Hell: The Place to Marry on Leap Day

"Leap Day," as Feb. 29 is known, will not be just a cold day in Hell – Michigan, that is – but a busy one for nondenominational Christian minister Ann Jarema, the Detroit Free Press reports. She was hired by ice cream shop owner John Colone to help provide free weddings and marriage vow renewals for couples on the day that only occurs once every four years.

"It's a great way to shrug off convention, but we have people who are just as serious about the event as I," said Jarema, who will perform more than two dozen ceremonies.

Colone, the owner of Screams Ice Cream & Halloween Store in Hell, couldn't resist commenting on the Michigan weather. "It's a cold day in Hell," he said. "It's time to get married."

He built a small wedding chapel – with a steeple topped with a question mark – two years ago. The Livingston Community News posted a photo of him and the building on its Web site.

Will The Real Imperials Please Stand Up?

Christianity Today.com has reported that the Imperials, a popular Christian music group that dates to the 1960s, is embroiled in a lawsuit over its name. Through some digging – including obtaining a copy of a 2005 trademark agreement – the online magazine has discovered a "complex legal battle" between group co-founder Armond Morales and a younger version of the group that includes his son, Jason Morales.

"They have set out to really put me out of business and have no connection with the Imperials, which was my life," said Armond Morales 75. "I’ve been devastated by this."

An attorney for the younger group predicts the case will land in court later this year. The younger Imperials said the elder Morales’ signature on the agreement means the "real" Imperials are now the four current singers. Armond Morales claims he was pressured into signing away more than he meant.

To add to the confusion, there have been at least two other groups with the name "Imperials."

The group including the younger Morales has its version of the long and complicated history of the musicians on its Web site.

Cuts Both Ways

Much has been made of the Democratic Party's attempts to reach out to religiously minded voters or, as many have said, to simply "get religion." Apparently that hasn't stopped the DNC from using religion as a wedge, however.

After San Antonio pastor John Hagee (who's so supportive of Israel that he'd make a really good Jew, except that he's Christian) endorsed McCain, the DNC put out a statement criticizing Hagee for his anti-Catholic comments.

From the DNC's Stacie Paxton, via email:

The Catholic vote has been the only bright spot for John McCain in the Republican primaries among faith voters – so this could pose a serious dilemma and problem for the McCain campaign. In Wisconsin, McCain won the Catholic vote with 67 percent, in Missouri with 46 percent, and in Virginia by 67 percent but lost the Protestant and “other Christian” vote to Huckabee in each contest.

McCain would have a difficult time distancing himself from Hagee even if he tried.

So religion is a unifier, supposedly, unless it goes to the other party.

But probably even more bizarre was the DNC's use of Deal Hudson, the former publisher of Crisis magazine and former director of Catholic outreach for the Bush/Cheney 04 campaign. (He's also the guy, you may remember, who got sacked after it was revealed he had inappropriate dalliances with an undergrad while he was a college prof.) The DNC quoted Hudson (and the Catholic League's Bill Donohue) going after Hagee for his anti-Catholic comments:

"I will say to John McCain the same thing I said to Mike Huckabee: There is anti-Catholicism in our culture, some of which is found among Evangelical Christians; you should be aware of this and not do anything that promotes those attitudes or those who espouse them. "

Donohue, it should be mentioned, has created numerous headaches for the DNC over their on-again, off-again attempts at religious outreach, especially when it came to John Kerry's support of abortion rights.

So, I guess it goes something like this: We're Democrats, and we like religion. Unless it's a religion that goes for the other guy. And we don't like it when Deal Hudson or Bill Donohue shill for the GOP or attack the DNC, but when they say the opposition is cozying up to bigots, we'll take 'em.

Aint politics grand?

Farrakhan: Obama Still Has My Support

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan says his followers should still support Barack Obama, even if Obama doesn't really want it.

"Those who have been supporting Sen. Barack Obama should not allow what was said during the Feb. 26 presidential debate to lessen their support for his campaign. This is simply mischief making intended to hurt Mr. Obama politically," Farrakhan said in an unsolicited statement to the Associated Press.

Obama, as you'll recall, said he never asked for Farrakhan's support, couldn't really do much about it one way or the other, and denounced Farrakhan's well-known anti-Semitism.

McCain Picks Up Hagee Endorsement

GOP presidential candidate John McCain picked up the endorsement Wednesday of San Antonio pastor John Hagee, who said at a news conference that he was giving his "vigorous, enthusiastic and personal support to an American hero." Hagee, national chairman of Christians United for Israel, praised McCain for his anti-abortion record and his pro-Israel stands. KSAT.com carried the video of the press conference.

The Trail, The Washington Post’s political blog, noted that Catholic League President Bill Donohue is already criticizing the endorsement because he believes Hagee has "waged an unrelenting war against the Catholic Church."

Beliefnet Lists Influential Black Spiritual Leaders

As Black History Month draws to a close, it's not too late to point out that Beliefnet has continued its practice of naming "The Most Influential Black Spiritual Leaders." The Dallas Morning News’ religion blog noticed that the names of two Texas megachurch pastors were missing: Bishop T.D. Jakes of Dallas and Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell, leader of Houston's Windsor Village United Methodist Church. But it added that Beliefnet said the list was "by no means comprehensive."

