January 30, 2008

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
President says his faith helped him overcome alcohol 'addiction'
Jennifer Loven /Associated Press (01/30/2008: boston.com)
BALTIMORE - President Bush is talking more openly lately about his old drinking habit, and yesterday he offered perhaps his most pointed assessment yet by saying plainly that the term "addiction" had applied to him.

Obama Speaks to Jewish Voters on Israel
Laurie Copans/Associated Press (01/29/2008: ap.google.com)
JERUSALEM — Barack Obama wooed Jewish voters and skeptical Israelis in interviews published Tuesday, voicing support for key Israeli demands in peace talks with the Palestinians. Winning over Israel could help the Democratic presidential candidate gain favor with American Jews, who make up large voting blocs in key states like New York and Florida. But he faces a difficult task.

Plate passed for Huckabee at ministry site
Frank Lockwood/Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (01/29/2008)
A televangelist under investigation by the U.S. Senate Finance Committee turned a national ministers’ gathering last week into a fundraising opportunity for Mike Huckabee, reportedly helping to raise thousands of dollars for the cash-strapped presidential candidate. The fundraiser was held at Kenneth Copeland Ministries’ campus in Newark, Texas, a ministry spokesman confirmed Monday. But he said the event did not amount to an endorsement of Huckabee by the nonprofit church because the campaign paid for use of the facility.

ABORTION
S.D. Senate and House pass abortion sonogram bills
Bill HarlanRapid City Journal (01/30/2008)
PIERRE -- The South Dakota House and Senate passed similar bills Tuesday requiring doctors to offer pregnant women the chance to see sonograms before they decide to get abortions. If a woman didn't want to see the sonogram, she would have to sign a statement that the offer had been made.

Senate approves abortion-medicine bill
Mary Beth Schneider/indystar.com (01/30/2008)
The Senate today passed a bill that would let a pharmacist refuse to dispense medicines they believed will lead to abortion or assisted suicide.

DOCTRINE AND PRACTICE
Defining secularism
David Gibson/New Jersey Star-Ledger (01/30/2008)
In the cloud of dust that passes for public rhetoric these days, few epithets can stir up passions as quickly as accusing an opponent of being a "secularist," or some variant of the term. To middle-of-the- road folks, to embrace secularization is to be vaguely un-American, or at best irreverent. For religious conservatives, of course, it is the red flag that can send them stam peding to the ballot box, and thus it has become a favorite flourish for campaigners.

Spurred by Carter, some Baptists meet to build bigger tent
Jane Lampman/Christian Science Monitor (01/30/2008)
Some 20,000 are expected in Atlanta this week to show that they can work together despite political and religious divisions.

New Orleans Catholic churches still in flux after Katrina
Bruce Nolan/Religion News Service (01/30/2008: ethicsdaily.com)
Scores of Catholic priests, parishioners and staffers at the Archdiocese of New Orleans are immersed in plans to redefine Catholic life in a smaller, poorer regional church after Hurricane Katrina. The new plan will decide which dormant, hollowed-out Catholic parishes will have to close permanently, which have demonstrated enough vitality to reopen, and which will continue to limp along under the wing of a healthier nearby parish.

SPORTS
A Monastery Opens Its Doors to Football Fans
Katie Thomas/New York Times (01/30/2008)
PHOENIX — There is no sauna, no heated pool, no chauffeur or sommelier. In fact, no alcohol is allowed on the premises, and guests share a bathroom with their next-door neighbor. But for $250 a night in a city where Super Bowl rentals are topping out at $250,000 a week for a mansion in Scottsdale, the sisters at Our Lady of Guadalupe Monastery figure they have an offer that can’t be beat.