March 13, 2008

AWARDS
Priest-Cosmologist Wins $1.6 Million Templeton Prize
Brenda Goodman/New York Times (03/13/2008)
The $1.6 million Templeton Prize, the richest award made to an individual by a philanthropic organization, was given Wednesday to Michael Heller, 72, a Roman Catholic priest, cosmologist and philosopher who has spent his life asking, and perhaps more impressively answering, questions like “Does the universe need to have a cause?”

Michael Heller: a thinker who bridges science and theology
Moises Velasquez-Manoff/Christian Science Monitor (03/13/2008)
The priest and philosopher from Poland wins the 2008 Templeton Prize for advancing a complex dialogue.

ISLAM
Islamic leaders voice anger at Islamophobia in West
Thomson and Lamine Ghanmi/Reuters (03/13/2008)
DAKAR - The leaders of the world's Muslim states on Thursday criticized a rising wave of "Islamophobia" in the West and pledged to combat Islamic extremism, which they said was partly to blame.

CHURCH FINANCES
Possible subpoenas for Dollar, Long if they don't submit financial docs
Christopher Quinn/Atlanta Journal-Constitution (03/13/2008)
Atlanta pastors were sent follow-up letters from Senate committee encouraging them to comply by March 31 deadline

DOCTRINE AND PRACTICE
Episcopal leaders oust conservative bishop
Associated Press (03/12/2008: usatoday.com)
FRESNO, Calif. — Episcopal leaders ousted a breakaway conservative bishop Wednesday in a struggle for control of the Diocese of San Joaquin and its properties. The Episcopal House of Bishops, meeting in Texas, took the action against Bishop John-David Schofield, who last December led the Fresno diocese to secede from the Episcopal Church.

Lutheran group keeps marriage traditional
Associated Press (03/13/2008: usatoday.com)
NEW YORK — A task force drafting a statement on sexuality for the nation's largest Lutheran group said Thursday that the church should continue defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. However, the panel did not condemn same- gender relationships. The report released by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is part of the denomination's yearslong effort to bridge internal differences over the Bible and homosexuality.

FAITH LEADERS
Obama's Pastor: God Damn America, U.S. to Blame for 9/11
Brian Ross and Rehab El-Buri/ABC News (03/13/2008)
The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Obama's pastor for the last 20 years at the Trinity United Church of Christ on Chicago's south side, has a long history of what even Obama's campaign aides concede is "inflammatory rhetoric," including the assertion that the United States brought on the 9/11 attacks with its own "terrorism."