I went to the hospital because the thoughts wounded my heart and terrified my body and because they would not end. The John I met in my thoughts was bizarre and unforgivable. I saw myself doing things in my thoughts that could not be defended or explained, least of all to myself. And, it seemed, the more I tried to scrub off that John, the more he was there and the worse he was, the more bizarre, the more unmentionable.

When we got to the emergency room and told them what was wrong, they put me in a wheelchair. And took me to the place you go when they think you are a threat to yourself and others. It’s in the back and to the left.

This wheelchair, I thought, is not necessary.

I had to surrender my belongings to a man with an Afro and a smile. I put on a gown and was escorted to a room with nothing but a mattress on the floor. It was there I waited, for nurses, for experts, and for the cool breath of sanity to return to me. I told them I was having severe anxiety mixed with intrusive thoughts. I tried to make sure they understood the intrusive thoughts were things I also found disgusting, awful, and did not want to do.

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When they asked me what my thoughts were, I made the mistake of telling them. Locked in an empty cell, with only a gown, you feel indebted to whoever comes in. You have nothing real to offer. And so being honest seems like the service you can provide.

I told them my thoughts and how they upset me. The nurses paused. They made sure I knew they were horrified. I’m sure the context didn’t help: sitting in a locked room with nothing but a single mattress in the corner on the floor, bare walls, and nothing on you but a little gown. Trying not to look and sound crazy when that’s exactly what you look and sound like.

They went out, came in, went out again. The hospital was packed; they were busy. They began, with their polite mouths and with that look of tired, maternal forbearance, to demand that I understand myself as insane.

They put paperwork in front of a frightened man. They said they were worried I might do something. They made it understood that if I didn’t commit myself, they would. If I was committed, it would stay with me. If I signed myself in, no one would ever know.

I thought of all the people who would not know I was in the psych ward if I just signed this sheet of paper. I saw them smiling, going about their day, never knowing I was even here. And I signed that sheet of paper.

Memory is a dangerous place. The past is humbling and scary. And remembering is an adventure done with great peril. Even as I write and rewrite these lines on my third-year anniversary of having been there, I feel not as if I am simply remembering it. What Happened lives in the body.

When I meet the Howling Boy, my own afflicted soul, my OCD jumps and tells me things about him. The Siren, my mental illness, of course never plays fair. It made that John suffer, and now it gets to tell me what his suffering means. The Siren, always so urgent and excruciating and sure of itself, says that his discouragement and dissatisfaction is intolerable, unsustainable. That his soul’s despair makes him unstable. That I could be unstable again.

I’ve taken, perhaps, a great risk in showing you this John. And have perhaps taken a great risk in seeing him myself. He may frighten you. He still frightens me: the John who is hysterical, walking the halls, wanting to cry and howl.

All of that severe discouragement. All that unbearable dissatisfaction. Feeling now what despair felt like then. But this John isn’t going anywhere. If What Happened lives in the body, the one it happened to has nowhere else to go.

I have wanted to avoid those feelings. But if I do, I lose The John Who Felt This Way. And he has nowhere else to go.

It has taken a long time, but he is welcome in my life. He has been called to a Table, to a feast, and he will receive Mercy because he is in need of it. And I have come to take him there.

And so by the shed blood of Jesus Christ I tell the Siren this:

The Howling Boy is not yours.
And he is not mine.
Because he is Christ’s.
And I say,

Memory, come back to me.
Howling Boy, come back to me.
There is Mercy here, there is Mercy here.

Memory, come back to me.
Howling Boy, come back to me.
I want to see you.
There is Mercy here, there is Mercy here.

Come back to me.
Come back to me.
Come back to me.

I want to see you.
I want to see you.

Provision has been made.
Provision has been made.

Later, my therapist helped me see it clearly: I had used thoughts as a drug, like a food addict or a drug addict. Life did not feel right, life simply was not okay, life simply could not be tolerated unless I was thinking.

Every problem in my life, everything I met, was an occasion for and was to be managed by Ceaseless Cognition. Every bad and confusing thing was a reason to think more.

And in that psych ward, I had come to that crucial place where such a thing as beautiful, primal, and necessary as thinking had begun to do me serious harm. In the way that such things as beautiful, primal, and necessary as food and medicine and sex can begin to do us serious harm.

And it turns out the only thing that now counts as hope, when you cannot think and you cannot do, the only thing that counts as power, is what you can hear. When things get that bad. Life is won, this world overcome, by being spoken to.

What I heard first, very faint, unbelievably small, was a tiny little bit of quiet that opened up in my heart. It was the kind of quiet you find yourself in when things have really and truly ended, when there’s no argument left for or against something because it’s already been decided.

The quiet after you lose the big game. The quiet at the end of a movie. The quiet after you lower the casket in the ground. The kind of thing we mean by “When all is said and done.”

There in that hallway, it was not like someone had changed the channel in my head but that someone had turned the TV off. The Realm of Ceaseless Cognition, what I call my compulsive rumination, was not dimmed or quieted but was suddenly canceled, rendered inoperable.

And I was not in the far country called the Realm of Ceaseless Cognition. And it was just me walking down the hallway with no shoes on.

I would begin to understand that quiet as the death of the Son of God. Or, rather, I began to understand that his death was my ability to be quiet, my ability to simply wait. A death that was more than my best or worst day. A death that was more than my heart.

It was just me and the hallway and this quiet.

It was the quiet where I could depend on Christ, the silence after Mercy had been spoken. Because we are not, thank God, what we can think or what we will do. We are not our thoughts and not even our wills. We are what the Word of God will make of us.

I had just found the Christ I could depend on. I had just picked up the thread of an ordinary life with Christ.

And suddenly there was something else. And it was not a word, and it was not a voice. It was an understanding in my heart that I should go to bed. And could go to bed. That I could depend on Christ by going to bed.

And I did.

I walked to the med station. A kind old nurse gave me the pill that shut off the part of my brain that made me roam the hallways crying. Within 20 minutes I felt better. And I thanked God and I went to bed.

John Andrew Bryant is a caregiver and part-time street pastor. This is an adapted excerpt from A Quiet Mind to Suffer With by John Andrew Bryant (Lexham Press, 2023). Used with permission.

My High Priest Understands My Pain

Madison N. Pierce

The post Jesus and My OCD appeared first on Christianity Today.

Fui al hospital porque los pensamientos lastimaban mi corazón, aterrorizaban mi cuerpo y parecían no tener fin. Ese John, es decir, la versión de mí mismo que conocí en mis pensamientos, era extraño e imperdonable. En mis pensamientos, me veía haciendo cosas que no podían defenderse ni explicarse, mucho menos a mí mismo. Y, al parecer, cuanto más intentaba eliminar a ese John, más presente y peor se volvía. Más extraño. Más innombrable.

Cuando llegué al área de urgencias y les conté lo que me pasaba, me pusieron en una silla de ruedas. Me llevaron al lugar al que vas cuando creen que eres una amenaza para ti mismo y para los demás. Al fondo a la izquierda.

Esta silla de ruedas, pensé, no es necesaria.

Tuve que entregarle mis pertenencias a un hombre que sonreía con su peinado estilo afro. Me puse una bata y me acompañaron a una habitación en la que solo había un colchón en el suelo. Allí esperé a las enfermeras, a los expertos y a que volviera a mí el aliento fresco de la cordura. Les dije que sufría de ansiedad grave mezclada con pensamientos intrusivos. Intenté asegurarme de que entendieran que esos pensamientos intrusivos eran cosas que también me parecían repugnantes y horribles, y eran cosas que no quería hacer.

Cuando me preguntaron qué veía en esos pensamientos, cometí el error de responder. Encerrado en una celda vacía y vestido con apenas una bata, te sientes en deuda con quienquiera que entre. No tienes nada real que ofrecer. Así que parece que lo único que puedes ofrecer es sinceridad.

Les conté mis pensamientos y cómo me perturbaban. Las enfermeras hicieron una pausa. Se aseguraron de que yo supiera que estaban horrorizadas. Estoy seguro de que el contexto no ayudaba: sentado en una habitación cerrada con llave, con las paredes desnudas, sin nada más que un colchón individual en un rincón del suelo, y sin llevar nada más que una pequeña bata, intentando no parecer un loco cuando eso es exactamente lo que pareces.

Salían, entraban, volvían a salir. El hospital estaba abarrotado; estaban ocupados. Con sus bocas educadas y con esa mirada de cansada y maternal indulgencia, comenzaron a exigirme que me entendiera a mí mismo como un demente.

Pusieron papeleo delante de un hombre asustado. Dijeron que les preocupaba que pudiera hacer algo. Me dieron a entender que si no me internaba, lo harían ellos. Si cooperaba, el secreto se quedaría conmigo. Si me internaba por voluntad propia, nadie lo sabría nunca.

Pensé en todas las personas que no sabrían que estaba en el hospital psiquiátrico si tan solo me limitaba a firmar esa hoja de papel. Los imaginé sonriendo, haciendo su vida cotidiana, sin saber que yo estaba aquí. Entonces firmé esa hoja de papel.

La memoria es un lugar peligroso. El pasado es humillante y da miedo. Y recordar es una aventura que se realiza con gran peligro. Incluso mientras escribo y reescribo estas líneas ahora que se han cumplido tres años desde que estuve allí, no siento como si simplemente lo estuviera recordando. Lo que ocurrió aún vive en el cuerpo.

Cuando me encuentro con el Niño Aullador (mi propia alma afligida), mi transtorno obsesivo compulsivo (TOC) salta y me cuenta cosas sobre él. La Sirena, mi enfermedad mental, por supuesto nunca juega limpio. Hizo sufrir a ese John, y ahora consigue decirme lo que significa su sufrimiento. La Sirena, siempre tan urgente, insoportablemente dolorosa y segura de sí misma, dice que el desánimo e insatisfacción de John son intolerables, insostenibles. Que la desesperanza de su alma lo hace inestable. Que yo podría volver a ser inestable.

Quizá he corrido un gran riesgo al mostrarte a este John. Y quizás he corrido un gran riesgo al verlo yo mismo. Puede que te asuste. A mí todavía me asusta: el John histérico que caminaba por los pasillos, con ganas de llorar y aullar.

Todo ese desaliento tan severo. Toda aquella insatisfacción insoportable. Sintiendo ahora la desesperanza que sentía entonces. Pero este John está aquí para quedarse. Si lo que sucedió aún vive en el cuerpo, aquel a quien le sucedió no tiene a dónde ir.

He querido evitar esos sentimientos. Pero si lo hago, pierdo al John que se sentía así. Y él no tiene a dónde ir.

Ha tomado mucho tiempo, pero ahora él es bienvenido en mi vida. Él ha sido llamado a una Mesa, a un banquete, y recibirá Misericordia, porque la necesita. Y yo he venido para llevarlo allí.

Y así, por la sangre derramada de Jesucristo, le digo esto a la Sirena:

El Niño Aullador no es tuyo.
Y no es mío.
Porque es de Cristo.
Y digo,

Memoria, vuelve a mí.
Niño Aullador, vuelve a mí.
Aquí hay Misericordia, aquí hay Misericordia.

Memoria, vuelve a mí.
Niño Aullador, vuelve a mí.
Quiero verte.
Aquí hay Misericordia, aquí hay Misericordia.

Vuelve a mí.
Vuelve a mí.
Vuelve a mí.

Quiero verte.
Quiero verte.

Dios ha provisto para ti.
Dios ha provisto para ti.

Más tarde, mi terapeuta me ayudó a verlo con claridad: había utilizado los pensamientos como una droga, como un adicto a la comida o un adicto a las drogas. La vida no me parecía bien, la vida sencillamente no estaba bien; la vida sencillamente era intolerable a menos que estuviera pensando.

Cada problema de mi vida, cada cosa que me encontraba, era una oportunidad que debía ser atendida por la Cognición Incesante. Cada cosa mala y confusa era una razón para pensar más.

Y en aquel pabellón psiquiátrico había llegado a esa encrucijada en la que algo tan hermoso, primario y necesario como pensar había comenzado a perjudicarme gravemente, del mismo modo que cosas tan bellas, primarias y necesarias como la comida, la medicina y el sexo pueden empezar a hacernos mucho daño.

Y resulta que lo único que ahora cuenta como esperanza, cuando no puedes pensar ni hacer, lo único que cuenta como poder, es lo que puedes oír. Cuando las cosas se ponen así de mal, la vida se gana y este mundo se supera, cuando te hablan.

Lo que oí primero, muy débil, increíblemente pequeño, fue un poquito de silencio que se abrió en mi corazón. Era el tipo de silencio en el que te encuentras cuando las cosas han terminado de verdad, cuando ya no hay argumentos a favor o en contra de algo porque ya está decidido.

El silencio después de perder el gran partido. El silencio al final de una película. El silencio después de bajar el ataúd a la tierra. El tipo de cosas a las que nos referimos cuando decimos «Cuando todo está dicho y hecho».

Allí, en aquel pasillo. No fue como si alguien hubiera cambiado el canal en mi cabeza, más bien, alguien había apagado el televisor. El Reino de la Cognición Incesante (como me gusta llamar a mis pensamientos compulsivos) no se atenuó ni se acalló, sino que fue cancelado de repente. Se volvió inoperante.

Ya no estaba en el lejano país llamado el Reino de la Cognición Incesante. Era solo yo caminando por el pasillo sin zapatos.

Pronto empezaría a comprender aquel silencio como la muerte del Hijo de Dios. O, mejor dicho, empecé a comprender que su muerte era mi capacidad de callar, mi capacidad de simplemente esperar. Una muerte que era más que mi mejor o peor día. Una muerte que era más que mi corazón.

Era solo yo, el pasillo y esta quietud.

Era la quietud en la que podía depender de Cristo, el silencio que vino tras el dictamen de que yo recibiría Misericordia. Porque no somos, gracias a Dios, lo que podemos pensar ni lo que haremos. No somos nuestros pensamientos. Ni siquiera somos nuestra voluntad. Somos lo que la Palabra de Dios hará de nosotros.

Acababa de encontrar al Cristo del que podía depender. Acababa de retomar el hilo de una vida ordinaria con Cristo.

Y de repente hubo algo más. No fue una palabra, ni una voz. Simplemente comprendí en mi corazón que debía irme a la cama. Y que podía irme a la cama. Que podía depender de Cristo al irme a la cama.

Y así lo hice.

Caminé hasta la enfermería. Una amable enfermera ya mayor me dio la pastilla que apagó la parte de mi cerebro que me hacía vagar por los pasillos llorando. En 20 minutos me sentí mejor. Di gracias a Dios y me fui a la cama.

John Andrew Bryant es cuidador y pastor de calle a tiempo parcial. Este es un extracto adaptado de su libro A Quiet Mind to Suffer With (Lexham Press, 2023). Utilizado y traducido con permiso.

¿Quién ayudará a la generación Z con la ansiedad, la depresión y el suicidio? Los pastores de jóvenes recurren a la consejería.

Lanie Anderson

Vengan pastores, cansados y cargados

Steve Cuss

La iglesia puede reconocer y ayudar a quienes sufren depresión

Alicia Cohn

The post Jesús y mi trastorno obsesivo compulsivo appeared first on Christianity Today en español | Cristianismo hoy.

Thankfully, CT’s book of the year, Christopher Watkin’s Biblical Critical Theory: How the Bible’s Unfolding Story Makes Sense of Modern Life and Culture, belongs to the first category. Some might wince at the mention of critical theory, with its perceived reputation for nonsense jargon or radical politics. Critical theory comes in many flavors, of course, some guiltier than others of cramming messy human particulars into ideological straitjackets. But the late Tim Keller, in his foreword, suggests another view, observing that a good theory “make[s] visible the deep structures of a culture in order to expose and change them.”

As Watkin contends, Scripture does this better than anything else. Other critical theories—derived from deep analyses of race, gender, psychology, language, and law—might apply useful lenses to reality. But all are clouded or cracked to some degree, requiring a higher wisdom and a truer story to polish off the smudges and patch together the broken shards. God’s Word, in this sense, does more than explain God to the world. In unsurpassed fashion, it explains the world to itself.

Like Biblical Critical Theory, all of our award winners contain insight and beauty on their own. And like all good books, they are made complete in the greatest Book of all. —Matt Reynolds, senior books editor

Apologetics/Evangelism

Biblical Critical Theory: How the Bible’s Unfolding Story Makes Sense of Modern Life and Culture

Christopher Watkin (Zondervan Academic)

Biblical Critical Theory is an outstanding example of careful scholarship employed for the life of the church. Watkin leads the reader through a comprehensive account of the biblical narrative. At each scene in this narrative, he shows how complex biblical truths are often divided into false dichotomies or watered-down compromises. He argues, in contrast, that biblical teaching cuts across these divides and subverts cultural expectations. Watkin travels with ease from biblical exegesis to intellectual history to contemporary philosophy. Scholars, teachers, and pastors will all benefit from this work. I cannot recommend it highly enough. — Gregory E. Ganssle, professor of philosophy, Biola University

(Read an excerpt from Biblical Critical Theory, as well as an interview with the author.)

Award of Merit

Humble Confidence: A Model for Interfaith Apologetics

Benno van den Toren and Kang-San Tan (IVP Academic)

Humble Confidence offers a fresh integration of evangelism, missiology, and apologetics. With uncommon clarity and grace, the authors bring these insights to bear on the complexities of the modern world, particularly the many religious viewpoints and expressions embedded in innumerable cultural contexts. Crucially, they retain a commitment to rational defense of the Christian faith while resisting the power struggles, logic chopping, and depersonalization that often accompany apologetic efforts. What results is a holistic model of interfaith engagement that honors and respects the bodies, minds, hearts, and souls of all involved. — Marybeth Baggett, professor of English and cultural apologetics, Houston Christian University

Finalists

The Augustine Way: Retrieving a Vision for the Church’s Apologetic Witness

Joshua D. Chatraw and Mark D. Allen (Baker Academic)

The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God: Why New Atheism Grew Old and Secular Thinkers Are Considering Christianity Again

Justin Brierley (Tyndale Elevate)

(Read CT’s review of The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God.)

Bible and Devotional

14 Fresh Ways to Enjoy the Bible

James F. Coakley (Moody)

It’s easy to get stuck in our approaches to the Bible—reading it from a certain perspective, asking the same questions of each text, defaulting to familiar ways of interpreting it, or even just getting bored with our old routines. This book offers 14 ways to look at Scripture with fresh eyes, not only revealing meanings and emphases we may have missed but also illuminating the artistry and ingenuity of biblical authors and the Spirit who inspired them. Coakley’s explanations of each concept, as well as examples from biblical and nonbiblical works, will help readers deepen their understanding of Scripture and appreciate its literary beauty. — Chris Tiegreen, author of numerous devotional books and Bible study guides

Award of Merit

The Blessed Life: A 90-Day Devotional through the Teachings and Miracles of Jesus

Kelly Minter (B&H)

Minter provides a contemplative exploration of a short period in Jesus’ earthly life. Readers walk alongside Christ’s disciples, encountering crowds, misfits, and sufferers while hanging on to the Messiah’s every word. With gracefully short and profound chapters, The Blessed Life illustrates the ongoing relevance of Jesus’ teachings and miracles for building and sustaining faith in today’s world. Minter’s powerful writing helps us receive Jesus’ words the way his original audience did—as new, fresh, and brimming with hope. — Eryn Lynum, Bible teacher, author of Rooted in Wonder

Finalists

Hearing the Message of Ecclesiastes: Questioning Faith in a Baffling World

Christopher J. H. Wright (Zondervan)

Lent: The Season of Repentance and Renewal

Esau McCaulley (InterVarsity Press)

(Read an excerpt from Lent.)

Biblical Studies

Jesus the Purifier: John’s Gospel and the Fourth Quest for the Historical Jesus

Craig L. Blomberg (Baker Academic)

Blomberg, a prominent New Testament scholar, gives a thorough account of the scholarship that has characterized four distinct “quests” to understand Jesus as a historical figure. As he highlights significant themes and trajectories, he illustrates why the Gospel of John should play a larger role in this research. Blomberg’s argument centers on the motif of Jesus as purifier, showing how—in both John and the other Gospels—he moves beyond a focus on ritual purity to speak of being cleansed and sanctified by the Holy Spirit. John’s gospel has obvious theological value; Jesus the Purifier helps us appreciate its historical value as well. — May Young, associate professor of biblical studies, Taylor University

Award of Merit

How to Read and Understand the Psalms

Bruce K. Waltke and Fred G. Zaspel (Crossway)

When it comes to works of biblical studies, my ideal is high-level scholarship that connects to pulpits and pews. How to Read and Understand the Psalms is a masterful example, and it now qualifies as my go-to introduction for this section of Scripture. Other introductions are often dry and remote, and even when they accurately dissect specific parts of the Psalms, they can miss the larger point, which is guiding the people of God in speaking to and worshiping God. I have spent a good bit of time working on and thinking about the Psalms, and while reading this book, I was instructed, corrected, and stirred to devotion. — Ray Van Neste, professor of biblical studies, Union University

Finalists

Nobody’s Mother: Artemis of the Ephesians in Antiquity and the New Testament

Sandra Glahn (IVP Academic)

Isaiah

J. Gordon McConville (Baker Academic)

Children

Holy Night and Little Star: A Story for Christmas

Mitali Perkins (WaterBrook)

This original Christmas story is told from the viewpoint of Little Star, a shy yet courageous member of the galaxy, who discovers her purpose in obedience to Maker. On Holy Night, when all the greater stars and planets join with the heavenly host in announcing the Savior’s birth, Little Star learns she has a special part to play as well. Illustrated in muted jewel tones, the brief but lyrical text reads almost like a lullaby. And when Little Star recognizes Maker in the manger, the young reader also learns that “everything was different now, but Maker was the same. Today, tomorrow, forever.” — Pamela Kennedy, children’s author, cocreator of the Otter B series

Award of Merit

The Things God Made: Explore God’s Creation through the Bible, Science, and Art

Andy McGuire (Zonderkidz)

The story of creation is ubiquitous enough that one might wonder if we need yet another children’s book on the topic. But wonder was, in fact, the word that came to mind as I read The Things God Made. Complemented beautifully by breathtaking artwork, the book has captured the staggering awe that the story of our fascinatingly intricate creation deserves. If we have lost our sense of wonder, McGuire aims to rekindle it. Brilliantly infusing expertise with humility, scientific fact with childlike joy, The Things God Made is a delight. I suspect it will lead readers—children and adults alike—one step beyond wonder and straight into worship. — Hannah C. Hall, children’s writer, author of God Bless You and Good Night

Finalists

Good Night, Body: Finding Calm from Head to Toe

Brittany Winn Lee (Tommy Nelson)

Marvel at the Moon: 90 Devotions

Levi Lusko (Tommy Nelson)

Young Adults

This Seat’s Saved

Heather Holleman (Moody)

This Seat’s Saved captures the longing of every teenager in America: belonging. Elita, like so many girls her age, finds herself in a state of friendship adversity. Suddenly, she is excluded from the lunch table by her best friend with the painful statement “This seat’s saved.” Feeling abandoned, she battles fear and loneliness. But in a world that screams at her to fit in, Elita learns that lasting joy comes not from earning the best seat at the lunch table but from receiving the seat God has freely given her next to Christ. — Reese Carlson, youth pastor, author of Church Doesn’t End With Z

Award of Merit

Knowing God’s Truth: An Introduction to Systematic Theology

Jon Nielson (Crossway)

It’s a huge challenge to write a systematic theology book for teens in language they can understand. But Nielson succeeds at this task, helping students grasp deep concepts like eschatology and soteriology. Each chapter contains a Scripture passage that students are encouraged to memorize, as well as pauses where they are invited to pray and reflect on how theological truths can transform their hearts and lives. Nielson does a fine job explaining differing positions on topics like baptism and the end times while leaving space for students to think for themselves. — Jennifer M. Kvamme, student ministries catalyst at Centennial Evangelical Free Church in Forest Lake, Minnesota, author of More to the Story: Deep Answers to Real Questions on Attraction, Identity, and Relationships

Finalists

Do Not Be True to Yourself: Countercultural Advice for the Rest of Your Life

Kevin DeYoung (Crossway)

Hotel Oscar Mike Echo: A Novel

Linda MacKillop (B&H Kids)

Christian Living/Spiritual Formation

A Quiet Mind to Suffer With: Mental Illness, Trauma, and the Death of Christ

John Andrew Bryant (Lexham Press)

I’ve sat for hours with friends with severe mental illnesses, not understanding in the slightest how they feel or what’s going on inside them. This book gave me a small glimpse into their world and the hope that exists in the life and death of Jesus. It is profound and deeply troubling, lovely and heart-wrenching. I’m both grieved and grateful when I think of the suffering Bryant endured to give us something so wise, true, and beautiful. This book sheds conventional genres, somehow combining memoir, poetry, lecture, sermon, and essay all in one. I left wanting to know more of the patient, quiet trust in Jesus that Bryant found in the halls of the psychiatric ward. — Shar Walker, author and speaker, contributor to His Testimonies, My Heritage

Award of Merit

On Getting Out of Bed: The Burden and Gift of Living

Alan Noble (InterVarsity Press)

Noble is unwilling to let us believe the lie that everyone else has it good. Instead, in this short, straightforward book, he affirms that life is hard and full of suffering and that you can’t rely on some technique to fix whatever you’re going through on this side of heaven. To some, such words can feel like a mean, cold shower. But they have the advantage of being refreshingly honest, and they can get the monkey of blame off our backs. Noble encourages readers who struggle to brave each day, reminding them to trust Jesus’ voice above their own emotions. I’m grateful for his reminder that even if we don’t feel right, we have been given the grace to act right. — James Choung, vice president of strategy and innovation, InterVarsity Christian Fellowship USA

(Read Alan Noble’s CT article, “Getting Out of Bed Is an Act of Worship.”)

