July 24, 2008

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
Can Leah Daughtry Bring Faith to the Party?
Daniel Bergner/New York Times (07/24/2008)
In her positions as Dean’s top aid and the convention’s top official, Daughtry, who is 44 years old, is leading the Democratic Party’s new mission to make religious believers — particularly ardent Christian believers — view the party and its candidates as receptive to, and often impelled by, the dictates of faith.

IMMIGRATION
Triple murder turns focus on S.F. sanctuary policy
Paul Elias/Associated Press (07/24/2008: mercurynews.com)
SAN FRANCISCO—The scene repeats itself every day on city streets: A driver gets stuck bumper-to- bumper, blocking the intersection and another car's ability to complete a left turn. San Francisco authorities say that was enough to prompt Edwin Ramos to unload an AK47 assault weapon on a man and his two sons, killing all three. The murders immediately sparked public outrage, which only intensified when authorities revealed that Ramos, 21, is an illegal immigrant who had managed to avoid deportation despite previous brushes with the law.

POLYGAMY
Polygamous Sect to Defend 6 Members in Court and Its Practices on Capitol Hill
Gretel C. Kovach/New York Times (07/24/2008)
DALLAS — Texas Rangers and prosecutors prepared Wednesday to arrest five members of a polygamous sect indicted the day before with their imprisoned leader on charges relating to under-age marriages and bigamy.

DOCTRINE AND PRACTICE
At nation's churches, guys are few in the pews
Cathy Lynn Grossman,/USA Today (07/24/2008)
Churches nationwide are fretting and sweating to reel men into their sanctuaries on Sundays. Women outnumber men in attendance in every major Christian denomination, and they are 20% to 25% more likely to attend worship at least weekly.

'Unchurched' worshipping more, 'churched' less?
Ashly McGlone/Religion News Service (07/24/2008: usatoday.com)
A new survey shows that "unchurched" Americans may be worshipping more, and "churched" Americans worshipping less, than many people might think.

ARTS AND MEDIA
Salman Rushdie: What happens when worlds join
CNN (07/24/2008)
ATLANTA, Georgia -- In Salman Rushdie's new novel, "The Enchantress of Florence," the exasperated Mughal emperor Akbar the Great agrees to let a mysterious Florentine adventurer, Mogor dell'Amore, finish a tale. But as the troublesome Mogor prepares to continue, Akbar says with a touch of venom: "A curse on all storytellers. And a pox on your children, too." Salman Rushdie's more interested in trying "to find stories to tell about how the world joins up." Rushdie knows the sting.