March 11, 2008

ISLAM
Islamic body seeks new role to fight "Islamophobia"
Diadie Ba/Reuters (03/11/2008)
charter that will give it a more active, influential role as the voice of Islam in a globalised world.

EDUCATION
Criminalizing Home Schoolers
Kristin Kloberdanz/Time (03/11/2008)
Parents of the approximately 200,000 home-schooled children in California are reeling from the possibility that they may have to shutter their classrooms — and go back to school themselves — if they want to continue teaching their own kids.

DOCTRINE AND PRACTICE
Rounding up the faithful
Electa Draper/Denver Post (03/11/2008)
Cowboy churches. Laid-back but filled with spirit, Western Heritage gatherings give hardworking folks a place to "come as they are" to worship.

LAW AND COURTS
LDS Church apologizes for 'senseless' vandalism of Catholic church, shrine
Peggy Fletcher Stack and Jason Bergreen/Salt Lake Tribune (03/11/2008)
LDS Church officials have apologized for three Mormon missionaries who allegedly vandalized religious artifacts and showed "disrespect" at a Colorado Catholic church in 2006.

ARTS AND MEDIA
'This Beautiful City' actors interviewed evangelicals
Peter Smith/Courier-Journal (03/11/2008)
Emily Ackerman said she couldn't remember the last time she had been to church and still has no desire to go. But when the New York City actress interviewed a Colorado Springs woman about her journey from drug addiction and self-loathing to a loving relationship with Jesus, Ackerman said she was "the first one who was actually able to explain to me what being saved was like -- and I got it."