Finalists

A Longing to Belong: Reflections on Faith, Identity, and Race

Michelle Lee-Barnewall (Zondervan)

(Read CT’s review of A Longing to Belong.)

Made for People: Why We Drift into Loneliness and How to Fight for a Life of Friendship

Justin Whitmel Earley (Zondervan)

(Read CT’s interview with Justin Whitmel Earley.)

Church/Pastoral Leadership

Bully Pulpit: Confronting the Problem of Spiritual Abuse in the Church

Michael J. Kruger (Zondervan)

I lament the need for this book, but its timeliness cannot be overstated. The conversation about spiritual abuse in the church is difficult to navigate because it is challenging to define and diagnose. Kruger gives a clear, biblical definition shaped by humility and pastoral wisdom. He raises his voice for wounded sheep and equips those who advocate for them. He also challenges abusive pastors and the leadership cultures that allow them to flourish. He exhorts churches to identify, repent of, and root out the abusive tactics that are tolerated and affirmed in their midst. This book deserves to be read humbly and prayerfully and applied courageously for the sake of Christ’s flock and the glory of his name. — Brian Key, professor of urban ministry, Grimké Seminary

(Read CT’s review of Bully Pulpit.)

Award of Merit

In Church as It Is in Heaven: Cultivating a Multiethnic Kingdom Culture

Jamaal E. Williams and Timothy Paul Jones (InterVarsity Press)

It would be easy to dismiss In Church as It Is in Heaven as just another book on Christianity and race. But its charitable tone and wise counsel make it a must-read for pastors and church leaders. Many books on multiethnic ministry call for repentance, but few provide practical steps to restoration. Williams and Jones augment biblical instruction with personal stories of triumph and failure in a way that is convicting and encouraging. They have guided their own church toward embracing a multiethnic kingdom culture, and their experience provides a blueprint for other churches to follow. — Josh Wredberg, lead pastor at Redeemer Community Church in Fuquay-Varina, North Carolina

(Read an excerpt from In Church as It Is in Heaven.)

Finalists

Pastor, Jesus Is Enough: Hope for the Weary, the Burned Out, and the Broken

Jeremy Writebol (Lexham Press)

The Great Dechurching: Who’s Leaving, Why Are They Going, and What Will It Take to Bring Them Back?

Jim Davis and Michael Graham (Zondervan)

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The Tyranny of Merit: What's Become of the Common Good?

Michael J. Sandel (Author)

Farrar, Straus and Giroux

288 pages

$9.98

In his latest book, The Tyranny of Merit: What’s Become of the Common Good?, Michael Sandel refreshingly turns the public-reason doctrine on its head. Sandel, a Harvard University professor as well as a popular author and speaker, casts secular arguments about social and political values in terms appealing to religious believers. Though the book betrays nothing about Sandel’s personal religious leanings (or lack thereof), it invokes concepts with deep roots in the soil of Christian theology—terms like humility, community, dignity, grace, purpose, and the common good.

Against the grain of modern political philosophy, Sandel argues for a decidedly thick view of public morality and personal well-being. He makes the case that politics ultimately requires us to ask who we want to be as a people, a question at the heart of a Christian understanding of history.

Frustration and resentment

Some years ago, a Newsweek profile described Sandel as a “rock star moralist.” This is a curious description, as Sandel remains modest and soft-spoken even amid his worldwide fame as a lecturer on issues of public morality, justice, and the common good. He converses with his audience as much as he lectures. Firm in his own views, he nevertheless remains generous toward those who disagree with him.

The Tyranny of Merit concerns one of the few propositions enjoying bipartisan support: America both aspires to be and substantially is a meritocracy, a place where success depends on ability rather than ancestry. To quote Barack Obama, in America “bright, motivated young people … have the chance to go as far as their talents and their work ethic and their dreams can take them.” Sandel labels this “the rhetoric of rising.” Presidents from Reagan through Obama, along with counterparts in other Western democracies, have made this rhetoric a campaign-speech staple.

What does Sandel think about this? “When politicians reiterate a hallowed verity with mind-numbing frequency,” he writes, “there is reason to suspect that it is no longer true.” And by 2016, he argues, the rhetoric of rising indeed “[rang] hollow.” Around the world, many nations—both industrialized and emerging—were outshining the United States in their levels of social mobility. More ominously, the rhetoric of rising started puffing up the pride of the risers. Financial success took on an aura of moral superiority. Sandel calls this “meritocratic hubris.” Wealth seemed to become an entitlement rather than a blessing. Hedge fund managers—Sandel’s poster children for meritocratic hubris—concluded that they deserved those seven figure bonuses. It was, to quote George Harrison (a true rock star), “I, me, mine” all the way down.

How did this happen? Politicians tell us that the key to rising is a college education. “You earn what you learn,” Bill Clinton liked to say. Unfortunately, the vaunted college degree wasn’t always delivering the goods. In the 1930s, Harvard president James Bryant Conant promoted the Scholastic Aptitude Test as a way to identify top-ranking students from all geographic regions and economic strata, with the goal of reducing Harvard’s overpopulation by the privileged few. Unfortunately, SAT testing turned out to correlate most strongly with family wealth, strengthening the very inequity it was designed to combat. As a result, a shockingly small percentage of college students actually rose from true poverty to wealth.

Worse yet, those who fail to achieve financial success now seem somehow culpable. Either they didn’t have the goods to begin with, or they haven’t worked hard enough. Earning capacity becomes a gauge of one’s intrinsic value. In place of Aristotle’s vision of justice as due recognition of, and reward for, moral virtue, argues Sandel, we now have a degraded, market-centered measure of personal worth. The rhetoric of rising, supposedly a message of hope and optimism, turns out to foster frustration and resentment, creating a patchwork of winners and losers that divides rather than unites us.

Among the products of this resentment, Sandel argues, are Brexit and Trumpism. It doesn’t stop there. It has crept into all areas of American culture. Sandel sees it, for instance, in libertarian objections to public health care. Those with poor health, the thinking goes, are probably smokers or drinkers or couch potatoes, responsible for their own physical woes. Sandel includes a brief discussion of the “prosperity gospel,” arguing that it rests ambiguously on the idea of being blessed by grace rather than blessed with talent and ability.

Ultimately, Sandel has little use for the prosperity gospel, which he finds “gratifying when things go well but demoralizing, even punitive, when things go badly.” This comes as part of his “brief moral history of merit,” which attempts to find parallels between 21st-century secular ideas of meritocracy and Puritan attitudes about predestination, salvation, and worldly success.

Unfortunately, this section is marred by Sandel’s choice to draw as much on German sociologist Max Weber and his “Protestant ethic” hypothesis as on real Protestant theologians.

According to Weber, capitalism flourished because of Protestant industry and wealth accumulation, first as a sign of God’s election but then as a way to secure salvation. Sandel carefully avoids the conclusion that Protestantism bears the responsibility for the current outbreak of meritocratic hubris, which “is not necessarily tied to religious assumptions.” He acknowledges that Scripture rejects the connection between merit and blessing—God’s speech to Job (38–41) being a case in point. The Augustinian view of salvation as pure grace won out over the Pelagian emphasis on works. Sandel notes, as well, how Luther and Calvin themselves were anti-meritocratic in their views of salvation: “Merit drives out grace,” he writes, “or else recasts it in its own image, as something we deserve.”

Nevertheless, Weber’s cameo appearance is both the one false note in the book and a missed opportunity to illustrate the kind of impoverished moral reflection that Sandel deplores. It would not be a stretch to call Weber’s Protestant ethic (not to mention the prosperity gospel) a “thin” version of Protestantism, bearing the same relation to Calvinism as marketplace morals do to Aristotelean virtue. Early Protestant capitalism was only a part of a larger social vision that emphasized the communal over the individual. Equity, common good, and special concern for the poor all figure prominently in Calvinism. Financial success carried with it an obligation to others.

Calvin would have deplored the whole meritocratic package: the theology behind it, the resulting assortment of people into winners and losers, and the abrogation of those duties the fortunate owe to the less fortunate. We can imagine Calvin riffing on the question raised by the book’s subtitle: What, indeed, becomes of the common good in a culture of winners and losers?

The true Protestant ethic

Not surprisingly (for those familiar with his previous work), Sandel concludes that theories of justice that prioritize individual freedom above “thicker” notions of human flourishing impair civic (and civil) engagement over moral issues. Sadly, if we can’t debate what constitutes the good life, we end up where we are today: stuck in endless shouting matches from one side or the other of a false binary. For example, Sandel says this about the current argument over the meaning of equality:

It is generally assumed that the only alternative to equality of opportunity is a sterile oppressive equality of results. But there is another alternative: a broad equality of condition that enables those who do not achieve great wealth or prestigious positions to live lives of decency and dignity—developing and exercising their abilities in work that wins social esteem, sharing in a widely-diffused culture of learning, and deliberating with their fellow citizens about public affairs.

This, Sandel says, describes a community truly dedicated to the common good—inclusive in its vision of who belongs and generous in the benefits it bestows. Wendell Berry, the farmer and agrarian writer, articulates a similar ideal: the “mental and spiritual condition of knowing that the place is shared, and that the people who share the place define and limit the possibilities of each other’s lives.” To get there, we must reject the rhetoric of rising and accept the inherently theological premise that all humans are of equal worth.

Here’s how Sandel closes The Tyranny of Merit:

The meritocratic conviction that people deserve whatever riches the market bestows on their talents makes solidarity an almost impossible project. For why do the successful owe anything to the less-advantaged members of society? The answer to this question depends on recognizing that, for all our striving, we are not self-made and self-sufficient; finding ourselves in a society that prizes our talents is a good fortune, not our due. A lively sense of the contingency of our lot can inspire a certain humility: “There, but for the grace of God, or the accident of birth, or the mystery of fate, go I.” Such humility is the beginning of the way back from the harsh ethic of success that drives us apart. It points beyond the tyranny of merit toward a less rancorous, more generous public life.

“There, but for the grace of God, go I.” This sentiment, frequently attributed to the Protestant martyr John Bradford, better expresses the true Protestant ethic than anything written by Max Weber. It is a fitting end to Sandel’s splendid book.

Daniel Rentfro is the managing editor of the Bible and the Contemporary World journal at the University of St Andrews, and a practicing attorney. He is the author of The Law of Freedom: Justice and Mercy in the Practice of Law.

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These leaders rose to meet the moment. In a matter of days, hundreds of classes were moved online as were on-campus resources, programs, and even student jobs.

Christian colleges and seminaries were battered just like other institutions of higher learning, but they have faced additional challenges all their own. For example, most Christian colleges’ average enrollment is in the low thousands, and their small size has made them particularly vulnerable to the economic impact of the virus. As President Beck Taylor of Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington, notes, unforeseen shifts in enrollment can be devastating for small, private colleges, as they tend to have smaller endowments to draw from during emergencies and are, as a result, heavily dependent on tuition.

The cancellation of open houses and campus tours took a toll on fall semester enrollment, as small colleges tend to rely on these in-person experiences to showcase the benefits of a close-knit campus community. “The backbone of a small college, secular or sacred, is having students come on campus and visit and explore,” says Alexander Jun, professor of higher education at Azusa Pacific University in Azusa, California. “Small Christian colleges were already on shoestring budgets. I feel like some of these smaller Christian colleges are not unlike some of the small mom and pop restaurants in my local community—one or two natural disasters away from shutting their doors.”

The clear faith-based mission of Christian colleges and seminaries, however, and their focus on mentorship and community, has helped set them apart in a crowded higher education market. Leveraging that mission and that focus has been crucial in schools’ continued success. In the midst of all the pandemic’s challenges, leaders have recognized a great opportunity: a chance to make good on their schools’ Christian mission and identity. If there were ever a time to flex their Christian distinctives, that time is now.

For Caieligh Treash, a senior at Gordon College in Wenham, Massachusetts, it was her college’s distinctly Christian identity and sense of community that made her decide to return to campus. “While many things will change at Gordon, I’m grateful that the most important things will stay the same: the people, the mission, and the commitment to following Christ through all circumstances. It is for this reason that I am filled with hope,” she explains.

Serving student needs

Moving operations online is certainly the most visible step colleges have taken in the COVID era, but it was only one piece of the puzzle for Christian higher education institutions. They also carefully considered how to best care for a new slate of student needs that emerged as a result of the pandemic, a responsibility they take seriously.

Soon after Baylor University in Waco, Texas, made the decision to shift to online course instruction, for example, they created a comprehensive program—the Bear Care Program—that offered assistance to thousands of domestic and international undergraduate students. More than 300 staff members from across the university volunteered as Bear Care coaches, reaching out to students weekly to see if they needed any help adjusting to the stress of online education, being away from their peers, and trying to adapt to a college experience disrupted by COVID-19. They also helped students connect to Baylor resources providing academic, emotional, financial, physical, and spiritual support.

“The development of the Bear Care program was quite an accomplishment,” says Mark Bryant, director of international student and scholar services at Baylor. “Baylor’s leadership in supporting and advocating for this program as well as the staff who volunteered to add duties during an already stressful time period are evidence of the Baylor community’s commitment to students and their success, and a testament to the university’s caring Christian community.”

Colleges and seminaries have also been proactive in helping to provide housing options on campus to students who have nowhere else to go. “I think that every single one of our campuses found a way to care for vulnerable students, whether they were international students who couldn't go home, foster care students, or just students who didn't have a good place to go,” explains Shirley Hoogstra, president of the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU), which provides support and resources to over 175 partner institutions.

When we talked to Whitworth’s Beck Taylor in March 2020, the university had 39 students still living in its residence halls. The student tenants did have to remain socially distanced in accordance with state protocols, but Taylor didn’t want them to get lonely—so he threw them a party. “I’m doing a Zoom reception with those students so that we can at least try to find some community, to chat, laugh, play games, and do some silly things together. The ways that we’re attending to those students’ needs is, I think, particularly evident of the Christ-centered mission of Whitworth,” he said.

Leadership in a pandemic

Partying digitally with students living in the residence halls was part of Taylor’s efforts to maintain what he calls “pastoral presence” among Whitworth students and staff during a difficult season. Throughout the pandemic, Taylor hoped to be as visible and accessible as possible. “I have found myself communicating through any channel I possibly can, whether through social media or recorded videos that I send out to students and employees,” Taylor said. “Today I'm hosting a town hall for all employees via Zoom. I've found that my voice and my presence, and specifically my pastoral presence in this space, is very important right now.”

Students have noticed. Eric Anderson, a senior and resident hall advisor at Whitworth, has been impressed by the commitment he sees from the college administration to put student needs first. “It’s easy for students, even at a small Christian school, to think of the institution as basically uncaring, focused solely on self-preservation and public image,” he says. “And that could very well be true of other schools, but I can say with confidence that our leadership sacrificed time with their family, lost sleep thinking about how to best care for students, and prayed hard to discern the will of the Lord for our community.”

Phil Ryken, president of Wheaton College in Wheaton, Illinois, emphasized the importance of taking the pandemic and its repercussions as seriously as possible. “Part of what helps people have that hope and encouragement is when they realize you're seeing the problem as seriously as it can possibly be seen,” he says. “If you don't do that, then people get alarmed because they don't see the appropriate level of response.”

To demonstrate this, Ryken and his team consistently strive to have answers to difficult or complex questions before those questions are even posed. “One thing that I’ve been saying is the thought that crosses your mind today is a question that somebody is going to ask you tomorrow. And that somebody is going to really be demanding an answer the day after that. So rather than thinking, Oh, we can’t worry about that right now, we need to think about that right away and start developing a view on that,” Ryken says.

Celebrating community

One of the pressing questions that President Ryken has weighed in on is whether Wheaton will continue to offer robust online course options after the COVID-19 crisis has passed. “This season does not convince us that there's an online future for Wheaton College undergraduate education,” he says.

Like many other Christian colleges and seminaries, Wheaton prides itself on the experience students have on campus, growing academically and spiritually alongside peers and mentors. “We’re a unique institution. We have a particular calling to raise up leaders for the church and society. This requires a certain investment of resources, and a certain kind of life-on-life discipleship,” Ryken explains. “It doesn’t matter how well online education goes for us this semester, we believe we are anti-gnostic. We believe in embodied, human communities.”

In Ryken’s view, online course delivery simply cannot offer the same benefits as the residential campus experience. “There is a quality of discussion, an opportunity for mentorship, community life, and spiritual formation that takes place in a residential community that is irreplaceable. It can only be attenuated even through the best of digital delivery.”

President Ryken is not alone. A major thread in our conversations with students and staff is that the pandemic experience has only magnified their zeal and gratitude for the on-campus community experience at their schools.

When Isaac Liskowski, a senior at Moody Bible Institute, found out that campus would be reopening this fall, he was thrilled. “Living on campus at Moody has completely changed my life, and the Christian community there is like none I have ever experienced before.”

“The absence of face-to-face community was felt immediately, and it was something I realized I had been taking for granted,” said Daniel Bennett, professor of political science at John Brown University. “I realized how much I value meeting with students before and after class, discussing readings and issues beyond class in my office, and cultivating relationships with people who are in that stage of life where they’re learning their gifts and discovering their callings. I’m at John Brown University primarily to invest in students. Online learning limits those experiences dramatically.”

Eastern University in St. Davids, Pennsylvania, where Ronald Matthews serves as president, has built a reputation for its award-winning online programs. They consistently rank among the best in the state. The university has wholly embraced the challenges and benefits that come with digital delivery, including the challenge of translating Eastern’s close-knit community online. All the same, despite relative success and positive student feedback, Matthews does not feel that online education will ever be able to replicate or replace the faith-based campus experience. “So many students have talked about our weekly chapel services and how much they miss our community,” he says. “There's still a hunger for being together incarnationally, you know—actually sensorialy together, people to people.”

Love of neighbor

While continuing to serve the needs of the campus community, college and seminary leaders are also striving to remain attentive to the needs of their local and regional communities. Hoogstra reports that numerous CCCU-partner health and nursing programs donated their protective gear to local hospitals, health providers, and emergency personnel. Azusa Pacific introduced an innovative partnership with Pasadena City College to address California’s nursing shortage. At Baylor University, over one hundred parents of Chinese international students pooled together enough money to send thousands of masks to campus for Baylor staff to distribute to the local community. The Experiential Learning Commons at Baylor Libraries also used their 3D printers to make surgical mask tension-relief bands for the health care professionals at the Family Health Center in Waco.

“I feel like this is an absolutely critical opportunity for Christian higher education, and Christians in particular, to rise up and demonstrate what it means to love our neighbors,” notes Azusa Pacific’s Jun. “I feel like the Lord's giving us this opportunity to respond in a way that Christians and Christian higher ed ought to, a way that can bring glory to God.”

According to Jun, the act of loving one’s neighbor in the COVID era must include Christian colleges publicly denouncing the racist assumptions being made about Asian Americans and their relationship to the coronavirus. “Attributing the spread of a disease to foreigners is nothing new,” Jun says, referring to the Spanish flu and Japanese encephalitis. “Asian students, including international students from China, may think twice about certain institutions if they do not make a stand on this. They might be wondering, How could you be so bold about your faith and not say anything about this?’”

The L word: Layoffs

At Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, the Service Learning Center led by Jeffrey Bouman and Andrew Haggerty is eager to continue finding innovative ways to serve the community, but the short-term future of their department and its services is unclear. The vast majority of the center’s work is conducted in-person at partner organizations and schools, and their popular service-learning trips have been canceled along with all university-sponsored travel.

Haggerty admits he cannot yet predict, semester by semester, what the center will be doing. “The work of our office is not designed for a socially distant or online reality. But we are committed to supporting the personal and professional development of our students, helping our community partners fulfill their goals, and providing meaningful service-learning opportunities for Calvin students. We just don’t know what that will look like yet.” The Service Learning Center has been conducting “Zutoring” (Zoom tutoring) sessions with local K–12 students who they used to meet at a local library for homework help and mentorship, and they hope it will be possible to find other new ways to provide the help and support the Grand Rapids community has come to rely on.

Haggerty and the student staff at Calvin’s Service Learning Center are not alone. Numerous college programs and departments exist to serve in ways that may not be possible in the near future—programs for study abroad, programs that recruit and support international students, event services, athletics, food services, and domestic and international missions—and if enrollment remains low, the students and staff working in these departments will continue to be particularly vulnerable.

Because most Christian colleges are small and heavily tuition dependent, should COVID-19 result in a continued drop in enrollment, it is almost certain that the trend of layoffs will continue. This keeps college administrators and their staff pinned in an excruciating position, as the full effects of COVID-19 on enrollment may not be felt for some time.

President Taylor offered hope to his faculty and staff: “What I can reassure employees of is that we are preparing for any contingency. We are putting employees first—we want to care for our employees.” Even so, he anticipates having to make difficult decisions in the future. “Like almost any school within the CCCU, we are tuition driven,” Taylor continues. “If students don’t show up and pay tuition, we’re going to be in trouble financially.”

Financial uncertainty

“The potential economic impact of what's happening with the coronavirus threatens the very existence of our Christ-centered colleges and universities,” President Ryken of Wheaton College remarked. “Already across Christ-centered higher education, we have had lots of institutions that were below sustainable economic thresholds.”

“Just going online has a cost,” Shirley Hoogstra told USA Today. “If you are a residential college, you have to figure out what would be a fair repayment to students who are no longer living on campus.”

Seminaries that are heavily reliant on financial support from churches are also in a difficult spot, as many small churches are now themselves financially struggling. Bruce Ashford, provost of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, anticipated difficult days ahead for Southern Baptist seminaries. “COVID-19 is going to do untold damage to our small churches, and 90 percent of Southern Baptist churches are small churches. Many aren’t going to make it. And they’re not going to be able to give to the pot that then pays Southeastern.”

Many colleges applied for and received relief from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, signed into law in late March. The law allocated around $14 billion in funds for higher education, distributed incrementally to colleges based on student enrollment. Small colleges could receive millions if they demonstrated significant unmet needs as a result of COVID-related expenses, so long as 50 percent of their benefits went toward emergency student grants. Wheaton College received $2 million, Whitworth University received nearly $3 million, and Azusa Pacific University received over $5 million from the CARES act. Though these allocations may not mean much at a large university, for these small colleges they proved to be a life raft, allowing them to remain open.

Hoogstra predicts that access to financial aid will be key in recruiting and retaining students in the years to come. “If we can get students enough support financially,” she insists, “they will want to return to college.”

Hope built on nothing less

Though the post-COVID landscape remains uncertain for Christian colleges and seminaries, campus leaders are looking to what is certain to create and sustain peace in these unprecedented times: the unwavering faithfulness of God.

“This is the era that God has given us. This is the calamity that he's put in our hands,” Ashford says. “In John's version of the Great Commission, Jesus told his disciples that when you go out into the world, you're going to face opposition. He was saying to his disciples, ‘Just embrace the moment. Embrace the task that I've given you whatever comes your way, and minister in the face of it.’”

“As a Christian, I place my hope in the Lord and in the sovereignty of God. That doesn't mean that I like what's happening. That doesn't mean I'm not frustrated and angry at times. I have a lot of questions, but that's the human part of me,” said President Taylor of Whitworth University. As he grappled with shutting down the campus, he heard a timely sermon that prompted a change in his mindset. “I'm trying to maintain a posture of expectation. Maybe we shouldn't be praying for restoration, but rather we should be praying for healing,” he says. “Maybe the old normal isn't what we want, as comforting, reassuring, and familiar as that might be. Maybe in fact, it's something new.”

Ready or not, Christian colleges and seminaries have taken their first steps this fall on a journey that will test their strength. “We talk about organizations being spiritually, mentally, and physically strong—and individuals within that—but we didn't have to test that [before],” Hoogstra explains. Leaders met the immediate challenge and rose to the occasion with impressive speed, but new financial pressures and more difficult decisions are sure to come. In those moments, leaders will have to consider again what it means to be a Christian college.

Kevin Singer is a freelance journalist and PhD student in higher education at North Carolina State University, where he is a Research Associate for the Interfaith Diversity Experiences and Attitudes Longitudinal Survey (IDEALS), as well as Co-Founder and Director of Neighborly Faith.

Kassidy Hall is a senior and international studies major at Taylor University in Upland, Indiana, and Marketing Coordinator for Neighborly Faith.

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My not-so-strategic delays with this spring training/opening day review have taken us almost six weeks into the season, a fair but fragile sampling. A number of things are certainly clear by this point: the Cubs are for real, maybe even better, and that despite the loss of Kyle Schwarber's Gehrig-like presence with the ACL tear. Bryce Harper is finally living up to his hype—wait a minute, he's still one of the youngest players in the league! Chris Sale can pitch, and his stuff is nasty enough to at least provoke a glance over the shoulder at Gibson's 1.12 ERA mark. A Chi-Town series with irresistible force meeting unhittable object? Wait, not so fast, Stevens! Will the Sox outrun the Royals in the AL Central? Will Baltimore run away with the AL East, buoyed by Manny Machado's charismatic swagger? Will the Mariners keep it up out west, sustaining their surprising start? Should the Cubs and Nats already start sharpening swords for a clash in the NLCS? And why can't I care about the NL West—wait, I just got a D'Backs ballcap at a garage sale for free—is it an augury?!

