- Christian conservative ties to GOP strained, not broken | Where conservative Christians cast their votes may not reflect disappointment in Republicans (USA Today)
- Evangelical-GOP alliance weakens | The number of conservative Christians with a favorable view of the party has plummeted from 74 percent to 54 percent between 2004 and this year, according to the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. Evangelicals comprise more than one-third of GOP voters. But analysts say it’s far too soon to write off the powerful Republican-evangelical alliance that helped the party dominate in the 2004 election (Associated Press)
- Hot-button social issues dim in Ohio Senate race | Economy, war have grabbed voters’ attention (The Washington Post)
- Romney consults evangelical leaders | Governor Mitt Romney is convening meetings with small groups of evangelical leaders to seek guidance for his possible presidential run. (The Boston Globe)
- Democrats find religion, churchgoing voters | Democratic politicians begin to talk about their faith (The Washington Post)
- In Ohio, Democrats show a religious side to voters | Ohio has become the leading edge of national Democratic efforts to win over religious voters, including evangelicals (The New York Times)
- In key House races, Democrats run to the Right | Democrats have turned to conservative and moderate candidates who fit the profiles of their districts more closely than the profile of the party (The New York Times)
- A GOP leader and star struggles for traction | The political world has changed for Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania since he rode an anti-establishment wave into the Senate in 1994 (The New York Times)
- Conserving that compassion | If the last month has taught us anything about the Republican Party, it is that homophobia is campaign strategy, not conviction (Editorial, The New York Times)
- The disillusionment of a young White House evangelical | While “Tempting Faith” is a story about the Bush presidency, it is even more a story about its author, David Kuo (Peter Steinfels, The New York Times)
- The immoral majority | Republicans are hoping that righteous voters will come through for them on Election Day. But this year looks like the revenge of the sinners (John Tierney, The New York Times)
- The Foley scandal and the risks of righteous politicking | The mixture of sexual predation and moral hypocrisy is a potent cocktail for voters preparing for the Nov. 7 election (Francis X. Clines, The New York Times)
- Political theater and the real Rick Santorum | After Election Day, the underprivileged will probably have lost one of their least cuddly but most effective champions (David Brooks, The New York Times)
Church and state:
- Suit against Air Force Academy dismissed | A federal judge threw out a lawsuit against the air force that contended that evangelical Christian values are being illegally pushed on Air Force Academy cadets (Associated Press)
- Peers reject faith school quotas | Peers have voted down a plan to make newly established faith schools in England take up to a quarter of pupils from other religions. (BBC)
- Military pressed over expressions of faith | The U.S. military is being buffeted by dueling legal claims over religion, with one set of plaintiffs contending that the Pentagon is suppressing evangelical Christianity and another set arguing just the opposite (The Washington Post)
- Cleric: Criticizing Islam threatens peace | A leading Turkish cleric called criticism of Islam a serious threat to world peace, speaking Wednesday as Turkey prepared for a controversial visit by Pope Benedict XVI later in the month (Associated Press)
Sexual ethics:
- Bishops draft rules on ministering to gays | Gay Catholic leaders who had read the draft predicted that it would only further alienate gays and their families from the church (The New York Times)
- Bush hits hard at gay marriage | “For decades, activist judges have tried to redefine America by court order,” Bush said Monday. “Just this last week in New Jersey, another activist court issued a ruling that raises doubt about the institution of marriage. We believe marriage is a union between a man and a woman, and should be defended”(Associated Press)
- Va. Catholics pushed to support same-sex marriage ban | Virginia’s Catholic leaders can take comfort from recent polls showing that a majority of state voters are in sync with them in supporting a constitutional amendment to ban civil unions. What worries them is their own flock. (The Washington Post).
