In this city so crowded with religious symbols, where houses of worship vie with one another to render the religious past visible, no synagogue bears more symbolic weight than the one called the Hurva, in the heart of the Jewish Quarter.

Just days ahead of its March 15 rededication ceremony, finishing touches still were being applied to the synagogue, once Jerusalem's grandest, which had remained in ruins for six decades. The rebuilt Hurva, made of the white stone that is Jerusalem's vernacular material, had already assumed its former prominence in the city's crowded skyline. Only interior details remained to be done.

Early this month, as the Israeli architect Nahum Meltzer looked on, a whorled woodwork crown covered in gold leaf was hoisted to its perch atop a two-story holy ark. The ark, which stands beneath the building's gleaming 82-feet-high dome, is a nearly exact replica of the original that stood on the spot more than 150 years earlier, encapsulating the basic principle that guided Mr. Meltzer's reconstruction: not innovation, but historical accuracy.

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Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Liturgy, Music, Worship • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • Middle East • Israel • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Faiths • Judaism

Liberal Judaism, Quakers in Britain and the Unitarians are the only religious denominations to have voiced support for the Equality Bill amendment but only the Quakers, in calling for full marriage equality, have done what is right. All religious faiths should follow their lead and ask the Government to finally introduce full equality.

It isn't very complicated. We're all human beings. Our needs are very simple: somewhere to live, something to eat, someone to love. There's no gay conspiracy. In asking for full equality we are not asking for much. It's beyond me how my joy in love can diminish anyone else's, and even less how it can bring them pain. I wonder how many lives those who oppose equality imagine they have, that they are prepared to lose both sleep and integrity obsessing over who is loving whom and how.

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I will take comments on this submitted by email only to at KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Psychology • Religion & Culture • Sexuality • Civil Unions & Partnerships • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • * Theology • Pastoral Theology

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Religious freedom advocates were encouraged by the President's stated views and allowed themselves to hope that America's international religious freedom policy, long isolated at the State Department, would be strengthened under the new administration.

Their hopes are fading.

Almost 14 months into the Obama presidency, the ambassador at large for international religious freedom -- a position mandated by the International Religious Freedom Act -- has not been named, even though other positions of less weight and importance to our national interests have long been filled.

The leading candidate for the religious freedom job is said to be a highly intelligent and charismatic pastor, an author and a thoroughly good person who has the friendship of Secretary Hillary Clinton. Those are important attributes. Indeed, having the trust of the Secretary is vital. But more is needed. To be successful, this ambassador at large needs foreign policy experience. Without it, it will be extremely difficult to succeed within Foggy Bottom's notoriously thorny bureaucracy, let alone deal with foreign officials who believe (as many do) that U.S. international religious freedom policy is a vehicle of cultural imperialism.

Worse, it appears that the new ambassador will be demoted before she is even nominated. Like her predecessors under Presidents Clinton and Bush, she will not be treated as an ambassador at large at all, but will report to a lower ranking official - the assistant secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor. Her placement alone will signal to American diplomats and foreign governments that they need not take U.S. religious freedom policy seriously.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Globalization • Law & Legal Issues • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • Foreign Relations • Politics in General • Office of the President • President Barack Obama

When the “American Idol” judge Simon Cowell recently predicted the departure of the contestant Jermaine Sellers, the young singer shook his head in disagreement. “I know God,’’ he replied, pointing upward.

Two days later, when Mr. Sellers failed to make the cut, he still had faith. “What God has for me is for me,’’ he said. “In God there is no failure.’’

Mr. Sellers is not alone in his belief that God pays attention to reality television contests. New research shows that most Americans believe God is directly involved in their personal affairs, and that the good or bad things that happen are “part of God’s plan,’’ according to a report in the March issue of the journal Sociology of Religion.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Movies & Television • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A.

The Dalai Lama lashed out at China on Wednesday, accusing it of trying to "annihilate Buddhism" in Tibet and rebuffing all his efforts to reach a compromise over the disputed Himalayan region.

