April (Web-only) 2007

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We're not abandoning our "top five" feature, but we are skipping it today as we try to get our new CT Liveblog running smoothly. If you've enjoyed the commentary section of the CT Weblog, which we've been publishing since 1999, then you'll certainly want to join us there as well.

Supreme Court decision: Partial-Birth Abortion Ban: Reactions | Supreme court dynamics | Analysis: yay | Analysis: boo | Analysis: the decision won't make a difference | Editorials | Implications for 2008 | Future of abortion | Abortion in the states | Data on abortion | Breast cancer and abortion

Other subjects: Life ethics | Mexico | Health & science | Limbo | Benedict XVI | Monasticism | Catholicism | Anglicanism | Church life | Hispanic Christians | Church attendance | Earth Day/environmentalism | Holidays | Noise | Property & finances | Crime & lawsuits | Mary Winkler | Abuse | Bankruptcy | Virginia Tech | Memorials and ministry | Seung-Hui Cho | Turkey | Mugabe | Sudan | Other religions | Wicca | Military | Work & religious expression | Church & state | Politics | Homosexuality & civil unions | Non-US politics | International aid & missions | Visas | Bible Park | Education | Abstinence education | Bible class | Books | Arts & entertainment | People | Other stories of interest

Partial-Birth Abortion Ban: Reactions:

• Abortion ruling emboldens opponents | The Supreme Court's endorsement of the first federal curbs on an abortion procedure in a generation suggests that even with Democrats in control of Congress, efforts to preserve abortion rights may be losing ground (Associated Press)
  
  
• Abortion case limits health exception | Women who want a controversial abortion procedure for health reasons have few options beyond going to court and trying to prove that a Supreme Court decision banning the practice should not apply (Associated Press)
  
  
• Reactions to court's abortion decision | Mostly from politicians (Associated Press)
  
  
• Religious on both sides of abortion debate gear up, cite Supreme Court ruling | Hundreds of abortion opponents on Friday heard speakers caution that they should rely on God, not on the courts or politicians, to take action to end abortions (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
  
  
• Religious group attacks religion in U.S. healthcare | Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice said last week's Supreme Court decision outlawing a certain type of abortion demonstrated that religious belief was interfering with personal rights and the U.S. health care system in general (Reuters)
  
  

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Supreme Court dynamics:

• High court upholds ban on partial-birth abortions | It all came down to Samuel Alito Jr., not Kennedy (Legal Times)
  
  
• Analysis: Kennedy's pivotal vote | Kennedy is not expected to support a rollback of all abortion rights, but his new analysis of how courts should handle future cases worried his liberal colleagues and abortion rights supporters. (Associated Press)
  
  
• Kennedy may be key to abortion limits | While Kennedy adopted some language favored by abortion opponents — "life of the unborn," "abortion doctor," "respect for life" — he also carefully distinguished the controversial procedure that was the focus of the Supreme Court case from a more common abortion method used after 12 weeks of pregnancy (Associated Press)
  
  
• Roberts Court moves right, but with a measured step | The five justices in the majority came up with an opinion that delighted abortion opponents and outraged abortion rights activists -- and yet, in the view of the court, did not overturn a single precedent or seemingly contradictory ruling (Robert Barnes, The Washington Post)
  
  
• New rhetoric in SCOTUS abortion ruling | Ginsburg says Kennedy's word choice goes too far (Associated Press)
  
  
• Ginsburg's dissent may yet prevail | The justice argues that equality, not privacy, is crucial in the abortion right (Cass R. Sunstein, Los Angeles Times)
  
  
• The last word | In yesterday's landmark abortion case, Kennedy was the Associate Justice he believes himself to be (Jan Crawford Greenburg, ABC News)
  
  
• Justices back ban on method of abortion | The Supreme Court's 5-4 decision promises to reframe the abortion debate and define the young Roberts court (The New York Times)
  
  
• Partial victory | The Supreme Court defers to Congress (Terry Eastland, The Weekly Standard)
  
  
• The face-off over partial-birth abortion | Judicial restraint and "facial" challenges (Edward Whelan, National Review Online)
  
  
• Abortion ruling raises backlash for Catholic justices | Observers raise questions about justices' Catholic faith after the Supreme Court's upholding of late-term abortion curbs (ABC News)
  
  

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Analysis: yay:

• Good may yet come | Gonzales v. Carhart opens up a possibility, albeit slight, for further restricting abortion. (Hadley Arkes, National Review Online)
  
  
• A 'small victory for civilization' | This is a small victory for civilization, for our humanity and humaneness toward the more than one million unwanted innocent babies who will have their hope of life dashed by abortion this year. Yes, they will still die, but at least they will have a better chance to do so with some modicum of dignity (Rick Santorum, The Philadelphia Inquirer)
  
  
• The i's have it | Three cheers for pro-life incrementalism (Michael J. New, National Review Online)
  
  
• A welcome decision | Ruling bars barbaric practice, sets stage for more abortion curbs (Edward Whelan, USA Today)
  
  
• Put on your body armor | It's the number of votes, not constitutional reasoning, that matters (Michael M. Uhlmann, First Things)
  
  
• The Supreme Court and reasonable hope | I'm not convinced that this week's Supreme Court decision on partial-birth abortion is as good as Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg says it is, but I certainly hope she is right (Richard John Neuhaus, First Things)
  
