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Washington Post
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May 29, 09 10:01 AM CDT
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With the fight over gay marriage moving east, activists in favor of legalization are aiming to discredit a primary opponent: the Mormon Church. Stunned by the effect of Mormon fundraising and canvassing in the passage of California's Proposition 8, two groups are running ads attacking Mormon involvement in the issue, the Washington Post reports. One ad run on newspaper web sites in three states reads: “The Mormons are coming! The Mormons are Coming!”
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Lynchburg News Advance
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May 22, 09 4:15 PM CDT
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Jerry Falwell’s conservative Christian Liberty University has suspended the student Democratic Club for supporting candidates “directly contrary to the mission” of the school, the Lynchburg News Advance reports. Virginia Democrats are up in arms. “I urge the leadership of Liberty University to reverse this attack on the liberty of its students,” Gov.Tim Kaine said. A Democratic candidate called the move “deeply troubling.”
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Huffington Post
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May 21, 09 9:05 AM CDT
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Last night’s American Idol was more than just a reality-show finale: It was a symbolic victory of the religious right over the liberal left; red states over blue states. At least according to two bloggers. “For a theory about how Kris Allen pulled an upset over the wildly popular Adam Lambert, the Christian vote is a pretty good one,” argues Michael Giltz in the Huffington Post.
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WMUR (NH)
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May 20, 09 3:44 PM CDT
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New Hampshire’s same-sex marriage bill is back in limbo, WMUR reports. In a surprise move, the state House rejected the measure because of an amendment proposed by the governor to protect clergy whose beliefs preclude them from marrying gays. The measure isn't dead, however. The House voted to try to negotiate a compromise with the Senate, which already passed the legislation. It would make New Hampshire the sixth state to legalize gay marriage.
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Washington Post
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May 18, 09 7:52 AM CDT
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Abortion opponents protested and pro-life students skipped, but Barack Obama's Notre Dame commencement address was at once "the most radical and the most conservative speech of his presidency," writes Washington Post columnist EJ Dionne. The president refused to indulge the protesters' desire to "reignite the culture wars," opting for humility and compromise—but he showed a comfort with the language of faith equal to George Bush.
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Time
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May 16, 09 3:50 PM CDT
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While conservative Catholics rage over President Obama's upcoming commencement speech at Notre Dame, one man has remained silent: the Holy Father. Indeed, American Catholic leaders and the Pope have staked out dramatically different positions from the Obama administration's, Amy Sullivan observes in Time . Yet the Vatican’s response to the pro-choice president has verged on approval.
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Washington Post
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May 13, 09 10:38 AM CDT
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As President Obama's commencement speech at Notre Dame approaches, pro-life activists have converged on the campus with banners, planes, and plans for civil disobedience. But students, who expressed pride that the president chose their school, aren't too happy with the protests. "It cheapens the argument. As someone who is pro-life, I don't respect it," one told the Washington Post.
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New York Times
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May 12, 09 11:42 AM CDT
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Democrats pushed Barack Obama into the White House hoping he could end the culture wars—and when they say “end,” they mean “win,” writes Ross Douthat in the New York Times . Obama’s strategy: “Engage on abortion, and punt on gay rights.” Though he made promises on gay rights, expect him to go on ignoring them, and seeking to attract pro-life voters.
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US News & World Report
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May 12, 09 4:07 AM CDT
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Miss California has told a Christian radio program that "Satan tried to tempt me" with the gay marriage pageant question that rocketed her into controversy. "I wanted to sound politically correct" and win the Miss USA pageant, Carrie Prejean told evangelical leader James Dobson yesterday. "Then God was in my heart saying, 'Do not compromise. You need to stand up for me.'" Prejean also slammed the pressure she's been under since presenting her "personal opinion" against gay marriage.
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Atlanta Journal-Constitution
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May 9, 09 2:01 PM CDT
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The silence emanating from the Christian right on torture has been deafening, writes Cynthia Tucker of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution . One prominent Christian conservative finally came out against the practice, saying it “violates everything we stand for,” but he is conspicuously alone and was conspicuously silent during the Bush years. Tacit support of torture "seems oddly out of step with the radical gospel of a carpenter who preached peace, forgiveness and mercy," Tucker writes.
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Washington Post
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May 8, 09 1:45 PM CDT
(Newser) -
Young Americans would likely become more religious if faith were disentangled from the polarizing practices of evangelical conservatives, Michael Gerson writes in the Washington Post . That’s a good thing, because research for an upcoming book found that religious Americans give more time and money—to secular and religious causes alike. The content of faith matters little: The benefits of religion come from joining a loving community.
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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
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May 8, 09 10:57 AM CDT
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Instead of getting ready for graduation this week, 22-year-old John Gechter finds himself kicked out of western Pennsylvania’s Grove City College for work he did in Miami and Chicago. The school is one of the most conservative Christian colleges in the US, and Gechter’s job was acting in gay pornography, so his suspension is perhaps not surprising, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports.
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Politico
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May 8, 09 8:40 AM CDT
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With Eric Cantor's high-profile new group aimed at diagnosing what ails the GOP, members of the party base are worried that the answer might be them. Social conservatives from Steve King to Mike Huckabee are accusing the group of excluding them from the National Council for a New America, Politico reports. Says former Ohio Secretary of State Ken Blackwell, conservatives “have the experience of being used and then abused and then forgotten.”
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Boston Globe
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May 7, 09 12:35 PM CDT
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President Obama has opted to observe today’s National Day of Prayer in private, a sharp turn from his predecessor’s policies that angers at least one organization, the Boston Globe reports. President Bush held public celebrations at the White House. “We are disappointed in the lack of participation by the Obama administration,” said Shirley Dobson of the National Day of Prayer Task Force.
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