China shot back, accusing the Tibetan spiritual leader of using deceptions and lies to distort its policy in the region. The passionate back-and-forth highlighted the distrust, anger and frustration that separates the two sides and leaves little hope for success in recently resumed talks.

Beijing has demonized the Dalai Lama and accused him of wanting independence for Tibet, which China says is part of its territory. The Dalai Lama says he only wants some form of autonomy for Tibet within China that would allow Tibetan culture, language and religion to thrive.

The Dalai Lama spoke Wednesday in an address marking the anniversaries of two failed uprisings against China, one 51 years ago that sent him into exile in India and the other two years ago that was quashed by a government crackdown that is still continuing.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • Asia • China • India • Tibet • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Faiths • Buddhism

A civil rights film, “Blood Done Sign My Name,” is one of 14 winners of the 2010 Wilbur Award that recognize excellence in coverage of religion in the secular media.

The Wilburs are awarded annually by the Religion Communicators Council; winners receive a trophy and $250. This year’s awards will be presented April 9 at the Religion Communication Congress in Chicago.

Read it all and see how many of the articles you have seen.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Media • Religion & Culture

Churches have joined together to protest against plans for a mosque that would tower over the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst, with one minister describing it as a “supremacist statement” for Islam.

A collective comprising every church in Camberley, Surrey, has lambasted plans for the giant mosque, warning that will create only “division and discord” in the town.

The proposal has already caused security concerns in military circles as the mosque includes 30m (100ft) minarets that would overlook Sandhurst.

The planned mosque lies just 360m from the academy, where hundreds of newly commissioned Army officers take to the parade ground each year for their passing out ceremony. The event attracts senior members of the Royal Family as well as important military figures.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Other Faiths • Islam • Muslim-Christian relations

Fascinating food for thought here--follow the entires and the links.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Books • Religion & Culture

Ehrenreich is most effective when she writes journalistically with an eye for the telling detail, such as in this description of Joel Osteen and his wife, Victoria: "In one way, the two of them seem perfectly matched, or at least symmetrical: his mouth is locked into the inverted triangle of his trademark smile, while her heavy dark brows stamp her face with angry tension, even when the mouth is smiling."

Pastors who serve in quite different settings from the Osteens' and who interpret the gospel differently than they do may take some delight in seeing them skewered so skillfully. But pastors might not want Ehrenreich to train her eye on their own churches. Increasingly, I encounter churches that have done away with corporate prayers of confession in worship because they are "too negative." Funerals are now often approached as "celebrations of life," where death is spoken of only in euphemisms. I have heard far too many sermons recently that substitute a glib positive message for the gospel.

Ehrenreich insists that the alternative to positive thinking is not despair; it is realism. Although she does not make this a theological argument, I think she would appreciate the distinction between positive thinking and the gospel. Positive thinking can be a lulling mixture of illusion and denial. By contrast, the gospel is based on hard realities, like sin and death, but can remain ultimately hopeful because it is also based on the reality of a God who triumphs over both. It seems to me, then, that any attempt to dismantle the shallow optimism that Ehrenreich critiques relentlessly—and, at times, effectively—is in service to the gospel.

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The Supreme Court agreed to decide whether the father of a fallen Marine can collect damages from a religious sect that picketed his son's funeral with vulgar placards celebrating the death of American soldiers.

The court also accepted two other cases on Monday, one testing whether vaccine makers are immune from lawsuits under state law and another that challenges government background checks on federal contractors as an invasion of privacy. The cases are likely to be heard in the fall.

The funeral case, Snyder v. Phelps, tests the limits of First Amendment protection for demonstrators who aim obnoxious and hurtful speech at the most sympathetic of victims. It centers on the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., founded in 1955. Most of the church's 70-odd members are children, grandchildren or in-laws of its founder and sole pastor, Fred W. Phelps Sr., according to a lower court opinion.

The Westboro Church searches the Internet for notices of military funerals it can picket to get attention for its message of hostility to homosexuality and the Roman Catholic Church, and its claim that battlefield casualties represent divine retribution for what it views as America's sins.

