August 5, 2008

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
For Bush, Asia trip is a balancing act
Steven Lee Myers | New York Times News Service (08/05/2008)
WASHINGTON — Aides organizing President George W. Bush's trip to China for the Olympic Games considered having him worship at a house church, one of the underground religious institutions that routinely face official harassment, but the Chinese authorities ruled it out. Pastors, lawyers and other political activists Bush considered meeting in Beijing as a signal of support have instead been ordered by the Chinese authorities to leave the city during the president's visit. Scores of others have been arrested.

Report: Religion rivaled race, gender coverage during primaries
Ashly McGlone/Religion News Service (08/05/2008: pewforum.org)
WASHINGTON - Religion rivaled race and gender combined during media coverage of this year's primary campaign season, according to a recent study by the Pew Research Center. Excluding "horse-race" coverage of campaign tactics and strategy, religion accounted for 10 percent of nonpolitical-process coverage, barely trailing race and gender at a combined 11 percent, the report concludes.

DENOMINATIONS
Anglicans to Seek Pact to Prevent a Schism
John F. Burns/New York Times (08/04/2008)
CANTERBURY, England — Nearly three weeks of discussion aimed at preventing a breakup of the worldwide Anglican Communion over homosexuality ended Sunday at a conference here with 650 bishops and archbishops agreeing to seek a new pact among all parties to the ecclesiastical controversy.

MARRIAGE AND FAMILY
Couples marrying on 8-8-08 for luck
Associated Press (08/05/2008: msnbc.msn.com)
It may not be as big as 7-7-7, but thousands of couples are heading down the aisle Friday, hoping the date Aug. 8, 2008, brings them luck and an easy to remember anniversary date.

DOCTRINE AND PRACTICE
Why many Americans prefer their Sundays segregated
John Blake/CNN (08/05/2008)
Americans may be poised to nominate a black man to run for president, but it's segregation as usual in U.S. churches, according to the scholars. Only about 5 percent of the nation's churches are racially integrated, and half of them are in the process of becoming all-black or all-white, says Curtiss Paul DeYoung, co-author of "United by Faith," a book that examines interracial churches in the United States.

Christianity has a place in China
Craig Simons/Cox (08/05/2008: ajc.com)
Nanjing, China —- On its official Web site, the Beijing Olympics organizing committee advises visitors to the Games that each person "take no more than one Bible into China." But in a country where the ruling Communist Party still forbids its members from joining religious groups, visiting Christians are likely to find no shortage of the Good Book.

FAITH LEADERS
Thousands bid farewell to the Rev. C.A.W. Clark
Sam Hodges/Dallas Morning News (08/05/2008)
His preaching style, perfected at Good Street Baptist and in revivals across the country, made him an influential hero for many fellow black pastors.