May 9, 2008

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
Pastors May Defy IRS Gag Rule
Suzanne Sataline/Wall Street Journal (05/09/2008)
A conservative legal-advocacy group is enlisting ministers to use their pulpits to preach about election candidates this September, defying a tax law that bars churches from engaging in politics. Alliance Defense Fund, a Scottsdale, Ariz., nonprofit, is hoping at least one sermon will prompt the Internal Revenue Service to investigate, sparking a court battle that could get the tax provision declared unconstitutional.

FAITH LEADERS
Dalai Lama's Envoy Details China Talks
Edward Cody/Washington Post (05/08/2008)
BEIJING -- The Dalai Lama's senior envoy said Thursday that he used a recent resumption of talks with China to urge an end to repression in Tibet, the release of Tibetan prisoners and suspension of "patriotic education," in which Buddhist monks are required to disown the Dalai Lama.

Unhappy With 'Confrontational' Image, U.S. Panel Wants King Statue Reworked
Michael E. Ruane/Washington Post (05/09/2008)
A powerful federal arts commission is urging that the sculpture of Martin Luther King Jr. proposed for a memorial on the Tidal Basin be reworked because it is too "confrontational" and reminiscent of political art in totalitarian states.

DOCTRINE AND PRACTICE
Group sues over order to stop feeding the homeless at Doheny State Beach
Susannah Rosenblatt/Los Angeles Times (05/09/2008)
Members of the faith-based nonprofit Welcome INN were threatened with arrest under a law that regulates assembling in California state parks.

Native American in Eagle Slay Row
Ben Neary/Associated Press (05/09/2008: time.com)
CHEYENNE, Wyo. — An Native American who shot a bald eagle for use in a tribal religious ceremony must stand trial, a federal appeals court has ruled. A three-judge panel of the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver on Thursday reversed a 2006 lower court ruling that dismissed a criminal charge against Winslow Friday, a Northern Arapaho tribesman who has acknowledged shooting a bald eagle in 2005 during the tribe's Sun Dance.

SPORTS
Rabbis' call to boycott Olympics prompts backlash
Rachel Pomerance/Religion News Service (05/08/2008: usatoday.com)
A rabbinic call for Jews to boycott the Olympic Games in China has spawned a backlash by major American Jewish organizations.

SCIENCE AND MEDICINE
Illegal Immigrants Turn to Traditional Healing
Kevin Sack/New York Times (05/09/2008)
They may visit a clinic or hospital if they are severely ill. But for many undocumented immigrants, much of their health care is provided by a parallel system of spiritual healers, home remedies and self- medication.

ARTS AND MEDIA
Going With The Glow
Paul Farhi/Washington Post (05/09/2008)
A Swiss "illumination artist" lit up the sides of Washington National Cathedral last night with giant multicolored images. There were projections of stars, human faces and an abstract thing that looked like an exploded tomato. At one point a 50-foot-tall woman in a kimono materialized.