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I will take comments on this submitted by email only to at KSHarmon[at]mindspring[dot]com.

Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Parish Ministry • Death / Burial / Funerals • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Religion & Culture

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America is the exemplification of what I call the project of modernity. That project is the attempt to produce a people who believe that they should have no story except the story that they choose when they had no story. That is what Americans mean by freedom. The institutions that constitute the disciplinary forms of that project are liberal democracy and capitalism. Thus the presumption that if you get to choose between a Sony or Panasonic television you have had a “free choice.” The same presumption works for choosing a President. Once you have made your choice you have to learn to live with it. So there is a kind of resignation that freedom requires.

I try to help Americans see that the story that they should have no story except the story they choose when they had no story is their story by asking them this question — “Do they think they ought to be held accountable for decisions they made when they did not know what they were doing?” They do not think they should be held accountable for decisions they made when they did not know what they were doing. They do not believe they should be held accountable because it is assumed that you should only be held accountable when you acted freely, and that means you had to know what you were doing.

I then point out the only difficulty with such an account of responsibility is it makes marriage unintelligible. How could you ever know what you were doing when you promised lifelong monogamous fidelity? I then observe that is why the church insists that your vows be witnessed by the church: because the church believes it has the duty to hold you responsible to promises you made when you did not know what you were doing. And if the story that you should have no story but the story you choose when you had no story makes marriage unintelligible, try having children. You never get the ones you want. Of course Americans try to get the ones they want by only having children when they are “ready” — a utopian desire that wreaks havoc on children so born, to the extent they come to believe they can only be loved if they fulfill their parents’ desires.

Of course the problem with the story that you should have no story except the story you choose when you had no story is that story is a story that you have not chosen. But Americans do not have the ability to acknowledge that they have not chosen the story that they should have no story except the story they choose when they had no story.

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Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Church History • * Culture-Watch • History • Psychology • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A.

They see themselves as crusaders for human rights--protectors of the innocent, the voiceless, and the powerless. After years of enduring the slings and arrows of opposition, these activists are finally in the power seat. They are among the most important voices on a crucial political question: will abortion finally scuttle health-care reform?

They are America's Roman Catholic bishops.

It goes without saying that the Catholic hierarchy has always been pro-life. Nevertheless, the new prominence of this ancient fraternity is somewhat surprising. For one thing, the American public hardly regards the institutional Catholic Church as sacrosanct. Thanks to continuing sex scandals, many Americans--even American Catholics--roll their eyes on the subject of the Catholic hierarchy's ability to stand as a moral example.

Also, American Catholics reflect the voting public at large, which is to say that they are--and have long been--pro-choice. According to a 1999 poll, more than half of American Catholics believe you can be a good Catholic and disregard the bishops' teachings on abortion.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Health & Medicine • --The 2009 American Health Care Reform Debate • Law & Legal Issues • Life Ethics • Marriage & Family • Religion & Culture • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Roman Catholic

Here's the kind of question that might violate the rules you learned about proper dinner conversation: Does President Obama's next Supreme Court nominee need to be a Protestant?

If Justice John Paul Stevens decides to call it a career after he turns 90 next month, the Supreme Court would for the first time in its history be without a justice belonging to America's largest religious affiliations.

Perhaps that would mean only that religion is no longer important in the mix of experience and expertise that a president seeks in a Supreme Court nominee. There was a time, of course, in which there was a "Catholic seat" on the court, followed in 1916 with the appointment of the court's first Jew. The days when one of each seemed sufficient are long over.

Catholics became a majority of the nine-member court in 2006 with the confirmation of Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. Justice Sonia Sotomayor made it six last summer. And the other two justices besides Stevens are Jewish.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • Office of the President • President Barack Obama

The Reformation was bad for England, and the nation would do well to become a Catholic country again.

This was the affirmation proposed by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor on Tuesday during a debate hosted by The Spectator magazine as part of its debate series. The topic under discussion was "England Should Be a Catholic Country Again," and the cardinal -- who is a retired archbishop of Westminster -- was joined by author Piers Paul Read and Dom Antony Sutch, parish priest of St. Benets Catholic Church, in speaking for the motion.

