World's First 'Legal' Gay Marriage Reportedly Takes Place in Canada, but Trials Await

Note: Weblog will return to its regular format later this week. Until then, enjoy commentary-free "Weblog lite."

John Ashcroft:

• Pentecostal faith underlies Ashcroft's conservatism | Defenders cite his morality and integrity; his critics fear he'll politicize office (USA Today)
• Ashcroft's life and judgments steeped in faith (The New York Times)
• 'No king but Jesus,' Ashcroft told Bob Jones (Los Angeles Times)
• Interfaith Alliance raises concerns on Ashcroft (CNN)
• Can a deeply religious person be attorney general? (Tony Mauro, USA Today)
• Ashcroft's pragmatic conservatism | His record shows ideological zeal and accommodation to political realities (Tom Curry, MSNBC)
• Assemblies of God growing at fast pace outside U.S. (UPI)

Church and state:

• Son of Billy Graham continues tradition | Franklin Graham will replace father for Bush inaugural invocation (The Washington Post)
• A win for religious rights: "The 'free exercise' of religion is a right of the American people too often lost sight of by the zealots of secularism (Editorial, The Boston Herald)
• "Ten Commandments judge" sworn in as Alabama chief justice (Associated Press)
• Bar on former Catholic priests entering Commons to be repealed (The Guardian)

Christians and Jews:

• Jews criticize 'proselytizing' at Holy Land theme park (The Orlando Sentinel)
• Christianity's original sin | According to the author, the relationship with the Jews is the central issue in the history of the church. (Andrew Sullivan reviews Constantine's Sword in The New York Times)
• Papers link Romanian church to hate (Associated Press)
• Romanian church dignitary accused (The Guardian)
• Israel's Ministry of Tourism hopes visits by Falwell, Hinn, will boost tourism (Ha'aretz)
• Class learns about unburied treasures of Holy Land (Chicago Tribune)

Gay marriage:

• Gays claim first legal marriages (The [Toronto] Globe and Mail)
• First gay marriage legal, for now | Next step up to province: Celebrants prepare for court battles over 'historic' union (The National Post)
• Gay couples marry in Toronto (Associated Press)
• Gay couples marry in Canada (News24, South Africa)
• Woman charged with assault for same-sex nuptial protest (The Toronto Star)
• Anglicans divided on homosexuality (Associated Press)
• Church supporting gay unions decides to remain Methodist but stay defiant (Chicago Tribune)
• Church to remain Methodist (Chicago Sun-Times)
• Same-sex unions might spur church to leave UMC (Chicago Sun-Times)

Left Behind:

• Kirk Cameron hopes LeftBehind will bring faith (Associated Press)
• 'Left Behind' may pave way for more films with Bible themes (The Tennessean)

• Firm's series of fiction best sellers has Christian readers enraptured (Chicago Tribune)

Rocking Greek Orthodox monks:

• Church tells rocking monks to stop rolling (Kathimerini, Athens)
• Church pulls plug on pop's monastic musicians (Associated Press)
• Monks with a beat rock the Church (The Times, London)

Other stories of interest:

• A faith tested through 1,700 years | Though it faces an uncertain future, the Armenian church launches a yearlong celebration of its native land's status as the first to adopt Christ's teachings. (Los Angeles Times)
• Religious leaders question genetics research (San Francisco Chronicle)
• 'Stop the war' with Iraq, Canadian churches urge (The Ottawa Citizen)
• Wrestling with religion: "It's troubling to see little consensus about how religion can do good things" (Editorial, The Daily Oklahoman)
• Christian mothers to help women in Papua New Guinea (Papua New Guinea Post-Courier)
• Ivanov and the Pope meet amid icy Catholic-Orthodox relations (The Moscow Times)
• Pope, Russian Foreign Minister meet (Associated Press)
• Police chaplain program is keeping many faiths (Los Angeles Times)
• Iowa pastors take 'rural plunge' (Associated Press)
• Girls test better than boys in Australia's Catholic education (The Sydney Morning Herald)

Related Elsewhere

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