Those making the cut this year:

- Rev. A.R. Bernard, leader of the 28,000-member Christian Cultural Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.
- Rabbi Capers C. Funnye, leader of an Ethiopian congregation in Chicago
- Rev. Calvin O. Butts III, pastor of Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, N.Y.
- Archbishop Peter Akinola, the Anglican leader of Nigeria and a leader in the opposition to gay ordination in the Anglican Communion
- Vanderbilt University professor and author Renita Weems
- Rev. Jeremiah Wright, pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago and pastor to Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama
- Archbishop Wilton Gregory of Atlanta, who was the first black president of the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops
- Bishop Charles Blake of Los Angeles, presiding bishop of the Church of God in Christ
- Imam Zaid Shakir, author and lecturer at the Zaytuna Institute in Berkeley, Calif.
- Motivational speaker Myles Munroe, pastor of Bahamas Faith Ministries in Nassau, Bahamas
- Rev. Claudette Copeland, co-pastor of New Creation Christian Fellowship of San Antonio

UCC: We're Not an Obama Campaign Office

We reported yesterday on the IRS investigation into whether a Barack Obama speech at last year's UCC General Synod crossed the line into improper church politicking. Obama, you'll recall, is a longtime member of a UCC church in Chicago

The UCC says they weren't aware of any problems, and say the event passed muster. Now they've released a video clip of UCC official Edith Guffey admonishing last year's crowd that this was not a political event, and should not be construed as such. She even told people to keep the campaign signs and buttons outside.

Interesting, but perhaps one commenter put it best, after watching the clip:

Perhaps the UCC did not cross the line, but Senator Obama and his campaign
did not stay firmly on their side of it.

Sister: Don't get it twisted

Sister Mary Ann Walsh, spokeswoman for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, responded sharply to an op/ed published in the Washington Post last weekend that criticized the bishops for prioritizing abortion above all other political issues and presumably aligning themselves with Republican John McCain. (You can find that editorial, written by former National Catholic Reporter scribe Joe Feuerherd, here.)

In her own WaPo op/ed, Walsh says Feuerherd's "screed ... epitomizes the incivility of this campaign season, where truth has become a casualty and half-truths the norm."

Walsh says the bishops did not limit their document on Catholics in the public square "Faithful Citizenship," to denunciations of abortion. They also spoke out about the war, immigration, the death penalty, and poverty.

Walsh also takes Feuerherd to task for referring to Holy Communion as a "wafer," saying that "crude reference ... should be beneath anyone who respects people's religious sentiments, let alone an acknowledged Catholic."

Ouch. As someone who was educated in early life by nuns, I can almost feel the sting of the ruler across Feuerherd's knuckles.

Donate, Then Stay Home

The Episcopal diocese of Washington's blog, the Lead, has word that Bishop Gene Robinson, who is openly gay and who has yet to be invited to the decennial meeting of all Anglican Bishops in England this summer, has, nonetheless, been asked to fork over $7,000 to support the meeting.

Read more here.

Bad News For Boston Parishes

The Boston Globe has a front-page story on the Vatican's high court siding with Cardinal Sean O'Malley in his decision to shutter a parish in Lowell, Mass.

Though the ruling is legally limited to St. Jeanne d'Arc in Lowell, it has unwelcome implications for the scores of other parishes in the Archdiocese of Boston fighting to keep their church doors open, says the Globe. Five of those parishes have held vigils in protest of the planned closings for as long as 40 months.

"This is ominous for any parish," Bill Bannon, a critic of the archdiocese, told the Globe.

Apparently, the archdiocese's advocate told the Vatican tribunal that O'Malley had been given discretion to save his see from financial ruin provoked by the sexual abuse crisis. That contradicts O'Malley himself, who told advocates for the closed parishes that the churches were not being closed to pay abuse settlements, according to the Globe.

The ruling was in Latin, the Globe had to hire a translator, and it has not been widely dispersed. Read more here.

Take That, Da Vinci Code!

Anne Rice explores Jesus' public ministry in new novel

RNS' Benedicta Cipolla interviews author Anne Rice, whose upcoming novel focuses on the beginning of Christ's ministry from a scripturally correct point of view.

Quote:

Firing a direct salvo at "[The] Da Vinci [Code]," Rice states in her author's note: "It is more than ever important to affirm our belief in Christ as sinless and unmarried because that is the way the gospels present Him."

People of the Book

The Vatican has approved the selection four senior American Catholic prelates to the highly anticipated Synod on Scripture in October.

The four prelates, who were elected by their peers last November in Baltimore and approved by the Vatican earlier this year, are: Cardinal Francis George of Chicago, president of the USCCB and Bishop Gerald Kicanas of Tucson, vp of the USCCB, the newly incarnadined Daniel DiNardo of Houston and Archbishop Donald Wuerl of Washington.

The theme of the synod is: The Word of God in the Life and Mission of the Church.

The Washington Times Joins the 21st Century

My last real rant in this space was about the Washington Times policy to use "scare quotes" around terms like "gay marriage" or "homosexual", as if putting them in quotes made them seem less real, more contrived.

The Washington CityPaper (our local indy weekly) is reporting that new Washington Times editor John Solomon is putting the scare quotes exactly where they belong: in the trash. He's also joining the rest of the media (not to mention the AP style book) is using the term "gay" instead of "homosexual."

From the memo obtained by the CityPaper:

All:
Here are some recent updates to TWT style.
1) Clinton will be the headline word for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
2) Gay is approved for copy and preferred over homosexual, except in clinical references or references to sexual activity.
3) The quotation marks will come off gay marriage (preferred over homosexual marriage).
4) Moderate is approved, but centrist is still allowed.
5) We will use illegal immigrants, not illegal aliens.

No word if they'll stop using archaic terms like "homosexual lover," like they did in referring to Episcopal Bishop Gene Robinson, in some sort of throwback to the heady days of 1978.

But good for him. It's about time.

Dude, You Melted My House

This mayn't have much to do with religion, unless we're talking about the stewards-of-God's-creation movement among some Christians.

But anyway, The Press Association (?) is carrying a story with the Onionesque headline "Eskimos to sue over global warming." The story, though, seems to be for reals.

h/t Catholics in Alliance.

Pastor in Chief or Commander in Chief?

Those crazy kids over at the Interfaith Alliance have put together a little video homage of their Top 10 picks of the unorthodox ways faith has been injected into the 2008 presidential campaign.