Speaking against the motion were Lord Richard Harries, retired Anglican bishop of Oxford; Matthew Parris, former Conservative Member of Parliament and currently a columnist for the Times; and Stephen Pound, Labour Party Member of Parliament.

Though affirming that the Reformation "brought a tremendous loss to this country," the core of Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor's contribution focused on an ecumenical vision.

"My vision is for the English Church, united with all its history and genius, is to be aligned and in communion with the billion and more Catholic Christians throughout the world, with 4,000 or 5,000 bishops and in communion with the Bishop of Rome, the Pope," he said.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • CoE Bishops • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Roman Catholic

College graduates are more likely to consider the Ten Commandments irrelevant, and reject the Bible as the word of God, than those with no college degree, according to a recent study.

A “distinct shift” occurs after college regarding beliefs and opinion, said Richard Brake, director of university studies at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute.

The ISI surveyed 2,508 Americans on questions intended to measure the impact of a college degree on people’s beliefs. The Wilmington, Del.-based ISI has administered the survey for the past three years.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Education • Religion & Culture • Young Adults • * Theology • Ethics / Moral Theology

...any time the word "bomb" comes up at all — in a lesson on a war in history, in a novel in literature class — kids start laughing and pointing at ...[my nephew].

It's a problem that's affecting his slang.

"Everybody's favorite phrase is 'That's the bomb.' You know, like 'That video game's the bomb.' But I can't say that because kids will make fun of me."

What's a parent to do?

"Do the teachers know this is going on?" I asked.

"Sure, they see it and they hear it. But they'd rather not get involved. Mostly, they just pretend that it's not there."

"I've told him I can come to his school and talk to the principal, the teachers, the kids, whoever," said his father, an immigrant from India who works as an engineer and moved to this particular suburb for the good schools and seeming openness to diversity.

My nephew reacted like I would have when I was 14 — as if he'd rather be run over by a truck than have his father come to school to talk about what a great religion Islam is....

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Children • Education • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • America/U.S.A. • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Faiths • Islam

I agree with Richard Harries' defence of faith groups who want to conduct civil partnerships in places of worship. But I really dislike the way he poses as a defender of religious liberty. We Lords-spiritual have no right to oppose them holding civil ceremonies in places of worship, he loftily says: "it would harm no one, and it accords with their deepest religious convictions. Religious freedom is indivisible". This is laughable. For an Anglican bishop to say this is like a Thatcherite saying "compassion must always come first".

The Church of England has many things going for it: it has lovely buildings, lovely music, lovely liturgies, lovely literature, and a lovely habit of theological vagueness. But it does not have the moral high ground in terms of religious liberty. Indeed it is founded on the denial of religious liberty. This is too often obscured by its reputation for "liberalism", which is based in the fact that it is more liberal than certain other churches on certain issues, and manages to find a few nice people to say nice things on Thought for the Day.

According to the vague, lazy orthodoxy about our history, the C of E is deeply entwined in the story of British liberalism. From the time of the first Elizabeth, did this Church not nurture the distinctive English tradition of toleration, pluralism, fair play? Did it not reject the authoritarian ways of another church we won't name, and choose freedom? No, actually. It is truer to say that our tradition of liberty arose in opposition to the established Church.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Christian Life / Church Life • Church History • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • England / UK

The Rt Revd Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, has complained of a “strident and bully­ing campaign” to marginalise Chris­tianity in the UK.

At a symposium organised in the House of Lords last week by the Christian Broadcasting Council, Lord Carey said: “Christianity, which has given so much to our country, is now being sidelined as never before as though it is a stranger to our nation.”

Britain had “reached a point”, he said, “where politicians are mocked for merely expressing their faith. I cannot imagine any politician expres­sing concern that Britain should remain a Christian country. That reticence is a scandal and a disgrace to our history.”

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • England / UK

I mention that some Christian theologians seem to say that Allah is not the same God as the Judaeo-Christian God. At that question, Dr Nazir-Ali becomes visibly uncomfortable. He pauses a long time, formulating his reply, as if his life depended on the answer.