  
• The challenge facing abortion-rights advocates | The challenge for abortion-rights advocates is not that this law will prevent abortions or impair the health of women getting them. It's that it treats the fetus as more than a disposable inconvenience—as a living entity entitled to a measure of respect and protection (Steve Chapman, Chicago Tribune)
  
  
• Abortion ruling has Reid, Dems in tricky spot | 17 Democratic senators voted for the Partial Birth Abortion Ban Act. But they were silent on the court's decision (Robert Novak, Chicago Sun-Times)
  
  
• The evolving issue of abortion | The pro-choicers are prepared to abandon the privacy argument to focus instead on gender discrimination (Lisa Fabrizio, The American Spectator)
  
  
• Carnage: Two versions | Last week, there were two stories about carnage -- the tragedy at Virginia Tech and the Supreme Court's decision on partial-birth abortion (Cal Thomas, The Washington Times)
  
  

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Analysis: boo:

• Adjudging a moral harm to women from abortions | The Supreme Court's decision to uphold the federal Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, represents a major departure from how the court has framed the abortion issue for the past 34 years (The New York Times)
  
  
• Miscarriage of justice | The federal 'partial-birth' abortion ban has grave implications for all pregnant women, not only those seeking to end pregnancies (Lynn M. Paltrow, The American Prospect)
  
  
• A woman's choice | I needed that now-banned procedure known as 'partial-birth' abortion. Why the Supreme Court's decision to outlaw it was a dark day for American women (Ilene Jaroslaw, Newsweek)
  
  
• The partial death of abortion rights | The balance of interests shifts, with women's health no longer paramount but rather societal morality and the state's interest in life even before the point of viability outside the womb (R. Alta Charo, The New England Journal of Medicine)
  
  
• The intimidation of American physicians | Banning partial-birth abortion (Michael F. Greene, The New England Journal of Medicine)
  
  
• Government in medicine | With this decision the Supreme Court has sanctioned the intrusion of legislation into the day-to-day practice of medicine (Jeffrey M. Drazen, The New England Journal of Medicine)
  
  
• Risking women's health | If the Bush administration and a conservative Supreme Court can ban one procedure, then it can ban other abortion procedures, thereby restricting women's access to safe and legal abortions (Dr. Kenneth C. Edelin, The Boston Globe)
  
  
• Curbing abortion rights | Newcomer Supreme Court Justices John Roberts and Samuel Alito showed their true stripes by supporting a landmark late-term abortion ban (Karen Houppert, The Nation)
  
  
• Father knows best | Dr. Kennedy's magic prescription for indecisive women (Dahlia Lithwick, Slate)
  
  
• Court knows best | If Congress can ban the partial-birth procedure, why can't it express its "ethical and moral concerns" with the standard procedure for second-trimester abortions, dilation and evacuation? (Ruth Marcus, The Washington Post)
  
  
• Postures in public, facts in the womb | Over the years, we have built vast layers of argument and counterargument, and the core issue is buried far down below (David Brooks, The New York Times)
  
  

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Analysis: the decision won't make a difference:

• The abortion ruling: An isolated win? | I don't expect the court decision this week to have many larger implications (Karen Tumulty, Time)
  
  
• Anger and alternatives on abortion | The Supreme Court decision to uphold a ban on a type of abortion, has huge political implications but, as a practical matter, is unlikely to have much of an effect (Gina Kolata, The New York Times)
  
  
• Don't assume the worst | Pro-choice doctors — and their lawyers — must read the Supreme Court's decision as an explicit approval of all abortion procedures save one (David J. Garrow, The New York Times)
  
  

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Editorials:

• What a pickle | The leaders of the party in control of the Congress are complaining that the Supreme Court has ruled they have the power to make the abortion laws (Editorial, The New York Sun)
  
  
• A limited and humane decision | The victory for commonsense morality and for constitutional jurisprudence is proof that under the Roberts court, careful abortion restrictions can begin to shift the law from the abortion-on-demand regime enacted in 1973 to one that better reflects public opinion and morals (Editorial, The Washington Times)
  
  
• Partial-birth hypocrisy | Pro-choice lawmakers could begin trying to repeal the Partial Birth Abortion Act of 2003 tomorrow if they were serious (Editorial, The Washington Times)
  
  
• A shift on abortions | The Supreme Court upholds a ban on partial-birth procedures -- and imperils the right of women to choose (Editorial, The Washington Post)
  
  
• A U-turn on abortion | Ignoring precedent, the Supreme Court upholds a ban on a procedure that is thankfully quite rare (Editorial, Los Angeles Times)
  
  
• Court ruling restricts choice, discounts health concerns | Justices allow Congress to substitute its judgment for that of physicians (Editorial, USA Today)
  
  
• The court takes on abortion | This is likely not the final word on partial-birth abortion (Editorial, Chicago Tribune)
  
  
• An erosion of abortion rights | The five justices of the court majority and the politicians who passed the law they approved have overruled the best judgment of the doctors who are most informed on this issue. Politics could trump medicine again -- unless backers of abortion rights use the ballot box to steer the country back toward support of a woman's right to end a pregnancy (Editorial, The Boston Globe)
  