The clips, set to Bon Jovi's "Living on a Prayer," highlights Mike Huckabee's statement that the same power that turned loaves and fishes into a feast for 5,000 was powering his campaign, John Edwards' confession of sins and John McCain's assertion that the U.S. is a "Christian nation."

My favorite: when Huckabee says the Constitution should be amended to fit "God's standards," the Interfaith Alliance says, "Every time this clip is played, James Madison Roles Over in His Grave."

The Bishops' Daughters

This month, two Episcopal bishops' daughters have articles in high-profile magazines.

In the March 3 New Yorker, Honor Moore dishes family secrets about her father, retired Bishop Paul Moore of New York, a war veteran and liberal activist. He was the first Episcopal bishop to ordain a lesbian priest.

Hear a podcast with Honor here.

And in The Atlantic, former Presiding Bishop Frank Griswold's daughter, Eliza, has a piece on religious conflict in Nigeria.

A snippet:
"At the time of the massacre, Archbishop Peter Akinola was the president of the Christian Association of Nigeria, whose membership was implicated in the killings. He has since lost his bid for another term but, as primate of the Anglican Church of Nigeria, he is still the leader of 18 million Anglicans. He is a colleague of my father, who was the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church in America from 1997 to 2006. But the American Episcopals’ election of an openly homosexual bishop in 2003, which Archbishop Akinola denounced as “satanic,” created distance between them. When I arrived in 2006 in the capital of Abuja to see the archbishop, his office door was locked. Its complicated buzzing-in system was malfunctioning, and he was trapped inside. Finally, after several minutes, the angry buzzes stopped and I could hear a man behind the door rise and come across the floor. The archbishop, in a pale-blue pantsuit and a darker-blue crushed-velvet hat, opened the door. "

To say that Griswold and Akinola are "colleagues," is a bit roseate but whatever.

Read more here.

Mission Group Leader Washes Feet to Repent for Past Exclusion of Blacks

SIM, or Serving in Mission, an international mission organization, has taken a step of reconciliation: apologizing for a past policy that excluded African-American missionary candidates from its ranks.

In a "Together as One" statement, SIM USA director Steve Strauss recently wrote words of apology. "We knew that, in the past, some American mission agencies had not welcomed African-American missionary candidates," wrote Strauss, whose organization is based in Charlotte, N.C. "As we examined our archives, we discovered that we were one such agency."

His words followed an apology statement adopted by the SIM USA board last summer, which said the practice was "adopted to comply with the wishes of the colonial governments which then controlled the African countries where SIM worked." The practice, an unwritten policy, ended in 1957.

Strauss read the statement of apology, which called the practice a "sinful exclusion of our African-American brothers and sisters from a potential avenue of ministry," at a January meeting at Columbia International University that was focused on reconciliation.

"At this public apology, I washed the feet of three African-American church leaders as a symbol of SIM’s repentance," he wrote.

The "Real Problem" with America ...

According to Pastor Steven Anderson of Faithful Word Baptist Church in Tempe, Ariz., it's got something to do with men who "pee sitting down."

You couldn't make this stuff up.

h/t: Andrew Sullivan.

"Saved" By Obama

Lots of religious-y type news on the campaign trail recently.

On Sunday, Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan called Barack Obama the "hope of the entire world." According to the AP, Farrakhan repeatedly praised the Illinois senator before the crowd of 20,000, but never outright endorsed him. Comparing Obama to Nation of Islam founder Fard Muhammad, who, like Obama had a black father and a white mother, Farrakhan says "A black man with a white mother became savior to us. A black man with a white mother could turn out to be one who can lift America from her fall."

In light of Farrakhan's anti-Semitic rhetoric, such a ringing endorsement is undoubtedly a mixed blessing for the Obama camp.

The Illinois senator has already been the victim of what his campaign manager has called "fear mongering," Internet campaigns portraying the United Church of Christ Obama as a Muslim in disguise. That campaign went a bit further recently with the circulation of pictures of Obama in native Somali dress, including a turban, a politically charged piece of headgear these days.

Meanwhile, on Sunday, Sen. Hillary Clinton mocked the salvational tinge that seems to color some parts of the Obama campaign, saying, "I could just stand up here and say, `Let's just get everybody together, let's get unified, the sky will open, the light will come down, celestial choirs will be singing, and everyone will know we should do the perfect thing and the world will be perfect.'"

Isn't that what Christians do every Sunday?

Post's Op-Ed Section Delves Into Religion, Politics

Sunday’s Washington Post had a package of stories on faith and politics that looked at it from the left and the right, and from the perspective of Hispanics to potentially hell-bound voters.

Amy Sullivan, nation editor at Time magazine, wrote about being a liberal evangelical – a non-non sequitur, she says.

Beliefnet.com’s Washington editor David Kuo suggested that GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee could become the next kingmaker of the new religious right.

Samuel Rodriguez Jr., president of the National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference, wrote about Hispanic voters who are not in the pocket of either the Christian left or the Christian right.

And Joe Feuerherd, who covered the U.S. Catholic bishops and the 2004 election for National Catholic Reporter, wrote about whether voting for Sen. Barack Obama might be putting his soul at risk – at least, according to Catholic leaders.

In Gay Debate, Church Opts For No Family Photos in Directory

A Fort Worth, Texas, church has decided not to feature family portraits in its 125th anniversary church directory to attempt to end a debate over whether gay members’ photos could be included. Broadway Baptist Church voted 294-182 Sunday, approving a recommendation by the church’s board of deacons, The Dallas Morning News reported. "This has been a difficult decision for our congregation," said Kathy Madeja, deacon chair. The matter had divided the congregation and prompted some to call for the ouster of its pastor, Brett Younger. The board urged "remediation and reconciliation" for the congregation before deciding about his future. Quoted by the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Younger said: "Broadway will continue as a congregation in which diversity is embraced." His sermon addressing the matter is on the church’s Web site and titled "Looking People in the Eye."

