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Briefly noted
Nine faith leaders have joined to urge senators Barack Obama and John McCain to present a ten-year plan to combat poverty at their nominating conventions....
Faith groups work with UN to limit arms trade: U.S. not present for vote on agreement
Religious and peace groups have offered qualified praise for a recent nonbinding United Nations agreement on small arms that they say takes a step in efforts to curb the trade in illicit weapons....
Reid proposes federal antipolygamy task force: Accuses polygamous groups of organized crime
Law enforcement officials from three western states have urged the creation of a federal task force to combat polygamy— a proposal that members of a polygamous sect called an attack on religious fr...
Baylor regents remove president over failure to unify factions: In spite of John Lilley's "significant accomplishments"
John Lilley, president of Baylor University, has been fired for failing to “bring the Baylor family together,” says Howard Batson, chair of the university’s board of regents....
Muslim issue is 'no-win' for him, says Obama: A catch-22
Democratic senator Barack Obama admitted to a recent journalists’ conference in Chicago that correcting assertions and rumors that he is a Muslim has him cornered in a “no-win situation” in his rac...
Catholic campus revokes chair for feminist scholar: University of San Diego and Rosemary Radford Ruether
The University of San Diego has rescinded an invitation to a controversial feminist theologian who had been planning to spend a semester teaching and lecturing on the Roman Catholic campus....
Bay State clears path to same-sex rites for out-of-state couples: Repeals 1913 law that stood in the way
Massachusetts lawmakers voted last month to repeal a 1913 law that had the effect of preventing out-of-state gay or lesbian couples from being married in the Bay State....
Court upholds ruling against council member's Jesus-specific prayers: Sandra Day O'Connor weighs in
In a decision hailed by supporters as a victory for the separation of church and state, a federal appeals court upheld a Fredericksburg, Virginia, policy that restricts praying “in Jesus’ name” at ...
Unitarians steadfast after church shooting: No plans to alter teachings
Unitarian Universalist leaders say a fatal shooting at a church in Knoxville, Tennessee, will not deter them from continuing their socially progressive teachings, even as police say those beliefs a...
Out of darkness: Images that reach us
My husband and I found the WorldWide Telescope a few months ago, and we’ve been staring into the heavens ever since. “Which planet would you like to see first?” he asked me once he'd loaded the program onto his computer. No question: Saturn. I’ve always been fascinated by those rings. A few clicks of the mouse and there they were, circling and circling, a sash of light, a halo, a crown. We looked at Jupiter next, with its great red spot. We looked at Mercury, Venus, Mars and Pluto. Each planet was unique, different from every other. But what they had in common was this: they shone out of utter darkness.
The road taken: Marty's final column
At age 12, when I still thought I was or would be or could be a poet, John G. Neihardt figured large in my imagination. For 50-plus years he was Nebraska’s poet laureate....
Anglican unity in ‘grave peril’ if gay bans not enforced, Williams says: Report from Lambeth
The three-week Lambeth Conference in England concluded with essentially the same prognosis that bishops of the global Anglican Communion were given before they met in Canterbury. ...
Trust betrayed: A crisis in congregational life
It was Wednesday. Time to visit my youth intern again. I really, really disliked Wednesday mornings....
Sacrificial worship: Romans 12:9-21
Like an artist sketching in broad strokes on a huge canvas, Paul in the first 11 chapters of Romans has traced with great intensity God’s patience and persistence at making peace with humanity....
Three faiths, three friends: Seattle's interfaith amigos
Tables were set for the third annual interfaith Passover Seder meal, a "bring your own wine" event at University Congregational Church in Seattle. There were place settings for 300, fresh flowers, two kinds of charoset (a blend of fruit and nuts), two kinds of horseradish and baskets of matzo. The participants at this event came not only from University Congregational, led by pastor Don McKenzie, but also from Bet Alef, a “meditative synagogue” led by Rabbi Ted Falcon, and from an experimental congregation known as the Interfaith Community Church, led by Sufi Muslim teacher Jamal Rahman.
Language lessons: Learning with Muslims
During the 1990-1991 Gulf War, George Dardess, an English teacher in Rochester, New York, watched on television as the U.S. dropped “smart bombs” on Baghdad....
Great debates
During the third debate of the 2000 presidential election, then–vice president Al Gore stepped away from his podium and wand...
Dust and ashes
The book of Job is one of the most beautiful and perplexing books of the Bible. G. K....
Obama's bind
Black public figures seem to fall into one of two categories: they either project a militant resistance to white ...