  
• Denying the right to choose | Under the modest-sounding guise of following existing precedent, the majority opinion gutted a host of thoughtful lower federal court rulings, not to mention past Supreme Court rulings (Editorial, The New York Times)
  
  
• The abortion ruling | Supreme activism (Editorial, The Philadelphia Inquirer)
  
  

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Implications for 2008:

• Ruling draws lawmakers toward political minefield | The Supreme Court ruling yesterday resurrects the politically charged issue of reproductive rights just in time for the 2008 campaign season, but it may not be a fight the Democrats want (The Washington Post)
  
  
• GOP candidates praise abortion ruling | Republican presidential candidates, who differ on abortion rights, were unanimous Wednesday in their praise for the Supreme Court's ruling (Associated Press)
  
  
• Court ruling catapults abortion back into '08 race | The reaction from the presidential candidates to the Supreme Court's decision was quick and along party lines (The New York Times)
  
  
• The other big story this week | It was buried in the avalanche of coverage of the horrible shootings at Virginia Tech. But the Supreme Court's partial-birth ruling will likely have a much bigger impact on Campaign 2008 (Eleanor Clift, Newsweek)
  
  
• GOP hopefuls laud abortion ruling; Dems denounce it | The court ruling Wednesday catapulted the hot-button cultural issue to the center of the national political conversation (USA Today)
  
  
• High Court decision could raise abortion's profile in campaign | The major presidential candidates quickly responded to the news, with Republicans applauding the decision and Democrats condemning it (Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life)
  
  
• Movement toward fewer abortions | The anti-abortion monopoly of the Republican Party seems to be ending (Russ Pulliam, The Indianapolis Star)
  
  

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Future of abortion:

• New push likely for restrictions over abortions | Legislation limiting abortions could face headwinds in states where Democrats made gains in the last election (The New York Times)
  
  
• Doctors weigh next move on legality of abortion (All Things Considered, NPR)
  
  
• Court ruling on abortion may change doctor practices | Anti-abortionist supporters hail the decision, but what does it mean for doctors faced with patients in life-threatening situations? (Day to Day, NPR)
  
  
• U.S. conservatives still see long abortion war | Overturning Roe isn't imminent, they say (Reuters)
  
  
• Both sides of debate predict more procedure restrictions | Activists on both sides say Roe challenge is coming soon (USA Today)
  
  
• Fallout | A few additional points that we might set down while thinking about Carhart (Joseph Bottum, First Things)
  
  
• Reading the abortion ruling | Is the high court's 'partial-birth' decision a major shift or a narrow exception? (Jay Tolson, U.S. News & World Report)
  
  

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Abortion in the states:

• Pending abortion cases around the U.S. | Some cases yet to be sorted out by federal courts (Associated Press)
  
  
• Ban on abortion procedure is likely | The Supreme Court sent a Missouri abortion case back to a federal appeals court on Monday, ordering it to apply last week's decision upholding a federal ban on a disputed abortion procedure (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
  
  
• Missouri House passes new abortion regulations | The House passed legislation Monday that would subject abortion clinics to more-stringent regulations, a move that critics claim would make it harder for women to get abortions in Missouri (Belleville News-Democrat, Ill.)
  
  
• Abortion complaint against judge dropped | A state panel has dismissed an ethics complaint that abortion opponents filed against a judge who threw out a criminal case against George Tiller, the state's best-known abortion provider (Associated Press)
  
  
• Va. partial-birth abortion law to be reconsidered in wake of high court ruling | State's ban on procedure overturned in 2005 (The Washington Post)
  
  
• Md. abortion change unlikely | Lawmakers see no immediate change despite Supreme Court ruling (The Baltimore Sun)
  
  
• North Dakota passes conditional abortion ban | The North Dakota Legislature voted Monday to ban abortion in the event that a future Supreme Court ruling makes such a move constitutional (Bismarck Tribune, N.D.)
  
  

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Data on abortion:

• One in 30 aborted foetuses lives | Most of these babies with disabilities were born between 20 and 24 weeks of pregnancy and all lived for no more than a few hours (BBC)
  
  
• Data lacking on abortion method | Statistics on late-term procedure among most contested (The Washington Post)
  
  
• Late abortions reasons revealed | Many women who have late abortions had not realised they were pregnant, a study has found (BBC)
  
  
• Medics and morals | A growing number of doctors are voicing their opposition to abortions. Why, and what it might mean for patients (The Guardian, London)
  
  

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Breast cancer and abortion:

• Breast cancer not linked to abortion, study says | The study tracked women prospectively to see if those who reported having abortions were more likely to develop breast cancer in the future and found that they were not (The New York Times)
  
  
• Study doesn't back abortion-cancer link | A Harvard study released Monday supports earlier findings by a panel of experts that having an abortion doesn't increase a woman's risk of getting breast cancer. However, this latest analysis isn't likely to convince all those opposed to abortion (Associated Press)
  
  
• Study: Induced and spontaneous abortion and incidence of breast cancer among young women (Archives of Internal Medicine)
  
  

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Life ethics:

• Children on demand | How reproductive science has transformed the path to parenthood. Polly Morrice reviews Everything Conceivable by Liza Mundy (The New York Times Book Review)
  
  
• Perth archbishop says no to cloning | Perth Catholic Archbishop Barry Hickey wants West Australian MPs to oppose cloning of embryos for medical research (AAP, Austrlia)
  
  
• Offshore abortion women's group is given licence again | An "abortion ship" is planning to sail to countries where the practice is illegal and take women out to sea for terminations after the Dutch Government lifted restrictions banning it from international waters (The Times, London)
  
  
• EU lawmakers back rules for stem cell, other cures | The European Union legislature rejected so-called ethical amendments to the regulation that will create a centralised process for approving new tissue and cell engineering therapies (Reuters)
  
  
• Senate to vote on Plan B | Talks with church fail at compromise (The Hartford Courant, Ct.)
  
