Hi friends,

I will be taking a break from blogging over the next few weeks, so I won't be covering the Thursday religion and politics news roundup during that time. But I'll return in June, rested and renewed!

Update: Hmmm. The content management system will not let me say my goodbyes briefly. (There's a 300 word minimum). So I'm adding a heads up about this story:

"Joel Osteen meets with Jay Bakker!" from Rev. Matt Tittle's "Keep the Faith."

Have a safe and happy rest of the month.

Today's topics: Impact of Indiana and North Carolina Primaries, McGovern changes endorsement from Clinton to Obama, Update on teacher John Freshwater and the movement against separation of church and state, and lawyer blames school (not shooter) in death of Lawrence King.

Is This the Song that Never Ends?

Following her defeat in North Carolina and her very narrow win in Indiana, Senator Hillary Clinton remains in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, even as insiders declare that a Clinton win has become all but impossible.

But Josh Marshall, at Talking Points Memo, suggests that maybe the continuing two-way race for the nomination is not such a bad thing for the Democratic party.

[editor's note, by PoliSigh] Bumped while I work on the Prayer Closet!

Today's Topics: online HIV education, investigation of Army barrack conditions, and other stories

GoodIdeaOrNot?

Reuters points out a new website, PosorNot.com, in which site visitors are shown photos of different individuals and asked to guess if they are HIV-positive or negative:

The site, www.PosorNot.com, was unveiled on Wednesday by mtvU, the Kaiser Family Foundation and POZ Magazine and presents viewers with photos of people of different ages, colors and genders, challenging them to guess whether the person has tested positive for the virus that causes AIDS.

Having visited the site, I think it resembles "Hot or Not," a site that was popular when I was in college and asked visitors to rate the appearance of various male and female young adults. While I'm strongly in favor of comprehensive sexuality education, I'm feeling a little conflicted about this site because it invites visitors to actively stereotype people based on appearance (albeit with the purpose of then challenging those stereotypes). What do you think?

Today's topics: Separation of Church and State in Public Schools, National Day of (Evangelical Rightwing Christian) Prayer, Democratic Primaries: Enough Already!, and Send Me Stories for the Next Roundup

Did you know that the human body is 90% Lego?

The Columbus Dispatch reports that Christian students are protesting in favor of a John Freshwater, a middle school teacher in Mount Vernon, Ohio. The protests were sparked by a confrontation between Freshwater and the school principle, in which Freshwater insisted on keeping his Bible on his desk. However, this goes beyond an isolated incident; Freshwater may have an egregious record of violating the separation between church and state.

In one class, Freshwater used Lego pieces to describe the beginning of the world. He dumped the pieces, then asked students if the Legos could assemble by themselves, said Joe Stuart, 18, assistant editor of the high-school newspaper.

When Freshwater taught students about electrical current, he used a device to leave a red mark in the shape of a cross on the forearms of some students, Stuart said.

[editor's note, by PoliSigh]No worries Shelby!  Thanks.


Hi friends, sorry this is late today!

Today's topics: Jeers for presidential debate moderators, why not everyone on the Religious Left is happy with the Compassion Forum, New Farm Bill needed to alleviate hunger in America, and other stories...

I haven't watched last night's debate yet, and Tom Shales at the Washington Post isn't exactly whetting my appetite. He calls the debate:

another step downward for network news -- in particular ABC News, which hosted the debate from Philadelphia and whose usually dependable anchors, Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos, turned in shoddy, despicable performances.

Was it that bad?!

Today's topics: Pope Bobblehead is not funny afterall, Sesame Street welcomes a Hindu character, the Compassion Forum coming up this weekend...

Hi friends, I've had a very hectic week; please excuse (or enjoy!) the levity in today's post.

Goodbye Benedict Bobblehead

The D.C. Metro released (and later pulled) an ad depicting a Pope Benedict XVI bobblehead doll (really, what were they thinking?!) Here's a quite educational response from the Vatican, in the Washington Post:

"Our concern is that this was a bad bobblehead," said Susan Gibbs, a spokeswoman for the Archdiocese of Washington. "You had unauthorized merchandise, and you had a misdressed pope."