The Vatican on the Oscars

In the latest sign that the official Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano has become more lively and wide-ranging under its new editor, Giovanni Maria Vian, Tuesday's edition carries a reflection on last night's Academy Awards.

"Hollywood has been struck this year by gloomy films, soaked in violence and above all lacking in hope," writes Gaetano Vallini, whose Exhibit A is the Best Picture winner, No Country for Old Men.

Yet Vallini acknowledges that this year's nominees also included films that "recount the beauty of life," particularly The Diving Bell and the Butterfly and Juno.

Celibacy in Brazil

A national assembly of Brazilian priests has reportedly written a letter to the Vatican's Congregation for the Clergy calling for removal of the celibacy requirement for priests.

(An unnamed Brazilian bishop is quoted saying that there are already lots of married priests in his country, and that the Vatican is pretending it doesn't know.)

The news comes less than a week after the head of the German bishops' conference stirred a ruckus by saying that priestly celibacy is not "theologically necessary."

Selective Protection?

Does God 'protect' some disaster victims but not others?

RNS' Brittani Hamm and Adelle M. Banks examine the theological issues surrounding disasters, in this week's full text article, linked above.

Quote:

Rabbi Harold Kushner, author of the best-selling book "When Bad Things Happen to Good People," said he does not believe the tornado was an act of God -- even though insurance companies like to categorize natural disasters as such.

"It was an act of nature," he said. "Nature is morally blind. Nature can be beautiful but it has no conscience. ... I find God not in the tornado, but in the many responses to the tornado, whether it's the courage to go on or the resilience to put your life back together or the impulse to help victims."

On Film: First Jesus, Now Mary Magdalene

The people who brought the "Jesus" film to screens across the world in hundreds of languages have now begun a project about a woman of the Bible: Mary Magdalene. "Magdalena: Released from Shame" is a new movie created by The Jesus Film Project, a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ.

In an announcement, the film is described as a new evangelistic tool aimed especially at women. "Through her eyes, this film portrays how Jesus values women by focusing on historical accounts of his interactions with them."

Heavenly Hit Men?

Church-state watchdog Barry Lynn is accusing conservative California pastor Wiley Drake of urging his followers "to pray for the deaths of staff members at (Lynn's) Americans United for Separation of Church and State."

Last August, Americans United filed a complaint with the Internal Revenue Service about Drake’s use of church letterhead and a church-based radio program to endorse presidential candidate Mike Huckabee. Federal tax law forbids tax-exempt groups from endorsing or opposing candidates for public office.

In a Feb. 5 letter, the IRS notified Drake that his First Southern Baptist Church of Buena Park is being investigated.

In response, Drake issued a Feb. 14 e-mail appeal to followers to engage in “imprecatory prayers” (curses) against Americans United and three of its staff members.

“Trying to turn God into some sort of heavenly hit man is repugnant,” Lynn concluded. “There is more than a whiff of the Taliban in this action”

Someone Ought to Call Foul on This ...

And I thought it was only the Southern Baptists who said their women should "submit graciously" to men ...

Seems the good folks at St. Mary's Academy near Topeka, Kan., told a woman she couldn't referee a boy's basketball game because putting a woman in a position of authority over men violated the school's beliefs.

But it gets better. School officials asked a male referee (who had just finished up two junior-varsity games) to stay on because there had been an "emergency" and they needed a last-minute ref. When the ref found out what the real "emergency" was, he walked off the court. Good for him.

"When I found out what the emergency was, I said there was no way I was going to work those games," said Fred Shockey, who spent 12 years in the Army and became a ref about three years ago. "I have been led by some of the finest women this nation has to offer, and there was no way I was going to go along with that."

Seriously, people ... is this really the way you want to make news?

One more thing: I found the website for St. Mary's and this all makes a lot more sense now. It's run by the Society of St. Pius X, better known as the Lefebvrites, who broke with the Vatican in the 1970s. Now it all becomes clear.

Obama and Catholics

Douglas W. Kmiec, an erstwhile advisor for Mitt Romney's campaign and former dean of the Catholic University of America School of Law says today in Slate magazine that Barack Obama should be the candidate of choice.

"However hard-working, intelligent, and policy savvy she may be (and she is), Clinton seldom inspires even the so-called "social justice" Catholics or reveals that rare gift of empathy that defined Reagan and that one glimpses in Obama. Say what you will about not preferring style over substance, modern leadership requires both, especially now when the international community—whose help we need to arrest terrorism—seldom gives us the benefit of the doubt," says Kmiec.

"Beyond life issues, an audaciously hope-filled Democrat like Obama is a Catholic natural," he concludes.

Polls say different.

Farrakhan's Finances

Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan is in federal court challenging a magistrate's order to explain why his monthly $1,400-payments to his 49-year-old son, who heads his security detail, should be considered "charity."

According to the Indy Star: The younger Farrakhan has said he cannot pay damages from crashing his father's Hummer into a couple's car because he has no income, has never been employed and has no checking account or savings.

He argues the $1,400 in cash he receives from his father each month is legally considered charity, even though Nasir Farrakhan has acted as head of the minister's 20-man security force for many years.

Sounds like the IRS might soon pay a call to the Farrakhans.

What is Going On?

Something is seriously wrong with this country, when this stuff happens as often as it does.

The murderer, who reportedly killed six students in a Northern Illinois University geology class, was a former graduate student in sociology. He then killed himself. Police have not determined a motive.

Third Party Idea Resurrected

Conservative Christians upset with Republican presumptive presidential nominee John McCain are reportedly resurrecting the idea of mounting a third party candidate to enter the race. The idea surfaced last year when Rudy Giuliani, who supports reproductive and gay rights, led national polls.

"Some of these folks might be trying to send a signal to McCain," Mark Rozell, a political scientist at George Mason University told the AP. "There are also some people in that movement who believe McCain is hopeless. And they're not bluffing."