  

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Mexico:

• Church clout in decline | A recurring episode in Mexican history has been a periodic reappraisal of the Roman Catholic Church´s role in society (El Universal, Mexico)
  
  
• Mexican Catholics protest plan to legalize abortion | Mexicans marched on Sunday against plans to legalize abortion in Mexico City, a move that has split opinion in the world's second-largest Roman Catholic country and drawn fire from the Pope (Reuters)
  
  
• Abortion debate divides Mexico | Proposal renews old hostilities about Catholic Church's role in Mexican society (Austin American-Statesman, Tex.)
  
  
• Need a safe abortion? Go to Mexico City | On Tuesday Mexico City, one of the most progressive governments in Latin America, may make a dramatic policy shift to legalize abortion (Alternet)
  
  
• Abortion rights gain ground in Latin America | Mexico City is voting Tuesday on a bill that would legalize abortion (The Christian Science Monitor)
  
  
• Mexico City Legalizes Abortion Early in Term | The vote sets the stage for court battles and social clashes between Mexico's religious conservatives and liberals (The New York Times)
  
  
• Mexico City's legislature votes to legalize abortion | After months of furious debate and threats of excommunication by the Catholic Church, Mexico City's legislative assembly on Tuesday overwhelmingly voted to legalize abortion for the first time in the capital's history (The Washington Post)
  
  

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Health & science:

• CDC: Teen's rabies cure failed in others | An unusual drug combination that helped an unvaccinated teenager survive rabies has failed to save three other infected children, federal health officials reported Thursday (Associated Press)
  
  
• Earlier: Down to a prayer | As rabies saps the life from a Fond du Lac teen, doctors concoct a radical strategy to save her (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, June 18, 2005; a later story on the family's crediting nationwide prayer for the rabies survival is no longer available online)
  
  
• The divine has a place on the road to recovery | A nationwide study found that 85% of doctors surveyed believe faith has a positive effect on a patient's health (Los Angeles Times)
  
  
• The God disunion: there is a place for faith in science, insists Winston | IVF pioneer attacks 'patronising' evolutionist (The Guardian, London)
  
  

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Limbo:

• Vatican commission: Limbo reflects 'restrictive view of salvation' | After several years of study, the Vatican's International Theological Commission said there are good reasons to hope that babies who die without being baptized go to heaven (Catholic News Service)
  
  
• Pope approves report on teaching limbo | Pope Benedict XVI has reversed centuries of traditional Roman Catholic teaching on limbo, approving a Vatican report released Friday that says there were "serious" grounds to hope that children who die without being baptized can go to heaven (Associated Press)
  
  
• Vatican panel condemns limbo to eternal dustbin | An advisory study, approved by the pope, concludes that unbaptized babies may go to heaven after all (Los Angeles Times)
  
  
• The Pope ends state of limbo after 800 years | The 41-page report by the Vatican's Theological Commission, which was compiled following a three-year study, said the concept was an "unduly restrictive view of salvation" (The Telegraph, London)
  
  
• The end of limbo | What happens to all the babies who used to be there? (Michelle Tsai, Slate)
  
  
• Rest in peace | While limbo was never a part of Church doctrine, it was taught to Catholics well into the 20th century. No more. Amen (Editorial, The Day, Ct.)
  
  
• Letting go of limbo | With a new Vatican report, the Pope finally sends unbaptized babies to heaven—and signals that he may be less conservative than his image suggests (Newsweek)
  
  

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Benedict XVI:

• The enlightenment Pope | Joseph Ratzinger is the first "theologian pope" in a long time (Giulio Meotti, The Wall Street Journal)
  
  
• China's top state-approved Catholic bishop dies | Bishop Fu Tieshan, the most prominent bishop in China's state-approved Catholic church, died on Friday, opening a major vacancy at a time when Pope Benedict is preparing a letter about the future of the country's divided church (Reuters)
  
  
• His own Pope yet? | Benedict XVI remains something of a blank slate to a world curious to see what this new pontiff would be like (David Gibson, The New York Times)
  
  
• Pope: Medical advances must respect life | Pope Benedict XVI called Sunday for life in all its phases to be respected and defended, saying such a fundamental value must accompany any medical advances (Associated Press)
  
  
• Everyday life softens Pope's image | The Vatican has released film and photographs offering a rare glimpse of the private life of Benedict XVI (The Times, London)
  
  

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Monasticism:

• Religion today: Convent conglomeration | Helped by aggressive marketing and a new generation of conservative Roman Catholics, convents around the country say they are experiencing an increase in applicants for the first time in decades (Associated Press)
  
  
• Monks who play punk | Even as other Roman Catholic orders are seeing their numbers dwindle, the bearded, gray-frocked Friars of the Renewal attract recruits to their lively but spartan monastic life (The New York Times)
  
  
• Wanted: men of God | Decline in number of priests causes Allentown Diocese to focus recruiting efforts (Allentown Morning Call, Pa.)
  
