If Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush chooses a prochoice running mate, religious conservatives will stay home on voting day, James Dobson warned in a Chicago Tribune interview he initiated. His concern is precipitated by Bush's recent appearances with prochoice Republican governors Christine Todd Whitman, Tom Ridge, and George Pataki. "George Bush quite obviously is being told by the Rockefeller Republicans and the Establishment Republicans, who obviously give him millions of dollars, that he needs to move to the middle and avoid the contentious issue of abortion," Dobson says.
Speaking at the College of William and Mary's Law School, Pat Robertson was asked if he supported a moratorium on the death penalty. "I think a moratorium would indeed be very appropriate," Robertson replied, noting that its administration discriminates against the poor and minorities. But Robertson also said he wouldn't "crusade" for a moratorium. (See a related Associated Press article, which in its brevity fails to note Robertson 1998
crusade against the death penalty for Karla Faye Tucker).
The Navy brass effectively run a "religious patronage system," say 11 evangelical Navy chaplains, where high church, mainline Protestants are favored over evangelicals, Pentecostals, and other low church chaplains. The Washington Post's Hanna Rosin recounts the lawsuit's charges: "They are passed up for promotion or forced to retire early. Their congregations are removed after they've tripled in size. They are lectured on pluralism each time they use the word 'Jesus.'"
Cardinal Francis George joined hundreds of parishioners from St. Sabina Catholic Church in a Chicago evangelistic campaign at street corners, homes, bus stops, and senior citizens homes. "It's much more rewarding to do this than go back and push papers around the desk," George tells the Chicago Tribune. (See an extremely similar story in the
Chicago Sun-Times.)
Many of the 50 or so minors living on the Mercy Ship Anastasis have spent their entire lives on the vessel. "Life is spartan and communal," reports Laura Peek of the London Times. "Single people share cabins, children are stacked on top of each other in bunk beds and even clothes are shared. Food is basic and, along with the water, tinged with the taste of antiseptic. Alcohol is forbidden." But the residents of the ship—even the children—don't mind since they're doing God's work.
"There's a huge move right across the nation among young people," says Brian Houston, president of the Assembly of God Churches in Australia. But according to The Age newspaper, the Christianity that's all the rage among Australia's youth seems to be extremely comfortable with both God and mammon. (One interesting fact: the Newsboys, a Christian band, are the Australia's sixth-highest-paid entertainers.) A
related article in the newspaper looks at the organization Christian Surfers (the water kind, not online).
Both leaders have huge followings. But how well do we really know them?
Effective biblical engagement must be about more than one’s personal experience with Scripture.
The former president’s potential arrest shows that character does matter.
