium processing visa service for religious workers after detecting “potential vulnerabilities” in the process, a move that will affect applicants from several countries, including India (PTI, India)
• “In God We Trust” moved from face to edge of new $1 coins | Minting date and the motto “E Pluribus Unum” will be there too (Religion Clause)
• Seeking counsel in the Bible | In thoroughly modern Boone County, a church rejects modern psychology (The Cincinnati Post)
• Economics: The invisible hand of the market | Professor Duncan K. Foley’s book Adam’s Fallacy: A Guide to Economic Theology is simultaneously an introduction to economic theory and a critique of it (Peter Steinfels, The New York Times)
• Religion news in brief | Episcopal task force on property disputes looks at splits, ELCA multicultural ministry creates association for European-Americans, and Wilmington Catholic diocese releases list of accused priests (Associated Press)
• Religion news in brief | Muslim clerics oppose Quran ringtones, federal judge to rule in logo lawsuit, and other stories (Associated Press)
• All about girth control | If only we could manage food the way we’ve managed sex (William Saletan, The Washington Post)

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