  
• For some heavenly brews, explore the abbey road | Six Trappist monasteries in Belgium and one in the Netherlands carry on this tradition (The Washington Post)
  
  

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Catholicism:

• State of the Church | Catholicism's dwindling presence in Europe has less to do with people losing faith than it does with their rejection of authoritarian institutions (Adele M. Stan, The American Prospect)
  
  
• Vatican says gay marriage evil and abortion terrorism | The Vatican's second-highest ranking doctrinal official on Monday forcefully branded homosexual marriage an evil and denounced abortion and euthanasia as forms of "terrorism with a human face" (Reuters)
  
  
• Check into the priory that offers a natural high | Visiting a converted monastery where godliness and gastronomy go hand in hand (The Guardian, London)
  
  
• A tearful farewell to Little Audrey | Some prayed for the grace of a miracle. Others suffering from disability or illness hoped for a divine healing. And some simply wanted to catch a glimpse of the comatose girl who attracted a following after reports of statues weeping oil, blood-stained Communion wafers, and miraculous healings (The Boston Globe)
  
  
• Store: Orlando Catholic diocese to check 'crying' Virgin Mary statue | A religious statue appears to be crying black tears (WKMG, Orlando)
  
  

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Anglicanism:

• Anglican group to ordain priests | The fledgling Anglican District of Virginia, a group of 11 local churches that have broken with the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia over theological issues, will ordain its first three priests and a deacon today in Falls Church (The Washington Times)
  
  
• Anglican leaders set to converge on N.O. | September gathering to tackle growing rift (The Times-Picayune, New Orleans)
  
  
• Grace's state of confusion | During '40 days of discernment,' church officials and parishioners sift through allegations (Colorado Springs Independent)
  
  
• Episcopal parish in Springs invited to join breakaway group | CANA's Martyn Minns goes to Grace and St. Stephen's Church (Rocky Mountain News, Denver)
  
  
• Relationship forces out church leader | The Rev. Praveen Bunyan of St. James Anglican admits to 'inappropriate' conduct with female parishioner, officials say (The Orange County Register, Ca.)
  
  
• Canadian woman could be Anglican leader | The Anglican Church of Canada could elect its first woman leader during a national assembly this summer (Associated Press)
  
  
• E. Dallas church breaks with Episcopal Diocese | According to the diocese, most—but not all—members of the Church of the Resurrection will follow Rector Donald McLane and form a non-Episcopal congregation aligned with the Anglican Mission in America (The Dallas Morning News)
  
  
• Church acts to stem 'sham marriages' | New marriage guidelines are being drawn up by the Church of England amid fears that its clergy may be unwittingly conducting bogus weddings (The Telegraph, London)
  
  
• Episcopal leader holds firm on gay rights | Says N.H. bishop's election a blessing (The Boston Globe)
  
  
• I still haven't found what I'm looking for | Anglican schismatics invoke endless biblical argle-bargle to defend their un-Christian bigotry, but in the end it boils down to this: They are unwilling to love and accept their neighbors as themselves (Alex Beam, The Boston Globe)
  
  
• Archbishop attacks 'erosion of Christian values' | The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, launcesh a fierce attack today on the "moral relativism" that is eroding Christian values in society and Government (The Telegraph, London)
  
  

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Church life:

• Preacher plans Branch Davidian memorial | In the ashes of the Branch Davidian site where nearly 80 people died in a 1993 blaze after an armed standoff with federal agents, a new religious community is slowly taking shape. (Associated Press)
  
  
• Saints in demand in Russia as church asserts tie to state | Sergei Privalov, a soft-spoken priest who heads the Russian Orthodox Church's Department for Cooperation with the Military, Law Enforcement and the Security Services, is a busy man. Everyone wants a patron saint. (The Washington Post)
  
  
• Parrots give worshippers the bird | A church congregation in Otley has had its Christian sensibilities ruffled by a trio of rare birds (BBC)
  
  
• Church's sex series attracts crowds | Billboards gained national attention (Canton Repository, Oh.)
  
  
• Church in crisis: Stay or leave? | Beverly Heights Presbyterian is first voting on separation (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
  
  
• "Lord" is fading at some churches | At Tucson's largest Episcopal church, St. Philip's in the Hills, the creators of an alternative worship service called Come & See are bucking tradition by rewriting what have become prescribed ways of worship. For the faithful, that means God isn't referred to as "him," and references to "the Lord" are rare (Arizona Daily Star)
  
  
• "Not your parents' church" | Ministry takes message to bikers in bars (Associated Press)
  
  
• Church rector resigns after confession | Rev. Praveen Bunyan admits to inappropriate conduct with a female parishioner (Daily Pilot, Newport Beach, Ca.)
  
  
• Get thee out of thy city? | Parishioners credit their new pastor with persuading the congregation to stay in Manchester (Manchester Union Leader, N.H.)
  