The terrifying truth is that, in modern Britain, his life could indeed depend on how he answers this question. He knows this well, for he has received death threats in the past, and has been under police protection.

"I would say that Islam has a sense of the God of the Bible but, for various reasons, understands the nature of that God, and God's action in the world, quite differently," he says.

Read more...

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • CoE Bishops • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Roman Catholic • Other Faiths • Islam • Muslim-Christian relations • * Theology

A US Catholic group on Friday accused Roman Catholic bishops of meddling in health care reforms by making backroom deals to ensure the bill does not allow funding for abortion.

"Religious and ethical concerns can legitimately inform public policy, but the bishops have overstepped the mark," said Jon O'Brien, president of Catholics for Choice.

"Interference by the US Catholic bishops in health care reform does not help women. The bishops should not be allowed to use health care reform to restrict women's access to safe and legal reproductive healthcare services," he said.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Health & Medicine • --The 2009 American Health Care Reform Debate • Law & Legal Issues • Life Ethics • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • House of Representatives • Office of the President • President Barack Obama • Senate • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Roman Catholic

Chastity is another central tenet of the Jesuit lifestyle, and Martin explains its benefits in his book.

"Chastity is not for everyone and most people tend to define it negatively," he says. "I.e., chastity means not having sex. But I define it positively, and I say that chastity means loving many people very deeply and very freely. And people feel free with a person who's chaste, really. Because they know that you're not being friends with them or being close to them for sex."

But celibacy has taken a hit in recent years, as reports of priests sexually assaulting children came out. Martin says he doesn't see a connection between the two.

"I would say that that's more related to people who are psychologically unhealthy and also, bishops who have moved priests around — that's not directly related to chastity," Martin says. "I don't think — celibacy and chastity do not cause pedophilia. No more than — most sexual abuse goes on in families, no more than marriage causes sexual abuse."

Caught this one by podcast in the morning run. Listen to it all (about 6 1/4 minutes)--KSH.

Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Books • Religion & Culture • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Roman Catholic • * Theology • Apologetics

Rioters armed with machetes slaughtered more than 200 people overnight Sunday as religious violence flared anew between Christians and Muslims in central Nigeria, witnesses said. Hundreds of people fled their homes, fearing reprisal attacks.

The bodies of the dead - including many women and children - lined dusty streets in three mostly Christian villages south of the regional capital of Jos, local journalists and a civil rights group said. They said at least 200 bodies had been counted by Sunday afternoon.

Torched homes smoldered after the 3 a.m. attacks that a region-wide curfew enforced by the country's police and military should have stopped.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • Violence • * International News & Commentary • Africa • Nigeria • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Faiths • Islam • Muslim-Christian relations

The first thing you notice about Julie Etchingham is the hair, a perfect bob that frames her face like a bonnet. It is several hours before she will present ITV's News at Ten live to three million people but she looks ready to go now, immaculately groomed and dressed. Everything from her posture to her voice screams "efficiency", and it's little wonder she is known to her co-host Mark Austin as "head girl"....

She is also one of a handful of broadcasters who, as a Roman Catholic, is unembarrassed to discuss her faith. "Religion is an important part of my home life," she says, "If you have a faith, you are bound to be influenced by it. Would that ever show itself on air? I don't think so. The key place where my faith influences me is in how I hope to handle people." Although she believes religion "is not a work thing", she laments that ours is a "very secular" media, and that "Christians can be discriminated against", before carefully steering the conversation on to the joys of our multi-cultural age.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Media • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • * Religion News & Commentary • Other Churches • Roman Catholic

The Church of England has warned that basic human rights cannot be made contingent on the exercise of responsibilities. In a response to the Ministry of Justice Green Paper on Rights and Responsibilities, the Mission and Public Affairs Council argues that connecting rights too closely with responsibilities risks undermining the inalienable nature of fundamental human rights.