The bobblehead in the Metro video wears a red skull cap, known as a zucchetto, and a red cape. "Popes don't wear red skull caps," and they don't wear red capes, only white ones, Gibbs said.

Hat tip to Dallas Morning News.

Today's Topics: The Religious Right hesitates on McCain, while Lieberman can't say enough nice things about him. T.D. Jakes reacts to Obama's "A More Perfect Union" speech. Supreme Court will hear case on public religious displays.

Hellooo? McCain Supporters? Anyone, anyone?

On last night's Countdown, Keith Olbermann highlights conservative criticisms of John McCain, particularly from Focus on the Family leader James Dobson. But commentator Rachel Maddox cautions against assuming the Religious Right will break with the Republican Party. (Video below the fold...)

Promoted by PD.

Today's topics: Underground religious movements, Obama/Clinton polls, McCain campaign finance violation, and Harvard gym controversy (Doh! I forgot this part when I first posted).

Interested in Underground Religious Movements?

Jeffrey Weiss at Dallas Morning News's Religion Blog provides links to several articles about "The Fellowship" (a.k.a. "The Family.") The Fellowship is a very low-profile, conservative Christian group with significant power among Washington elites. Hillary Clinton has been a participant in the Fellowship since she was First Lady. Dallas Morning News links to some fascinating pieces on "The Fellowship" in Mother Jones, Harpers and the LATimes.

Faith in Public Life's Alex Carpenter highlights a new video on the Institute on Religion and Democracy. The video is being circulated by the IRD Info Project.

Today's Topics: Ring Wing Words, Christian/Muslim Dialogue, Christian Zionists, Books and Movies, and Clinton's Diaries

While many of us are absorbed in the Democratic primary elections, here are two stories reminding us to keep one eye on the far right. Conservative radio commentator Michael Savage recently said of Barack Obama:

I think he was hand-picked by some very powerful forces both within and outside the United States of America to drag this country into a hell that it has not seen since the Civil War of the middle of the 19th century.

Oh my word.

Meanwhile, Bill O'Reilly and Marc Rudov discuss "What is the downside of having a woman become president of the United States?" (As if the upside of having a female president is getting sooooo much airtime).

Today's topics: Eliot Spitzer resigns, Geraldine Ferraro defends comments, Andre Carson elected to U.S. Congress, U.S. Embassy encourages Peace Corps volunteers and Fulbright scholars to spy on Bolivians,...

This is what they talk about at the Dallas Morning News...

Jeffrey Weiss of Dallas Morning News's Religion Blog writes:

A discussion I'm having with my colleagues and we mull the image of New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer's wife next to him as he resigns:

Would it have been worse for her -- emotionally and morally, not politically -- if he'd had an affair? Would it have been more wrong if he'd allowed himself to become emotionally and/or sexually involved with another woman? Rather than simply using the high-priced prostitutes for physical release? Does this make it more or less likely that he'd be able to salvage his marriage?

From an XY chromosome perspective, I think it would be worse if he'd had an affair...

Don't laugh! Weiss is totally serious...

Promo'ed by PD.

Topics for today: Barack Obama's Christianity, Conservative Christian opposition to public schooling in California, Illinois's moment of silence, and Amy Sullivan's new book...

This Just In: Barack Obama Still Christian!

The media continues to hammer away at the non-question of Barack Obama's religious affiliation, and media monitoring groups are taking notice.  Media Matters features excerpts from 60 Minutes interview with Hillary Clinton: (more after the fold)
   

The "U.S. Religious Landscape Survey," released earlier this week by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, continues to garner significant media attention. The "Summary of Key Findings" for the report states:

More than one-quarter of American adults (28%) have left the faith in which they were raised in favor of another religion - or no religion at all. If change in affiliation from one type of Protestantism to another is included, 44% of adults have either switched religious affiliation, moved from being unaffiliated with any religion to being affiliated with a particular faith, or dropped any connection to a specific religious tradition altogether.

The survey finds that the number of people who say they are unaffiliated with any particular faith today (16.1%) is more than double the number who say they were not affiliated with any particular religion as children. Among Americans ages 18-29, one-in-four say they are not currently affiliated with any particular religion.