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 A certain ritual of public witness--thanking Jesus in the postgame interview, praising God for victory, pointing heavenward after a score--has become routine behavior for devout Christian athletes. Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow is the most prominent current example. Another, perhaps different approach--or perhaps not so different--may be emerging with basketball player Jeremy Lin, who in recent weeks burst out of nowhere to become a fan favorite on the New York Knicks.

Among Gospel epitomes I especially love the Jesus prayer, the Agnus Dei and "When he ascended on high, he led captivity captive"--the good news as I first heard it from Paul (Ephesians 4:8) and Christ's Jubilee proclamation (Luke 4:18).

New today from the Century: Lauren Winner on fasting from anxiety, Carol Zaleski summarizes the gospel in four words, more.

Here are some things I read recently but didn't get around to blogging about.

"Not God bless America, God damn America!" bellowed Jeremiah Wright from his former pulpit. "That’s in the Bible for killing innocent people." This sermon quote--actually, usually just the "God damn America" part, stripped of any context whatsoever--created a media frenzy, earned death threats for Wright and jeopardized a then-parishioner's presidential campaign. "I don't think God will continue to bless America," said Rick Santorum the other day, "if we continue to kill 1.2 million children every year." Unlike Wright, Santorum is himself a candidate for president. Yet two days later Google offers mostly crickets.

Near the end of his memoir, Robert Lifton writes about Victor T., a Jewish doctor who had been an inmate at Auschwitz....

c. 2012 Religion News Service (RNS) The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has apologized for a Mormon who baptized the late parents of famed Nazi-hunter Simon...

Any Christian who travels in Muslim countries or on the frontier between the faiths may well encounter the Gospel of Barnabas and be asked to respond to its claims.

c. 2012 Religion News Service NEWARK, N.J. (RNS) Grammy Award winner and longtime family friend Marvin Winans will deliver the eulogy for Whitney Houston during her funeral...

c. 2012 Religion News Service DURHAM, N.C. (RNS) Lauren Winner is a jumble of contradictions: A Jew who found Christianity in a dream starring Daniel Day Lewis as Jesus, an accomplished historian who rides an oversized tricycle to work, and a memoir writer who wants to keep details of her private life private. In her latest book, "Still: Notes on a Mid-Faith Crisis," Winner, 35, writes about what happens when belief falters.

Oh Peter, how I love thee.  You make my craziness seem normal, thank you....

Amid a fragile economic recovery, it shouldn't be hard for Congress to pass things like extensions of the payroll-tax holiday and unemployment benefits....

New today from the Century: Philip Jenkins on Muslims and Barnabas, Sarah Rossiter poem, Transfiguration and church buildings, more.

"Religious commitments are no longer taken for granted as part of North American people's lives," says Scott Kershner of Holden Village, a Lutheran retreat center in Washington State. "So space opens up to ask very basic and interesting questions."

NASHVILLE, Tenn....

c. 2012 Religion News Service...

c. 2012 Salt Lake Tribune...

New York Knicks guard Jeremy Lin's underdog story and outspoken evangelical faith have some sportswriters dubbing him the "Taiwanese Tebow."...

In a response to complaints from Catholic leaders, last week the Obama administration revised its rule requiring some religious institutions to include birth control in health insurance. The new stance was welcomed by some Catholic organizations, including the Catholic Health Association but was firmly rejected by the Catholic bishops--who in doing so shifted the ground of their own argument.

Something foul is brewing in the small-town Midwest, where I grew up: A few years ago, hog farmers throughout the Midwest noticed foam building on top of their manure pits. Soon after, barns began exploding, killing thousands of hogs while farmers lost millions of dollars. Wow, okay, so explosive pig-manure foam is a thing.