  
• Hillsong to vote on new grounds for divorce | Hillsong and its 1138 sister churches are poised to relax divorce rules in cases of domestic violence and "abandonment." The Assemblies of God in Australia, part of the world's largest Pentecostal denomination, currently blesses divorce when a partner has been sexually unfaithful (The Sydney Morning Herald)
  
  
• Local church votes to leave denomination | Presbyterian congregation in Mt. Lebanon decides to join conservative body (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
  
  
• Priest claims praying 'pointless' | South Melbourne priest Bob Maguire says church leaders across Australia can pray for rain "until they go black in the face" but it won't solve the water crisis (Herald Sun, Australia)
  
  
• Silicon Valley 'mobile' church prays for a home | "If God told us this is the place, how come it's being sold to someone else. Did we hear wrong?" (San Jose Mercury News, Ca.)
  
  
• The Cross and the caricatures | A response to Robert Jenson, Jeffrey John, and a new volume entitled Pierced for Our Transgressions (N. T. Wright, Fulcrum, U.K.)
  
  
• The polarizing pastor of Doral | José Luis De Jesús Miranda -- who teaches that sin and the devil don't exist -- has emerged as an exalted yet divisive figure (The Miami Herald)
  
  
• Also: Close brothers are now divided | José Luis De Jesús Miranda's relationship with his brother -- leader of a church in Miami-Dade County -- has been split by their radically different theological views (The Miami Herald)
  
  
• Nigerian pastors spread into Cameroon | Authorities in Cameroon are seeking to control the surging numbers of Pentecostal churches in the country being set up by Nigerian pastors crossing over the border (BBC, audio)
  
  
• To St. Pixels flock the internet faithful | This is an actual church, with real services (Media Life)
  
  
• The Religious left's "mea culpa" for the Klan and the communists | Presbyterians are planning to apologize on behalf of all the Nazis, Klansmen and communists, though apparently none one of these delightful people was actually a Presbyterian (Mark D. Tooley, FrontPageMag)
  
  

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Hispanic Christians:

• Study: Hispanics driving change in U.S. religion | A major study released today offers a close look at how Hispanics are changing the way religion is practiced in the United States—and how American culture is affecting the faith of Hispanics who come to this country (The Dallas Morning News)
  
  
• Hispanics transforming U.S. religion | U.S. Hispanics view religious and political life as intertwined, often worship in ethnic congregations and embrace a spirit-filled, charismatic style of Christianity, a new survey says (Associated Press)
  
  

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Church attendance:

• Dissatisfaction, yearning make churchgoers switch | The faithful are restless, a new study of Protestant churchgoers suggests. They're switching from church to church, powered by a mix of dissatisfaction and yearning, according to the study by LifeWay Research (USA Today)
  
  
• Religion in the news: England's growing churches | Why the country's evangelical congregations are thriving (Associated Press)
  
  
• Kiwis flock to born again churches | Growing numbers of New Zealanders are turning to "born again" and fundamentalist churches, drawn by the conservative moral codes, slick marketing and rock music (The Dominion Post, New Zealand)
  
  
• Bell tolls for Germany's churches | As Catholic and Protestant congregations decline, many houses of worship are being shut or converted to other uses (Los Angeles Times)
  
  
• Empty pews | 80 percent of Americans profess belief in God, but church attendance is declining (The News Journal, Wilmington, Del.)
  
  
• Boom in Christianity reshapes Methodists | The United Methodist Church is the latest Protestant group caught in the shifting currents of world Christianity. While the American denomination is shrinking at home, its congregations in the developing world are growing explosively (Associated Press)
  
  

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Earth Day/environmentalism:

• The gospel of green | Evangelical Christians increasingly taking up the cause of environment (Rapid City Journal, S.D.)
  
  
• God's green Earth | Vineyard Church takes active role in preserving, protecting environment (The Coloradoan, Fort Collins)
  
  
• God is green | Have you ever stopped to consider how much it costs to heat—or cool—a church? (Newsweek)
  
  

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Holidays:

• Renaming of Christian holidays a no-no—church | To change the names of Christian holidays would be extremely offensive to Christians, the Apostolic Faith Mission of SA said yesterday (Pretoria Times, South Africa)
  
  
• Afrikanerbond decries call to rename Christian holidays | Calls for Christian holidays to be renamed amount to a minority of non-Christians seeking to enforce their will on the majority, the Afrikanerbond said on Friday (Mail & Guardian, South Africa)
  
  
• An unwavering push for Muslim school holidays | Man's decade of work faces obstacles, including law (The Baltimore Sun)
  
  
• St George's holiday 'inevitable' | St George's Day will be a public holiday in England within two or three years, according to a man campaigning for the day to be celebrated (BBC)
  
  
• Rebranding Saint George | Yesterday England observed the feast day of its Patron Saint. Thanks to progressive theologians, next year the feast will be celebrated on May Day (Hal G.P. Colebatch, The American Spectator)
  
  

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Noise:

• Church's services 'loud as a nightclub' | Pastor Francis Yeboah, who started the Written Word Outreach Church in Hove 14 years ago, was taken to court by council officials for breaching a noise abatement notice served last year (The Telegraph, London)
  
  
• Noise making - Churches contribute 70% | The Tema Office of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that churches contribute a lot to noise making in the communities (Accra Mail, Ghana)
  
  

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Property & finances:

• No late reprieve for old church | Preservationists fail to come up with money by the agreed deadline (The Salt Lake Tribune)
  
  
• Sale of building is 'good news' for theological seminary | The Protestant school will remain on site as a tenant (The Salt Lake Tribune)
  
  
• Louisville sues to block church's claim to land | Project planned at River Road site (The Courier-Journal, Louisville, Ky.)
  
