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March 2009
- Notre Dame Students Support Obama Invite
  
  Associated Press | Mar 27, 09 11:11 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - President Obama's invitation to speak at Notre Dame's graduation has prompted protests from two bishops, who blasted the Catholic school for inviting a president who supports stem-cell research and funding for family-planning clinics that offer abortion. But students are eager for Obama's visit, the AP reports. Based on letters to the student paper, 97% of seniors support their class committee's choice of speaker, while most alumni oppose it. More »
- Brazil Prez Flouts Church, Backs Abortion Docs
  
  Daily Telegraph (UK) | Mar 11, 09 12:53 PM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Brazil’s president today attacked the archbishop who excommunicated the doctors who performed an abortion on a 9-year-old rape victim. The girl had allegedly been impregnated with twins by her stepfather, who was not disciplined when Jose Cardoso Sobrinho excommunicated the girl’s mother and her doctors. “In this case, medicine is more right than the Church,” said President Luiz Inacio da Silva. More »
- Failed Intelligence Pick Blasts Israel Lobby
  
  Politico | Mar 11, 09 8:15 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - Charles Freeman, the Obama choice to chair the National Intelligence Council who was forced to withdraw his name, thinks he knows what did him in. Though critics point to a number of factors—his stance on human rights, his financial ties to Saudi Arabia and China—Freeman is convinced that the Israel lobby blocked him, reports Politico. “There is a powerful lobby determined to prevent any view other than its own from being aired,” he wrote in a departing statement. More »
- Survey: Religion Shrinks in US
  
  USA Today | Mar 9, 09 7:00 AM CDT
  
  (Newser) - A new survey shows sweeping changes in US religious attitudes over the past 18 years, with most religions losing members despite population growth, USA Today reports. Those identifying themselves as Christians have dropped 11% in a generation; mobility and marriage patterns have uprooted many religious affiliations. “More than ever before, people are just making up their own stories of who they are,” says a co-author. More »
February 2009
- Focus on the Family Chair Dobson Resigns
  
  Associated Press | Feb 27, 09 2:53 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - James Dobson is stepping down from his perch atop Focus on the Family, the AP reports, saying he wants to “lessen his administrative burden.” The conservative evangelist said he’ll keep playing a big role in the organization he founded, and will keep pushing his political agenda. Though Focus on the Family says it spends most of its resources on parenting and marriage advice, it’s best known for its ardent conservative politics. More »
- Critics Invoke Jesus in Anti-Stimulus Ad
  
  Politico | Feb 20, 09 3:58 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - A conservative group has brought Jesus into the fray over the stimulus package, Politico reports. An anti-stimulus ad from the American Issues Project set to start airing today flashes a picture of the three wise men on the screen and asks viewers to imagine spending "$1 million every single day starting from the day Jesus was born" to illustrate the size of spending in the package. More »
- Lutheran Panel Backs Gay Unions, 'Married' Gay Clerics
  
  Los Angeles Times | Feb 20, 09 3:27 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - A task force from the nation's largest Lutheran denomination has recommended the church give its blessing to same-sex unions, reports the Los Angeles Times . The panel also recommended that the Evangelic Lutheran Church in America allow gays—currently only permitted to serve as clergy if they are celibate—to serve as clergy if they are in committed, monogamous relationships. More »
- Obama Widens Faith-Based Initiative
  
  Wall Street Journal | Feb 5, 09 7:34 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Barack Obama announced his new-look faith-based initiative at the National Prayer Breakfast this morning, promising a program that won’t favor any particular religious group, or even religious groups over secular groups, the AP reports. “Far too often, we’ve seen faith wielded as a tool to divide us,” Obama said, but all faiths share the basic principle of loving thy neighbor. More »
January 2009
- Mississippi Most Religious State, Vermont the Least
  
  USA Today | Jan 31, 09 8:20 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - If you’re looking for religion, head to Mississippi; if you want to avoid it, choose Vermont, a new Gallup survey suggests. Mississippi is ranked as America’s most religious state, with 85% saying religion is “an important part of daily life.” At the other end of the scale is Vermont at 42%, USA Today reports. Other Bible-belt states fill out the top spots, while New England dominates among the nonbelievers. More »
- China Secretly Meets With Long-Banned Churches
  
  Times (UK) | Jan 26, 09 12:49 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Inching toward reconciliation after decades of opposition, China’s government invited leaders of the country’s banned Protestant churches to secret talks, the Times of London reports. The government is hoping to smooth relations as it celebrates its 60th year in power and aims for stability amid economic turmoil. Beijing allows Christians who worship in state-backed organizations, but more than 100 million attend underground “house churches” instead. More »
- Absence at Oath Re-Do Not Matter of Biblical Proportion
  