How to sort out all these imponderables? I can answer that with a single number: 1983. Yes, the pine tar incident is our talisman to understand where this present season is heading, and so I have dredged up the opening-day rosters from that fabled (or not-so-fabled) season now 33 years past, to use as palimpsest for predicting.

Let's start in the NL East, where the Nationals began in torrid fashion, with Bryce Harper offering an apocalyptic week of homeruns (including pinch hit shots) to buoy up the boys, though they've staggered a bit lately. I've always liked Dusty Baker as a skipper, so the Nats should stay solid, and the one-two punch of Max Scherzer (joining the 20 Strikeouts in Nine Innings Club) and Stephen Strasburg is formidable, but their solid #3 starter, Jordan Zimmerman, is now excelling on the Tigers, and the pressure of expectations can impinge. Still, when I look back at 1983, hope springs in lively fashion from the north country, as the Nationals' antecedent, the Montreal Expos, fielded a powerful lineup of perennial stars, with Gary Carter catching, Al Oliver playing the one-bag, and an outfield of prowess: Tim Raines, Andre Dawson, and the later icon of Japanese baseball, Warren Cromartie. All but Cromartie played in the '83 All-Star game, and ace Steve Rogers pitched in it—the die is cast, the Nationals are formidable and Montreal is not forgotten (rumor has it that, along with Mexico City, the jewel of Quebec is at the top of MLB's list for expansion). The Mets are solid again this season after a surprise World Series run, with a stirring rotation that includes Matt Harvey and Noah Syndergaard, and the savage bat of Yoenis Cespesdes. Once again, '83 looms large—we already know that Gary Carter, cog of the '86 world champs, was still with the Expos, but it's also clear that Daryl Strawberry hadn't yet been called up, since the big sluggers were the quixotic Dave Kingman and the fading George Foster. Sure, Tom Seaver started on opening day, but his battery mate was Ron Hodges, who had 12 extra base hits in 110 games. As it turns out, Seaver had a respectable 3.55 ERA, and still went 9-14. Sorry to my brothers-in-law on Long Island, but the Mets fade this year by August. The Phillies of 2016 are confounding expectations so far despite being a band of relative unknowns anchored by the now veteran Ryan Howard. On the mound, Vincent Velasquez and Aaron Nota have shined—could they be the John Denny and Steve Carlton one-two punch from '83? But something's disconcerting here—together Denny and Carlton totaled 25 losses, and the opening day lineup appears a bit like the re-heated Big Red Machine, with Tony Perez, Joe Morgan, and Pete Rose all on the other side of the hill. I don't like the implications—I say the '83 effect has the Phillies stumbling in August. The Miami Marlins are hanging in there, though their sparkplug Dee Gordon is now suspended for PED's (was someone mentioning how much the game has changed?), and they didn't exist even in antecedent form pre-1995, so we need to let them go. Forgive me, beloved Don Mattingly, but what are you doing with the tropical color-scheme on your uni? The Atlanta Braves are off to a nightmarish start (they just won their second game at home in 18 tries), their current roster seems filled with players on their second or third or fourth time around (A.J. Pierzynski, Kelly Johnson, Nick Markakis)—and 1983 has an aging Chris Chambliss at first base and the bearded wonder Glenn Hubbard at second, a thin line of appeal. The great but dull MVP Dale Murphy did go .302/36/121 (what the heck, he also scored 131 runs and stole 30 bases!), but it won't be enough—this team will lose 95 games.

The NL Central did not exist in 1983, but all its teams did, and the Cubs were rising then as now. This is an example of a double whammy—Leon Durham, Ryne Sandberg, the productive bat of Bill Buckner (pre-trauma), the productive glove of Larry Bowa, Jody Davis behind the plate—wait, was this a super-productive lineup? Well, 2016 is, featuring not only Anthony Rizzo and Kris Bryant and Javier Baez but also newly acquired Ben Zobrist, not to mention role-players like Tommy La Stella (credit Joe Maddon for getting reps for everyone on the roster). Jake Arrieta has reached Bob Gibson's stratosphere: the no-hit stuff, the 6-0 record, the outlandish ERA, the supreme confidence. Despite questions about 1983 (an aging Fergie Jenkins was the opening day starter), and dark memories of 1984, the Cubs will be a factor to the very end. Meantime, the Pirates hover, hoping the Cubs will slow down.Their star Andrew McCutcheon not yet heated up, but other guys are wielding hot bats, and they have a lot of young pitching, led by Gerrit Cole and Juan Nicasio. There is much to like here (watch out for former Tiger lefty Kyle Lobstein working out of the bullpen), but a glance at the '83 Opening Day lineup sends a shiver, as this was clearly an interregnum between Willie Stargell's 'We are Family,' and the early '90's Barry Bonds-led teams. I see corner infielders Jason Thompson and Dale Berra at an underwhelming glance, and Lee Mazzilli in center doesn't change the prognosis for 2016: third place, hovering at 83 wins. Right now the Cardinals are only above .500 by a tick, but that means nothing—this team rises from the ashes on a regular basis to play in the World Series, and though the personnel changes, the ethos does not. By the way, could we have another Smokey Joe Wood or Rick Ankiel on our hands with Adam Wainwright? If his surgically repaired arm doesn't hold, the upper-deck mammoth shot he hit a couple of weeks ago indicates he could move into a power-hitter role and platoon in right. This team has other sources of pop, and with young guns like Michael Wacha complementing Wainwright, why the sluggish start? Weren't the '83 Cardinals a force to be reckoned with, defending World Champs? George Hendrick, twenty years ahead of his time in wearing his baseball pants all the way down to the shoe-top, was a force that year, going .318/18/97, with the hirsute Ken Oberkfell and the crazy-legged Willie McGee both hitting at a decent clip and scoring runs ahead of him. So where does the bad vibe come from? Aha! I note that the Opening Day first baseman was the non-pareil field general Keith Hernandez, and that the mustachioed one hit .297 with 42 extra base hits—but he was traded to the Mets mid-season, and took his mighty presence away. I think that will haunt the St. Louisians one last time this year—they'll fade in late September. The Brewers were in the AL back in '83 and had just played in their only World Series ever. Were I using the 1982 season as a measuring stick, this might all be different, but they're already more than 10 games back, and though Ryan Braun has returned to form, hitting .380 with seven HR's, and formidable first baseman Chris Carter is enjoying a power surge, there is a bit of anemia, a sagging will in Milwaukee, that will make for an arduous summer. The Cincinnati Reds have lost a considerable slugger in Todd Frazier (more on this later), and starting pitching is as tempestuous as Tim Melville's surname, but it's really the '83 lineup to blame—what was Johnny Bench doing at third base, and what hope springs from Ray Oester starting at second? Sure, Mario Soto went 17-13 with a 2.70 ERA (one shudders at the lack of run-support), but he also gave up 28 home runs. The last puffs of the Big Red Machine, causing the 2016 edition of the team to stall as well.

The NL West is wrapped in mediocrity this season (or competitive parity, perhaps?); at the moment, everyone in the division is at or below the .500 mark. The Dodgers seem the team to beat, with Clayton Kershaw off to another outlandlishly good season, complemented by Kenta Maeda. Is there a 1983 connection to boost this rotation into the post-season? Through the fog I see a connection emerging, an erstwhile but not insignificant nostalgia—the Dodgers current pitching coach, Rick Honeycutt, won the American League ERA crown in '83, junkballing his way to a 14-8 record with a 2.42 ERA (on only 56 strikeouts in 175 innings!)—that stalwart of bad Mariners and Rangers teams will now help the Dodgers compete for the NL West crown. Should we bring up Steve Sax? No, let's move on to San Francisco, where the Giants are neck-and-neck with their arch-rivals. Their rotation looks like an A-list of potentiality—the Series veteran Madison Bumgarner, Johnny Cueto, Jake Peavy, Jeff Samardzija—but they've struggled, and no wonder. The Opening Day starter in '83 was Dave Krukow—enough said. But wait, Atlee Hammaker won the NL ERA crown that year with a strong 2.25! Yet he finished 10-9, dogged by an inconsistent offense (though Jeffrey Leonard was fearsome and Darrell Evans serviceable). This year, Brandon Belt, Buster Posey, and Angel Pagan have all been cooking, but somehow Johnny LeMaster as starting shortstop in '83 gives me pause. It won't be the Giants 'every other year' World Series title this year. I want to think it could be the Rockies year, because of the outrageous fun of the Trevor Story arrival, as accidental starting shortstop, with 6 HR's in his first four games. There's a lot more to like on the mile-high team, starting with Nolan Arenado and Carlos Gonzalez, and the Rockies have a fine young arm in Tyler Chatwood. Still, with no 1983 back story to go on, I'm worried about the long-term chances. Manager Walt Weiss came a bit too late to bolster the 1983 creds—I think the Rockies fade to 90 losses. The Diamondbacks are also plagued by a lack of history—batting instructors Mark Grace and Dave Magadan don't quite reach back to 1983—but also by a lack of production from their stars thus far. Zach Greinke, nearly unhittable last year, gave up two of Trevor Story's early HR's in the desert, and has struggled since. All-Star first baseman Paul Goldschmidt is well below his usual level of performance, which is dangerous. Maybe a .500 season, but not much more, I'd say. The Padres are struggling at five games below .500, but they're fresh off a day/night doubleheader sweep of the Cubs (the first time the Cubs have lost two consecutive games this season). On the mound, Drew Pomeranz is a bright spot, and there's plenty of theoretical punch in the lineup. Can 1983 help? If it were 1984, a World Series year for the Padres, I'd have hope, but '83 was still centered around Gary Templeton's glove and bat at SS (think Ozzie Smith trade … ), and though catcher Terry Kennedy came up with a respectable .284/17/98 for the squad, and Dave Dravecky battled to 14-10, I'm not feeling a strong gravitational pull for this year's team—the will finish in the cellar.

Now, to the American League, and the additional X-factor which I must add to the mix, namely, who were the starting DH's on Opening Day of 1983, the tenth anniversary of the DH, and at this time (and maybe always) the place for aging sluggers to extend their arms and their careers? In the AL East, the Orioles are off to a strong start, clearly fueled by the vapors of their 1983 World Championship—a youthful (was he ever really young?) Cal Ripken went .318/27/102 that year, while his fellow Hall of Famer Eddie Murray went .306/33/111. Whatever Rich Dauer and Gary Roenicke contributed was gravy at that point. Mike Boddicker and Scotty McGregor finished in the top five in ERA and won 16 and 18 games, respectively. Okay, there is a strong edge from the past, but what about the 2016 Birds? Manny Machado is hitting .350 with 7 HR's and stellar defense at third, and Mark Trumbo has come over from the Angels, switched to RF, and is currently .337/8/22—and this with sluggers Adam Jones and Chris Davis not heated up yet. If Chris Tillman emerges as a bona-fide ace, this is a team to reckon with. That being said, the Red Sox are right alongside, with old guys like Dustin Pedroia and David Ortiz doing damage, and up-and-comers like Xander Bogaerts contributing as well. Former Tiger young-gun Rick Porcello has come into his own, while David Price, also late of the Tigers (and Rays and Blue Jays), has been inconsistent, suffering a couple of shellackings. The Bosox should compete with the Orioles, especially when I weigh in 1983 DH's Carl Yazstremski vs. Ken Singleton—I'll go with the Hall of Famer, and predict that the Red Sox will overtake Orioles in the last week. Last year's division champs, the Blue Jays, appear on the road to struggle, despite the powerful presence of Josh Donaldson with his MVP numbers in the middle of the order and an outfield of Jose Bautista, Kevin Pillar, and Michael Saunders, all solid offensive producers. Could the 1983 outfield of Terry Collins, Lloyd Moseby, and Jesse Barfield buoy this up? What about Dave Stieb's stalwart 17-12 campaign? Maybe. But the tipping point of Butch Johnson as the 1983 DH? Despite the formidable mustache, I don't think it's enough. Tampa wasn't around in '83, and they appear to be fading this year as well—sign of the times, another former Tigers lefty, Drew Smyly, had a 2.60 ERA after his first 5 starts but a win-loss record of 1-3. No pop. And the Yankees look worse. Even their invulnerable bullpen for 100+mph arms has been roughed up (though now Aroldis Chapman is back from his suspension), and the aging knees of A-Rod, Carlos Beltran, and Mark Texeira can be heard creaking throughout the Bronx. Starlin Castro has emerged as a top-of-the-order hitter and fleet second baseman, but darkness has begun to descend. Can 1983 help, despite the fiasco of the pine tar game and the implosion of the Steinbrenner-Martin 're-re-re-re-marriage'? Don Baylor was the opening day DH, so that's something—and Ken Griffey, Sr., and a peaking Dave Winfield were in the lineup on Opening Day—but Don Mattingly wasn't yet in the everyday mix, which has augury written all over it—it hurts to say it, but the Yankees feel George Brett's wrath once more, and cellar-dwell.

The AL Central has been my milieu for the past two decades, and here the 1983 vibe is heavy, though 2016 has absolutely belonged to the White Sox thus far. Were it not for Jake Arrieta across town, Chris Sale would seem superhuman, and Jose Quintana is off to a great start. Melky Cabrera, Brett Lawrie, and Adam Eaton are slapping it around, but Jose Abreu and Todd Frazier got off to slow starts—though Frazier just drove in a bushel of runs and may be heating up with the weather. Can 1983 help them? Tony LaRussa was at the helm in those days of yore, with Jim Leyland by his side, in the umpteenth hideous uniform style in a row. The offense was pretty ugly back then too—Carlton Fisk basically led the team in everything, going .289/26/86, with 85 runs—but their pitchers were horses, with Lamar Hoyt going 24-10, and Dotson and Bannister combining for 38 more wins and 450 more innings to match Hoyt's 260. Pitching then and pitching now—a solid combination. But is there a single lowering cloud in the sky? Greg 'Bull' Luzinski as Opening Day DH in '83 … hmmmm. The Tigers are muddling along, three games below .500 and seven behind the Sox. Even upbeat and unparalleled radio play-by-play man Dan Dickerson, whose voice in my car or kitchen is part of our familial summer fabric, has let slip tattered phrases of despair on the performance of Mike Pelfrey, the off-season acquisition to shore up the rotation. But the arrival of Jordan Zimmerman from the Nationals has been revelatory, as he has been superb, balancing out the inconsistency of Justin Verlander and Anibal Sanchez. In an odd twist of fate, Miguel Cabrera has struggled with sliders and strikeouts and making good contact, while 3B Nick Castellanos, who used to flail at sliders, has become Cabrera-like. (Will the foul ball my son retrieved from the bat of the 18-year-old Castellanos during his season here with the Low A West Michigan Whitecaps someday be a cog in our family financial plan?!) Victor Martinez and Ian Kinsler are both experiencing veteran rejuvenation at the plate, and a glance back at 1983, the year before their World Championship, shows a Tigers team ready to bolster from the past. Whitaker and Trammell, purveyors of a million DP's together over the years, finished third and fourth in the batting race, at .320 and .319, while Lance Parrish and Larry Herndon provided some pop (Herndon was a strong .302/20/92 that year). Entering his peak moment, Jack Morris was 20-13, struck out 232, and shouldered a hair under 300 innings—a horse. But I have a concern, and his name is John Wockenfuss, DH on Opening Day of '83. Even if the 2016 bullpen stays strong, this blow from the past might be enough to take down the Tigers. I hope not, but I worry. Strangely, I'm not worried about Kansas City, World Champs but for the moment a mediocre team with pitching problems and, other than Eric Hosmer, sketchiness at the plate. Still, maybe I should worry. The 1983 factor, the 'ya gotta believe redux' factor in Kansas City, suggests that the ship will right itself. Willie Mays Aikens, Frank White, U.L. Washington, and George Brett—a solid infield, with Brett going .310/25/93, even with the pine tar HR stripped away, while the DH factor was strong, with Hal McRae hitting .311. The Royals will rise again. The Cleveland Indians will not rise, though they should—that rotation, with Carrasco, Kluber, and Salazar, is formidable, and the young DP combination of Francisco Lindor and Jason Kipnis can flat our field and flat out hit. But '83 revises me (to misquote Li Young-Lee)—Ron Hassey, Bake McBride, Manny Trillo—I'm not feeling it. Wait, Julio Franco opened the season at shortstop—isn't he still playing somewhere?! I like Rick Sutcliffe as the ace, but he ended up peaking for the Cubs. Toss in the DH factor, and you get a strong Christian force in MLB ranks in Andre Thornton—but is his big swing and high K total enough to carry the 2016 team. Not quite. The Twins are in deep, deep trouble, 17 games under .500 after an abysmal start. And no wonder—Kirby Puckett. The sparkplug of their '87 and '91 title runs had not yet been called up on Opening Day, and though several of the champion cogs were in place—Hrbek, Gaetti, Brunansky—the fact that Randy Bush was the starting DH bodes ill. Maybe Byron Buxton will get called back up to fulfill the destiny set for him as the next Puckett—but right now he's on a minor league bus, and the Twins will continue to struggle.

And hence we arrive in the AL West, with a great surprise in store, perhaps the ultimate surprise that 1983 holds (or would it be "held," or "will have held"—complexities of verb tense). This year's surprise is that the Mariners are leading the pack, though Robinson Cano's sweet swing is no surprise. With Nelson Cruz, the ageless free-agent, crushing 450 foot shots behind Cano in the lineup, the Mariners have discovered how to score. They already know how to pitch, with King Felix Hernandez and Taijuan Walker leading the way. There's bad news for the Pacific Northwest, though—1983 is not your friend. In a year when your twin pitching duo of Young and Beattie finished in the top 20 in ERA but were a collective 21-30, and when your best hitter might have been Al Cowens, things look slim. The DH factor is a non-factor—it was Richie Zisk (did anyone else of my age demographic seem to get three Richie Zisk cards in every pack?!). Seattle will fade in the long summer. The Rangers, well, I already stole their '83 magic by designating Rick Honeycutt's stats for assignment elsewhere, though they can keep Charlie Hough's 15-13 record with the league's fourth best ERA at 3.18. The issue of run support obviously surfaces, a point punctuated by Danny Darwin going 8-13 and Mike Smithson 10-14 that year, though both had ERA's under 4. The bats were 'led' by Buddy Bell and Larry Parrish—I think Jim Sundberg might have batted up in the order. The DH on Opening Day was one Hostetler—lost to history! This year they have a young RF, Nomar Mazara, hitting well, and the stellar Adrian Beltre joins Elvis Andrus around .300, but where's the power (Prince Fielder, I'm calling to you!)? Top-of-the-rotation excellence from A.J. Griffin and Derek Holland should keep them around, but not quite on top. And the reason for this is the LA Angels. This is my dark horse pick out of the West, though they are seven games below .500 right now. Why, you may ask? Is it the astronomical talent of Mike Trout or the Hall of Fame punch of Albert Pujols hitting behind him? Yes and Yes. The new table-setters in Yunel Escobar and Kole Calhoun? Double yes. The gritty rotation with Garret Richards anchoring? Yes. But it's really about '83. The California Angels didn't win it all that year, but they stacked the All-Star roster with no less than six personages (few of whom I primarily identify with the Angels, by the way): Bob Boone (defense first, clearly, since he hit .256 that year), Doug DeCinces, Rod Carew (a pedestrian, for him, .339 season), Fred Lynn, Brian Downing (re-inventing the open batting stance), Bruce Kison as the Opening Day pitcher and relative ace. And the DH on this squad? Mr. October, Reggie Jackson, a tad diminished, but still vicious on balls down and in. I like the 2016 Angels to finish the task their forebears could not—hurtling into the postseason as a juggernaut. Wait, I still have to deal with Oakland and Houston, two teams on the wrong side of .500. The Athletics are in a down phase; their best pitcher is Rich Hill, a thirtysomething journeyman who's barely pitched in the last 5 seasons, and their best hitter is Jed Lowrie. A glance at '83 shows a team in pre-'Bash Brothers' mode, with Davey Lopes, Carney Lansford, and Dave 'Hindu' Henderson as the lead-dogs. DH—big bopper Jeff Burroughs. Once hit four home runs in a game. But not a factor in this calculus. The A's take a plunge this year. But why has Houston flopped so far this year, after rising from squalor to the postseason last year, the darlings of developing young talent and putting it all together the 'right way'? Well, one thing is their swing-for-the-fences mentality. No one on the team is in the top 20 in the AL in batting average, and their best young players, George Springer and Carlos Correa (both five-tool phenoms), are struggling to make contact. Plus, the pitching, a strong suit last season, has slid a bit—Dallas Keuchel is a legitimate ace, but will Doug Fister work out, or the almost but not yet Collin McHugh? But let's be frank—the real problem is found when we cross the years and the leagues and locate the 1983 Houston Astros in the NL West. At first, the journey yields great promise—Jose Cruz was third in the NL in batting, with a stellar .318/14/92 line, and two notches down, the counterintuitive presence of Ray Knight (he was the Astro's first baseman?!) hitting .304 with 36 doubles seems to swell the possibilities. Don't forget Dickie Thon, before the brutal beaning that damaged his vision, hitting .284, scoring 81 runs and stealing 34 bases. There's a lot of energy here, so why can't Astros resurge in 2016? I will attribute my angst to the switch of leagues—with no DH, no matter how obscure, to infuse energy from afar, the wheels come off. Even a saving throw of Terry Puhl, with his perennial league-leading pinch hits, can't salvage the season for Houston.

So what do we have here? The postseason will begin in the AL with the hateful and confusing one-game wildcard between Baltimore and Detroit, and before Cal Ripken can be summoned to show his hoary, tonsured head to the crowd to summon the old championship magic, the Tigers will dispatch the Orioles, moving out west to take on the shocking Angels. Meantime, the two Sox will battle, with the Red Sox riding David Ortiz's wizened playoff wizardry to a seventh-game showdown with the White Sox in a frenzied Southside Chicago. Look for one of the three Tigers castaways—Alex Avila, Avisail Garcia, or most likely Austin Jackson—to play a crucial role in felling Boston. The White Sox have the vibe, and the pilgrim-collared uniforms of '83 might re-appear (but not the short pants, please!). The Angels will batter the Tigers faster than you can spell 'DeCinces,' as Detroit continues its long-term struggles in Southern California, and then the icy winds will descend on Chicago, as the Angels shiver and slip through sleet, slashing at Sale's sliders (Gerard Manley Hopkins finally makes it to the ballpark!). The White Sox will scratch and claw in the bad weather, then erupt on the Angels home field, but mighty Pujols and the leaping Trout will hold serve, and back at what was once Comiskey, in a Game Seven played in autumnal chill, with Bobby Grich present in the crowd, the Angels will earn the right to play for the World's Championship, with Jered Weaver matching Chris Sale pitch by gangly pitch, for ten innings, until Pujols quiets the crowd with a slider deposited deep in left-center. '83.

In the NL, the Cardinals surge, and no matter what I said before, they make the wildcard and clash with the Pittsburgh (Lee Mazilli, I've decided you did make the difference!)—the Cardinals emerge swinging bats and punches, ready for the rival Cubs, while the Nationals and the Dodgers cross the country to cross swords. The Cubs will be ready, emotionally and baseball-wise, to take down their longtime foe, as Arrieta provides a Bob Gibson-esque lesson in sustained postseason dominance, and Kyle Schwarber miraculously returns ahead of schedule from his ACL tear for one limping, Kirk Gibson-esque late home run. Wrigley will be electric, and twice Chicago will host games in the north and south sides on the same night—a vigor for the windy city not felt in the baseball world since a century ago. The Nationals will ride the Francophonic winds of Montreal mystique straight through the hearts of the Dodger fans, with an NLDS sweep that leaves an old refrain migrating west from Brooklyn to L.A.: 'Wait until next year'—and wait until $250 million on the payroll! Gio Gonzalez, Strasburg, Roark, Scherzer—this rotation is formidable and will be at its strongest when the Cubs come to town. Strength on strength, mano a mano, a Strasburg heater cutting in on Rizzo's hands, Arrieta 3-2 on Bryce Harper, an NLCS for the ages, with ghosts and echoes and tintinnabulations resounding through D.C. and the Northside. Back and forth, until Arrieta and Scherzer meet in Game Seven, in Wrigley, the World Series a few hours away. Steve Bartman in exile, the curse of the billy goat exorcised, the futility of the both sets of Washington Senators now rescinding, and then Jayson Werth twists all 6'5" into a fastball and the Cubs dreams must wait another year. The El-Series, the ChiTown Twinbill, the Cubs-White Sox miracle series, will have to wait for another year.

Washington vs. Anaheim—not phrasing to stir the hearts of the baseball faithful—but many of us should fault our younger selves, or our parents' generation, for stocking the ranks of the 1983 All-Star Game with Angels and Expos. I say the World Series is a denouement. Dusty Baker and Mike Scioscia shake off the nostalgic dust of Dodgers glory, of teammate bonding, and stare each other down from the dugout steps. Bryce Harper and Mike Trout, neither yet eligible to serve in the House of Representatives or, according to T. S. Eliot, to pursue the title of poet (in both cases, one must be 25 years old), will shine like blazing young stars. Speaking of blazing, Strasburg will bring all his vast heat to bear. Nationals in five. Two complete games for Strasburg. Bob Gibson in the stands, smiling. Tim McCarver on the radio, reminiscing. Chicago baseball fans, not watching, not listening, not caring. Until next season.