Some less fundamental rights - perhaps better understood as entitlements - may follow from the exercise of social responsibility, the response argues, but the Green Paper does not give enough emphasis to the ways in which responsibilities are owed primarily to other persons, groups and communities and not always to the state.

Read it all and also peruse the full response (11 page pdf) there.

Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • * International News & Commentary • England / UK • * Theology • Anthropology

Germany's Protestant and Catholic churches may be facing the biggest credibility crisis in decades after an unprecedented bout of scandal-fueled negative media coverage.

Bishop Margot Kassmann, the first woman to lead the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), resigned as leader of German Protestants on Feb. 24 after she was arrested for drunk driving, just four months into office.

In the same week, Catholic bishops met in Freiburg to address allegations of widespread sexual abuse of children by clergy that had surfaced late in January, prompting a possible criminal probe by state officials.

Germany is the birthplace of both the Protestant Reformation and Pope Benedict XVI, and religion plays a key role in German life; indeed, both churches are among the nation's largest employers.

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In a move described as "dreadful" for Perth's CBD, the Anglican church has withdrawn from the $81 million Cathedral Square project pushed by national property developer Mirvac.

The church's decision means demolition of its eyesore Law Chambers Building on Hay Street will be shelved indefinitely.

On February 22, the church told Mirvac and Perth City Council it would not proceed with the project - planned for the existing Cathedral Square beside recently-renovated St George's Cathedral.

The council has been a strong advocate of the project since 1992 after City Vision chair, architect/planner Ken Adam, first proposed it in 1991.

"I'm absolutely distraught," Mr Adam said when WAtoday.com.au told him of the church's decision.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Anglican Church of Australia • * Culture-Watch • Religion & Culture • * International News & Commentary • Australia / NZ

As an Anglican archbishop who spent decades working to defeat apartheid and is widely considered the moral conscience of South Africa, what do you make of your country’s current president, Jacob Zuma, who is in the headlines again for fathering a child out of wedlock?

I think we are at a bad place in South Africa, and especially when you contrast it with the Mandela era. Many of the things that we dreamt were possible seem to be getting more and more out of reach. We have the most unequal society in the world. We have far too many of our people living in a poverty that is debilitating, inhumane and unacceptable.

But why is Zuma still president? He sets such a poor example — a polygamist with three wives who just fathered a 20th child with yet another woman. Why is that tolerated?

It’s not. Two of the major churches have spoken out very strongly. The Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Church have said that he’s undermining his own government’s campaign to deal with the H.I.V. pandemic. That campaign speaks about being loyal to one partner, practicing safe sex and generally using condoms, and he hasn’t done that.

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South Koreans exulted last week in Kim Yu-na's matchless performance in Vancouver. So, too, on Sunday, at Yoido Full Gospel Church, where the figure skater, a Roman Catholic, wasn't mentioned by name but everyone knew whom the pastor was talking about when he lifted up the country's Olympic athletes in prayer.

Yoido Full Gospel is the mega-est of megachurches. With a membership of more than 850,000, it bills itself as the world's largest Christian congregation, and that's probably right. At the 11 o'clock service last Sunday, there were more people in the 120-singer choir than in the entire congregation of the country church I attend in New England.

The church stands on an island in the Han River in central Seoul, not far from the National Legislature. The main sanctuary holds 10,000 people. Nearby are several church-owned buildings, including a high-rise filled with offices, meeting rooms and banquet halls. There are satellite churches elsewhere in Seoul and around the country.

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It was announced this week that the Pope will visit Spain in November. The news comes during a tense phase in Church-State relations after the Spanish Senate approved a new abortion law on 25 February. It is the latest round in a battle that the secularising government seems to be winning

Last year an estimated one million people demonstrated in Madrid when the proposals to liberalise the abortion law became public. Now that it looks set to become law, the Spanish bishops’ conference has approved a new campaign of protest marches by pro-lifers – describing the proposals as a “licence to kill” children, and an attack on the institution of the family. “This law gives a sealed envelope to a woman to sort herself out, and frees the father of any responsibility,” declared the conference’s spokesman, Bishop Juan Antonio Martínez Camino.