Read the rest of the AP's report here.

Happy Nirvana Day

Think: less Kurt Cobain, more Buddha. Today is the day some Buddhists celebrate the Awakened One's passing into Nirvana (others celebrate it on Feb. 8; I think it's a lunar calendar thing).

The Buddha's last words before entering Nirvana were reportedly, "All that appears must disappear, whatever rises dissolves. Work out your salvation with diligence."

He was 80 years old and it is believed that he died in a state of meditation, which is said to have released him from the cycle of death and rebirth, says a neat little story from the Waterbury, Ct., Republican American.

Catholic Marriages

Georgetown University's Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate has released a 187-page report on the state of Catholic marriages.

A couple findings: 53 % of Catholics aged 18 and older are married; two-thirds of those folks were married in the church.

72 % of married Catholics have a Catholic spouse and, on average, adult Catholics have two children.

72 % of unmarried Catholics who want to get married say they want the church to marry them.

I'll leave you to peruse the rest of the report.

Falling out of the habit

The Vatican official in charge of religious orders says the fact that many clergy, nuns and brothers do not wear their habits reflects a "climate of secularization" that endangers religious life.

Cardinal Franc Rodé told Italy's La Stampa newspaper that signs of secularization among religious include: "Untrammeled liberty, a weak sense of family, a worldly spirit, scarce visibility of the religious habit, a devaluation of prayer, an insufficient community life and a scarce sense of obedience."

Last month, Rodé told Jesuits gathered in Rome that he felt "sorrow and anxiety" over the failure of "some members of religious families" to "think with the church" and obey the hierarchy.

Catholic Bishops to ICE: Stay Off Our Turf

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has issued a public letter to Immigration and Customs Enforcement telling them to stay away from "churches, hospitals, community health centers, schools, food banks, or other community-based organizations that provide charitable social services."

The bishops also said ICE should suspending immigration enforcement activities in the wake of natural or man-made disasters, release primary caregivers following a roundup, and provide access to legal counsel.

Read the full statement here.

God and Politics

Books probe God factor in U.S. politics

RNS' Daniel Burke examines several soon-to-be published books which examine the nexus of religion and U.S. politics in this week's full-text RNS article, linked above.

Quote:

Like Gushee, Florida megachurch pastor Joel Hunter, in his book, "A New Kind of Conservative," says it's time for evangelicals to focus on issues beyond abortion and homosexuality.

Hunter offers seven reasons why "the current strategy of the Religious Right" fails to resonate with conservative Christians, including personal attacks, too much emphasis on "below the belt" issues, a focus on political wins rather than spiritual results and a lack of intellectual heft.

Casting Crowns' Mark Hall Gets Most Dove Awards Nominations

Christian artist and youth pastor Mark Hall, the frontman for the group Casting Crowns, earned the most nominations -- six -- for this year's Gospel Music Association’s Dove Awards. Other multiple nominees announced Thursday include the David Crowder Band, Jeremy Camp, Ernie Haase & Signature Band, and Ricky Skaggs.

GMA officials also announced that the Gospel Music Channel will carry the April 23 ceremony live at 8 p.m. that evening from the Grand Ole Opry House.

Here are the Artist of the Year nominees: Casting Crowns, The Clark Sisters, Natalie Grant, Point of Grace, Skillet, TobyMac, and Chris Tomlin.

The GMA has posted a nine-page list of all the nominees on its Web site.

Report Questions 'Dear Abby's' Views on Sex

The Media Research Center's Culture and Media Institute has complained that Jeanne Phillips, aka "Dear Abby," is offering bad advice to readers about sex. The conservative media watchdog issued a 21-page report Tuesday called "Down a Dark Abby," which details how her columns treat such issues as premarital sex, homosexuality and teen sex.
"Millions of young men and women are forming their views on sex and relationships under the influence of a libertine advice columnist who is advancing anything but traditional values," the executive summary reads.

Pressure on China Intensifies

Steven Spielberg publicly chastised China for its record on human rights yesterday, particularly is support for the regime in Sudan, and backed out as artistic advisor for the Olympics' opening ceremony.

The move is a public embarrassment for the authoritarian communist regime, the wires and NYT report.

Separately, 100 members of Congress urged China to help end the violence in Sudan's troubled Darfur region.

"Without a much stronger effort from the government of the People's Republic of China (PRC) to convince the government of Sudan to end its obstruction, the real-though-limited progress made during the past year will be undone, and the possibility of an expanded regional crisis beyond Darfur's borders will continue to grow," the lawmakers wrote. The group was predominantly Democratic, but included 20 Republicans.

The open letter comes six months before China will host the summer Olympics in Beijing.

Happy Darwin Day

Raise your hand if you knew today was "Darwin Day."

Yeah, me neither.

Apparently, it's the celebrated scientist's 199th birthday, as the Institute for Humanist Studies tells us.

This year, hundreds of churches will celebrate Darwin Day by hosting an "Evolution Weekend" to explore the compatibility of science and religion, says the IHS.

I bet there are just as many churches that will use the occasional to rail against evolution.

Especially in Florida, where the Orlando Sentinel has word that the state's Board of Education is to vote Feb. 19 on new science standards that would require teaching evolution in public schools.

The proposed standards include a list of 18 "big ideas," including evolution, that students must understand by the time they graduate.

Endorsement Watch: McCain Gains Bauer, Others

Within days of Focus on the Family founder James Dobson endorsing Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee, his conservative colleague Gary Bauer has put his support behind GOP candidate Sen. John McCain. In his Monday statement, Bauer spoke of McCain’s “consistent 24-year pro-life record” as well as his ability to defeat “radical Islamic extremism.”

Bauer, a former GOP presidential candidate, used to serve as president of the Family Research Council, which spun off from Dobson’s Focus on the Family. At least in this race, Dobson and his protégé are going separate ways at the voting booth.