Michael R. Stevens is professor of English at Cornerstone University in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

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As evangelical Christians, we dissent from the court’s ruling that redefines marriage. The state did not create the family, and should not try to recreate the family in its own image. We will not capitulate on marriage because biblical authority requires that we cannot. The outcome of the Supreme Court’s ruling to redefine marriage represents what seems like the result of a half-century of witnessing marriage’s decline through divorce, cohabitation, and a worldview of almost limitless sexual freedom. The Supreme Court’s actions pose incalculable risks to an already volatile social fabric by alienating those whose beliefs about marriage are motivated by deep biblical convictions and concern for the common good.

The Bible clearly teaches the enduring truth that marriage consists of one man and one woman. From Genesis to Revelation, the authority of Scripture witnesses to the nature of biblical marriage as uniquely bound to the complementarity of man and woman. This truth is not negotiable. The Lord Jesus himself said that marriage is from the beginning (Matt. 19:4-6), so no human institution has the authority to redefine marriage any more than a human institution has the authority to redefine the gospel, which marriage mysteriously reflects (Eph. 5:32). The Supreme Court’s ruling to redefine marriage demonstrates mistaken judgment by disregarding what history and countless civilizations have passed on to us, but it also represents an aftermath that evangelicals themselves, sadly, are not guiltless in contributing to. Too often, professing evangelicals have failed to model the ideals we so dearly cherish and believe are central to gospel proclamation.

Evangelical churches must be faithful to the biblical witness on marriage regardless of the cultural shift. Evangelical churches in America now find themselves in a new moral landscape that calls us to minister in a context growing more hostile to a biblical sexual ethic. This is not new in the history of the church. From its earliest beginnings, whether on the margins of society or in a place of influence, the church is defined by the gospel. We insist that the gospel brings good news to all people, regardless of whether the culture considers the news good or not.

The gospel must inform our approach to public witness. As evangelicals animated by the good news that God offers reconciliation through the life, death, and resurrection of His Son, Jesus, we commit to:

• Respect and pray for our governing authorities even as we work through the democratic process to rebuild a culture of marriage (Rom. 13:1-7);

• teach the truth about biblical marriage in a way that brings healing to a sexually broken culture;

• affirm the biblical mandate that all persons, including LGBT persons, are created in the image of God and deserve dignity and respect;

• love our neighbors regardless of whatever disagreements arise as a result of conflicting beliefs about marriage;

• live respectfully and civilly alongside those who may disagree with us for the sake of the common good;

• cultivate a common culture of religious liberty that allows the freedom to live and believe differently to prosper.

The redefinition of marriage should not entail the erosion of religious liberty. In the coming years, evangelical institutions could be pressed to sacrifice their sacred beliefs about marriage and sexuality in order to accommodate whatever demands the culture and law require. We do not have the option to meet those demands without violating our consciences and surrendering the gospel. We will not allow the government to coerce or infringe upon the rights of institutions to live by the sacred belief that only men and women can enter into marriage.

The gospel of Jesus Christ determines the shape and tone of our ministry. Christian theology considers its teachings about marriage both timeless and unchanging, and therefore we must stand firm in this belief. Outrage and panic are not the responses of those confident in the promises of a reigning Christ Jesus. While we believe the Supreme Court has erred in its ruling, we pledge to stand steadfastly, faithfully witnessing to the biblical teaching that marriage is the chief cornerstone of society, designed to unite men, women, and children. We promise to proclaim and live this truth at all costs, with convictions that are communicated with kindness and love.

A.B Vines Senior Pastor New Seasons Church

Afshin Ziafat Lead Pastor Providence Church – Frisco, TX.

Alistair Begg Senior Pastor Parkside Church

Andrew T. Walker Director of Policy Studies The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission

Bart Barber Pastor First Baptist Church of Famersville

Bruce Frank Senior Pastor Biltmore Baptist Church

Bruce Riley Ashford Provost Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

Bryan Carter Pastor Concord Church

Bryan Chapell Senior Pastor Grace Presbyterian Church

Bryan Loritts Pastor of Preaching and Mission Trinity Grace Church, Kainos Movement

Bryant Wright Senior Pastor Johnson Ferry Baptist Church

Carmen Fowler LaBerge President Presbyterian Lay Committee

Christine Hoover Author

Christopher Yuan Speaker, Author, Bible Teacher

Clint Pressley Pastor & Former VP of SBC Hickory Grove Baptist Church

Collin Hansen Editorial Director The Gospel Coalition

D.A. Carson Research Professor of NT Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

D.A. Horton

Daniel Darling Vice-President of Communications The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission

Daniel Patterson Chief of Staff The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission

Danny Akin President Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary

David E. Prince Assistant Professor of Christian Preaching The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

David French National Review

David Jeremiah Senior Pastor Shadow Mountain Community Church

David S. Dockery President Trinity International University/Trinity Evangelical Divinity School

David Platt President International Mission Board

David Uth Senior Pastor First Baptist Orlando

Dean Inserra Lead Pastor City Church, Tallahassee

Dennis Rainey President Family Life Today

Eric Teetsel Executive Director Manhattan Declaration

Erwin W. Lutzer Senior Pastor The Moody Church

Fred Luter Pastor Franklin Avenue Baptist Church

Gabriel Salguero President National Latino Evangelical Coalition

H.B. Charles Jr. Pastor-Teacher Shiloh Metropolitan Baptist Church

Heath Lambert Executive Director Association of Certified Biblical Counselors

Hunter Baker Associate Professor of Political Science; Dean of Instruction Union University

James MacDonald Pastor Harvest Bible Chapel

J.P. Moreland Distinguished Professor of Philosophy Biola University

J.D. Greear Pastor The Summit Church

J.I. Packer Board of Governors’ Professor, Theology Regent College

Jason Allen President Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

Jeff Iorg President Golden Gate Baptist Theological Seminary

Jim Daly President Focus on the Family

Jimmy Scroggins Lead Pastor Family Church, West Palm Beach

John Bradosky Presiding Bishop North American Lutheran Church

John Stonestreet Speaker and Fellow The Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview

Johnny Hunt Pastor First Baptist Church of Woodstock

Jonathan Leeman Editorial Director 9Marks

Juan R. Sanchez, Jr. Senior Pastor High Pointe Baptist Church, Austin, Texas

Justin Taylor

Karen Swallow Prior Fellow, The Ethics and Religious Liberty Convention Fellow Professor of English, Liberty University

Ken Whitten Senior Pastor Idlewild Baptist Church

Kevin DeYoung Senior Pastor University Reformed Church

Kevin Ezell President North American Mission Board

Kevin Smith Teaching Pastor Highview Baptist Church

Mark Dever Senior Pastor Capitol Hill Baptist Church

Marvin Olasky Editor-in-chief WORLD Magazine

Matt Carter Pastor of Preaching and Vision The Austin Stone Community Church

Matt Chandler Senior Pastor The Village Church

Matthew Lee Anderson Lead Writer Mere Orthodoxy

Mike Cosper Pastor of Worship and Arts Sojourn Community Church

Mike Glenn Senior Pastor Brentwood Baptist Church

Naghmeh Abedini

Nancy Leigh DeMoss Revive our Hearts

Nathan Lino Lead Pastor Northeast Houston Baptist Church

Owen Strachan President The Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood

Paul Nyquist President and CEO Moody Bible Institute

Phillip Bethancourt Executive Vice President The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission

R. Albert Mohler, Jr. President The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

Ramon Osorio Hispanic National Church Mobilizer North American Mission Board

Randy Alcorn Director Eternal Perspectives Ministries

Ray Ortlund Lead Pastor Immanuel Nashville

Richard D. Land President Southern Evangelical Seminary

Richard Mouw Professor of Faith and Public Life Fuller Seminary

Robert Sloan President Houston Baptist University

Roger Spradlin Senior Pastor Valley Baptist Church, Bakersfield, CA

Ron Sider Senior Distinguished Professor of Theology, Holistic Ministry, and Public Policy Palmer Seminary at Eastern University

Ronnie Floyd President, Southern Baptist Convention Senior Pastor, Cross Church

Rosaria Butterfield Author and Speaker

Russell Moore President The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission

Sam Storms Lead Pastor for Preaching and Vision Bridgeway Church

Samuel W. "Dub" Oliver President Union University

Samuel Rodriguez President National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference

Thomas White President Cedarville University

Timothy George Dean and Professor of Divinity Beeson Divinity School

Todd Wagner Senior Pastor Watermark Church

Tommy Nelson Sr. Pastor Denton Bible Church

Tony Evans Senior Pastor Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship

Tony Merida Pastor for Preaching Imago Dei Church

Tory Baucum Rector Truro Anglican Church

Trillia Newbell Director of Community Outreach The Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission

Trip Lee Rapper, Author, Pastor

Vance Pitman Senior Pastor Hope Church, Las Vegas, NV

The post Here We Stand: An Evangelical Declaration on Marriage appeared first on Christianity Today.

In another prominent case, Lonnie Latham, who was pastor of South Tulsa Baptist Church and a former member of the Southern Baptist Convention’s executive committee before his arrest on a misdemeanor charge of lewdness, was found not guilty. Latham had been accused of inviting an undercover male police officer to engage in oral sex. His lawyer appealed to Lawrence v. Texas, a Supreme Court decision throwing out Texas’s anti-sodomy law, saying, “If it’s not illegal to engage in that conduct, then it shouldn’t be illegal to talk about it.” The judge did not rule on the constitutionality of Oklahoma’s anti-lewdness law.

And finally, Gerald Griffith is not a name that many evangelicals know, but the pastor and founder of Baltimore’s Redemption Christian Fellowship Church apparently has an international following. He has also been charged with sexually abusing three different teenagers during counseling sessions. The first of his trials was declared a mistrial Tuesday when one of the witnesses referred to another of the cases. A deacon at the church was acquitted in November in a separate abuse case.

2. Time‘s David van Biema: What does Akinola really think about Nigeria’s anti-gay bill?

Apparently as part of Time‘s retooling, David van Biema has been doing a bit more opinion writing lately. This week, he calls Church of Nigeria head Peter Akinola to take a stance on his country’s anti-homosexuality bill. Homosexuality is already illegal in Nigeria, but this bill would put a five-year prison term on anyone who:

• “goes through the ceremony of marriage with a person of the same sex,”
• “performs, witnesses, aids, or abets the ceremony of same-sex marriage” (including clergy)
• or “is involved in the registration of gay clubs, societies, and organizations, sustenance, procession or meetings, publicity and public show of same-sex amorous relationship directly or indirectly in public and in private.”

“Akinola either needs to publicly renounce, in strong terms, his early support of the bill’s punitive clauses and to amplify the rather tepid concern he later expressed about them, or else he needs to explain why he’s not doing so to the dozen or so churches in Virginia whose congregants were largely ignorant of the legislation when they voted to join Akinola’s archdiocese in December,” van Biema writes.

Many commenters on the conservative Anglicanblogs accuse van Biema of a kind of neo-colonialism. One writes, “Too bad that these folks who call for this don’t really care about Nigeria or they would understand the context of this law, instead of imposing American cultural thinking onto this country. And we wonder why internationals despise Americans so much. We think the entire world revolves around us—and so it does.”

3. William and Mary puts the cross back in Wren Chapel It’s under a glass case away from the altar, so it won’t hurt anybody. A disclaimer plaque explaining the college’s historical Anglican roots (it’s now a public university) will help reassure anyone who thinks it might actually mean something to the institution in this day and age.

4. Jars of Clay too chicken to release protest songs “People want to buy what they want to be told,” Jars of Clay lead vocalist Dan Haseltine told the Argus Leader this week. “They want people to lie to them.” And so, the Argus Leader reports, Haseltine obliges. “Haseltine says Jars of Clay can’t release the war protest songs it has written — its fans probably aren’t ready for them,” the paper’s Robert Morast writes. “It’s also why Haseltine rarely shares his political opinions. ‘If you rock the boat too much, your records won’t appear in certain Christian record stores anymore,’ Haseltine says … . ‘There are just taboo subjects that make it hard to be a Christian artist.'” Morast ends his column by saying that he “has new respect for Jars of Clay.” Why? Because Haseltine won’t say or sing what he really believes because he’s worried about the effect on sales? What is respectable about that?

5. Religious visa fraud hurting Christian ministersLast year, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security found that 35 percent of religious worker “green card” visas were based on fraudulent information. A significant percentage of those were from “special risk” countries— Egypt, Algeria, Pakistan, Syria, and Iraq — where 3 of every 4 visa applications were fraudulent. This week, Cox News‘s Eunice Moscoso says the fallout is bad news for priests, nuns, missionaries, and other religious workers hoping to enter the U.S. Crystal Williams of the American Immigration Lawyers Association says the visas “seem to have come to a grinding halt.” Among those hardest hit: the Catholic Church, which wants foreign priests to fill empty pulpits.

Exchange of the day From today’s Focus on the Family broadcast:

James Dobson: [In a private meeting a few weeks ago,] I asked you a pretty bold question. And I appreciate the fact that you didn’t seem offended by it. But I asked you if the rumors were true that you were in an affair with a woman obviously who wasn’t your wife at the same time that Bill Clinton and Monica Lewinsky were having their escapade.

Newt Gingrich: Well, the fact is that the honest answer is yes. But it was not related to what happened. And this is one of the things the Left tries to do and one of the places where, frankly, I think the way this report of the special counsel was written weakened the case. …

I drew a line in my mind that said, “Even though I run the risk of being deeply embarrassed, and even though at a purely personal level I am not rendering judgment on another human being, as a leader of the government trying to uphold the rule of law, I have no choice except to move forward and say that you cannot accept felonies and you cannot accept perjury in your highest officials.”

Dobson: Well, you answered that question with regard to Bill Clinton instead of referring to yourself. May I ask you to address it personally? You know, I believe you to be a professing Christian and you and I have prayed together, but when I heard you talk about this dark side of your life when we were in Washington, you spoke of it with a great deal of pain and anguish, but you didn’t mention repentance. Do you understand that word, repentance?

More articles

Crime | Abuse | Violence | Military | Sudan | Iran | China | Nigeria | Homosexuality | HPV | Gingrich on Focus on the Family | Rudy Giuliani | Mike Huckabee | Romney and Mormonism | John Edwards | Obama’s pastor | Politics | Environment | Life ethics | Church and state (U.S.) | Church and state (non-U.S.) | Czech cathedral battle | William and Mary cross | Higher Education | Education | Stephen Prothero’s Religious Literacy | Evolution | History | “Lost Tomb of Jesus” | Books | Film | Music | Art and media | Money and business | Prayer Palace | New Life Church and Ted Haggard | Church life | Anglicanism | Catholicism | Atheism | Missions and ministry | People | Other stories of interest

Crime:

• Couple drops suit against Earl Paulk | Attorney said he dropped the suit because of difficulty getting witnesses to testify against Paulk and because of long delays in preparing the case — including having to wait a year to question Paulk, who was recovering from cancer surgery (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• Former pastor cleared of sex count | Lonnie Latham, the former pastor of South Tulsa Baptist Church, was found not guilty Wednesday of a misdemeanor charge of offering to engage in a lewd act (Tulsa World, Ok.)
• Also: Ex-pastor acquitted of sex charge (Associated Press)
• Congregation grapples with sex offender in worship | Clergy and the congregation at Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd have had their Christianity tested since a sex offender has asked to worship there (Reno Gazette-Journal)
• Therapy’s benefits for sex offenders is disputed | There is no convincing evidence that treatment plans are effective in reforming offenders (The New York Times)
• Body of toddler found in Brazil church | The body of a strangled toddler was found inside the baptismal basin of Seventh-day Adventist church in southern Brazil, officials said Monday (Associated Press)
• Russian Orthodox priest stabbed outside church | The attack in the south-western Russian city follows two violent deaths of Russian priests in recent months, which local media ascribed to a decline in moral standards (Reuters)
• Judge rules on evidence in case | Ruling concerns evidence recovered from home where Winklers lived (The Jackson Sun, Tenn.)
• Speak of the devil! | Wacko who torched church beats priest after leaving jail (New York Daily News)
• Man allegedly trying to break into church calls cops | A 24-year-old man called police to tell them he was trying to break into a church, but he wasn’t having much luck (Associated Press)
• Manhattan church treasurer indicted | The volunteer treasurer of the First Reformed Episcopal Church at 317 East 50th Street was indicted on charges of stealing $409,000 from the church from 1999 to 2004, prosecutors said yesterday (The New York Times)
• Also: Church lady’s 400G ‘rip-off’ (New York Post)
• Robbers’ guns are no joke at 3 churches | Holdups are possibly related; two men involved (The Huntsville Times, Ala.)
• Former church leader pleads guilty to scam | A former Elyria church leader who stole millions of dollars from people he worshipped with is likely to spend at least five years in prison (The Plain Dealer, Cleveland)
• Facing charges, Bath mayor resigns | Betty Fields is accused of stealing $9,019 from collections at the church where she worked (The Express-Times, Easton, Pa.)
• Also: Bath mayor resigns after charges | Fields accused of taking money from church collection plate (The Morning Call, Allentown, Pa.)
• Audit outraged accused priest | Prosecutors release letters to the bishop (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)
• Also: Priest dodged audits, files say | Church officials tapped one of two priests now accused of mishandling $8.7 million in offertory money to lead St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic Church even as they were uncovering evidence of misappropriated money at his former parish, documents show (Palm Beach Post, Fla.)
• Man charged with stealing $58,000 from church | Charges also filed in fire department, nursing home thefts (The Times, Munster, Ind.)
• Also: Church coffers drained at casino (Post-Tribune, Gary, Ind.)
• Ill. police won’t release report on chaplain’s DUI arrest | Officials deny AP’s request for arrest report, other files, saying disclosing records would violate prison system employee’s privacy (Associated Press)
• A firm’s calling: Snooping around for the church | For the folks at Oxford Document Management Co., it’s not snooping. It’s a divine mission (Religion News Service)
• The murdering Messiah | Black Jesus is in hiding, deep in the most impenetrable mountain jungle of Papua New Guinea (Daily Mail, U.K.)
• Forgive one another, Kolini asks | The leader of the Anglican Church of Rwanda, Archbishop Emmanuel Kolini has urged Rwandans to forgive one another to attract God’s love (The New Times, Rwanda)

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Abuse:

• Mistrial declared in sex abuse case | Howard judge rules in first day of testimony; pastor also faces trial in Baltimore County (The Baltimore Sun)
• Priest cleared of rape charge | A Catholic priest who was accused of rape in 2002 during the clergy sexual abuse scandal has been cleared of all the charges, the Archdiocese of Boston said yesterday (The Boston Globe)
• Priest gets 25 years in sex assault | Teczar, formerly of FW Diocese, convicted in case involving boy, 11 (The Dallas Morning News)
• Also: Priest is given 25 years for sex abuse (Ft. Worth Star-Telegram)
• California law violates gays’ rights, ex-priest says | Michael Stephen Baker, who was defrocked in 2000 and faces trial on molestation charges, contends it’s easier to prosecute homosexuals (Los Angeles Times)
• Former pastor must serve 11/29 for statutory rape | The former pastor of Middle Valley Methodist Church told the jury he “accepts full responsiblity” for a two-year homosexual relationship with a young church member (The Chattanoogan, Tenn.)
• Fondling ex-pastor gets conditional sentence | Ogling and fondling the breasts of two young members of a city church earned a former minister an eight-month conditional sentence yesterday (Edmonton Sun)
• Church relying on faith after pastor’s arrest | Kevin Ogle sits in a Walton County, Ga., jail for allegedly sending pornographic messages and pictures of himself over the Internet to a police officer posing as a teenage girl (The State, Columbia, S.C.)

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Violence:

• Violent scripture may increase aggression-study | Violent passages in religious texts can increase aggressive behavior in people, especially if they are true believers and the violence is sanctioned by God, according to a new U.S. and Dutch study (Reuters)
• Shutting out terrorism’s victims | American law currently bars the entry to the United States of some of terrorism’s most abused victims: refugees who have been forced to provide so-called material assistance. (Editorial, The New York Times)
• Faith as a peacemaker | Religion and violence are often seen as kindred souls — one always leads to the other. In fact, bloodshed is a sign of religion’s failures, not its successes. Faith can be an essential ingredient in ending the violence, inviting the peace (Henry G. Brinton, USA Today)

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Military:

• A soldier’s freedom of religion | Whether members of our military die in action or not, they, and all our veterans, deserve the right to have whatever they want put on their grave marker — as an expression of their right to religious freedom (Gary Clark, The Seattle Times)
• Why they pray | The trials of war strengthen many soldiers’ faith (Andrew Carroll, The Wall Street Journal)
• Real threat to Christianity drags on in Iraq | The American mismanagement of Iraq has been particularly unkind to Christians (Brian Katulis and John Podesta, Des Moines Register, Ia.)

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Sudan:

• Bills call for Texas to divest from pro-Sudan firms | Liberals, conservatives unite on Darfur issue (The Dallas Morning News)
• Sudan ‘paralysing’ aid to Darfur | Andrew Natsios said there had recently been a big increase in red tape and the harassment of aid workers (BBC)

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Iran:

• ‘A shameful betrayal of American values and the Christian-Jewish relationship’ | A late-February meeting between representatives of American Christian denominations and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad amounted to “a shameful betrayal of American values and the Christian-Jewish relationship,” the Anti-Defamation League said over the weekend (The Jerusalem Post)
• Apologizing for Iran | According to the Religious Left, anything the Mullah regime does is justified, given the CIA’s role in Iran in 1953 (Mark Tooley, The American Spectator)

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China:

• Religious surge in once-atheist China surprises leaders | Chinese experts say the growing popularity of religious belief has been driven by social crises involving corruption and the expanding gap between rich and poor (The New York Times)
• Beijing hotels should have Bibles for Games: adviser | Bibles should be put in hotel rooms during the 2008 Beijing Olympics to clear up foreigners’ misconceptions about religion in China, Chinese media quoted a political adviser as saying (Reuters)

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Nigeria:

• In Nigeria, Christians and Muslims in uneasy calm | While it’s true that a rough peace seems to be holding today, and that dialogues between Muslims and Christians are growing, many locals say that dialogue may never have begun if Nigerian Christians hadn’t learned to stand up for themselves (John Allen Jr, National Catholic Reporter)
• Denying rights in Nigeria | Billed as an anti-gay-marriage act, a poisonous piece of legislation making its way through the Nigerian National Assembly is a far-reaching assault on basic human rights (Editorial, The New York Times)
• Crunch time on gays for Anglican archbishop | The Anglican Primate of Nigeria, one of the most powerful churchmen in Africa, needs to clarify his stance on a Nigerian anti-homosexuality bill he initially supported, which assigns a five-year prison term not only for practicing gays, but also for those who support them (David Van Biema, Time)

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Homosexuality:

• Mohler says gay gene should be manipulated, if possible | The president of a prominent Southern Baptist seminary says he would support medical treatment, if it were available, to change the sexual orientation of a fetus inside its mother’s womb from homosexual to heterosexual (Religion News Service)
• Appeals court sides with Oakland on removal of ‘natural family’ sign | The city of Oakland acted legally when it removed a flyer posted by two city employees promoting the “natural family” after other workers had founded a Gay and Lesbian Employees Association, a federal appeals court ruled today (San Francisco Chronicle)
• Also: Court against flier promoting ‘family values’ | 9th Circuit sides with Oakland after workers sued over removal of bulletin called discriminatory toward gays (The Oakland Tribune, Ca.)
• Same-sex unions spur debate | Both sides invoke God in arguments (Concord Monitor, N.H.)
• Study finds age divide on gay marriage | People born in the 1970s and ’80s are more than twice as likely to support them as those born before 1940 (Associated Press)
• Gay rights changes ‘will criminalise teachers’ | Controversial proposals to extend new gay rights laws to the curriculum taught in Ulster schools will effectively criminalise Christian teachers opposed to it, it has been claimed (Belfast Telegraph)
• Labour faces fresh battle over gay rights | Labour was braced last night for fresh battles over homosexual rights after pressing ahead with controversial anti-discrimination laws for the whole of the UK (The Telegraph, London)

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HPV:

• A vital discussion, clouded | Concerns about promiscuity can misinform the debate about a new vaccine for the human papillomavirus (The New York Times)
• A Merck-y business | The case against mandatory HPV vaccinations (Michael Fumento, The Weekly Standard)

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Gingrich on Focus on the Family:

• Gingrich tells Dobson he had affair during Clinton probe | Gingrich argued in the interview, however, that he should not be viewed as a hypocrite for pursuing Clinton’s infidelity (Associated Press)
• Abolish 9th Circuit, Gingrich tells Dobson | Gingrich advocated reconstituting the court with different judges. Because federal judges are appointed for life, such a move would require impeachment of the Ninth Circuit judges (The Gazette, Colorado Springs)
• Earlier: Gingrich to describe repentance on radio | Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, a potential Republican presidential candidate, will appear on James Dobson’s Focus on the Family radio show and describe getting on his knees and seeking God’s forgiveness for his moral failures, according to excerpts released Wednesday by the evangelical group (The Denver Post)
• Audio: “Rediscovering Our Nation’s Spiritual Heritage” (Focus on the Family, day 1, day 2)
• Related: Gingrich, the non-candidate, focuses on the GOP’s church-based family | Gingrich will give the May 19 commencement address at Liberty University in Lynchburg, founded by the Rev. Jerry Falwell (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

