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January 11, 2008 GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
A faith-based stop for the president
Mark Silva/Chicago Tribune (01/11/2008)
BETHLEHEM, West Bank - After descending the stone stairs to the dim grotto beneath the Church of the
Nativity, President Bush lit a candle Thursday and stood in silent, somber reflection at the place where
Jesus Christ is believed to have been born.
Huckabee Aims for Evangelicals in SC
Eric Gorski/Associated Press (01/10/2008: washingtonpost.com)
Propelled in Iowa by evangelicals' support, Mike Huckabee is trying for a repeat victory in South
Carolina, where religion is woven even more tightly into the fabric of life.
Faith and Romney up close
Peggy Fletcher Stack/Salt Lake Tribune (01/11/2008)
BELMONT, Mass. - As a wildly successful American executive, wealthy capitalist and Harvard man, Mitt
Romney might have lived out his life among the country-club set and never really encountered an ordinary
citizen. Mormonism made that impossible.
DEATH PENALTY
Death penalty system is a mess, legal experts tell Calif. panel
Howard Mintz/Mercury News (01/11/2008)
Leading judges and scholars provided a grim verdict Thursday on how well the California justice system is
carrying out the ultimate punishment as a state commission began an unprecedented review of the death
penalty. From California Chief Justice Ronald George, a death penalty supporter, to law professors who
oppose capital punishment, the theme was consistent: The state's death penalty system is a mess.
Death penalty assailed
Melanie Asmar/Concord Monitor (01/11/2008)
Lawyers for Michael Addison, who is charged with capital murder, have filed four new challenges to New
Hampshire's death penalty, continuing their six-month attempt to bar the form of punishment in his case.
DOCTRINE AND PRACTICE
Pastor to men: Get thee to a doctor
Associated Press (01/11/2008: cnn.com)
Too many church men were dying of preventable illnesses related to poor health, Troy told the congregation
at New Salem Missionary Baptist Church, a predominantly black church of about 4,500 members, including
about 900 adult men.
For Many a Follower, Sacred Ground in Colorado
Finn-Olaf Jones/New York Times (01/11/2008)
At 8,000 feet on the edge of the desert plains of the San Luis Valley beneath the Sangre de Cristo Range,
this town and its environs have about 1,500 residents and two dozen different religious centers, including
a cluster of Buddhist monasteries, a Catholic monastery, a Taoist retreat, a Hindu ashram, a Shumei center
and several American Indian sanctuaries. This forested hillside haven, nestled on an enormous aquifer
below the 14,000-foot Crestone Peaks, has long been considered sacred.
NONPROFITS
Watchdog group asks IRS to investigate religious group
Associated Press (01/10/2008: chron.com)
AUSTIN — A state watchdog group has asked the Internal Revenue Service to investigate a nonprofit
organization they say violated state law by involving pastors in Gov. Rick Perry's re-election campaign.
CONGREGATIONS AND FAITH GROUPS
State won't close pavilion-use probe in Ocean Grove
Robert Schwaneberg/Star-Ledger (01/10/2008)
The state Division on Civil Rights has refused to end its investigation of whether a Methodist group in
Ocean Grove violated the rights of two lesbian couples by rejecting their applications to rent its
boardwalk pavilion for their civil union ceremonies.
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