- Gay marriage through a black-white prism | Both sides in the same-sex marriage debate are using court rulings on mixed-race unions as a model (The New York Times)
- Va. marriage debate a hotbed of irony | Should a definition of marriage be in the state constitution? (Marc Fisher, The Washington Post)
Abortion and birth control:
- Appeals court blocks South Dakota law on doctors’ statement to seekers of abortion | The federal appeals court in St. Louis said that telling women the procedure would “terminate the life of a whole, separate, unique, living human being” supplements factual information with a value judgment. (The New York Times)
- National battle over abortion focuses on South Dakota vote | A local battle is being waged in South Dakota over a statewide ballot measure that would ban most abortions (The New York Times)
- Institute practices reproductive medicine—and Catholicism | The Pope Paul VI Institute for the Study of Human Reproduction has become perhaps the most prominent women’s health center serving Catholics and other doctors, medical students and patients who object for religious reasons to aspects of modern reproductive medicine. (The Washington Post)
- Kansas AG gets abortion clinic records | The state attorney general said Tuesday night that his office has received the records of 90 patients from two abortion clinics and is reviewing them for possible crimes, the culmination of an effort that prompted concerns over patient privacy (Associated Press)
- Outside money fuels battle on abortion | The fierce battle over abortion in South Dakota has cost some $4 million, much of that from places other than South Dakota (The New York Times)
- Nicaraguan Congress okays abortion ban | Nicaragua’s Congress has voted to ban all abortions, despite the concerns of diplomats, doctors and women’s rights advocates that the issue has become politicized ahead of presidential elections (Associated Press)
- Nicaragua bans abortion | If Nicaraguans want to see the possible consequences of their new law, they can look next door to El Salvador, where all abortions have been banned since 1998 (Editorial, The New York Times)
Stem cell research:
- N.M. may finance stem cell research | Gov. Bill Richardson called for $4 million to recruit scientists for stem cell research and provide them with equipment and staff, and $2 million to train medical students and others in that field of research. (Associated Press)
- Warner lends name to anti-stem cell ad | Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kurt Warner says his deep Christian faith led to his decision to appear in a television ad opposing a proposed constitutional amendment in Missouri (Associated Press)
Science and human origins:
- An evolutionary theory of right and wrong | Marc D. Hauser has proposed that people are born with a moral grammar wired into their neural circuits by evolution (The New York Times)
- ‘What does it mean to be human?‘ | Anthropologist Desmond Morris suggested the discovery of a human Hobbit on Flores would force many religions to examine their basic beliefs. The suggestion provoked quite a reaction. (David Wilkinson, BBC News)
- Books:
- ‘Delusion’ asks worthwhile questions | But Richard Dawkins’ critique is faulty (Rich Barlow, The Boston Globe)
- Tough guy with friend in high places | In the third in a trilogy of nervy novels derived from the Old Testament, David Maine presents Samson as a world-weary Israelite with a strong sense of history. Janet Maslin reviews The Book of Samson (The New York Times)
Crime and lawsuits:
- Amish couple challenges U.S. photo rule | An Amish couple filed a lawsuit — something that runs counter to their principles of nonresistance — to safeguard another cherished belief, that having their photo taken is against the Bible (Associated Press)
- Teen shot by police stun gun dies | A teenager carrying a Bible and shouting “I want Jesus” was shot twice with a police stun gun and later died at a St. Louis hospital, authorities said (Associated Press)
- Church fire was set to kill, police say | A man accused of sloshing fuel on pews and parishioners during a church service and starting fires intended to kill everyone in the building, investigators say (Associated Press)
- Difficult sermon as F.B.I. investigates a church’s ex-music director | Pastor pleads for “patience, trust and kindness.” (The New York Times)
- Baptists scrutinize Rio Grande Valley funds | Group spent $1.3M to start 258 churches; few still exist, report says (The Dallas Morning News)
- Report: $1.3M misused by Texas Baptists | Much of $1.3 million contributed by Texas Baptists that was supposed to help start hundreds of churches in the Rio Grande Valley was misused by three pastors, and only a handful of the churches exist today, a five-month independent investigation has found (Associated Press)
Abuse:
- Ex-pastor gets 11 yrs. for sex with teen | A former Baptist pastor who disappeared with a 15-year-old girl for a month and later pleaded guilty to raping her was sentenced Friday to more than 11 years in federal prison (Associated Press)
- Pope: Clergy sex abuse wounds ‘run deep’ | Pope Benedict XVI said Saturday that clerical sex abuses were “egregious crimes” that had damaged the standing of the Catholic Church and its clergy, in his first explicit remarks on the subject since becoming pontiff (Associated Press)
- Priest gets 7 years for child porn | A Roman Catholic priest charged with possessing violent child pornography was sentenced by a federal judge who said she could not “help but be appalled.” (Associated Press)