In a country where a majority of the population still identifies itself more or less as Catholic, one would have thought that this is one issue Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero would be advised not to pick a fight over. In fact, Zapatero appears to have taken on the bishops over an issue that alone is unlikely to threaten his political survival.

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A politician widely accused of running death squads might not be expected to have an easy time running for public office.

But this is Iraq. In a nation sadly inured to years of sectarian bloodletting, Hakim al-Zamili not only has a place on a prominent Shiite election slate, but stands poised to win a place in the Parliament, as early voting began Thursday morning for the infirm, people with special needs and members of the military and the police.

It is an astonishing turnabout that shows the limits of political reconciliation. While some Sunni candidates have been barred from running in the election for their alleged support of the Baath Party, Mr. Zamili’s candidacy has provoked nary a protest from the nation’s leading Shiite politicians. That runs the risk that Shiite leaders will be seen as taking steps against only those who persecuted Shiites, not Sunnis.

Mr. Zamili’s new political role has heightened concerns that for all the talk of cross-sectarian alliances among some Shiite and Sunni factions, Iraq may be unable to firmly break with its troubled past.

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Lord Alli’s amendment to the Equality Bill, which allows civil partnerships to be registered on religious premises, if religious bodies wish to allow it, was approved during the Report Stage in the House of Lords on Tuesday by 95 votes to 21.

The proposed changes to the Civil Partnership Act had been significantly modified since the debate in January (News, 5 February). The scope is narrowed to England and Wales, and the existing rule that “no religious service is to be used while the civil partnership registrar is officiating at the signing of a civil partnership document” is retained.

An additional clause reads: “For the avoidance of doubt, nothing in this Act places an obligation on religious organisations to host civil partnerships if they do not wish to do so.” A further clause states: “Regulations may provide that premises approved for the registration of civil partnerships may differ from those premises approved for the registration of civil marriages.”

Lord Alli stressed that the issue was one of religious freedom. “Religious freedom means letting the Quakers, the liberal Jews, and others host civil partnerships. It means accepting that the Church of England and the Catholic Church should not host civil partnerships if they do not wish to do so.”

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • CoE Bishops • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Church/State Matters • Marriage & Family • Religion & Culture • Sexuality • Civil Unions & Partnerships • * International News & Commentary • England / UK

A dozen House of Representatives Democrats opposed to abortion are willing to kill President Barack Obama's healthcare reform plan unless it satisfies their demand for language barring the procedure, Representative Bart Stupak said on Thursday.

"Yes. We're prepared to take responsibility," Stupak said on ABC's "Good Morning America" when asked if he and his 11 Democratic allies were willing to accept the consequences for bringing down healthcare reform over abortion.

"Let's face it. I want to see healthcare. But we're not going to bypass the principles of belief that we feel strongly about," he said.

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Filed under: * Culture-Watch • Health & Medicine • --The 2009 American Health Care Reform Debate • Law & Legal Issues • Life Ethics • Religion & Culture • * Economics, Politics • Politics in General • House of Representatives • Office of the President • Senate

James Martin is loath to let a big headline go by without spinning the story toward The Big Story — God. He is, after all, a Catholic priest and a Jesuit, a religious order with a fundamental mission of "helping souls."

In ancient days the church told Gospel stories with pictures in stained-glass windows. Now it's the Web and TV. Says Martin, 49: "Everyone needs a medium. Mine is popular culture."

So he'll take on Lindsay Lohan, who dressed as Jesus for the cover of fashion magazine Purple, with a 10-point comparison between the actress and Christ. Martin's blog post for the century-old Jesuit weekly magazine America, where he is culture editor, kindly concludes that perhaps she'll take a lesson from the Savior.

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Vicars will end up being sued and the difference between marriage and gay partnerships will be 'fudged' after last night's vote in the House of Lords, the Bishop of Winchester warned. Speaking to me by telephone a few minutes ago, the Right Rev Michael Scott Joynt, who was unable to be in the House for the vote because of unbreakable prior commitments, said he believed the next step would be vicars being sued for discrimation if they obeyed Church of England law and refused to do gay weddings.

