July 18, 2008

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
Hudson rebuffs calls to resign from McCain campaign
Tim Murphy/Religion News Service (07/18/2008: pewforum.org)
WASHINGTON - Four years after he was forced to step down from President Bush's re-election campaign, Catholic scholar Deal Hudson is facing calls to resign as an adviser to Sen. John McCain's campaign.

MARRIAGE AND FAMILY
Census Won't Report Gay Marriage
Associated Press (07/18/2008: cbsnews.com)
Same-sex marriage is legal in two states, but not a single one will show up in the 2010 census. The Census Bureau says the federal Defense of Marriage Act bars the agency from recognizing gay marriages in the nation's 10-year count, even though the marriages are legal in Massachusetts and California.

DOCTRINE AND PRACTICE
Pope urges all faiths to unite against 'indiscriminate violence'
Associated Press (07/18/2008: usatoday.com)
SYDNEY, Australia — Pope Benedict XVI told representatives of Islam and other faiths that they must unite to combat religion's role in "sinister and indiscriminate" violence.

More blacks explore Judaism
Patrik Jonsson /Christian Science Monitor (07/17/2008)
Conversions to Judaism among African-Americans are growing in a way that could affect the presidential election.

Young Michigan Muslim group of 30 finds motivation, fosters mission in 30 meetings
Jeff Karoub/Associated Press (07/18/2008: startribune.com)
The group calling itself 30/30 emerged from the meetings with an agenda: to help teens in their community deal with social ills such as drug and alcohol addiction and mental illness — and to teach those on the outside about their faith.