McCain announced Tuesday that other “family issues leaders” in Virginia are also supporting his campaign. His news release list names such as Joseph Cella, founder of the National Catholic Prayer Breakfast, and Shannon Royce, former executive director of the Arlington Group.

Anonymous Protestors of Scientology

According to the Boston Globe, a group of about 50 masked protesters gathered Sunday outside of the Church of Scientology of Boston headquarters on Beacon Street to demonstrate against the policies of the church. Protesters said the event was part of a worldwide demonstration against the church by Anonymous, an informal Internet-based group.

The Detriot Free Press reported on its website that members of Anonymous protested in front of a Church of Scientology in Farmington Hills, Mich. About 200 protesters gathered outside a church in Clearwater, Fla., according to the Associated Press.

In a statement, the Church of Scientology of Boston said that Anonymous is "a group of cyberterrorists who hide their identities behind masks and computer anonymity" and target Scientology "for no reason other than religious bigotry."

Lourdes Mass Draws 55,000

More than 55,000 pilgrims turned out for a Mass in Lourdes, France, on Monday to celebrate 150 years since locals were said to be visited by Mary, the mother of Jesus.

The Marian shrine is holding events throughout the year including a visit from Benedict XVI. The pope has also offered indulgences for pilgrims or "any church, grotto or decorous place," where Mary is venerated.

Catholic World News has the story here.

The Vatican enters the digital age

The Catholic Church's leadership is keeping up to date with information and communications technology.

Last week, "Benedict XVI became the first Pope to utilize the technology of SMS texting services to broadcast a papal message."

Then the Cardinal who heads the Vatican's office on saints denounced the practicing of selling their bones on eBay.

But the church hasn't given up on old media yet. This Sunday, the Vatican's Secretary of State and number two official will celebrate a special Mass in Assisi observing the 50th anniversary of Saint Clare as the patron saint of television.

Poll: One in Three Evangelicals Voted Democratic in Tenn., Mo.

Election watchers who are concerned about exit polling that hasn’t asked as many religious questions of Democrats as Republicans took things into their own hands and concluded that one in three white evangelical voters in Missouri and Tennessee voted in Democratic primaries. These findings, from a Zogby poll commissioned by Faith in Public Life and the Center for American Progress Action Fund, looked at 800 voters in each of the two states.

Among the key findings:

-- 32 percent of Tennessee white evangelical primary voters were Democratic
-- 34 percent of Missouri white evangelical primary voters were Democratic
-- Missouri’s white evangelical voters favored Sen. Hillary Clinton over Sen. Barack Obama 54 percent to 37 percent
-- Tennessee’s white evangelical voters favored Clinton 78 percent to 12 percent
-- Majorities of Republican and Democratic white evangelical voters say they favor a broad agenda, including addressing poverty, the environment and HIV/AIDS, over a limited agenda that opposes abortion and same-sex marriage.

“Contrary to conventional wisdom, white evangelicals are really quite important to the Democratic vote,’’ said Robert P. Jones, a consultant on religion and politics, who discussed the results with reporters in a Monday teleconference.

Evangelical Association Board: Stay in Iraq

A new survey of the 100-member board of the National Association of Evangelicals finds most of these evangelical leaders think U.S. military forces need to remain in Iraq “until the job is done.” Asked “What are your views on the war in Iraq?”, even those who think invading Iraq was a mistake say the troops should not leave now.

NAE President Leith Anderson noted that evangelicals, in general, remain divided about whether war is ever justified. “Most evangelicals in America subscribe to the theological position called ‘Just War Theory,’ that it is morally justifiable to go to war under certain conditions,” he said. “However, there is also a strong evangelical voice in the ‘Peace Church’ tradition that opposes all war.”

NPR: Huckabee's Bible Lessons Often Missed

National Public Radio took a look at whether people are able to translate GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee’s religious lingo on Friday evening’s “All Things Considered.” Barbara Bradley Hagerty asked people along Washington’s National Mall about segments of his Super Tuesday victory speech and found that many didn’t get references like “Sometimes, one small smooth stone is even more effective than a whole lot of armor." (It referred to the biblical story of David and Goliath.) Her conclusion: even though it turned out that the people she interviewed had attended Sunday school, Huckabee’s hints did not help them recall lessons they may have learned.

Thoughts on the Anglican Covenant

I imagine everyone has had one of those moments when you reflect back on your day and wish you'd said something differently, maybe articulated something more clearly.

That happens to journalists a lot.

I wrote a short piece on the second draft of the Anglican Covenant released Wednesday, which you can find here. The article hits all the main points, but might benefit from further elucidation.

Here goes.

The covenant is basically designed to do two things, and moves along two tracks; the first might be called "theological," the second, "political." This will generally be true of any covenant that's produced, since those are the two main points of contention in the international communion: What do Anglicans believe and how do they deal with Anglicans who differ?

On the theological track, the covenant gives special weight to Scripture. It says that each of the 38 national churches must "uphold and act in continuity and consonance with Scripture and the catholic and apostolic faith, order and tradition." It also says that provinces must "ensure that biblical texts are handled faithfully, respectfully, comprehensively and coherently."

There's a lot in there to make conservative Episcopalians happy. Their arguments against the acceptance of gay and lesbian bishops, as well as the blessing of same-sex unions, stands very much upon biblical injunctions against homosexual acts.

The covenant's political track is less about belief than it is about consequences: How do Anglicans with sharp differences on everything from hermeneutics to theology to science get along under one tent? The covenant sets out a process, at the center of which is the Archbishop of Canterbury, which is too long and convoluted (not to mention provisional) to discuss here. Believe me, it gave me a headache to read it. What's important is what's missing from the covenant: any mechanism to toss the Episcopal Church from the communion. This makes liberal Episcopalians very happy.