  
• Stamps sold and prayers answered | After months of planning, the medieval parish church of St Mary and St Rhadegund opened its own post office last week (BBC)
  
  
• Judge: No religion at post office | U.S. District Judge Dominic J. Squatrito, in a case involving a church-run post office in Manchester, ordered the Postal Service to notify the nearly 5,200 facilities run by contractors that they cannot promote religion through pamphlets, displays or any other materials (Associated Press)
  
  
• Ruling: No religious displays in post office | Resident wins suit against postal unit (Hartford Courant, Ct.)
  
  
• Church donations up and down in '05 | Individual congregants of 65 Christian denominations that reported financial information for publication gave an average of $713 to their church in calendar year 2005 (National Council of Churches)
  
  

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Crime & lawsuits

• 'Image, person differ' | Methodist pastor notifies police after parishioner allegedly makes threat to make Virginia Tech massacre look mild by comparison (Appeal-Democrat, Marysville, Ca.)
  
  
• Complaints prompt church audit | Police and church officials are examining the finances of SS Peter and Paul parish in Reading after receiving complaints about parish spending (The Cincinnati Enquirer)
  
  
• Infected doctor jailed for endangering patients | Daniel Mutunda, a Christian, initially said he was cured from hepatitis B after he prayed for healing, the court heard (The Telegraph, London)
  
  
• Father can't sue LDS Church | The Utah Court of Appeals has ruled that a father locked in an international custody battle with his former wife in Japan cannot sue The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for ordaining his two sons into the LDS priesthood against his wishes. (Deseret Morning News, Ut.)
  
  
• Hillsong member guilty of fraud | A Hillsong church member pleaded guilty yesterday to defrauding fellow parishioners, but forgiveness might be hard for the 200-plus investors who lost $20 million in property developments that were never completed (The Australian)
  
  
• Supreme Court refuses to hear former nun's appeal | Lynette Petruska claimed in her lawsuit that she was demoted in 2002 and forced to resign because of her gender, and because she helped expose accusations of a cover-up involving a priest who took a leave of absence after an alleged affair with a woman (Associated Press)
  
  
• Police: Acid bombs found at church | Plastic bottles, acid-like substance discovered by church member (WKMG, Orlando)
  
  
• Three congressmen subpoenaed in battle over Mount Soledad cross | Lawyers for opponents of the Mount Soledad cross in La Jolla have issued subpoenas to three local congressmen for documents and other materials relating to legislation passed last year that transferred the landmark to the federal government (San Diego Union-Tribune, Ca.)
  
  
• Bishop must explain drink riddle | The Bishop of Southwark, the Rt Rev Tom Butler, could be formally disciplined for his allegedly drunken behavior before Christmas (The Telegraph, London)
  
  
• Buggy hijacked, Amish teen missing | An Amish man convicted in the grisly 1993 disembowelment murder of his wife returned to Crawford County last week and seized his 17-year-old daughter, Mary, after his son hijacked the horse-drawn buggy in which she was riding, family members said (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
  
  
• Eugene church robbery suspect arrested after leaving wallet at scene | Police say 22-year old Blake Markee dropped his wallet, identification and cell phone at one of the churches (Associated Press)
  
  
• Holy Innocents' says priest misused $100,000 | The head of one of Atlanta's oldest Episcopal churches, misused more than $100,000 of parish funds, according to the church (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
  
  
• Robbery suspect finds religion, jail | A man accused of robbing two Santa Rosa County stores apparently turned himself in after reading a religious pamphlet (Pensacola News Journal, Fla.)
  
  
• Catholic teachers in bias battle | The case of two Ulster teachers who claim they were turned down for a promotion because of religious discrimination was due to be heard by the Court of Appeal in Belfast today (Belfast Telegraph)
  
  
• Church member sues pastor | The suit alleges that United Pentecostal Church of Warsaw pastor Dan Cox took money from a retirement account for a former pastor set up by the church as well as money from a special account to put new carpet in the church basement (Times-Union, Warsaw, Ind.)
  
  

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Mary Winkler:

• Wife convicted in preacher's death | Risky decision to testify, her lawyers said, had a powerful effect on the jury and probably explains why Winkler will not spend the rest of her life in prison (Associated Press)
  
  
• Wife of minister is guilty of lesser charge (Los Angeles Times)
  
  
• Legal victory for Mary Winkler | Battered women should leave, divorce, flee, not kill (Susan Filan, MSNBC)
  
  
• Winkler case brings abuse to forefront | Mary Winkler's story of abuse at the hands of her husband has struck a chord with many women across the country who identify as a survivor or victim of domestic abuse (Jackson Sun, Tenn.)
  
  
• Full coverage: The Christian Chronicle (newspaper of the Churches of Christ, see also past trial coverage)
  
  

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Abuse:

• Preacher charged with raping 12-year-old church member | DNA tests show he had fathered a child with her (WTVD, Raleigh, N.C.)
  