- Priest’s lawyer denies 2nd abuse claim | The lawyer for a Catholic priest who acknowledged fondling Mark Foley when the former congressman was a teenager said Friday there were no grounds for legal action against the clergyman, and he denied allegations by a second man claiming the priest molested him (Associated Press)
- Missouri school sued by student who refused to support gay adoptions | Student claims she was retaliated against because she refused to support gay adoption as part of a class project (USA Today)
- L.A. clergy sex case settled for $10M | A Roman Catholic religious order and the Archdiocese of Los Angeles will pay a combined $10 million to seven people to settle allegations of clergy sexual abuse, attorneys said Friday (Associated Press)
Church life (U.S.):
- A church development project evokes passion in Santa Fe | A current proposal to develop hundreds of thousands of square feet of commercial space would require the demolition of the Villa Therese Clinic (The New York Times)
- Reaching out to Chinese on campus | Fellowships try to expose students to Christianity, but sometimes it can be a hard sell (The Washington Post)
- Rev. Sharpton faults the Christian right | The Rev. Al Sharpton criticized the Christian right Tuesday for focusing too much political discussion on abortion and same-sex marriage and said black churches must talk about fighting poverty, equal access to education and other social justice issues (Associated Press)
- Some Protestant churches feeling ‘mainline’ again | Classic mainline Protestant churches are seeing growth (USA Today)
- Taking on a coal mining practice as a matter of faith | The Mennonite Central Committee Appalachia and other Appalachian Christians are trying to halt the controversial coal mining practice known as mountaintop removal (The New York Times)
- Colson steps down from Prison Fellowship | Michael T. Timmis to succeed as board chair (Associated Press)
- Episcopalians to consecrate female bishop | Katharine Jefferts Schori will be consecrated the world’s first female presiding bishop Saturday morning at the Washington National Cathedral. (The Washington Times)
- Episcopal ‘U2-charist’ uses songs in service | A Communion service driven by the music of singer Bono and his U2 bandmates is catching on at Episcopal churches across the country (USA Today)
- NYC church goes British with its bells | The landmark Trinity Church at the top of the street rang $1 million worth of new chimes, pealing for 3 1/2 hours according to a mathematical formula dating to the 17th century (Associated Press)
Church life (international):
- Unionists ‘against papal visit’ | Unionists could not welcome a visit by the pope to Northern Ireland at this time, DUP MP Gregory Campbell has said. (BBC)
- Pope names Brazil cardinal to key post | Pope Benedict XVI on Tuesday named Cardinal Claudio Hummes, who heads Brazil’s largest Roman Catholic diocese, to head the Vatican office in charge of priests around the world (Associated Press)
- African bishops loosen Western ties | Anglican bishops in Africa have vowed to end theological training in the West at the end of their first meeting (BBC)
- China tour showed Christian growth | The Chinese rolled out the red carpet for the Archbishop of Canterbury. (BBC)
- Nigerian pastor finds new flock in Ukraine | Inside one of Ukraine’s biggest sports halls a band pumps out deafening music surrounded by pom pom-waving dancers in shiny blue outfits.(BBC)
- Religion briefs | Belarusian government wants the church without the people (The Washington Times)
Entertainment:
- BBC’s ‘Spooks’ sparks Christian backlash | A recent episode of the drama focused on evangelical extremists killing Muslims (The Washington Times)
- Christian groups accuse BBC drama of inciting anti-Christian bias | The BBC are facing accusations of anti-Christian bias after a BBC drama portrayed evangelical extremists murdering Muslims. (The Daily Mail)
- Christians rock | The idea of faith has not connected with Andrew Beaujon, an agnostic. The evolution of Christian rock, however, has induced him to become the movement’s newest historian (The Washington Times)
- ‘Jesus Camp’ covers children’s ministry | The Rev. Becky Fischer on reactions to ‘Jesus Camp’ (The Washington Times)
Halloween:
- Visions of hell | Two Yale grads and a Colorado pastor team up to present a demonic version of a haunted house (Newsweek)
- Faith through fright | Depictions of death and hell aim to save (The Washington Post)
- Some churches rejecting occult for ‘holy’ Halloween | Pastors who believe Halloween is a pagan tradition are urging children to trade pumpkin-carving and scary costumes for hayrides, contests for best saint costumes and prayers (USA Today)
Other stories of interest:
- God’s green earth | What environmentalists and evangelicals have in common (The Boston Globe)
- Medic aids fallen Marine with skill and a prayer | Petty Officer Dustin E. Kirby, a trauma medic, fights for those he treats. “When I told you that I do not let people die on me, I meant it,” he said. “I meant it.” (The New York Times)
- Proposed religion-based program for federal inmates is canceled | Critics of the program and constitutional law experts contended that it would have violated the separation of church and state (The New York Times)
- Saints that weren’t | Most Americans probably don’t know the name of the newest American saint, or that she was mistreated by the church that she served so faithfully (James Martin, The New York Times)
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