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Rudy Giuliani:

• Baptist: Evangelicals doubt Giuliani | Richard Land says evangelicals believe the former New York City mayor showed a lack of character during his divorce from second wife, television personality Donna Hanover (Associated Press)
• Giuliani family values | Richard Land’s salvos launched at Republican front-runner Rudy Giuliani were the warning shots in the evangelical primary (Time)
• Evangelist has a Rudy awakening: ‘He can win’ | As 2008 hopefuls start to woo different slices of the electorate, one of the more unexpected shifts appears to be a slow migration of white evangelical conservatives toward the thrice-married Giuliani (New York Daily News)
• No deal, Rudy | Rudy Giuliani hopes pro-lifers will accept a bargain and support his bid to be president. We won’t (Editorial, National Catholic Register)
• Rudy & the Right | An equal among sinners (Zev Chafets, New York Post)
• He’s not for me | Why pro-life conservatives will not support Rudy Giuliani (Daniel Allott, The American Spectator)

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Mike Huckabee:

• Candidate Huckabee says religion does matter | Ex-Baptist pastor says faith is important because it ‘will let people know what my judgments are based on’ (The Salt Lake Tribune)
• A would-be Knight for the religious right | Mike Huckabee is pro-gun, pro-life, and anti-gay marriage. So why isn’t he catching fire with the social conservatives who dominate the GOP primary electorate? (Newsweek)

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Romney and Mormonism:

• To Romney strategist, questions on faith fair game | It’s appropriate for the public to ask questions about Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith as he pursues his presidential campaign, a top Romney campaign strategist said yesterday (The Boston Globe)
• Opinions are diverse on ‘those Mormons’ | Survey snapshots range from cults to big, close-knit families (Deseret Morning News, Ut.)
• Also: Americans’ views of the Mormon religion | Most frequent top-of-mind impression of Mormons is polygamy (Gallup News Service)
• A Mormon president? I don’t think so | These set pieces serve mainly to make the not particularly religion-savvy political commentariat feel good about themselves. The writer appears unbiased, and the article inevitably validates the cherished American myth about our tolerance for diversity. Can a Mormon be elected president in 2008? No. (Alex Beam, The Boston Globe)

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John Edwards:

• John Edwards: ‘My faith came roaring back’ | In the first of a series of interviews with presidential candidates, Edwards discusses how faith affects his decisions (Beliefnet)
• Edwards camp capitalizes on Coulter slur | Conservatives were none too pleased with Coulter, either (Associated Press)

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Obama’s pastor:

• Disinvitation by Obama is criticized | Some black leaders are now questioning Senator Barack Obama’s decision to distance his campaign from the senior pastor of the popular Trinity United Church of Christ (The New York Times)
• Thanks so much for the interview, reverend. These handcuffs actually feel kind of nice | How did the New York Times get that blunt interview this week with Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the preacher now in a very public dispute with Barack Obama? (Newsweek)
• Obama slights his own pastor, another error in wooing blacks | Trinity United Church of Christ has been under attack by conservatives as being “separatist” and too “Afrocentric,” pushing the skittish Obama camp to “disinvite” Wright’s participation in his announcement (Mary Mitchell, Chicago Sun-Times)

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Politics:

• Priests, nuns, missionaries experiencing unusual visa delays | The two categories of visas that make up about 90 percent of the religious work permits in the United States “seem to have come to a grinding halt,” said Crystal Williams, deputy director of programs at the American Immigration Lawyers Association (The Providence Journal, R.I.)
• Religious groups push health coverage for children | An unusually broad coalition of Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders descended on Capitol Hill this week to push Congress to increase funds for health care coverage for American’s 9 million uninsured children (Religion News Service)
• Blagojevich’s new ‘secret weapon’: black churches | Black churches will play an integral role, or even serve as the core, of what the governor called an ”interfaith movement behind the moral imperative of providing health care to everybody, to all of God’s children.” (Rich Miller, Chicago Sun-Times)
• Guatemalan priests to purify site after Bush visit | Mayan priests will purify a sacred archaeological site to eliminate “bad spirits” after President Bush visits next week, an official with close ties to the group said Thursday (Associated Press)
• Religious groups oppose tourism incentives | Backers say bill not for gambling (Biloxi Sun Herald, Miss.)
• Can Christian Coalition aid ’08 campaign? | An important ally when George W. Bush first won the presidency, the Christian Coalition of America says it’s poised again to help a conservative win the White House. Whether it can back up that pledge is an open question (Associated Press)
• Ex-presidential candidate cautions leaders against linking policy and religion | Gary Hart argued that religious conservatives are “communicating with code words” and practicing “duplicity.” (The Times, Trenton, N.J.)
• Evangelicals have much to offer to politics | It’s easy to spot the evangelicals in the media these days. They’re the ones wearing the black hats (Bob Keith Bonebrake, The Kansas City Star, Mo.)
• S.Korean Catholics ask God to stop FTA | South Korean Catholics on Friday asked God to stop a proposed free trade agreement between their country and the United States (Associated Press)

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Environment:

• Evangelical’s focus on climate draws fire of Christian right | Conservative leaders accused the director of the National Association of Evangelicals of diverting the evangelical movement from what they deem more important issues, like abortion and homosexuality. (The New York Times)
• Also: Evangelical angers peers with call for action on global warming (The Washington Post)
• Living day to day by a gospel of green | At home with Jim Ball, an evangelical Christian minister whose day-to-day activities incorporate what some Christian environmentalists call “creation care” (The New York Times)
• Beware the enviro-Luddites | Global warming is a non-Christian religion (David Limbaugh, The Washington Times)

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Life ethics:

• Suit seeks compensation for botched abortion | Child-rearing costs also being sought (The Boston Globe)
• Man faces attempted murder charge in alleged abortion doctor plot | A 27-year-old man faces an attempted murder charge for allegedly driving to a Planned Parenthood clinic with the intention of shooting the doctor who performed an abortion on his girlfriend, prosecutors said (Fresno Bee, Ca.)
• Portuguese parliament votes to lift ban on abortion | Portugal’s parliament approved, as expected, a law to lift the ban on abortion by a majority vote late on Thursday (Reuters)
• ‘Morning after’ access sought at Kroger | Activists are calling on Kroger Co. pharmacies to make the so-called “morning after” pill available at all of their stores after a Georgia woman said she was denied the contraceptive (Associated Press)
• Italian right-to-die case cleared | Italian prosecutors on Tuesday cleared a physician who disconnected the respirator of a paralyzed man who had asked to die, a patients advocate group said (Associated Press)
• Also: Italian prosecutors clear “euthanasia” doctor | In a major victory for right-to-die advocates in Roman Catholic Italy, prosecutors on Tuesday cleared a doctor of wrongdoing after he switched off the life support of a terminally ill patient who had asked to die (Reuters)
• Governor weighs compromise plan on death penalty | Short of repeal, O’Malley seeks limits (The Washington Post)
• Selling the stem-cell promise | The potential of stem cells’ curative powers has spawned the creation of private tissue banks. But marketing is outpacing the medicine (Los Angeles Times)
• My triplets were inseparable, whatever the risks | In a multiple birth, a troubling calculation of the odds (Susanne M. Sanchez, The New York Times)

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Church and state (U.S.):

• Move to deregister church blocked by court | The High Court has halted a decision by the registrar of societies to cancel the registration of Presbyterian Outreach Mission Church (The Nation, Kenya)
• Suit claims Gilbert unfair on church’s signs | The Scottsdale-based Alliance Defense Fund filed a lawsuit against Gilbert in federal court on Thursday, alleging the town is discriminating against a church wanting to post signs for prospective parishioners (East Valley Tribune, Mesa, Az.)
• Church fights land acquisition | The battle continues between a church and the Nash-Rocky Mount Board of Education for a small tract of land off Bethlehem Road (Rocky Mount Telegram, N.C.)
• Cowboy Church stays in the saddle | The United States Department of Justice is no longer looking into whether Bedford County’s zoning ordinance violates the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (Bedford Bulletin, Va.)
• Yes, they have standing to sue | Supreme Court weighs taxpayer challenges under the establishment clause (John W. Whitehead, Legal Times)
• No, they don’t have standing to sue | Supreme Court weighs taxpayer challenges under the establishment clause (Douglas W. Kmiec, Legal Times)
• In Coatesville, Jesus governs | Lord knows, Coatesville could use a miracle or two. But could ministers moonlighting as City Council members wind up costing the struggling city big bucks for crossing the line between church and state? (Monica Yant Kinney, The Philadelphia Inquirer)
• Fighting religious discrimination: Bush administration’s quiet campaign | Skeptics aside, this Justice Department has shown a commitment to protecting religious freedom no matter which faith is involved (Charles C. Haynes, First Amendment Center)

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Church and state (non-U.S.):

• Egypt forbids 2,000 pilgrims from visiting Israel | Cairo authorities prevent Christians from attending Easter ceremonies in Jerusalem due to arrest of local man suspected of spying for Mossad. (YNet News)
• Swedish church ‘discriminates against women’ | The Church of Sweden is to be investigated by equality chiefs, who suspect it of discriminating against women (The Local, Sweden)
• Church leaders fuming over holy smoke ban signs | Religious leaders have slammed a ridiculous ruling from government health bosses which demands all churches must put up no smoking signs (Norwich Evening News, U.K.)
• Earlier: Churches told to put up No Smoking signs (Daily Mail, U.K., Mar. 3)
• Police detain street preachers | According to a reliable source, the police personnel mounted the operations in three districts of Kigali city, Nyarugenge and Gasabo in which numerous preachers were arrested and detained (The New Times, Rwanda)

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Czech cathedral battle:

• Cathedral’s interior decoration belongs to church, says archbishop | The interior furnishing of Prague’s St Vitus Cathedral, which the Supreme Court recently returned to the state, belongs to the Catholic Church and the church will not give it up, Prague Archbishop Cardinal Miloslav Vlk told public Czech Television (Prague Daily Monitor, Czech Republic)
• Cardinal against handing Prague Cathedral over to state | Czech Cardinal Miloslav Vlk does not want to hand over the St Vitus Cathedral back to the state even though the latest court decision cancelled the previous rulings according to which the church owned the cathedral (Prague Daily Monitor, Czech Republic)
• Less than half of Czechs for church property return—poll | Compared with 2002, the number of people who want property to be returned to churches has slightly grown, according to the poll that also showed that more than a half of the polled do not consider churches useful institutions (Prague Daily Monitor, Czech Republic)

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William and Mary cross:

• Cross on display permanently | The Wren Chapel will store the brass cross in a glass case with a plaque describing the university’s Anglican roots (Daily Press, Hampton Roads, Va.)
• Cross returns to chapel — but not on the altar | The College of William and Mary’s president and board agreed yesterday to restore the altar cross to permanent display in historic Wren Chapel to quell a controversy that began with its removal in the fall (The Washington Post)
• College returns cross to chapel | Administrators at the College of William & Mary, responding to months of harsh criticism from alumni, ordered the immediate return of a cross to the Williamsburg school’s historic Wren Chapel yesterday (The Washington Times)
• W&M alumni reopening their wallets | The compromise on permanent display of the Wren cross seems to have eased the “fuss” (Daily Press, Hampton Roads, Va.)
• Internet-petition group backs W&M cross compromise | Creators of SaveTheWrenCross.org said the Web site will continue but will change its emphasis to providing information about the discussion, and about answers to questions the group is raising about the compromise plan (Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va.)
• Return of cross quiets debate at William & Mary | College President Gene R. Nichol and his supporters lauded as a compromise the recommendation of a special committee to study the role of religion at public universities, while those who never wanted the 18-inch brass cross removed see its return as a win. For others, many questions remain (The Washington Times)
• Creative compromise on fate of Wren Cross | This week’s decision to return the cross to William and Mary’s Wren Chapel is the kind of elegant, thoughtful compromise that should satisfy everyone, but probably won’t. (Editorial, Virginian-Pilot)
• A first step at W&M | This is being sold as a compromise. The connotation seems clear: The cross can be in the chapel so long as its primary function is historic, not religious. (Editorial, The Washington Times)
• True diversity | Cross controversy is less about religion than history & heritage (Linda Arey Skladany, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va.)
• Ideology to the fore at W&M | Some folks seem intent on replacing old-school racial prejudice with religious intolerance (Michael Paul Williams, Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va.)

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Higher Education:

• Pastor may be kicked off board | His public criticism of policies upsets some at Baptist seminary (The Dallas Morning News)
• Also: Board seeks meeting with pastor (Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, Tex.)
• Also: Southwestern seeks McKissic’s removal; trustee likens attempt to ‘lynching’ (Associated Baptist Press)
• Christian group files suit against SSU | Leaders of Savannah-based Commissioned II Love claim the group was banned from campus allegedly for “harassment” and “hazing” other students at the public college (Savannah Morning News, Ga.)
• Win for Catholic group in church/state fight | In a technical sense, a ruling by a federal judge Thursday handed defeats to both the University of Wisconsin at Madison and to a Roman Catholic group seeking to receive support through student fees at the university. But the fault that the judge found with the Catholic group is one that it can fairly easily fix (Inside Higher Ed)
• Also: Judge denies Wis. Catholic group’s attempt for student fees | A federal judge Thursday rejected a Catholic group’s attempt to get student fees from the University of Wisconsin, saying it is not controlled by students (Associated Press)
• Back home after crash, an agonizing wait | Nine hours passed before officials of the Bluffton University released the names of the four students who were killed in Atlanta along with the bus driver and his wife (Associated Press)
• Also: Mennonites rally around bus survivors | Though small in numbers, Mennonites are taught to put their faith into action. So when a bus crashed carrying baseball players from Mennonite-affiliated Bluffton University, church members offered their prayers and their homes (Associated Press)
• Professor fears tenure change will stifle inquiry | “We feel this will cause a serious decline in the quality of education at Cornerstone,” said English professor David Landrum (The Grand Rapids Press, Mi.)
• Also: Cornerstone’s new policy abolishes tenure | The new policy will offer future hires a term contract. Current faculty on the tenure track — half of the university’s 61 professors—will be given the choice between tenure and a contract (The Chimes, Calvin College)
• Gay, lesbian group harassed in Sioux Center | Bus was defaced, as it was at an early stop last year (Sioux City Journal, Ia.)
• Asbury College picks new president | Asbury College reached within its own ranks yesterday to make the historic choice of its first female president since the Christian liberal arts school in Wilmore was founded in 1890 (Lexington Herald-Leader, Ky.)
• Unusual mix of prayer and politics | Yale Divinity School students burn the Ten Commandments and Bill of Rights — in prayer, not protest (Inside Higher Ed)
• Homeschoolers find university doors open | Last fall, UC Riverside joined a growing number of colleges around the country that are revamping application policies to accommodate homeschooled students (Associated Press)
• Campus exposure | A new crop of college sex magazines shows students baring it all. In the age of MySpace and confessional blogs, is this the ultimate in self-revelation? (The New York Times Magazine)
• SMU seeking church approval for Bush library site | SMU will seek permission from a 23-member council of the South Central Jurisdiction of the United Methodist Church at a meeting in Dallas next week (Associated Press)

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Education:

• Religious schools may use tax-free bonds | State Supreme Court ruling is opposed by civil libertarians (Los Angeles Times)
• Also: Court ruling could lead to state influencing what private schools teach | Those who operate religious schools should rely on traditional methods of fundraising, however slow and costly (Editorial, The Record, Stockton, Ca.)
• Religious school dealt legal setback | Lawyers for Redwood Christian say they will appeal jury verdict (The Oakland Tribune, Ca.)
• Also: Christian school loses case based on religion | A federal jury ruled Friday that Alameda County did not discriminate on religious grounds when it rejected a Christian school’s effort to build a campus on rural land near Castro Valley (San Francisco Chronicle)
• Court vacates 9th Circuit ruling against anti-gay T-shirt | In closely watched student-speech case, justices leave school policy in place but open to further litigation (First Amendment Center)
• Graduation ceremony spurs lawsuit | Ex-high school student who’s a Muslim charges bias over event at Newark church (The Star-Ledger, Newark, N.J.)
• Also: A graduation held in church leads to a suit | A Muslim student sued the Newark public schools on Wednesday, claiming that he was unable to attend his high school graduation last June because it was held in a church (The New York Times)
• Also: Graduation at N.J. church sparks lawsuit (Associated Press)
• Ex-teacher, suing L.I. school district, says she was accused of witchcraft | A former reading teacher at Hampton Bays Elementary School testified that a religious fervor culminated in her being run out of the school (The New York Times)
• Also: Accused witch says rumors cost her teaching job (Newsday)
• Religious nursery schools may face new Health Department regulations | Religious nursery schools in New York City that have long been exempt from certain child care regulations may face new requirements under a Health Department proposal (The New York Sun)
• Religion, textbook dispute rekindled | State board to decide on activists’ complaints about picture of Sikh founder (The Sacramento Bee, Ca.)
• Religious references restored to yearbook | Liberty Union High School District officials have changed their stance on religious references in yearbook advertisements after parents raised concerns about freedom of speech constraints (Contra Costa Times, Ca.)
• Ga. close to okaying Bible classes | Georgia is poised to introduce two literature classes on the Bible in public schools next year, a move some critics say would make the state the first to take an explicit stance endorsing — and funding — biblical teachings (Associated Press)
• Educators could aid understanding of religion, experts say | Conference at First Amendment Center explores ways to prevent conflicts in public schools as student religious expression increases (First Amendment Center)
• Where two or more students are gathered in God’s name . . . there is controversy | Immigrants seeking religious liberty are among those suspended at a Vancouver-area school (The Oregonian)
• Also: Schools have latitude to restrict prayer | In schools, students are generally free to practice their religion — by praying before meals, handing out leaflets or reading their Bibles — so long as they’re not being disruptive, coercing or proselytizing other students (The Oregonian)
• A call for separation of school and state | Parker v. Hurley was not just a victory for gay-marriage advocates or a defeat for Judeo-Christian traditionalists. It was a reminder that on many of the most controversial subjects of the day, public schools do not speak for the whole community (Jeff Jacoby, The Boston Globe)
• No place for religious rituals in the classroom | Daubing desks with oil goes a step — or several — beyond a few like-minded educators sharing a good vibe for the collective benefit of their students. What they did, no matter how casual and well-intentioned, was a religious ritual; it should not have happened in a public school (Jeff Webb, St. Petersburg Times, Fla.)

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Stephen Prothero’s Religious Literacy:

• Holy book learning | Americans are shockingly illiterate when it comes to religions — including their own. That’s a problem in today’s world, a BU professor argues. But it won’t be easily fixed (The Boston Globe)
• Blind faith | Americans believe in religion — but know little about it. Susan Jacoby reviews Stephen Prothero’s Religious Literacy (The Washington Post)
• Religious literacy could create common ground | Stephen Prothero is right (Elizabeth Welch, The Dallas Morning News)
• Q&A: What Americans don’t know about religion could fill a book | Stephen Prothero calls religious illiteracy a “major civic problem.” (U.S. News & World Report)
• The gospel of Prothero | A Boston University professor argues that Americans, though ‘spiritual,’ are woefully ignorant about religion (Newsweek)
• Americans get an ‘F’ in religion | Sometimes dumb sounds cute: Sixty percent of Americans can’t name five of the Ten Commandments, and 50% of high school seniors think Sodom and Gomorrah were married. Stephen Prothero isn’t laughing (USA Today)

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Evolution:

• Darwin’s God | In the world of evolutionary biology, the question is not whether God exists but why we believe in him. Is belief a helpful adaptation or an evolutionary accident? (The New York Times Magazine, new link)
• Educational crusader | A Ventura County Board of Education member sparks the debate over evolution and creationism (VC Reporter, Ca.)
• More pressing board issues | Don’t base book vote on religion (Editorial, Ventura County Star, Ca.)
• Who’s a monkey’s uncle? | Debate over evolution masks a more serious issue (Richard Larsen, Ventura County Star, Ca.)
• Earlier: Textbook teaching evolution debated | School board postpones vote (Ventura County Star, Feb. 28)

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History:

• Gift of the Gospels | Local pastor helps Vatican get ancient manuscripts (The Birmingham News, Ala.)
• Old religious text goes missing from library | “It’s a page from a codex, which is, ah, like our books today that we know today, not a roll, but a codex with pages and it’s the first page of a book of what was probably a book of psalms.” (The World Today, Radio Australia)
• Monks seek help as Ukraine Orthodox treasure crumbles | Awed by its mysterious beauty and intrigued by catacombs containing the remains of scores of monks, thousands pray every day at the Caves Monastery, spiritual symbol of Slav culture. But visitors are unaware of impending danger — the monastery is crumbling (Reuters)
• How Korea embraced Christianity | Former missionaries look back at a nation that’s now the No. 2 source of Christian mission workers (The Christian Science Monitor)

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“Lost Tomb of Jesus”:

• ‘Jesus’ raises Discovery | ‘Tomb’ boon for cabler: 4.1 million viewers — its best number in 18 months (Variety)
• Leaning on theory, colliding with faith | It is unlikely that many Christians will lose sleep because of “The Lost Tomb of Jesus” on the Discovery Channel (The New York Times)
• Ex-curator says he flagged film’s flaw | UNCC professor disputes archaeologist’s account (The Charlotte Observer, N.C.)
• Rewriting the gospels | Why all the fuss over the “Jesus tomb”? (David van Biema, Time)
• Who is entombed in the ‘Jesus tomb’? | A film’s conclusion may challenge the core of a faith (Jay Tolson, U.S. News and World Report)
• ‘Tomb’ can’t keep Christianity down | ‘Tis the season for so-called discoveries to do away with Christianity (Charlotte Allen, Los Angeles Times)
• ‘Lost Tomb’ is no open-and-shut case | However astonishing Jacobovici’s claim may be, it is, at the end of the day, impossible to disprove (The Boston Globe)
• The Jesus tomb meets the internet | I have now seen the show, read the book, and followed the role of the blogosphere. Here’s where I think we stand (Bruce Feiler, Huffington Post)
• Jesus R.I.P. | Our rabbi reflects on the claim that Christ’s tomb has been found (Marc Gellman, Newsweek)
• ‘Lost Tomb’: Why a fuss? | Had Jacobovici given scholars the respect he claims to have for their work, he might have found enthusiastic partners. Instead, he has discovered that most of us see Lost Tomb as a “docu-drama” that cannot be taken seriously as either (Chris Frilingos, The Orlando Sentinel)
• ‘Why seek ye the living among the dead?’ | Search as they might, people aren’t going to find Christ in a tomb. The only Christ many will see is the Christ in Christians (Warren Bolton, The State, Columbia, S.C.)
• Christian faith shouldn’t fear box of bones | Finding the bones of Jesus should not threaten Christianity. Such a highly unlikely discovery might, in fact, liberate the faith from the shackles of literalism that undermine its mission. (Steve Gushee, Palm Beach Post)
• Why billions of Christians can’t be wrong | We are told that religion is dead. But the figure of Jesus Christ haunts us (A.N. Wilson, The Herald Sun, Australia)

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Books:

• ‘The Jesus Machine’ tracks James Dobson’s rise | Dan Gilgoff — a senior writer at U.S. News & World Report — gained rare access for a reporter to the Focus on the Family organization. He writes about how Dobson’s group became the most powerful group in the Christian Right (Fresh Air, NPR)
• ‘Why are you poor?’ | Without condescension or glib judgment, Vollmann circles the globe to find the answer (The Boston Globe)
• Pope gives blessing to gospel of Jeffrey Archer | Archer’s new book about Judas Iscariot has been given an endorsement from the Vatican (The Times, London)
• Early Christianity’s martyrdom debate | Q&A: A new book on ‘The Gospel of Judas’ reveals sharp divisions among early Christians on issue of death as a validation of faith. David Van Biema discussed the issue with author Elaine Pagels (Time)
• Defender of the faith | Michael Burleigh seeks to write Christianity back into European political history. Tony Judt reviews Sacred Causes: The Clash of Religion and Politics, From the Great War to the War on Terror (The New York Times, preview, sub. req’d.)

