July 23, 2008

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
Pastor snags Obama, McCain for joint appearance
CNN (07/23/2008)
Democratic Sen. Barack Obama and Republican Sen. John McCain in August will be on the same stage for the first time in the 2008 presidential campaign. The Rev. Rick Warren has invited them to appear at a leadership and compassion forum in his Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California, on August 16.

Is Anti-Catholicism Dead?
Sewell Chan/New York Times (07/23/2008)
When Gov. Alfred E. Smith ran for president in 1928, his candidacy was derailed in large part by anti-Catholic prejudice. It has been nearly 48 years since John F. Kennedy became the first (and so far only) Roman Catholic president, but experts say that anti-Catholic sentiment — much of it originating in, or as a response to, immigrants in New York — remains an enduring force in American culture.

POLYGAMY
Texas grand jury indicts 6 in polygamist ranch case
Reuters (07/23/2008)
HOUSTON - A Texas grand jury on Tuesday charged the jailed polygamist leader of a breakaway Mormon sect with sexually assaulting a child and indicted five followers after state officials raided a polygamist ranch near Eldorado in April. Included in the indictments issued by a grand jury in Schleicher County, Texas, was Warren Jeffs, the controversial spiritual leader and self-proclaimed prophet of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

DOCTRINE AND PRACTICE
EEOC issues guide on religion in work place
Associated Press (07/23/2008: iht.com)
A new guideline for handling religious diversity issues in the work place was issued Tuesday by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. The "consolidated and updated" guideline was issued as a result of the growing number of religious discrimination allegations filed with the EEOC, said David Grinberg, a spokesman for the agency.

Woman Runs Sword Into Foot During Wiccan Ceremony
Associated Press (07/23/2008: cbsnews.com)
A woman accidentally stabbed herself in the foot with a 3-foot-long sword while performing a Wiccan good luck ritual at a central Indiana cemetery. Katherine Gunther, 36, of Lebanon, pierced her left foot with the sword while performing the rite at Oak Hill Cemetery, police said.