Provinces can lodge complaints against each other; the Archbishop can make a "request" of a national church (e.g."No more gay bishops, please.") But no one can compel any province to do anything; the covenant expressly says that "no process shall effect the autonomy of any Church of the Communion." So, there may be endless finger pointing but perhaps no real consequences. Of course, all of that could change at the Lambeth Conference.

Ok, now that's off my chest. Sometimes these documents are so complex (particularly the extremely legalistic docs Anglicans tend to produce) that you can't really explain everything clearly in the time and space you have. If this was helpful at all, please let me know and I'll try to post similar things in the future.

Lent Financial Boon for Catholics?

As Catholics prepare to enter the Lenten season, choosing to make financial sacrifices for religious reasons may help those concerned about the economic downturn, according to Michele Dillon, professor of sociology at the University of New Hampshire.

“With the downturn in the economy and the general air of recession, individuals and families who feel they need to cut back on certain purchases might use Lent as a timely opportunity to make the sacrifices they feel necessary. Making economic sacrifices in the context of Lent with its emphasis on personal sacrifice for religious reasons might make some people feel a bit more upbeat about down-sizing some of their consumption habits,” Dillon says.

Bush and Prayer

President Bush, at the National Prayer Breakfast Thursday, said praying has helped him bear the strains of the Oval Office.

"I believe in the power of prayer, because I have felt it in my own life," Bush said at the annual National Prayer Breakfast. "It has helped me meet the challenges of the presidency. I understand now clearly the story of the calm in the rough seas."

The breakfast is staged without government funding every year by the Fellowship Foundation, an evangelical Christian group. About 2,800 people crowded into the Hilton Washington's International Ballroom for this year's event, according to the AP.

Apologetic Ad

After posting a billboard for the Freedom from Religion Foundation that read "Imagine No Religion,’’ a company had a change of heart and put up a new sign, reports the Public Opinion in Chambersburg, Pa. “In God We Trust: Kegerreis Outdoor Advertising LLC,” reads the new sign. And there’s this added note: “The previous sign posted at this location does not reflect the values or morals of our company. Thank you.’’

The foundation is continuing its efforts in different locations, as it noted in a recent announcement, with an image of the original sign, about a Columbus, Ohio, billboard.

No Street Sign for Murray O'Hair

The Omaha, Nebraska city council voted down a proposal to erect a commemorative street sign for Madlyn Murray O'Hair, the founder of American Atheists and plaintiff in the 1960s Supreme Court case the removed sectarian prayers from schools.

Irony of the day: Councilman Garry Gernandt said he was contacted by 200 constituents who opposed the sign, "They said we should keep religious and state issues separate," he said.

Murray O'Hair, who was not from Omaha, was murdered in 1995.

Read more here.

Take That, Taliban

According to National Geographic, the earliest known oil paintings, according to recently performed chemical analyses, are in caves in Afghanistan. And guess what? They're Buddhist murals.

The finds, dated to around the 7th century A.D., predate the origins of similar sophisticated painting techniques in medieval Europe and the Mediterranean by more than a hundred years, says NG.

Pictures and more info is here.

Catholics for Clinton

Our friends at the Spiritual Politics blog have crunched some of the numbers from Super Tuesday. One of the more interesting phenomena was Clinton's apparent success with Catholic voters.

Says Mark Silk: "Just about everywhere Obama fared poorly with Catholics on Super Tuesday. In heavily Irish Catholic New England, the margins were big. Likewise in the more mixed ethnic Catholicism of the Middle Atlantic States. In California, where Latinos dominate the Catholic population, even worse. (Not quite so bad in New Mexico and Arizona.) Even in his home state of Illinois, where Obama won big, he lost the Catholic vote to Clinton by a few percentage points. The exception was in Missouri, where he polled better with Catholics than with Protestants. So what's the problem? Does it have to do with class and ethnicity--as white working- and lower-middle-class Catholics in the Northeast and metropolitan Chicago, Latinos in the Southwest? Or is there something in Obama's Black Protestant style--his political revivalism--that just doesn't compute very well with Catholics? One way to tell would be to get a cross tab that showed how Latino Protestants voted."

Adds John Green: "The bedrock of the Clinton vote continued to be white Catholics: 71% in New Jersey, 68% in California, and 67% in Massachusetts. It was Catholic votes that allowed her to overcome Kennedy’s endorsement of Obama in the Bay State. Minority Catholics swelled Clinton’s totals everywhere."

Inside or Outside of the Big tent?

Baptists test limits of big-tent diversity

RNS' Adelle M. Banks explores the divisions and common causes among Baptists in her analysis of the Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant, in this week's full text article, linked above.

Quote:

Over the years, Baptists have splintered over a host of issues, including race (North vs. South), theology (conservatives vs. liberals and moderates) and ideology (Southern Baptists vs. the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship). Black Baptists, too, have split amongst themselves over internal disagreements.

Quite a Reaction

Two former members of the Bush administration who had overseen parts of the president's "faith-based intitiative," wrote an op-ed last week that was critical of the program.

Yesterday, The NYT printed responses from the head of that office, Jay Hein, as well as letters from Barry Lynn head of Americans United for Separation..., the general counsel of the American Jewish Committee and the president of the Secular Humanist Society of New York. To say the op-ed, and the program itself, has struck a nerve is an understatement.

Read it all here.

The caliphate that never was

A typically wry and judicious review by the New Yorker's Joan Acocella, of a book arguing that the failure of Muslims to conquer Europe in the Middle Ages was "one of the most significant losses in world history."

Department of stolen relics

Rather than make any of the obvious puns this story invites, I'll just go ahead and link to it.