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Film:

• It’s God vs. Satan. But what about the nudity? | The travails of the writers who traveled from New York to Hollywood in 2004 to hawk their adaptation of “Paradise Lost.” (The New York Times)
• Story of penance resonates with Russian viewers | Film about monk wins praise from church plus top awards (The Washington Post)
• Jonestown revisited | Two new docs examine the night Rev. Jim Jones’s followers committed mass suicide (Toronto Star)

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Music:

• Jars of Clay has little praise for Christian rock norms, Bush | Sure, this band is religious, but that doesn’t mean it’s Republican (Argus Leader, Sioux Falls, S.D.)
• Christian tempers flare as all is lost | “We’re Christian guys but we came pretty close to losing our tempers,” said Antony Ellis, the SA band manager for popular local rock outfit, Tree 63, who lost valuable equipment en route to SA from the United States where they are based (Cape Argus, South Africa)
• Contemporary gospel takes note from pop | Once, gospel music influenced popular music; now, the tide is flowing the other way (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
• Churches often the first stage for ‘Idol’ contestants | Churches, especially African-American churches, have often been the training ground for artists who make it to America’s most prominent stages (Religion News Service)
• Trio of indie labels launch in Christian market | At a time when the viability of many record companies seems less than certain, three new labels are launching in the Christian community (Billboard)
• Holy hip-hop makes waves in churches | Since Christian rap began two decades ago, the genre has improved in quality and quantity while gaining acceptance among churches and the music industry (Asbury Park Press, N.J.)
• A serious Christian band has a goofy side | At least one funny song on each Relient K album breaks the gloom (Newsday)
• Right time, right “Sounds” for tobyMac | With the release of “Portable Sounds,” tobyMac continues to pave the way for Christian recording artists with his innovative sound and savvy marketing techniques (Billboard)
• Why Pope Benedict would have stopped John Paul going to see Bob Dylan | “There was reason to be sceptical – which I was, and in a certain sense still am – to doubt whether it was really right to involve ‘prophets’ of this type.” (The Belfast Telegraph)
• Also: Why Pope tried to stop Dylan knockin’ on heaven’s door (The Times, London)
• Also: Pope tried to stop concert by Bob Dylan (The Telegraph, London)

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Art and media:

• Eric Gorski named AP religion writer | Gorski, 37, has worked the religion beat for nine years, first at The Gazette of Colorado Springs and then at The Denver Post, where he began work in 2003 (Associated Press)
• Despite protest, play mocking pope opens at U | About 250 people attended “The Pope and the Witch” as about 70 seminarians marched outside in opposition (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
• Lenten message via hot medium—YouTube | Video featuring Cardinal Rigali is among the site’s most-watched clips (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
• Also: It ain’t Chopin, but it’s free | Did you hear the one about the archbishop, the vice president, and the piano-playing cat? (Editorial, The Philadelphia Inquirer)

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Money and business:

• U.S. Mint goof creates ‘Godless dollars’ | An unknown number of new George Washington dollar coins were mistakenly struck without their edge inscriptions, including “In God We Trust,” and are fetching around $50 apiece online (Associated Press)
• Linden company bottles holy water | A local entrepreneur hopes his company’s bottled water will refresh – perhaps even redeem – those who drink it (The Record, Stockton, Ca.)
• Also: Selling salvation in a bottle | Market for Godly goods could hit $9.5 billion US (The Star Phoenix, Saskatoon)
• Procter & Gamble suing company for ‘Satan’ remarks | Consumer products giant Procter & Gamble says Utahns spread false rumors that the company is associated with Satanism. Procter & Gamble is suing the Utahns for libel and unfair competition (KUTV, Salt Lake City)
• Plan for PTL tower causes concern | Council questions owner’s funding, and roads worry neighbors (The Charlotte Observer, N.C.)
• Christmas Day shopping ban passed in Scotland | MSPs have overwhelmingly approved a bill to ban large stores from opening on Christmas Day (BBC)

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Prayer Palace:

• Bradenton church owner investigated | Toronto paper probes ‘extravagant lifestyle’ (Bradenton Herald, Fla.)
• Houses of the Holy | A Star investigation into Toronto’s Prayer Palace congregation finds that despite the members’ dutiful tithing, the church spends little on charitable projects (Toronto Star)
• Pastor preaches virtue of wealth, property | Prayer Palace junior minister doesn’t mention Star exposé of lavish lifestyles (Toronto Star)

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New Life Church and Ted Haggard:

• New Life cuts its staff by 44 | Ross Parsley says church needs to ensure that it’s a good steward of tithes and offerings (The Gazette, Colorado Springs)
• New Life Church cuts staff as giving declines | Income is down about 10 percent, so church will cut 12 percent of its workforce (The Denver Post)
• Layoffs follow scandal at Colorado megachurch | In the wake of the scandal involving the Rev. Ted Haggard, the New Life Church in Colorado Springs has been forced to lay off 44 of its 350 workers (The New York Times)

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Church life:

• Kestler sues Smith in latest dispute over control of radio network | A Twin Falls pastor has accused his mentor of funding a sexual harassment case against him to gain control over one of the nation’s largest non-commercial satellite radio networks (Times-News, Twin Falls, Id.)
• Also: Kestler speaks out | Calvary Chapel pastor responds to news story (Times-News, Twin Falls, Id.)
• Book of revelations | Tanya Levin spent her formative years at Hillsong. Disillusioned, she began to question its gospel of wealth. An exclusive account of life inside Australia’s most influential evangelical church (Bulletin, Australia)
• Earlier: Unhappy clappy | Lawyers have canned a tell-all book on life inside Australia’s most powerful evangelical church (Bulletin, Australia, Feb. 27)
• Local Presbyterian suit spurs meeting | Property issue seen as step to leaving denomination (The Huntsville Times, Ala.)
• Also: Moving toward the exits | Conservative congregations prepare to leave the troubled Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (World)
• Moved by the Spirit to dance with the Lord | After being unwelcome for centuries, dance has become an increasingly popular part of Christian church services (The New York Times)
• Asian American churches face leadership gap | Pastors aren’t being prepared to handle congregational conflicts over cultural and generational issues, experts say (Los Angeles Times)
• Most influential? | Bayside Church is making a name for itself by its dedication to innovation (The Sacramento Bee, Ca.)
• Church next to Henry Ford’s grave will end Sunday services | St. Martha’s Episcopal Church is running out of members (Bill McGraw, Detroit Free Press)
• Church wants name cleared | The Christ Love Ministries, a charismatic church in Windhoek North, has denied Satanist and other ritualistic claims made by purported former members of the church (New Era, Namibia)
• Embattled church seeks bankruptcy protection | Move follows pastor’s ’06 rape conviction (The Dallas Morning News)
• Also: Agape seeks Chapter 11 bankruptcy (Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, Tex.)
• Church playing it cool | Elgin house of worship has nightclub feel, coffeehouse (Cathleen Falsani, Chicago Sun-Times)
• Pastors take lesson to pulpit: Pixel or perish | Christian leaders increasingly incorporate montages, movie clips and visual packages into sermons to reach younger generations (Contra Costa Times, Ca.)
• Churches are empty in the heart of Rome, while worshippers in suburbs pray in garages | One reason is that there is a higher concentration of regular churchgoers among the poor Italians and eastern European immigrants living in the suburbs than among the more affluent Romans in the heart of the city (Associated Press)
• Yearbook shows growth in faiths | Only three mainline Protestant denominations were among the 10 largest churches (Chicago Tribune)
• Tears and accusations as rector suspends choir | Singers who performed in cathedrals sent packing; diocese blames decision on style of performance (The Guardian, London)
• Also: Clergyman puts a lid on ‘rubbish’ church choir (The Times, London)

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Anglicanism:

• Top attorneys square off in case of embattled priest | The Episcopal Diocese of Colorado has hired the law firm of Hal Haddon—known for defending such high-profile figures as basketball star Kobe Bryant—to pursue an allegation of “misapplied funds” against the Rev. Don Armstrong, of Colorado Springs. Meanwhile, Armstrong’s first lawyer has withdrawn from the case because he says there aren’t the financial resources to adequately fight the diocese (Rocky Mountain News, Denver)
• Bishop demands ‘better theology’ of sex | The Christian church has a deeply flawed understanding of sex that has led to morally groundless objections to masturbation, birth control, abortion and homosexuality, says a leading Canadian Anglican bishop (The Globe and Mail, Toronto)
• Also: Bishop’s take on sexuality ignites debate | ‘Sex is not a sport,’ one critic argues (The Globe and Mail, Toronto)
• Also: Some Anglicans welcome debate on theology of sex | Some feel Right Rev. Michael Ingham went too far, however, when he singled out historical Christian objections to masturbation, birth control, abortion and homosexuality as the result of deeply flawed interpretations of the Bible and theology (The Globe and Mail, Toronto)
• Anglican head says Catholic merger not on the cards | “There is no plan at all (to reunite),” said Rowan Williams, “We will continue discussions as we have for the past 40 years.” (Reuters)
• Anglican leader extolls unity on poverty, AIDS | “The tensions are perfectly real, but one of the remarkable things is the willingness to work together on development goals,” Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams told reporters (Reuters)
• Anglican church urged to speak out on Zimbabwe | The spiritual head of the world’s 77 million Anglicans urged the church to speak out against human rights abuses in Zimbabwe and said on Wednesday the impact of sanctions should be considered (Reuters)
• Episcopal bishop-elect confirms loyalty | “To put it as clearly as I can,” says Mark Lawrence, “my intention is to remain in the Episcopal church.” (Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C.)
• Also: Clock is ticking for S.C. diocese | Conservative bishop-elect Mark Lawrence 10 votes shy of needed majority for “consent” (The Post and Courier, Charleston, S.C.)
• Anglican church, beset by new rift, has deep roots in Loudoun | Virginia’s first settlers were of the Anglican faith, though it was not the evangelical and charismatic brand of the religion adhered to by many of today’s Anglicans (The Washington Post)
• An Episcopal switch reflects divisions in church | Former Albany assistant bishop joins group that opposes policy on gays (Times Union, Albany, N.Y.)
• Episcopalians face ultimatum in Anglican civil war | The civil war in the 77 million-member Anglican Communion over human sexuality and biblical authority entered what appears to be a new and decisive stage at a meeting of the Anglican primates — or chief presiding officers — on Feb. 14-19 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania (David C. Steinmetz, The Orlando Sentinel)
• Episcopalians and the New World | The Episcopal church gets ready to celebrate its 400th anniversary in America (Mark D. Tooley, The Weekly Standard)
• The end of the Anglican Communion | The gnosticism that infects the Episcopal Church USA has just about driven the Anglican Communion over the cliff. (George Weigel, Denver Catholic Register)
• Going it alone | The Church of England must declare its independence from the Anglican communion, otherwise its historic role in British life is at an end (Theo Hobson, The Guardian, London)

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Catholicism:

• Priest seeks shield of poverty vow | Two men fathered by the retired Jesuit in Spokane seek restitution and child support (The Oregonian)
• Priest admits fathering kids | Testimony reveals from 1961-1976 he had four children, visited prostitutes (Anchorage Daily News, Ak.)
• Pope names new archbishop of Warsaw | Kazimierz Nycz, the 57-year-old bishop of Koszalin-Kolobrzeg in northern Poland, replaces former Warsaw Archbishop Stanislaw Wielgus, who abruptly stepped down at what was to be his installation Mass on Jan. 7 after admitting he cooperated with the secret police (Associated Press)
• Prayer not “an optional” for Christians, Pope says | Prayer is not “an optional” or an accessory for Christians but an essential part of the life of the faithful, Pope Benedict said on Sunday (Reuters)
• Mount Carmel parishioners stunned by priest’s transfer | Parishioners of Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church are bewildered and shocked by the removal of the Rev. David J. Borino and the accusation of financial irregularities at the church (Republican-American, Waterbury, Ct.)
• Former advocate for female priests now explains Vatican’s stance | In “The Catholic Priesthood and Women,” Sister Sara Butler attempts to explain the underpinnings of the all-male priesthood to doubters and skeptics who think the way she used to (The Journal News, White Plains, N.Y.)
• Blueprint for Vatican-China talk | Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen said he hoped negotiations with Vietnam could be used as a model to improve relations with China (BBC)
• Brazil Bishop Ivo Lorscheiter dies at 79 | Lorscheiter was one of the leading advocates of liberation theology (Associated Press)
• Overhaul church accounting | Transparency is essential to the health of the community (Editorial, National Catholic Reporter)
• Hope for healing | Bishop Farrell has a lot of rebuilding ahead of him—but he will arrive riding a crest of goodwill and gratitude (Editorial, The Dallas Morning News)
• Same church, different pew | Newark Archdiocese finds ways to avoid closing small parishes (The Star-Ledger, Newark, N.J.)

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Atheism:

• Atheists battle against religion | Atheists are finding their voice and finding an audience, but some call it another form of extremism (ABC News)
• Books on atheism are raising hackles in unlikely places | Why is the new wave of books on atheism getting such a drubbing? (Peter Steinfels, The New York Times)
• Does your candidate love Jesus? | An atheist presidential hopeful might not have a prayer (Radley Balko, Reason)
• Dawkins’ attack on Peter Kay is not very Christian | Arch-atheist Richard Dawkins really needs to lighten up if the best target he can find for his anti-religious ire is the mild-mannered Lancastrian (David Bennun, The Guardian, London)

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Missions and ministry:

• Housing charities face hometown disaster | Habitat for Humanity International has built homes all over the world. But now it has some work to do in its own backyard: A twister cut a devastating path through the organization’s hometown last week (Associated Press)
• Faith’s battlefield | S.F. event designed to get teens energized about evangelical Christianity divides believers with its combative language and emphasis on culture war (San Francisco Chronicle)
• Also: A youth ministry some call antigay tests tolerance | At a two-day event called BattleCry, young Christians plan to speak out against homosexuality, obscene music and violent video games (The New York Times)
• Good word | Kathleen Kennedy Townsend wants to refocus faith on service (Newsweek)
• Religion Today: Models for Christ | . The non-denominational organization has since expanded to 19 other major fashion centers, including Los Angeles, London, Paris, Milan and Tokyo — and hundreds participate (Associated Press)
• Churches pick up HIV/AIDS fight | Facing a growing AIDS epidemic in Florida’s black community, local black churches have fortified their efforts to combat the disease by hosting prayer summits, distributing condoms, offering HIV testing at their churches and launching counseling ministries and support groups for those living with AIDS (The Miami Herald)

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People:

• Rick Warren and Purpose-Driven strife | Pastor’s unconventional approach inspires some, alienates others (Nightline, ABC)
• Also: Doubleday will publish Rick Warren bio | Jeff Sheler will write “faults and all” book. A February 2009 release is projected (Religion Bookline)
• Best-selling Enneagram author Don Riso on how to read personalities and discover your true self | And on his own spirituality (San Francisco Chronicle)
• Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas speaks | Justice Thomas talks about the lasting influence of the man who guided him through his years at Holy Cross and why he’s not a beneficiary of affirmative action (Business Week)
• Deterring division | Evangelist Jim Wallis, speaking at an Anaheim conference, says religion is moving beyond political polarizations (The Orange County Register, Ca.)
• Also: Wallis aims for the center (The Providence Journal, R.I.)
• A playful mind | Duke University’s Stanley Hauerwas relishes a good dose of controversy along with his theology (World)
• Court warns Wanjiru and Kamangu | A judge yesterday warned televangelist Margaret Wanjiru and the man claiming to be her husband James Kamangu to stop commenting on matters before the court (The Nation, Kenya)
• Jesus might be alive and well in Houston | Jose de Jesus drinks, smokes and claims to he’s the Second Coming (ABC News Primetime)

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Other stories of interest:

• Defamation lawsuit filed by Hank Hanegraaff thrown out of court | A defamation lawsuit filed by Hank Hanegraaff against Christian apologist Bill Alnor has been thrown out of court (Religion News Blog)
• Girl placed with Protestant foster parents sues | A Roman Catholic teenager has brought a landmark legal action against a council for sending her to live with Protestant foster parents (The Times, London)
• Rise of the funerals that leave out God | More than 30,000 funerals in Britain last year were nonreligious, as families turn increasingly to “celebration-of-life” ceremonies rather than church services, according to new figures (The Telegraph, London)
• Numbers drop for the married with children | Institution becoming the choice of the educated, affluent (The Washington Post)
• Muslims are too sensitive, says Pell | The Muslim community is overly sensitive and is the only migrant group to have plotted violence against Australia, Catholic Archbishop Cardinal George Pell has claimed. (The Australian)
• Baptists in the Holy Land | As a Baptist journalist in Israel for the past 25 years, I’ve often been shocked at how little Israelis know about my denomination (David Smith, The Jerusalem Post)
• The value of their values | It is much easier for the international community in theory than in practice to admire and empower an unfamiliar society (Rory Stewart, The New York Times)
• Scriptural violence can foster aggression (Nature, sub, req’d.)

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The post Pastors Off the Hook in Sex Cases appeared first on Christianity Today.

George Bush has been given another four years in the White House, say both conservative and liberal activists, but the biggest winners today are probably religious conservatives. It’s no mistake that his acceptance speech today included a promise to “uphold our deepest values of family and faith.”

“The evidence points to the evangelicals as Bush’s primary engine of victory,” writes National Review’s Larry Kudlow.

Religion poll guru John Green and Steve Waldman of Beliefnet do the math on the exit polls and agree: “In the pivotal states, he benefited from the strong support of evangelical Christians and, just as important, an impressive showing among regular churchgoing Catholics and mainline Protestants.”

The Christian Coalition says “Christian evangelicals” are the group that put Bush over the top. The Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins and former Bush opponent Gary Bauer prefer to focus on “values voters.”

Concerned Women for America does a bit of dancing.

“Evangelicals voted in force in this year’s election, securing the presidency for George W. Bush, granting parents in Florida the right to be notified before their minor daughter’s abortion, and passing marriage protections laws in every state they were offered — even liberal Oregon,” writes senior policy director Wendy Wright. “President Bush knows his strongest base, who they are and what drives them. Perhaps this is because, as many evangelicals and conservative Catholics can relate, he is one of us.” (He’s a conservative Catholic? No, as Green has earlier explained, “traditionalists” in both Protestant and Catholic camps have more in common with each other than they do with their ecclesiological cohorts, so the “us” refers to traditionalists, not Catholics.)

He’s not one of “us,” says James Ridgeway in The Village Voice. With the deck, “Bush gets mandate for theocracy,” Ridgeway gets apocalyptic. “The dream of a secular, liberal democracy is lost: Christians are stronger than ever, and whether it’s true or not, the spin will be that they played a key role in building the Bush base. The visceral, cutting edge of the Bush mandate is the attack on same-sex marriage, led by the Christian Right.” Also troubling, he says: “Republicans without a doubt have made some, if only marginal, gains among black voters.”

Well, with maybe it’s time for Democrats to change their message, says Nicholas Kristof in The New York Times. “Democrats peddle issues, and Republicans sell values,” he writes. “One-third of Americans are evangelical Christians, and many of them perceive Democrats as often contemptuous of their faith. And, frankly, they’re often right. Some evangelicals take revenge by smiting Democratic candidates.”

No way, says Stephen Pizzo at Alternet. “Yes, the Values Party won because they pandered to America’s fundamentalists. But I disagree that Democrats need to jump aboard the values express. … Democrats should not become value-whores like the GOP. That would only accelerate the Talibanization of America.”

Such “dismissing, and even belittling, evangelicals’ deeply held beliefs may not be a smart tactic for winning national elections,” says Wright. But now that evangelicals are the most powerful voting bloc in the country, we need to be on our guard, she says. “Shrewd politicians will look for ways to peel off our votes and to woo compromise on issues about which we have no right to bargain—such as the right for the most vulnerable to live.”

Some activists’s claim that “pro-life voter turnout” led to Bush’s win should certainly be tempered by the overwhelming passage of California’s Proposition 71, which promises a $3 billion expenditure for embryonic stem-cell research.

And it’s not like we just elected the Abraham Lincoln of the unborn, says American Life League president Judie Brown. “The Bush administration’s first term has been less than sterling in terms of total commitment to the pro-life effort,” she says. “The malaise that will accompany Mr. Bush’s re-election, I fear, will eat away at the edges of the pro-life battle without generating a clear victory for the personhood of every innocent human being. The definition of what it means to be pro-life will take another hit. Due to decay from within, this could spell the end of what we have known as the pro-life movement.”

“Clearly, there is work to be done within our house,” says Concerned Women for America’s Wright. “First, we must ensure that evangelicals remain faithful in our civic duty to vote for people who, as nearly as possible, reflect biblical views. Second, we must teach our people how righteousness is worked out in public policy. Evangelicals and conservative Catholics distinguish ourselves from other special interest groups in that we do not seek our own advancement or political power; we want to see virtue respected so the people may rejoice. Our newly exercised muscle must be used wisely, only in God’s service.”

More articles

More election reaction:

• God and terror at heart of strategy | Bush has long nurtured the Christian Right (Roy Eccleston, The Australian)
• Economic policy, abortion are intertwined | As this wretchedly drawn-out political campaign comes to an end Tuesday, the issue of abortion still will be with us (Leo Sandon, The Tallahassee Democrat, Fla.)
• Dark cloud of presidential infallibility | Up in the clouds the woman bared her soul wrapped in the certainty that our future depended on the man God had picked to do His work on Earth (Myriam Márquez, The Orlando Sentinel)
• Bush unbound | Winning on fear itself, the GOP is ready to take the country even farther right (Sidney Blumenthal, Salon.com)
• Hoping to land on God’s side | In America, church and state may be separate by law, but faith and politics are joined at the hip (Dennis Sasso, The Indianapolis Star)

Presidential election news:

• Churchgoers, white men strongly support Bush | President Bush won a majority of white men, churchgoers and white, born-again Christians, while John Kerry drew his strongest backing from blacks and led among Hispanics, according to voter exit polls yesterday (The Washington Times)
• Religion plays key role when casting votes | White South Carolinians who attend church regularly are faithful not only to their god, but to the Republican Party (The State, Columbia, S.C.)
• Can we overcome the divide? | Trinity College Professor Mark Silk said it will be interesting to see how Bush’s evangelical Christian base of supporters reacts to the election result (The Hartford Courant, Conn.)

California stem-cell measure:

• Calif. voters back $3 billion stem cell measure | A controversial California ballot measure that would fund a decade of stem cell research with $3 billion in state money was headed for a resounding victory on Wednesday, initial returns showed (Reuters)
• Bush confounds traditional Republican strategy | He ran to the right in this year’s election, mobilized his predominantly white, evangelical base, and earned enough votes that his campaign claimed victory early on Wednesday (Reuters)

Marriage amendments:

• Same-sex marriage measures succeed | Bans in several states supported by wide margins (The Washington Post)
• 11 states back bans on gay unions; Georgia, Ohio bar partner benefits | Most measures draw robust support. One activist sees mandate for Congress to take heed (Los Angeles Times)
• Gay marriage bans passed | Measures okayed in all 11 states where eyed (The Boston Globe)
• Voters in 11 states reject gay marriage | Gay rights activists received a rebuke from the Deep South to North Dakota as voters in 11 states approved constitutional amendments to ban same-sex marriage in a clean sweep for proponents of traditional one-man, one-woman unions (Associated Press)
• Gay marriage bans gain wide support in 10 states | Surveys of voters leaving polling places showed wide margins of support for the measures among voters of all backgrounds (The New York Times)
• Oregonians backing ban on gay marriage in close vote | Oregon voters Tuesday were passing a measure to ban same-sex marriage, although by a narrower margin than in other states, where similar measures were passing by solid majorities (The Oregonian)

Catholicism and the election:

• A telling loss for the church | The Catholic Church in Boston is one of the big political losers this morning. Senator Marian Walsh is going back to Beacon Hill, the voters in one of the most conservative Catholic districts in Massachusetts having ignored the counsel of their bishop and cast their ballots for a whole person instead of a single issue (Eileen McNamara, The Boston Globe)
• The conflict between faith and partisanship | It’s tough for a Catholic even to choose a candidate, and impossible to choose a party (Brad Warthen, The State, Columbia, S.C.)
• The sound of inevitability | “The Catholic church dodged a bullet with Kerry’s defeat” (Jonathan V. Last, The Weekly Standard)

Life ethics:

• Survival of the smallest | Each year, thousands of babies are born at the limits of viability, and medical science enables many to live. But now the courts are being asked to sit in judgment: should doctors always intervene to save a life? And when is it right to let a child die? (The Independent, London)
• Hospitals row over late-abortion file | The Supreme Court will challenge access to the medical file of a woman who had an abortion at 32 weeks (The Sydney Morning Herald)

Australian politics:

• Family First senator flags abortion debate | Federal parliament’s first senator from the fledgling Family First Party today flagged a review of publicly funded abortion as he claimed an historic election victory (AAP, Australia)
• Family First to seek fetus viewings, abortion warnings | Women seeking abortions would be forced to view ultrasound pictures of their fetus and listen to warnings about grief, depression and sterilization if the Family First party gets its way (The Age, Melbourne, Australia)

Nigeria:

• Cleric calls for prayers against slapping spirit in National Assembly | A cleric with St. Bartholomew’s Anglican Church, Kubwa, Abuja, has called on Nigerians to pray to God to drive away the “spirit of slappping from the National Assembly” (P.M. News, Nigeria)
• America woos religious bodies for global peace | Ahead its general elections on Tuesday, the United States of America may have started a subtle campaign to woo religious bodies for global peace as the country representative in Nigeria, Mr. John Campell, has stressed the need for all faiths to unite for the promotion of peace in the world (This Day, Nigeria)

Religious violence:

• No place for religious intolerance, Bryant tells the nation | Transitional chairman reduces curfew from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. (The Analyst, Liberia)
• Dutch fear loss of tolerance | When the populist politician Pim Fortuyn was assassinated two years ago, it was said the Netherlands had lost its innocence. By comparison, film maker Theo van Gogh’s murder has evoked sensations of déjà vu, rather than disbelief (BBC)
• Priest held over LRA links | The Army in Gulu is holding a Catholic Priest on allegation s that his a rebel collaborator (The Monitor, Kampala, Uganda)

Sudan:

