March 31, 2008

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
In 2008 race, US religious vote fragmenting
AFP (03/30/2008: afp.google.com)
WASHINGTON — The Republican Party and the religious right have been brothers-in-arms for nearly three decades, but values voters are fragmenting and Democrats are now refusing to cede the spiritual vote.

McCain making quiet play for Catholic vote
Wayne Slater/Dallas Morning News (03/31/2008)
The McCain campaign's Catholic outreach, which has gone largely unnoticed, is part of a larger effort to build bridges with religious voters who are key to the Republican's presidential prospects – a constituency Mr. McCain has long had trouble with.

BENEDICT XVI
Pope Reaches Out to American Catholics
Jay Tolson/U.S. News & World Report (03/28/2008)
It won't be the easiest roadshow for the leader of the world's largest Christian church, a man who many thought would be a quiet but dogmatic transitional figure focused on preserving the church in an increasingly secular Europe. But Pope Benedict XVI has already upset expectations, and when he arrives this month for his first pontifical visit to the United States, many of his admirers believe that he will overturn more.

Itinerary for pope's U.S. visit combines official, informal
Julia Duin/Washington Times (03/30/2008)
Pope Benedict XVI has two schedules for his upcoming U.S. visit: A jampacked list of official events and an unofficial schedule of evening meetings, including a huge birthday party at the Italian Embassy starring world -famous tenor Placido Domingo.

Vatican Sees Pope’s Visit as Chance to Soften Image
Laurie Goodstein/New York Times (03/31/2008)
WASHINGTON — When Pope Benedict XVI makes his first papal trip to the United States in April, he will be guided by a seasoned Vatican ambassador who sees the visit as an opportunity to introduce a little-known pope to a complex set of audiences: American Catholics, Americans in general and global opinion leaders.

DOCTRINE AND PRACTICE
Vatican: Islam World's Largest Faith
Alessandra Rizzo/Associated Press (03/31/2008: time.com)
Islam has surpassed Roman Catholicism as the world's largest religion, the Vatican newspaper said Sunday.

Redefining the Mormon Empire
Peggy Fletcher Stack and Jessica Ravitz/Salt Lake Tribune (03/31/2008)
The profile of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in America is still centered in the Mountain West, where more than three-quarters of U.S. Mormons live. But today, more Mormons are moving east and west, setting up enclaves on both coasts. Meanwhile, new studies of American religious demography show Utah and surrounding states are no longer the cohesive religious paradise Stegner described in his 1942 book, Mormon Country, with their cooperative economics and small-town feel.