'Having thought about it a great deal since the committee stage, I regret enormously the vote last night....I think it will make for a great many difficulties. There are two I am particularly concerned about.'

He continued: 'Notwithstanding the bland words of a number of individuals, some of whom surprise me, I believe it does further fudge the line between civil partnerships and marriage. That is shown by some newspapers which simply speak of gay marriages in church. The second thing is, I believe that it will open, not the Church of England but individual clergy, to charges of discrimination if they solemnise marriages as they all do but refuse to host civil partnership signings in their churches. Unless the Government does something explicit about this, I believe that is the next step.'

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Gay men and women will finally be allowed to marry in churches after the House of Lords dramatically voted in favour of lifting the ban on religious premises holding same-sex partnerships.

The amendment to the Equality Bill, which was tabled as a free vote by gay Muslim peer Waheed Alli, received overwhelming backing in the Lords, including from a number of prominent Anglican bishops.

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A state lawmaker is proposing to allow people who are legally qualified to carry concealed weapons to bring them to houses of worship as long as the pastor or church board approves.

The proposal, filed ahead of the legislative session that opens March 29, is one of 74 House bills that have been filed so far.

State Rep. Henry Burns, a Republican, filed a bill to let a church, temple, mosque or other religious institution authorize “any person issued a valid concealed handgun permit” to carry it into a place of worship.

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Filed under: * Christian Life / Church Life • Liturgy, Music, Worship • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Religion & Culture

Traditionalist bishops and peers fear that vicars could be taken to court and accused of discrimination if they turn down requests to hold civil partnerships on religious premises.

Their concerns have been raised following a landmark vote by peers that will allow the ceremonies for same-sex couples to be held in places of worship for the first time.

It is also feared that the changes would blur the line further between marriage - which churches say must be between a man and a woman - and civil partnerships.

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To summarise, the amendment leaves a number of questions unanswered and the Government has recognised these. They have also stated very clearly the fact that this is in their view, not in any sense a human rights or justice issue. The Bill still has to have a third reading in both houses and the amendment may very well fail at that point, or die with the Bill in its entirety if legislation is dumped in advance of the General Election.

One thing is clear though – this is legalised gay marriage in church by the back door and those of us who are Biblically conservative need to be very aware of what is going on. The Bill in its current form is too ambiguous and would arguably permit Church of England clergy to let Civil Partnerships be registered in churches without the permission of their Bishops.

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Filed under: * Anglican - Episcopal • Anglican Provinces • Church of England (CoE) • CoE Bishops • * Culture-Watch • Law & Legal Issues • Religion & Culture • Sexuality • Civil Unions & Partnerships • * International News & Commentary • England / UK

Former President George W. Bush turned to his faith amid the tough times during his eight years in office, he said Saturday at a religious school's banquet.

"I don't see how I could be president without prayer," he told the crowd of more than 1,100 at the Fort Worth Christian School event at a downtown hotel. "The prayers of the people ... sustained me, comforted me and strengthened me in a way I could have never predicted before becoming president, and for that I am extremely grateful."

Bush, who has had many speaking engagements since moving to Dallas after his presidency, said he doesn't plan on staying in the public eye.

"You won't see me out there opining ... or criticizing my successor," Bush said, later adding that he is writing a book about his decisions in office so that "you can draw your own conclusions."

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Of the remaining issues with the potential to bring down the entire health overhaul effort, the one that lawmakers fear most is abortion.

Abortion is such a politically hazardous issue that sponsors of both the House and Senate health bills have said their object was to maintain the status quo. "It is not the intention of this bill to, as the speaker has said, to change the policy that has been in place for three decades," said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, (D-MD), on Tuesday. Hoyer was referring to what is known as the Hyde Amendment. It has barred federal funds from being used to pay for abortions since 1977.

But keeping the health bills abortion-neutral has proved impossible. And now the abortion language in the Senate-passed bill in particular could threaten the strategy Democratic leaders hope to use to get a final measure to President Obama's desk for a signature.

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