• Sudan army ‘forcing out refugees’ | UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has called on the Sudanese government to stop its troops forcing refugees out of camps in the western Darfur region (BBC)
• Sudan camp siege as UN workers flee | Sudanese soldiers surrounded three refugee camps in Darfur yesterday, forcing out aid workers in a development that could worsen the plight of thousands of African tribesmen who have fled the region’s smouldering civil war (The Telegraph, London)

Abuse and Catholicism:

• Prosecutors working to nab priests on run | Three of the eight priests indicted on sex charges have eluded prosecution by fleeing to Ireland and Italy. The third has not been located but authorities believe he is in Mexico (The Arizona Republic)
• Abuse board pick is abortion activist | A new member of the U.S. bishops’ National Review Board for the Protection of Children and Young People says she’s proud of her efforts to promote and expand abortion through political action (National Catholic Register)
• Also: Rabid pro-abort on National Review Board (Catholic World News)

U.K. spanking law:

• Parents can still smack—if they’re gentle | A total ban on parents smacking their children was rejected overwhelmingly by MPs last night(The Telegraph, London)
• Britain rejects ban on smacking children | After a passionate debate in the House of Commons, British lawmakers voted overwhelmingly Tuesday against banning parents from spanking their children (Associated Press)
• Rebel MPs fail to win total ban on smacking | But parents will face prosecution if they smack their child hard enough to leave a mark (The Times, London)
• These people telling me how to chastise my child need a slap | This is one of those times when a really rough childhood can be an unarguable asset (Melanie McDonagh, The Telegraph, London)
• Deep down, they still think that Nanny knows best | Smacking debate exposes some glaring contradictions in social policy (Philip Johnston, The Telegraph, London)
• Related: Editing smacks of censorship: author | Changes to a 25-year-old children’s classic about a hippopotamus that eats cake are set to reopen the debate over whether parents should smack their children (The Age, Melbourne, Australia)

Church of England and women bishops:

• Church may have woman bishops in 2009 | Report sets out options for advancement of women and warns current situation is unsustainable (The Guardian, London)
• Church may split to clear way for female bishops | Suggestion of ‘escape option’ enclave for opponents prompts a fresh argument (The Telegraph, London)
• Anglicans’ third way? | The Church of England yesterday announced how it might deal with the ordination of women as bishops (Editorial, The Telegraph, London)
• Women set to be bishops within next seven years | As Church prepares to vote on women bishops, measures to quell opposition are on the agenda (The Times, London)
• Unity of the church is at risk | I think we are approaching this debate in a negative way when we should be asking positive theological questions about the meaning of the incarnation and the significance of Jesus Christ being a man (David Houlding, The Guardian, London)
• A broader church | There is room for debate, and women bishops (Editorial, The Times, London)
• Men are not closer to God than women | It is clear that church communities are calling on women to have a leadership role and that they have the gifts to exercise it. (Jane Shaw, The Guardian, London)
• Protagonists cite Bible as evidence | Opponents say that Jesus’s decision to choose only men as his apostles rules out women becoming leaders in the modern-day Church, or at least casts doubt on their ability to act on his behalf (The Telegraph, London)

Church life:

• African bishops may quit Anglican Church | African Anglican bishops are contemplating quitting the Church of England over the ordainment of gay clergy in the United States (The East African Standard, Kenya)
• Episcopal bishop investigating clergy on charges of paganism | Bishop Charles Bennison said he is “extremely concerned” at allegations that the Revs. Glyn Ruppe-Melnyk and William Melnyk are promoting pagan worship, but warned against a “witch hunt of any sort” (Religion News Service)
• Canterbury returns to cathedral brew | The long partnership between the church and beer took another step forward yesterday, with the return of a “cathedral brew” to Canterbury (The Guardian, London)
• Bringing back the fire | Our Lady Queen of Angels Church returns to its role as a bold voice for the poor (Los Angeles Times)
• Fired church official charged | The former finance director for the Moorhead-based Northwestern Minnesota Synod of the ELCA faces two felony charges for making nearly $24,000 in unauthorized purchases (The Forum, Fargo, N.D.)
• So far from God, so close to temptation | In a move that appears to be the first of its kind, the Anglican Church in Tanzania, Dodoma Diocese, has come out in the open to announce that 12 of its priests are HIV-positive (Michael Okema, The East African Standard, Kenya)

Interspecies evangelism gone bad:

• Lion attacks Taiwanese man who jumps into zoo cage | A lion attacked a man who jumped into the animal’s enclosure and shouted “Jesus will save you!” at the big cat Wednesday at the zoo in Taiwan’s capital (Associated Press)
• ‘Come bite me!’ Right … | A man leaped into a lion’s den at the Taipei Zoo on Wednesday to try to convert the king of beasts to Christianity, but was bitten in the leg for his efforts (Reuters)

Los Angeles county seal:

• Judge allows removal of cross from county seal | A Superior Court judge rejected attempts Tuesday to stop the removal of a tiny gold cross from the county seal (Los Angeles Times)
• Judge denies barring funds for new Los Angeles County seal | Judge David P. Yaffe rejected claims by plaintiffs of a lawsuit who claimed that replacing the seal showed an “unconstitutional hostility” toward religion (Associated Press)

Education:

• Iliff receives scathing review | Methodists call ouster of president ‘unjust,’ threaten to pull funds (Rocky Mountain News, Co.)
• Class aims to stifle the impulse to steal | First offenders in Va. avoid jail and conviction with anti-shoplifting course (The Washington Post)
• Classes in Judaic studies, drawing a non-Jewish class | The Jewish studies major is growing in popularity around the country among gentiles (The New York Times)

Books:

• Lewis biography takes an honest approach | Kevin O’Kelly reviews Michael White’s C.S. Lewis: A Life (The Boston Globe)
• Devil to pay over film of Bulgakov’s novel | Russia’s Orthodox church has reacted with dismay to a film of the seminal novel The Master and Margarita, saying it offers a version of the Gospel that is “nothing but negative” and fearing it will offend or confuse many believers (The Guardian, London)

Business:

• Sale of PBS outlet nearly done | An O.C. college district board is expected to approve the deal tonight. A foundation had struggled to make the down payment (Los Angeles Times)
• Companies add gender identity to anti- bias policies | The recent growth of such provisions reflects both the persistence of gay rights groups seeking the protection and the conclusion of some companies that adopting the broader anti-discrimination policies is a good business decision and even a recruiting tool (The Washington Post)

Other articles of interest:

• Ralph Reed’s other cheek | The man who mobilized the religious right puts his conservative connections to work for business (Peter Stone, Mother Jones)
• O’Hare covets final destinations | An airport runway expansion plan would relocate cemeteries. But a coalition of groups has sued to halt the move (Los Angeles Times)
• Ghanaians flock to see ‘miracle’ | Thousands of people in Ghana’s capital, have been thronging to a Catholic Church where they claim the image of Jesus Christ (BBC)
• Muslims try to save halal slaughterhouse | If the plant does close next year, it will also be a loss for Ethiopian Orthodox Christians (Seattle Post-Intelligencer)
• Brother Andrew finds little hope in the Middle East | Though he also works with ambassadors and diplomats, Brother Andrew insists that it’s people of faith who will make inroads with terrorists (The Dallas Morning News)
• No longer a Christian | I was told in Sunday school the word “Christian” means to be Christ-like, but the message I hear daily on the airwaves from the “Christian ” media are words of war, violence, and aggression (Karen Horst Cobb, Common Dreams)
• Belgian Cardinal Gustaaf Joos dies at 81 | The cardinal gained notoriety earlier this year when he said in an interview he thought almost all homosexuals were “sexual perverts” (Associated Press)
• ‘Lifeline’: Iris DeMent’s sweet salvation | Some people turn to comfort food for solace. Iris DeMent turns to comfort songs. At least she has on “Lifeline,” her first album in eight years and one that finds her revisiting the church music of her youth in rural Arkansas and California as a form of therapy and perhaps even salvation (The Washington Post)

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The post Weblog Bonus: ‘Bush Gets Mandate for Theocracy’ appeared first on Christianity Today.

Back in January 1994, a neighbor asked the city of York, Pennsylvania, to force Sybil Peachlum to remove her illuminated sign of a happy peach holding a newspaper with the headline, “Peachy News. Jesus is Alive.” Peachlum pursued a permit for the sign, but the city rejected her request. She couldn’t afford the $350 appeal fee, and the city again refused to waive it. She sued, but courts dismissed her claims.

In June, the tides began to turn. The 3rd U.S. District Court of Appeals reinstated her lawsuit, even joining in on her penchant for puns. “Peachlum’s claim,” the court said, “is clearly ripe.”

Friday, U.S. Middle District Court Judge Yvette Kane ruled in favor of Peachlum’s sign, saying York’s ordinance on signs “imposes discriminatory restrictions based on the signs’ content.” (As of this morning, the decision hasn’t been posted on the court’s web site, but is quoted in the York Daily Record and Associated Press.)

“God wins,” Peachlum told the York Daily Record. “I’ve been harassed to the nth degree. I’ve faced multiple charges. This decision tells me I was right.”

But wait a second. Yes, Peachlum won the case, but the newspaper says that Judge Kane ruled that York’s sign ordinance did not violate or restrict Peachlum’s freedom of religion, only her freedom of speech. That should temper some of the celebration. (But again, Weblog hasn’t seen the full opinion, so Kane’s logic may be sound.)

The other cloud to the silver lining: Peachlum didn’t display the sign this year. She’s apparently in financial distress, and lost her home in a foreclosure.

“If I ever get to that point [of having a home again], the sign is definitely going back up,” she said. “I will use my home as an expression of my faith.”

Theft of Jesus just a prank? While we’re on the subject of Christmas displays, it’s worth noting that every year, many figures of Jesus are stolen from Nativity displays around the country. (It’s not a new occurrence: Dragnet twice dramatized a stolen Jesus case reportedly from San Francisco in 1930. The first such episode, which aired Christmas Eve, 1953, was the only color episode during the series’ first run. The second episode, from 1967, starred Barry Williams, who would later be known as The Brady Bunch‘s Greg.)

This year, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church decided to use such incidents as the backdrop to its Christmas Eve drama, titled Stolen Jesus. Then somebody (apparently unaware of the play production) stole the church’s own Jesus figure.

Baby Jesus was returned this week, painted dark brown. The thief left a note, explaining, “Sorry I took your baby Jesus. It was a childish prank. As far as his new color, I thought I would point out that Jesus was not an Aryan but actually a man of color. Although you probably knew this but would rather not be reminded.”

The Toledo Blade and other news outlets take the thief’s side, quoting church scholars who “said the dark-skinned Jesus is probably more historically accurate than the light-skinned image commonly seen in the United States.”

Even the church’s pastor is nonplussed. “I think we ought to leave it, personally,” Roger Miller told the Blade. “There’s something poignant about this Jesus coming to us like this, representing another race. It’s a reminder to us all that Jesus came for all people.”

Uh, but then again, let’s not forget that someone stole and defaced church property because he (presumably a male) didn’t like its color, then left an note ignorantly criticizing the church as racist. Isn’t such behavior often categorized as a hate crime?

Bibleman actor Aames says “eight is enough” Last year, Weblog joked that Bibleman‘s secret power was the world’s shortest retirement, as former Eight is Enough actor Willie Aames announced he was hanging up his cape, then a week later announced his comeback. After eight years, more than a dozen videos, action figures, and even his own Bible, Aames is leaving the role for real this time. But have no fear, citizens: The Sacramento Bee says he’ll be replaced by former children’s minister Robert T. Schlipp. The Bibleman web site, meanwhile, still lists Aames as Bibleman.

More articles

Potluck religion:

• The national creed | These days political parties grow more orthodox, while religions grow more fluid (David Brooks, The New York Times)
• Spiritual blend appeals to people of many faiths | ‘I literally feel like I am at a buffet,’ says one woman who finds solace in the practice of three religions with conflicting precepts (Los Angeles Times)
• Faith and freedom | For better or worse, the American model of religious freedom has now evolved, after hundreds of years of careful honing, from the Puritans’ desire to ban singing and keep Sunday holy into something best described as “religion a la carte”: You pick and choose, take a bit of this and a bit of that, then go home and celebrate whatever you want (Anne Applebaum, The Washington Post)

2003 religion news roundup:

• Sex, war, court decisions figured in events of faith | Many of the biggest stories this year in the world of religion had to do with topics that might otherwise seem far from the pulpit: sex, war, court decisions and movies (Los Angeles Times)
• The year in religion: Combat & conflict | Opposition to war, gay rights and fight over Ten Commandments are among top stories (Religion News Service)
• State of the faith | Anno Domini, 2003 (Michael Novak, National Review Online)
• Church-state clashes in 2003: Hard-won lessons in fairness | ‘Removers’ want to erase religion from public life; ‘imposers’ want to push it on everyone. Both approaches are wrong (Charles Haynes, First Amendment Center)

2004 election:

• Spirit isn’t moving religion’s left wing | Without the old emotional issues, liberals are losing their punch (The Orlando Sentinel)
• His goal is to get clergy behind the Democrats | Lexington man heads new group pushing for political change (Lexington Herald-Leader, Ky.)
• Dean says his candidacy to remain candid | “Don’t you think that [the Rev.] Jerry Falwell reminds you a lot more of the Pharisees than he does the teachings of Jesus?” Dean said at a town hall meeting in Waterloo, Iowa. “And don’t you think this campaign ought to be about evicting the money changers from the temple?” (Los Angeles Times)
• Render unto Howard | What, exactly, will Dean be saying about Jesus as he travels through the South? (Jay Bryant)
• Howard Dean ‘finds’ Jesus | One hopes that the next journalist who gets a chance to ask Dean about this will inquire as to which Jesus he is talking about, if for no other reason than to gauge whether Dean is being sincere or a political opportunist who seeks to bamboozle Southern religious Democrats (Cal Thomas)

Politics abroad:

• God behind Kenya’s progress, says President Kibaki | He said any progress made by the people was the work of God and it was important to thank Him (East African Standard, Nairobi)
• God bless – or divide – the EU | Do Europe’s Christian roots have a place in the EU’s Constitution? Its increasingly diversified members struggle to agree (The Straits Times, Singapore)
• Revealed: Scottish politics still in thrall of the Church | MPs and MSPs acknowledge the power of religion, but deny being influenced by it (Sunday Herald, Glasgow)
• Importing America’s faith-based solution | What Beryl Wajsmann and his fellows are doing seems to be the Canadian version of a faith-based initiative. We must hope that he succeeds—and that more citizens take back the fundamental responsibility for care of the poor from a government that has failed (Elizabeth Nickson, National Post)

More politics:

• Politics and faith-based research | Misleading study designs can skew results (Karen Woods, The Washington Times)
• Earlier: Charitable Choice: It’s Still About Ending Discrimination | A new study claims to bring bad news for Bush’s faith-based initiative. Does it? (Amy L. Sherman, Christianity Today, June 10, 2003)
• God bless the ACLU | Secularism’s Brave New World (John M. Templeton, Jr. and Michael Novak, The Washington Times)

Social activism:

• Inequity: Is it a sin? | The rich-poor gap in the United States has doubled in 21 years and is set to widen further under new tax cuts. People of faith say society has a moral responsibility to narrow that gap (The Christian Science Monitor)
• Forces unite to renew opposition to Indian casino | Opponents of a proposed Indian casino near Logansport renewed their resistance Tuesday morning by announcing plans to call for a national moratorium on Indian casinos and asking for a federal grand jury investigation into the involvement of some individuals alleged to be influencing the decision-making process (The Shreveport Times, La.)
• Gaming and giving | With some once voicing opposition to the lottery, religious leaders now must contemplate some possible ethical issues (Knoxville News-Sentinel, Tenn.)

Prison ministry:

• 791 inmates, 26 religions in ‘faith-based’ Fla. prison | Gov. Jeb Bush told nearly 800 prisoners Wednesday that religion can help lead them to a better life as he dedicated the nation’s first faith-based prison—an institution officials hope will lead to fewer repeat offenders (The Washington Post)
• Where punishment must fit the faith | A state prison near Jacksonville, Fla., has become the nation’s first “faith-based” jailhouse, combining spirituality with hard time (The Washington Times)
• Bush dedicates nation’s first faith-based prison | Groundbreaking facility opens in Lawtey (Florida Times-Union, Jacksonville)
• Prison preaches rehabilitation through faith | A new prison in Florida’s Bradford County focuses on rehabilitating inmates through religion. Critics say Lawtey’s faith-based program violates the U.S. Constitution (Morning Edition, NPR)
• Fla. gets nation’s 1st faith-based prison | Along with regular prayer sessions, the Lawtey Correctional Institution will offer religious studies, choir practice, religious counseling and other spiritual activities seven days a week (Associated Press)
• Crackdown spooks jail witch | As a practicing Wiccan, Charles Risenburg wants to read tarot cards, study the daily moon signs and cast an occasional spell or two with a magic wand. But cell-block sorcery is forbidden in the Bedford County Jail (The Tribune-Democrat, Johnstown, Pa.)
• In prison, a time for reflection | The holiday can be twice as difficult for inmates with birthdays today (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

Missions & ministry:

• Churches providing shelter for women | Nine congregations rotate as hosts (The Washington Post)
• As face of poor changes, so do food baskets | For years, public and nonprofit food assistance programs have been reporting a sharp rise in the number of working families using their service (The New York Times)
• Costa Mesa center bursting with faith, hope, charity | Meaning of Christmas is seen throughout home for mentally disabled (Los Angeles Times)
• Disabilities’ barriers will melt in home | California’s first outpost in a pioneering global movement to integrate the disabled with the able-bodied will soon open in Fullerton (Los Angeles Times)
• Trailer chapel serves truckers | A slogan on the Truckers Chapel Web site says it all: “Jesus will be here … in jeans!” (Sarasota Herald Tribune, Fla.)
• Nun’s pub pilgrimage | A nun carrying a large statue of the Virgin Mary has been saying prayers in pubs and supermarkets in East Sussex (BBC)
• Area paintball ministry makes evangelical mark | Their mission? “To celebrate the greatness of God through righteous behavior on and off the field.” (The Toledo Blade, Oh.)
• Thousands of youngsters flock to N.C. for faith-deepening events | International Wesleyan Youth Convention and Christmas Conference of the Campus Crusade for Christ draw youth from around North America (Associated Press)
• Local bikers on a different mission | Their message is simple: To spread the word in a format that doesn’t necessarily involve church pews and candles (The Bay City Times, Mich.)
• Anschutz’s anonymous messages spreading | ‘Pass It On’ campaign touts traditional values (The Denver Post)

Urbana 03:

• Heightened security surrounds huge Christian student conference | Some of the 20-thousand college students attending the Urbana 03 missions conference report having to wait up to 45 minutes to get past security into the auditorium (Associated Press)
• Finding their purpose | They’ve come by planes, buses and caravans from every direction in the United States and abroad to find their particular place in God’s mission for the world (The News-Gazette, Champaign, Ill.)
• Mission work on display | In a scene resembling a college job fair, about 300 mission agencies and seminars have taken over facilities at the Intramural Physical Education Building, the Armory and Huff Hall on the University of Illinois campus (The News-Gazette, Champaign, Ill.)
• Preparing for Urbana 03 | More than 19,000 college students and recent graduates nationwide will descend on campus Saturday for Urbana 03, a spiritual five-day convention (The News-Gazette, Champaign, Ill.)
• Students seek their life’s mission | Christian convention helps young adults make career, study decisions (Peoria Journal Star, Ill.)
• 20,000 students at U. Of I. for religious convention (Associated Press)

Bible and theology:

• Illuminating the Scriptures | With swirls of gray, bold and bright reds, and blues the color of the sea, artist Nora Miller illuminates the history of Christianity (The Durango Herald, Colo.)
• The triumph of orthodoxy | We are living through one of the least heretical periods in western history—and it is our loss (Hywel Williams, The Guardian, London)
• There’s something about Mary | One doesn’t have to be an expert in early Christianity or comparative religions to think that choosing Mary, of all people, as a unifying figure for Christians and Jews, is a positively procrustean attempt at ecumenical bridge-building (Calev Ben-David, The Jerusalem Post)
• The silenced voices of faith speak again | Christianity’s modern diversity reflects its origins (Tom D’Evelyn, The Christian Science Monitor)

Polls:

• Americans ponder nature of Jesus | Adults in a poll were more likely to conclude that “Jesus was the son of God” and that “Jesus was divine than to believe the biblical accounts of his birth and death (Scripps Howard News Service)
• Minnesota Poll: Most say religion has role in world’s conflicts | Most Minnesotans say religion plays a role in causing war, and most also think that certain religions are more likely than others to encourage violence among their believers (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
• Minnesota Poll: Most reject gay clergy | Most Minnesotans believe it is wrong to ordain sexually active gays and lesbians to the clergy, most object to giving same-sex couples the same legal rights as married people and most say homosexuality is a sin (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)
• Minnesota Poll: 78% definitely believe in God | Minnesotans’ reliance on a higher power is steadfast (Minneapolis Star-Tribune)

Education:

• Falwell on mission for success | Liberty leader wants to compete with best (Arizona Daily Star)
• Jesuit college bars prolife group for ‘bias’ | The Gonzaga School of Law, a Jesuit college in Washington state, refuses to recognize a student prolife group that requires its leaders be Christians, saying the religious restriction is discriminatory (The Washington Times)
• Faith 101: New school puts students closer to Vatican | Ave Maria University, a new school near Naples, Fla., is establishing itself as a haven for conservative Roman Catholics (The Miami Herald)
• Students can put hands over their hearts, or their ears | The Supreme Court should uphold the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance (David L. Tubbs, Los Angeles Times)
• Christian school loses lawsuit | Dispute stems from students’ trip to Yosemite (Tri-Valley Herald, Pleasanton, Calif.)

Life ethics:

• N.H. judge nixes abortion notification | federal judge Monday declared unconstitutional a state law that would have required parental notice before a minor could get an abortion (Associated Press)
• How wider use of a pill could quiet abortion fights | Silence of traditional abortion foes suggests that rather than fuel the abortion wars, the morning-after pill encourages a much-needed détente (Editorial, USA Today)
• Also: Pill poses grave risks | The morning-after pill is not “just another contraceptive,” and even a passing glance at the facts is sufficient to prove it does not belong on the same shelf as Tylenol and baby aspirin (Tony Perkins, USA Today)
• Continent death | Euthanasia in Europe (Wesley J. Smith, National Review Online)
• Area citizens gather to pray for unborn | The event is held every year on Dec. 28 to coincide with the Feast of the Holy Innocents (Yankton Daily Press & Dakotan, S.D.)
• Lieberman defends abortion remarks | Roe stance misreported, senator says (The Washington Post)

Law:

• Ten Commandments lawsuit allowed to proceed | Display in Gainesville, Ga., courthouse challenged by anonymous complainant whose suit was filed by ACLU (Associated Press)
• Judge not, all ye faithful | The juror’s beatitude excuse (Dave Shiflett, National Review Online)
• The councillor, the witch, and the tribunal | One man’s campaign against a representative of the ‘forces of Satan’ has boiled into a tornado, dragging in fringe participants (The Age, Melbourne, Australia)

Iraq:

• Bible Belt missionaries set out on a ‘war for souls’ in Iraq | US Christian evangelists want to “save Muslim souls” in Iraq (The Daily Telegraph, London)
• Iraqi Christians fear for their lives | More than 400 liquor stores run by Christians, the only community allowed to sell alcohol under the former Baathist government, were forced to close in the immediate aftermath of the US led occupation of Iraq (Reuters)
• Not with a biblical bang | Looks like Saddam’s not the End after all (Carl E. Olson, National Review Online)
• Faith and freedom | If there is one new element we should try hard to leave behind after American troops withdraw or U.S. occupation ends, it is a far more basic notion of religious freedom (Anne Applebaum)
• Man’s mission is to evangelize in Iraq again | Hudson man can’t wait to go back after group’s trip to distribute Bible (Akron Beacon Journal, Oh.)

Anglican woes:

• Zambians cut ties with U.S. Episcopalians | The Anglican Church in Zambia cut ties Monday with the Episcopal Church USA over its consecration in June of an openly gay man as bishop (UPI)
• Local priest resigns over gay bishop issue | Rev. Sandra DePriest – the first priest in Mississippi to resign over the controversial issue – finished up with the Church of the Good Shepherd in Columbus and St. John’s Episcopal Church in Aberdeen on Christmas Day (The Commercial Dispatch, Columbus, Miss.)
• Evangelicals say 13m back anti-gay move | Evangelicals opposed to gay people within the Anglican communion presented an email petition yesterday to Rowan Williams, the Archbishop of Canterbury, calling on him to provide alternative oversight for those congregations which oppose bishops supporting Gene Robinson, the gay bishop of New Hampshire (The Guardian, London)
• Also: Anglican Mainstream delivers petition to Lambeth Palace (Press release)
• Anglican bishop shuts down church | The Anglican bishop in Vancouver, four days before Christmas, closed a small church 40 miles east of here over its opposition to the church’s approval of homosexual “marriages” (The Washington Times)
• Changes in Episcopal Church spur some to go, some to join | The decision this year by the Episcopal Church USA to ordain an openly gay bishop has set off a wave of church switching (The New York Times)
• It’s time to cross the fine line that divides our two Churches | ask almost any layman of either Church what are the theological differences between the liturgies of the Church of England and Rome and I will bet 10-1 that he will get them wrong (Tom Utley, The Daily Telegraph, London)
• ‘Displaced’ Episcopalians gather | About 100 “displaced Episcopalians” gathered for a Christmas Eve service at Phillips Exeter Academy this past week as an alternative to the mainline Episcopal churches that elected V. Gene Robinson as the first openly gay bishop in the Anglican Church (The Exeter News-Letter, N.H.)
• How many Episcopal Churches? | Whatever their reasons for a slow response to earlier problems, the traditionalists are not walking away from the current dispute (David C. Steinmetz, Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, Tex.)

