March 17, 2008

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
Obama Plans Speech on Race
Shailagh Murray/washingtonpost.com (03/17/2008)
MONACA, Pa -- Sen. Barack Obama will deliver a major speech about race in Philadelphia tomorrow that he said would explore his relationship with Chicago pastor Jeremiah Wright and the wave of controversy it has stirred in his presidential bid.

Outspoken Minister Out Of Obama Campaign
Peter Slevin/Washington Post (03/15/2008)
CHICAGO -- A campaign spokesman said Friday night that the Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr., former pastor at Chicago's Trinity United Church of Christ, is no longer affiliated with Sen. Barack Obama's presidential race after coming under fresh scrutiny for controversial comments that the Illinois Democrat called "inflammatory and appalling."

Obama's Church Assails Media Coverage of Pastor
Jake Tapper and Susan Rucci/ABC News (03/17/2008)
Since last week's media eruption after the controversial sermons of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright of the Trinity United Church of Christ, Wright left the campaign's African American Religious Leadership Committee and Obama distanced himself from his pastor of 20 years.

Obama Pastor's Fiery Sermons Part of Long Prophetic Tradition
Adelle M. Banks/Religion News Service (03/17/2008: faithinpubliclife.org)
Observers of the black church say Wright's sermons may seem incendiary or uncomfortably provocative, but they reflect a proud history of what Walter Earl Fluker of Morehouse College in Atlanta calls "prophetic preaching, which is the trademark of the black church tradition, of which Jeremiah Wright is perhaps one of the most illustrious exemplars."

Candidates Court Catholics
Amy Chozick/Wall Street Journal (03/17/2008)
SCRANTON, Pa. -- Sen. Hillary Clinton often evokes her Methodist faith on the campaign trail. But it is Catholics who make up one of her most reliable groups of supporters and could help her defeat Sen. Barack Obama in the Pennsylvania primary.

EDUCATION
Lawmakers seek legal answer about school Bible class
Gary Scharrer/Houston Chronicle Austin Bureau (03/16/2008)
AUSTIN — Fiercely debated legislation last year to put a Bible course in public schools has landed in the hands of Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott for an opinion on what it means. And that's hardly a surprise, since state lawmakers couldn't agree on what the wording meant last May when they passed HB 1287, the so-called "Bible bill."

Police say rosaries are newest gang symbol
Esmeralda Bermudez/Religion News Service (03/16/2008: usatoday.com)
In the latest cultural take on a symbol that has gone from Catholic altars to Britney Spears' bosom, the rosary is blurring the lines of liberty and safety on campus. Some call the rosary-gang connection a stretch and urge caution. But for educators and public safety officials charged with blocking fluid gang trends, rosaries have become one more marker to track suspicious activity.

DOCTRINE AND PRACTICE
More Spanish-speakers converting to Mormonism
Associated Press (03/15/2008: dallasnews.com)
TUCSON, Ariz. – Spanish-speakers are fueling growth in the local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which recently opened new worship space in Tucson's predominantly Hispanic south side.

Burke declares two St. Stan board members excommunicated
Tim Townsend/St. Louis Post-Dispatch (03/17/2008)
ST. LOUIS -- St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke has declared the two new lay board members of St. Stanislaus Kostka church excommunicated. In his four years as St. Louis archbishop, Burke has publicly declared 12 Catholics excommunicated

FAITH LEADERS
Black Rabbi Reaches Out to Mainstream of His Faith
Niko Koppel/New York Times (03/16/2008)
CHICAGO — Having grown up in the African Methodist Episcopal Church, Capers C. Funnye Jr. was encouraged by his pastor to follow in his footsteps. Instead, he became a rabbi.