  Salon | Jan 22, 09 10:20 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Huge news out of Washington: Barack Obama didn’t use a Bible when he re-took the oath of office! Is he really the president? Well, yes, says Alex Koppelman of Salon. “Legally, the president can be sworn in on a copy of One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish , and the oath would count.” Will that stop Matt Drudge from complaining? Uh, no. More »
- Obama Attends Nat'l Prayer Service
  
  Associated Press | Jan 21, 09 10:35 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Barack and Michelle Obama attended the traditional prayer service at the National Cathedral this morning, the AP reports, a custom dating back to the nation's first president. The newly-minted president sat in the front pew along with Joe and Jill Biden and Bill and Hillary Clinton for a rousing service, which included prayers, hymns, and readings from a variety of faiths and denominations. The service was led by a woman for the first time. More »
- Warren Prayed for All—but Invoked Jesus
  
  Newsweek | Jan 20, 09 7:24 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Laden with pre-inaugural controversy, Rick Warren’s invocation today was “both inevitable and surprising,” writes Lisa Miller in Newsweek . “Inevitably,” he focused on being inclusive, alluding to Christian, Muslim, and Jewish rites; the "unkempt" pastor knows how to “strike an empathic, populist chord.” But he raised eyebrows when he prayed in the name of Jesus, a move that has sparked uproars for other inaugural preachers. More »
- Protestants Hold Inauguration Monopoly
  
  Time | Jan 20, 09 7:42 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Barack Obama's swearing-in will be the sixth straight inauguration where rabbis and Catholic priests will be absent from the dais, reports Time . For decades it was traditional to have Protestant, Catholic, and Jewish representatives at the ceremony, but Billy Graham’s invocation (and benediction) at George Bush’s 1989 inauguration ushered in an Evangelical Protestant monopoly that continues with Rick Warren's opening prayer today. More »
- Oy, Caramba! Cubans Turn to Judaism
  
  Wall Street Journal | Jan 14, 09 8:25 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Cuba's Jewish community is growing for the first time in decades, the Wall Street Journal reports. The country's Jewish population dwindled to 1,000 by the late 1980s but has now hit 1,500. Hundreds of other Cuban Jews have recently emigrated, landing in Israel, Canada, and the US. Many are rediscovering long-hidden Jewish roots, but the lure for some converts is a ticket off the island. More »
- Openly Gay Bishop Tapped for Inauguration
  
  Boston Globe | Jan 12, 09 12:36 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Barack Obama has asked Bishop V. Gene Robinson, the only openly gay Episcopal bishop, to deliver the invocation at the opening event of Inauguration Week, the Boston Globe reports. Robinson had been among those who criticized Obama for asking same-sex marriage opponent Rick Warren to deliver the main inaugural invocation. More »
December 2008
- Anglicans Open Path for First Women Bishops
  
  Times (UK) | Dec 30, 08 8:21 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - The Church of England has drafted a plan to allow the first women bishops within 3 years, the Times of London reports. But there’s a catch—to appease traditionalists, parishes that won’t tolerate a woman can have their own “complementary” bishops. Still, members of this special class of "flying" bishop would answer to the diocesan bishop—male or female. The proposal is likely to cause turmoil among church leaders, AFP reports. More »
- Warren Deletes Anti-Gay Note, Cites 'Christ-o-phobia'
  
  Queerty | Dec 23, 08 5:08 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Rick Warren—whose upcoming invocation at the Obama inauguration is causing a ruckus—has removed anti-gay language from the website of his Saddleback Church, Queerty reports. A page that explicitly barred gays from membership has suddenly gone missing, along with some Catholic bashing and a defense of dinosaurs in the Bible. Warren also posted a video in which he blamed bloggers for distorting his views and accused them of "Christ-o-phobia," the Boston Globe notes. More »
- The Case for and Against Rick Warren
  
  Washington Post | Dec 23, 08 1:31 PM CST
  
  (Newser) - Liberals should be neither shocked nor appalled by Barack Obama’s inaugural invitation to anti-gay pastor Rick Warren, EJ Dionne writes in the Washington Post . His colleague Richard Cohen begs to differ, however, so the two duke it out in their columns today. Cohen says Obama has decided to “honor a bigot” and is refusing once again to take moral leadership, treating a civil rights issue “as some sort of cranky cultural difference.” More »
- Recession Packs 'Em in the Pews
  
  New York Times | Dec 14, 08 11:43 AM CST
  
  (Newser) - Hard times are emptying company payrolls and government coffers, but they’re big business for churches, reports the New York Times in a look at America's renewed Sunday-morning religious fervor. Since September, evangelical pastors in particular have reported a burst of interest and standing-room-only congregations. “It’s a wonderful time, a great evangelistic opportunity for us,” says one. More »