Sexual ethics:

• Zero tolerance | In a frank and open discussion on issues of human sexuality, local evangelicals have committed themselves to disciplining any of their leaders found guilty of sexual harassment or predatory behavior (The Barbados Advocate)
• Was Jesus gay? | Noted Methodist theologian Rev. Theodore Jennings Jr. and Dr Morton Smith a world renowned Bible scholar at Columbia University say there is irrefutable evidence that Jesus was at least bisexual (365Gay.com)
• S. Florida teen girls discovering ‘bisexual chic’ trend | Debate rises over whether a kiss is just a kiss. (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)
• Friends—and foes—cite Bible on gay issue | Among the issues raised during the bitter dispute over homosexuality in the Episcopal Church this year is why Christianity has upheld some Old Testament laws and discarded others (Associated Press)
• ‘Homophobic’ church slated | The moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland used part of his Christmas sermon to accuse the Kirk of reinforcing hatred of gay people. (BBC)
• Defining marriage is legislators’ job | The issues before the SJC, of course, are constitutional, not moral, but it sometimes takes superhuman effort to separate the two (Richard A. Hogarty, The Boston Globe)
• Pope pushes campaign against gay marriages | Pope John Paul II pressed his campaign against gay unions Sunday, calling for greater defense of the institution of marriage between man and woman and saying a “misunderstood” sense of rights was altering it (Associated Press)

Sri Lanka:

• Sri Lankan churches ‘under guard’ | Security at churches at Sri Lanka has been stepped up following attacks on two Christian sites, reports say (BBC)
• S.Lanka police on guard after attacks on churches | Churches in Sri Lanka have come under a wave of attacks this week, apparently at the hands of angry Buddhists, and while no one has been hurt, police are mounting extra patrols and posting guards to protect them (Reuters)
• Religious intolerance: Conversions and attacks | As the curtain falls on the year 2003 today, the issue of religious conversions is gaining momentum drawing almost equal or perhaps more attention than the co-habitation crises (Daily Mirror, Sri Lanka)
• Law soon to restrict religious conversions, says minister | Sri Lanka will introduce a law restricting conversions due to alleged proselytising by Christian groups, including groups rebuilding the island, a minister said on Saturday (Daily News, Sri Lanka)
• Lanka takes conversion ban lesson from Jaya | The Jayalalithaa regime’s law banning forcible religious conversions in Tamil Nadu has caught Sri Lanka’s fancy (The Telegraph, Calcutta, India)
• Anti-conversion laws here soon (Daily Mirror, Sri Lanka)

France’s ban on religious garb:

• America is right to press for religious freedom worldwide | Why don’t you Americans mind your own business? That, in essence, is what the French thought the other day when a State Department officer took issue with President Jacques Chirac’s proposal to outlaw the wearing of head scarves by Muslim girls, large crosses by Christians and skullcaps by Jewish boys in public schools (Terry Eastland, The Dallas Morning News)
• French plan to ban head scarf gets boost | A leading Islamic authority said that Muslim girls should respect the ban on head scarves in France’s state schools (Associated Press)
• Also: France, cleric find common ground on headscarves (Reuters)
• Also: Sheikh sanctions headscarf ban (BBC)
• French dressing | Lessons for America from the proposed French ban on religious garb (Avi Schick, Slate)

Religious freedom in India:

• 18 families homeless after mob attack | Christians in this tribal village, situated on the Gujarat border, have been pressured to convert to Hinduism (The Times of India)
• Low-caste converts barred from Mass in India | Police guard church after some Christians block others from a Christmas celebration (Associated Press)
• Anti-conversion laws yet to be framed | The controversial Freedom of Religion Act, passed by the Gujarat assembly in March 2003, may still take some time for implementation (The Times of India)
• Tribals back in Hindu fold? | The VHP has claimed that on Christmas eve about 500 tribals, but Christians dispute the number (The Times of India)

Religious freedom and persecution elsewhere:

• Church-state separation as weapon | The sky isn’t falling, but Christians are being scrubbed away from the public square, says David Limbaugh (Beliefnet)
• A persecution complex | The time for Christians really to start worrying is when we find ourselves winning too many popularity contests (Richard Mouw, Beliefnet)
• Earlier: Persecution Is a Holy Word | Exaggerating our problems demeans the sacrifice of overseas believers (Editorial, Christianity Today, Nov. 7, 2003)
• The Coptic path | For Egypt to democratize, it must end its discrimination against its Coptic population (Jonathan Eric Lewis, The Wall Street Journal Europe)
• US condemns Eritrea over religion | Respect for religious freedom in Eritrea has deteriorated over the past year, according to a United States Government report (BBC)
• Once banned, Christianity withers in an old stronghold | Japan’s “hidden Christians” survived three centuries of bannings, burnings and beheadings (The New York Times)
• Cardinal: Christians second-class in Muslim lands | Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, who recently retired as the Vatican’s foreign minister, told the French Catholic daily La Croix Wednesday that Christianity and Islam faced “an enormous task” of learning to live together in mutual tolerance (Reuters)

International aid:

• Valley clergy urges quake relief | Congregations will be asked (Tri-Valley Herald, Pleasanton, Calif.)
• The pain of good intentions | If we want to help North Koreans, the best approach is not a flamboyant Western solution, but a practical Asian approach: we should quietly encourage China and Russia to accept North Koreans (Nicholas D. Kristof, The New York Times)
• Millions of AIDS orphans strain southern Africa | The United Nations Children’s Fund estimates in a new report that 11 million children under 15 in sub-Saharan Africa have lost at least one parent to AIDS. About a third of them have lost both parents (The New York Times)

Sudan:

• Sudan peace deadline in doubt | A peace deal to end 20 years of war in Sudan may not be signed this week as previously announced, a senior government official has said (BBC)
• ‘Lost Boys’ find sanctuary | Sudanese who fled brutal war now worship in peace at Denver church (The Denver Post)

Deaths:

• Paul Moore: The people’s patrician | He preached progressivism to the elite in a language they could understand (The New York Times Magazine)
• Priest dies after suffering heart attack during church program | Anthony Fedell collapsed from a heart attack while directing a caroling program at an Elmwood Park, N.J., church on Christmas Eve (The New York Times)

Creches and other Christmas displays:

• Ho, ho, hum? | Where’s the crèche? (Janice Shaw Crouse, National Review Online)
• Decoration ban provokes criticism | After ordering firefighters to remove a Santa Claus figure, a Christmas tree and holiday lights from a Glenview firehouse, village officials were bombarded this week with calls and e-mails from across the country criticizing their decision (Chicago Tribune)
• ACLU adds to scene at the Nativity | Jewish, Islamic and solstice items set up near Santa Rosa Courthouse (Pensacola News Journal, Fla.)
• Spiritual power, no matter how humble | The Metropolitan Museum’s 18th-century Neapolitan Nativity has been a holiday staple since 1964 (The New York Times)
• A row in a manger | A bank branch has thrown out a nativity scene that has been a feature for 20 years – because it might offend non-Christians (The Sun, U.K.)
• 4 conservative groups offer to defend city against ACLU suit | At issue is the holiday display in front of City Hall that is an amalgam of diverse exhibits, including Santas, a snowman, a flock of pink flamingos and a Seasons Greetings sign (The Providence Journal, R.I.)
• Public display of religions | The menorah is not the Jewish equivalent of a Christmas tree (Martin Dyckman, St. Petersburg Times, Fla.)
• Christmas tree freedom | ‘Tis the season to argue about Christmas trees, menorahs, nativity scenes, and the separation of church and state (Cathy Young, The Boston Globe)
• Carnley lambasts religious timidity in schools | The head of the Anglican Church in Australia is to use his Christmas sermon to hit out at government schools that refuse to stage nativity plays and carol concerts for fear of offending students and families who are not Christians (AAP)

Archbishop of Canterbury’s Christmas message:

• Williams attacks ‘sniggering’ over religious faith | The Archbishop of Canterbury called on Christians, Muslims, Jews and others to stand together against the fear of religion often encountered in secular society (The Daily Telegraph, London)
• Stop sniggering at Blair’s faith, says Williams (The Independent, London)
• Archbishop calls for tolerance | The Archbishop of Canterbury has appealed to the secular world to overcome its mistrust of religion (BBC)
• Anglican church leader attacks France over Muslim headscarf ban | The spiritual leader of the worldwide Anglican Church used his Christmas message to attack France’s decision to ban Muslims from wearing headscarves in schools (AFP)
• An unworthy Archbishop | A sermon is supposed to be a private communion between the priest and his congregation, not a media event, leaked and spun in advance to favoured journalists (Editorial, The DailyTelegraph, London)

The Pope’s Christmas:

• Pope, in Christmas message, pleads for end to terrorism and war | John Paul II used his Christmas messages to plead fervently for an end to terrorism worldwide and to bloodshed in the Middle East, his concern over recent world events casting a shadow over his traditional holiday celebrations (The New York Times)
• Pope appeals for peace in holiday message | A frail Pope John Paul II in his Christmas message asked Christ to save the world from war and terrorism — “the great evils” afflicting mankind at the start of the third millennium (Associated Press)
• Pope speech condemns terrorism (BBC, video)
• Italian officials feared terrorist attack on Vatican | On Christmas Eve, hours before Pope John Paul II was to say midnight Mass, the highest officials of Italian government met to assess intelligence reports about potential terror attacks, possibly including one on the Vatican, a city official close to the mayor said Saturday (The New York Times)

Commercialization of Christmas:

• Jesus and consumerist values | While many people deplore, and some even loathe, commercialisation and secularisation of Christmas, the fact is that if the capitalists had not spent so much time hyping Christmas and making loads of money out of it, the birth of Jesus would not get as much attention (Ian Boyne, The Jamaica Gleaner)
• Holy after-Christmas sale! | This is how commercial Christmas evolved (Art Buchwald, The Washington Post)

The meaning of Christmas:

• God, as we hadn’t seen him | The core claim of Christianity, that God sent His Son to redeem the world, is one of the most liberating concepts in human history (E. J. Dionne Jr, The Washington Post)
• The amazing grace of Christmas morn | The authentic story of the redeeming power of the Christmas message is nowhere more vividly illustrated than in the incredible life of an English slaver named John Newton (Wesley Pruden, The Washington Times)
• ‘Dad, is Santa more important than God?’ | Andrew Gimson quizzes Ipswich bargain hunters about the real meaning of Christmas (The Daily Telegraph, London)
• Christmas means we are no longer alone | Christmas has become the most universal of festivals, celebrated the world over by Christians and others alike, because it appeals to our humanity (Editorial, The Daily Telegraph, London)
• Christmas joy ‘all in the mind’ | Dr Stephen Joseph, of Warwick University, found those with religious beliefs are happier at Christmas than those who have a more materialistic outlook (BBC)
• Native Americans portray Christ’s birth in their traditions | Christmas trees and poinsettias were placed at the sides of the stage, while animal furs, pine branches and the supports of a tepee rested in the middle (Statesman Journal, Salem, Ore.)
• For some families, holiday is merely for gatherings | For some Americans, the appeal of Christmas is in its family oriented traditions, rather than its basis in Christianity (Courier News, Bridgewater, NJ)
• Why it’s dumb to dumb-down Christmas | I don’t subscribe to any modern religion nowadays, but still feel a strong spiritual connection with Christmas past and future (Margaret Cook, The Scotsman)

Non-Christians and anti-Christians at Christmas:

• Non-Christians find ways to cope with Christmas | Christians consider it the ‘most wonderful time of the year,’ but for others, issues of gifts, school programs can be confusing (Associated Press)
• Here’s hoping for a Festivus for all of us | The whole idea of Christians thinking they’ve found the better way to live in this world – and bragging about it in public – didn’t strike me as particularly Christian. I don’t think that’s what Jesus wanted from his followers. (Dan Rodricks, The Baltimore Sun)
• Jesus just misunderstood | The Gospels aren’t history. The virgin birth never “happened” nor did the miracles, including multiplying loaves of bread and turning water into wine. But, understood in their mystical sense, these Gospel moments can still transform our lives in the most powerful, intimate way. (Tom Harpur, The Toronto Star)

More Christmas stories:

• Christmas in Romania | Romanian Christians are working to bind up Romania’s festering wounds and — after decades of oppression — are relearning how to be salt and light in the surrounding culture (Anne Morse, National Review Online)
• Hijacking “Him” for empire | Put it on your shield … or on your Christmas card, as did Vice President Dick and Lynne Cheney (Ray McGovern)
• Three stories of Christmas: Hope, courage and faith | The story is eerily familiar: A pregnant woman and her devoted husband are desperate to find a place to rest before the baby comes. There is danger all around, especially from the soldiers. But despite the proximity to Christmas, Therese Npamfurayishylri wasn’t on a donkey in Galilee.(The Orlando Sentinel)
• O holiday tree, O holiday tree | December 25, generic federal holiday (Rich Lowry, National Review Online)
• Tolerating Christians | Where are the diversityphiles now? (Deroy Murdock, National Review Online)
• Sing all ye citizens, for heaven’s sake | We sang “O come all ye faithful” at church on Christmas Day. And so did the Pope, or at least the Pontifical Institute of Sacred Music posted a recording of it on its website (Christopher Howse, The Daily Telegraph, London)
• Thief returns icon of baby Jesus, says prank proves point | A figure of baby Jesus stolen from a Maumee church is back in his manger, wearing a new coat – of paint, that is (The Toledo Blade)

Neopaganism:

• Plea against secular ‘myths’ | Christian leaders used their Christmas sermons yesterday to urge people against creeping secularism and the search for happiness through “pseudo-religions” (The Australian)
• Christianity’s toughest test of faith | Christianity is locked in a battle for dominance with neo-pagan beliefs in a contest that harks back to the establishment of the church 2000 years ago, researchers believe (The Australian)

Kwanzaa:

• A case of the Kwanzaa blues | In rejecting Christmas and Christianity, blacks reject the primary force for black American sustenance and resistance (Debra J. Dickerson, The New York Times)
• The Kwanzaa question | Holiday’s spiritual embrace debated in churches, mosques (The Denver Post)

Money and business:

• Christian products fly off store shelves | Christianity hasn’t just entered the mainstream, it is swimming to the lead (Detroit Free Press)
• Marketing strategy splits the sacred and secular | David Michel is using a marketing approach that others are now trying — designing separate pitches and packaging to sell the same products to religious and secular customers. So Jay Jay presents himself in two versions, one secular and one Christian (The New York Times)
• Helping farmers, a cup of coffee at a time | A poster on a wall at Equal Exchange, a food cooperative here, asks a question that literally hangs over the heads of its employees: What would Jesus drink? (The New York Times)

Music:

• Music and spirit in harmony | Secular and sacred: Indigo Girls’ Emily Saliers and her dad explore similar social justice themes (The Dallas Morning News)
• Gospel music pioneer Vestal Goodman dies | Goodman and her late husband, Howard “Happy” Goodman, were part of The Happy Goodman Family act, which recorded 15 No. 1 gospel music songs and performed more than 3,500 concerts (Associated Press)
• A voice of comfort sings out to quell despair | The singer Aaron Neville credits St. Jude with saving him from heroin addiction and chronic depression (The New York Times)
• Music review: ‘God’s Got It’ from Rev. Charlie Jackson | In the 1970s, Rev. Charlie Jackson strapped on an electric guitar and inspired the congregation in his hometown of Amite, La. He also recorded a series of blues tinged gospel 45s that became collector’s items (All Things Considered, NPR)
• New songs from Johnny Cash ‘Unearthed’ | In the months leading up to his death in September, country music legend Johnny Cash recorded dozens of songs, wrote new ones and completed the liner notes for a CD box set called Unearthed. It includes the best of the singer’s work from the past 10 years, plus previously unreleased material. (Morning Edition, NPR)

Television:

• Christians ‘are easiest target for TV satire’ | Comedians and dramatists delight in “pouring scorn” on Christianity but are “timid” about mocking Muslims, a broadcasting watchdog chief said yesterday (The Daily Telegraph, London)
• The God squad | Roseville couple to don the evangelical capes of Bibleman and Biblegirl (The Sacramento Bee)
• A politically minded minister who preaches ecumenism | As Christian proclamations have become common in American politics, middle-of-the-road Protestants have sought to anoint a pulpit superstar to rival White House favorites like the Rev. Franklin Graham on the one hand and the Rev. Jesse Jackson on the other. “Speaking to Power: A ‘NOW With Bill Moyers’ Special Edition,” on PBS, showcases one such effort (The New York Times)

Film:

• Gibson film puts focus on traditionalists | For more than three decades, a small group of American Roman Catholics has been quietly worshipping in ways the Vatican told them to abandon (Associated Press)
• Movie discussion draws hundreds to synagogue | “Perhaps Mel Gibson’s movie will be like the Japanese film ‘Rashomon.’ Christians will see one movie and Jews will see another,” said Rabbi David Elcott, speaking to a crowd of 400 at North Shore Congregation Israel (Wilmette Life, Ill.)
• Anger at sex change for angel Gabriel | Tilda Swinton is getting ready for what could be her biggest challenge yet—playing the Archangel Gabriel, in a blockbuster comic-book adaptation with Matrix star Keanu Reeve (The Herald, Glasgow, Scotland)

The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King:

• Hope of fools | Tolkien’s trilogy of good and evil (Rich Lowry, National Review Online)
• Give the Hobbit a break | The Lifetime-ization of Tolkien (Gina R. Dalfonzo, National Review Online)
• The end of the ring | “The Return of the King” is a flawed, disappointing end to Peter Jackson’s exceptional Lord of the Rings trilogy (Jonathan V. Last, The Weekly Standard)

American Jesus:

• ‘American Jesus’: Our favorite philosopher | From Thomas Jefferson’s day onward, says Stephen Prothero, many Americans who like Jesus have found him exactly what they like (The New York Times Book Review)
• Jesus: Flexible fit for all reasons | “There really is a Gumby-like quality to Jesus in America—you can bend him in any direction,” says Stephen Prothero,. author of American Jesus (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
• Jesus in America: his changing image | Every group in America – Christian or not – must deal with Jesus (Ron Charles, The Christian Science Monitor)

Other books:

• Quo Vadis? | Planning for eternity with Anthony DeStefano, executive director of A Travel Guide to Heaven (National Review Online)
• Godliness—in 40 days | The Purpose Driven Life turns the thesis of the typical self-help tome straight on its head (Dale Buss, The Wall Street Journal)
• Tammy Faye writes self-help book | Deposed televangelist Tammy Faye Messner has three words in response to those who think ill of her: “Not true,” and “onward.” (Associated Press)

More pop culture:

• Jesus takes new place in our modern pop culture | Christianity resurfaces on screen, in music and novels (The Montreal Gazette)
• Jesus’ real life becomes topic for holiday season | Novels, film rousing believers and critics (San Francisco Chronicle)
• Christians complain about media treatment | From the big screen to the little screen and from sitcoms to the news, Christians say they can’t get a fair shake in the media (Fox News)
• Sunday school vs. kids’ sports: a growing rivalry | Youth leagues have grown by 400 percent in the past 25 years, creating a schism between sports and the Sabbath (The Christian Science Monitor)

Church life:

• Pastor Mark packs ’em in | Mark Driscoll’s stylish but strict message to the young (Pacific Northwest: The Seattle Times Magazine)
• Pastors ponder absence of twentysomethings | In a typical week, just three of 10 twentysomethings attend church (Religion News Service)
• The rise of the American megachurch | In an era when small and medium-sized churches of almost every faith are losing members, megachurches continue to grow – last year by 4 percent. Their success is due in part to the ushering in of a new business-savvy approach to religion. But more important, experts say, these churches are thriving because of what’s being ushered out (The Christian Science Monitor)
• Car, motorbike giveaways rev up La Marque church | Contest during New Year’s Eve service open to all as long as you’re in a pew (Houston Chronicle)
• Also: Lottery’s offering of car and cycle drives the multitudes into church | Faced with a new year and the continuing challenge of filling a 4,000-seat church, Pastor Walter Hallam prayed for inspiration and got it (Los Angeles Times)
• Clergy’s union in plea for job rights | The clergy trade union stepped up demands for clerics to be protected by employment law yesterday after a survey revealed that many feel insecure in their jobs (The Daily Telegraph, London)
• Clergy ‘fearing for their jobs’ | Almost one out of every two members of the clergy believe there are plans to abolish their jobs, according to a poll (BBC)
• Priest ordered to stop treasure hunting | The Mines and Geosciences Bureau has ordered the parish priest of La Carlota City to stop illegal digging operations in search for treasure in the Ilog Roman Catholic Cemetery (Sun Star, Philippines)
• A church’s grand sacrifice | St. Paul’s aging congregation decides to close early and share its resources with charities and a school (The Baltimore Sun)
• The man building a cathedral no one wants | Justo Gallego has spent 40 years single-handedly building a cathedral, only to discover that his quixotic passion for the offbeat building was not widely shared (The Daily Telegraph, London)

Catholicism:

• Patriarch: Vatican relations must improve | The head of the Russian Orthodox Church says relations with the Roman Catholic Church must improve before he would agree to a visit from Pope John Paul II (Associated Press)
• Cardinal wants slimmer Vatican, less focus on pope | A leading contender to succeed Pope John Paul has called for Roman Catholicism to scale back the power of its centralized papacy and focus less on the pontiff who heads the world’s largest Church (Reuters)
• Priestly celibacy rule ‘is ignored’ | Priestly celibacy in the Roman Catholic church has largely broken down in many parts of the world, Father Timothy Radcliffe, former master general of the Dominican Order, which has 200,000 members worldwide, said (The Guardian, London)
• Catholic archdiocese joins flu fight | The Boston Archdiocese is asking parishioners with cold or flu symptoms to forgo long-standing traditions of Mass — including communion and shaking hands as a symbol of peace — to avoid spreading the illnesses (Associated Press)
• Search on for patron saint of Internet | 6th-century Spanish prelate in running, but nuns push for 20th-century priest (Toronto Star)

Crime:

• Missionary: Blade was in shoe for ‘safety’ | David McIntyre, 38, a missionary with the Harrisburg, Pa.-based Association of Baptists for World Evangelism, was on his way home from Belo Horizonte, Brazil, with his wife and three children when he was arrested at Concourse B on a charge of carrying a concealed weapon (The Miami Herald)
• Mexican cardinal cleared of laundering | Deputy Attorney General Jose Vasconcelos said Friday that investigators found no evidence of wrongdoing (Associated Press)
• U.S. cracks down on American sex tourists abroad | Child protection legislation signed by President Bush in April is making it easier for U.S. authorities to prosecute American citizens who engage in the child sex trade while traveling abroad (Morning Edition, NPR)
• High hopes of slain Burundi envoy | The Vatican’s ambassador to Burundi, who was shot dead on Monday, had cancelled his post-Christmas break to help bring peace, his sister has said (BBC)

Abuse:

• Calif. church abuse suit deadline nears | Californians are rushing to file hundreds of lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Church before the year-end deadline established under a state law that opened a window for old molestation claims (Associated Press)
• Former Baptist pastor charged with sexual misconduct | Woman claims abuse started when she was 14 (The Times, Munster, Ind.)
• Archbishop bans victims’ group meetings | The head of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta has refused to allow a support group for victims of the church’s sex abuse scandal to meet on church property (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)

More articles:

• Calif. boy still missing after mudslides | Edgar Meza is the last unaccounted-for member of a group of family and friends who gathered at a church camp on Christmas Day (Associated Press)
• Religion news in brief | Cardinal says Rome should cede more authority to local churches, Woman sues Jews for Jesus for wrongly claiming she converted, and other stories (Associated Press)
• The nature of medical ‘miracles’ | Why do some patients manage to beat the odds? (Associated Press)
• The Banners | Why are rich people afraid of the Virgin Mary? (Peggy Noonan, The Wall Street Journal)
• Moving stories: Chang Soo Park | Chang Soo Park is a missionary working in Birmingham, England. He came to England from South Korea in 1999 (BBC)
• ‘I’ve never seen so many hangers turned into nativity play halos’ | Dom Antony is one of the best loved – and connected – Roman Catholic priests in Britain (The Daily Telegraph, London)
• ‘It is the perfect time to transfer the gospel into practical help’ | Jemima Prasadan, who grew up in an Indian, traditionally-Hindu family was the first non-white woman to be ordained into the Church of England (The Daily Telegraph, London)
• In a new country, confusion and doubts | The course was called Exploration into Religion, and it was about—well, it had something to do with religion. That’s why Kakenya Ntaiya signed up for it. (The Washington Post)
• Respect the theology of our friends | I could not care less if the Mormons baptize me after I’m dead (Shmuley Boteach, The Jerusalem Post)
• Thousands for prayers | Thousands of Christians are expected at the Mandela National Stadium, Namboole, for overnight prayers to mark the beginning of the New Year, 2004 (The Monitor, Kampala, Uganda)

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