Obama ahead in Indonesia

Whatever happens in tomorrow's primaries, one of the Catholic Church's top Islam experts tells NCR's John Allen that Barack Obama has already changed attitudes toward the U.S. in the Muslim world:

"I was just in Indonesia, and whenever people found out I was an American, they began shouting, 'Barak Obama! Barak Obama!'" [the Rev. Thomas] Michel said. He compared that to his experience 40 years ago of entering Palestinian refugee camps and seeing pictures of Egyptian President Gamal Abdle Nasser on one wall and John F. Kennedy on another.

"Kennedy represented something positive to them," Michel said. "There's a longing to be able to support the American ideal of freedom and respect for the rights of persons, but that has been blasted in the last eight years. America is now seen as a global oppressor."

Whatever one makes of the merits of that perception, of course, it's still interesting as a barometer of global attitudes. In that context, Michel predicted that Obama would have a special appeal.

"Throughout the Third World, and especially in the Muslim world, there's a feeling that the world has been run so long by white males -- from their point of view, badly -- that somebody different like Obama would be welcome. My sense is that they'd bend over backwards to give him a break."

Exit Souling

Peter Steinfels of the NYT has an article on the continuing dispute between national election pollsters and Democrats about the pollsters' exit poll questions. Basically, Republicans get asked about faith, Democrats, for the most part, not so much.

Howard Dean and other Democrats say this feeds into a media bias that portrays Dems as less religious than Republicans.

The National Election Pools continues to say: “We choose the questions based on our internal editorial discussions. To protect the integrity of the process, we routinely do not talk publicly about what questions are on our surveys.”

That answer seems disingenous. The results of the surveys are made public, as, in many cases, are the questions. That's how we know Dems weren't asked about faith in the first place. So what gives?

Caution on Kosovo

Pope Benedict XVI met this Saturday in the Vatican with the president of Kosovo.

That same day, the Vatican released a statement stipulating that the meeting did "not represent any change in the position of the Holy See vis-a-vis the definitive juridical status of Kosovo."

In other words, the pope is not endorsing Kosovo's declaration of independence, widely expected to happen soon, over strong objections from Serbia and its ally Russia.

Presumably the Vatican's statement is meant to reassure the Russian Orthodox Church, with whose patriarch Benedict hopes to arrange a historic meeting -- and whose positions on political matters tend to be indistinguishable from those of the Russian government.

New Draft of Anglican Covenant Due

For what it's worth, the Times of London is reporting that new draft of the Anglican Covenant, an agreement between members of the Anglican Communion on common principles, is due out this week.

Episcopal leaders had rejected an earlier version because it penalized provinces - or regional churches - that strayed from traditionalist teachings on sexuality and biblical interpretation.

Now, Archbishop Drexel Gomez of the West Indies, one of the project's leaders, says a new version is due out this week, and, according to the Times "is expected to introduce greater autonomy for indvidiual provinces to do what they believe to be right."

Shady Dealings Under Enlightenment Tree

Reuters had a piece over the weekend about corruption inBodh Gaya, particularly swirling around the tree where the Buddha is said to have attained enlightenment.

With the numerous pilgrims who flood the site comes money, and with money comes greed, and, you know the rest. Millions of dollars pour into Bodh Gaya's main temple, where it goes, nobody knows.

Meanwhile, someone is lopping branches off the ancient pipal tree, said to be a descendent of the tree under which Buddha meditated. One branch reportedly sold for $1.6 million.

The Gospel According to John Grisham

Best-selling author John Grisham addressed his fellow Baptists Thursday at the Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant, an Atlanta meeting that brought together Baptists across racial, geographical and theological lines, and gave them his advice on ways to disarm critics of their faith group.

Number One: Respect diversity

"Who are we kidding when we try to exclude?" he asked. "God made all of us, he loves all of us equally and he expects us to love and respect each other without regard to race, gender, sexual orientation, biblical interpretation, denominations or other religions."

Number Two: Stay out of politics

"When the church gets involved in politics, it alienates many of the very people it is supposed to serve .... It causes hatred and it drives people away from the church and for this, these political Christians will pay a price."


Number Three: Spend as much time on the streets as in the church

"Jesus preached more and taught more about helping the poor and the sick and the hungry than he did about heaven and hell. Shouldn’t that tell us something?"

Yep, We're Still Not Coming

Anglican primates in Africa gave a press conference earlier in the week in which they reiterated their plans not to attend the once-a-decade meeting in Lambeth, England, this summer, and instead convene their own gathering in Jerusalem.

Akinola said organizers of the Global Anglican Future Conference (GAFCON for the acronimically inclined) are producing a book in May that will outline some of the conference's themes, including: "why are some people deviating from the orthodox faith? why are they allowing modern culture to overwhelm the word of God?"

"Those of use who will abide with the Word of God, come rain come fire, are those who are in GAFCON," said Akinola. "Those who say it does not matter are the ones who are attending Lambeth."

Akinola said Uganda, Rwanda, Sydney and Nigeria will not be respresented at the Anglican conference in England.

Kitlers

Haaretz has a story about Germany's Green Party using the picture of a cat that looks like Hitler to condemn the extreme-right parties in Germany and their xenophobic policies.

Some people are not amused, among them, a group that says Kitler cats should not be photoshopped b/c there are plenty of naturals around.

See the poster and read the article here.

See more kitlers here.

h/t: the God blog

Chinese lama says communism is just dandy

The AP has word that the 17-year-old boy Chinese communists installed as the Panchen Lama (after kidnapping the real Panchen Lama and his family) pledged his support for communism in a rare public appearance.

He also, surprise, surprise, said his fellow Tibetans should get with the program. The Panchen Lama is supposed to be chosen by the Dalai Lama, and is second only to the Dalai in Tibet's religious hierarchy.

In a speech that had all the credibility of an adverstising supplement, Gyalsten Norbu, the usurper Panchen, "vowed to support the (Communist Party of China's) leadership and make more contributions to the Tibetan economy and social harmony by guiding more religious work to adapt to China's socialist society," according to Xinhua, the state's megaphone.