  
• St. Louis Archdiocese settles sex abuse lawsuit | The Archdiocese of St. Louis on Thursday announced a financial settlement involving a lawsuit naming three priests accused of sexual abuse of a child, including the Rev. Chester E. Gaiter, a former pastor in East St. Louis (Belleville News-Democrat, Ill.)
  
  
• Cousin of sex offender tells of complaint at earlier church | A former youth minister who confessed to the statutory rape of four teenagers was said to have had sex with a 16-year-old, his relative testified (The New York Times)
  
  
• Ex-teacher given 20 years in prison | Shortly after Jason Wamsley received 20 years in prison for repeatedly having sex with an underage girl, she took the witness stand and berated her former teacher and church youth director (Ft. Worth Star-Telegram, Tex.)
  
  
• Dad says church was alerted to molester | A parade of witnesses testified yesterday that they saw signs that Matthew Maiello was too close to his students (Newsday)
  
  
• Youth pastor found not guilty | After less than 2 1/2 hours of deliberation, an jury of seven men and five women returned verdicts of not guilty in both felony child molesting charges against Whitacre, 33, a youth pastor at Good Shepherd United Brethren Church (Huntington Herald Press, Ind.)
  
  
• Church stands behind accused youth minister | Lakeridge Baptist assistant faces trial for sexual assault (Avalanche Journal, Lubbock, Tex.)
  
  
• Vonnahmen defrocked by pope | Was accused of sexual abuse of boys (Belleville News-Democrat, Ill.)
  
  
• Church shaken by sex charges vs. ex-ass't pastor | Court documents describe a middle-aged authority figure who intimidated his vulnerable victims, ranging at the time from age 11 to 17. He allegedly told one 12-year-old that "to get close to God she needed to get close to him" (Philadelphia Daily News)
  
  
• Youth pastor acquitted of fondling girl | 10-year-old alleged 'touching' in '05 visit to Good Shepherd Church (The Journal Gazette, Fort Wayne, Ind.)
  
  
• Woman says church aide pressured her into sex at 15 | Matthew Maiello, who has served time for statutory rape, singled her out for special attention and told her that it was "God's plan" that they have sex, she testified in court (The New York Times)
  
  
• Abusive priest's past still poses big problems for courts, victims | The case of a man who sexually abused boys but has no criminal record to show for it (The Star-Ledger, Newark, N.J.)
  
  
• Accused priests remain on payroll | Many area priests facing accusations of abusing youth are still paid by Archdiocese of Cincinnati (Dayton Daily News, Oh.)
  
  
• Ex-pastor convicted of child sex abuse | Thomas Lindell Robinson, former pastor of the New Life Christian Center, was sentenced to a prison term of 26 to 33 years (Wilmington Star, N.C., second item)
  
  
• Sexual Tormentor Testifies, but Victims Can't Bear to Listen | Matthew Maiello admitted many of the victims' accusations but denied some of their claims (The New York Times)
  
  
• Ex-youth minister testifies in civil lawsuit | From the moment a former youth minister at an East Meadow Catholic church kissed his 15-year-old student, he knew he was breaking the rules, he testified Tuesday (Newsday)
  
  
• Statement on defrocked priest raises new secrecy questions for diocese | In the same news release announcing that the Rev. Robert Vonnahmen had been "dismissed from the clerical state" by the Vatican, Bishop Edward Braxton said the diocese has no obligation to make public the Vatican's decisions about local priests whose penalties fall short of being laicized (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
  
  
• A path to healing | An alleged case of abuse is pivotal to two lives (Springfield News-Leader, Mo.)
  
  

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Bankruptcy:

• Parishes' request to resume construction denied | Group asked judge to allow spending (San Diego Union-Tribune)
  
  
• Bishop says he doesn't know value of assets | Bishop Robert Brom and other officials of the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Diego admitted yesterday that they understated the value of church property by many millions of dollars in its bankruptcy filings (San Diego Union-Tribune)
  
  
• Legal clash over church property | San Diego bishop testifies about value of real estate listed in bankruptcy papers sought by abuse victims to pay damages (Los Angeles Times)
  
  
• Diocese's bankruptcy plan approved | A bankruptcy judge on Tuesday confirmed a plan to allow the Catholic Diocese of Spokane to emerge from bankruptcy and pay victims of sex abuse $48 million (Associated Press)
  
  

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Virginia Tech:

• Praying for a 'troubled soul' and mourning for victims | As Korean-Americans gathered at churches near the campus of Virginia Tech, they embraced a time for reflection and spiritual solace (The New York Times)
  
  
• Amid the chaos of deaths, a minister attends to those who are grieving | The Rev. Alexander W. Evans has listened and spoken to those closest to the killings of the 32 Virginia Tech students and faculty members (The New York Times)
  
  
• Pastor urges Va. Tech back to campus | As pastor of Blacksburg Baptist Church, Tommy McDearis was called on to tell more than 20 families a loved one had fallen victim to Virginia Tech gunman Seung-Hui Cho (Associated Press)
  
  
• Virginia Tech struggles to recover from shootings | Article includes more details from church services (The New York Times)
  
  
• VTech readies for classes after massacre | Across the pretty college town of Blacksburg, churchgoers filed into sanctuaries for yet more prayer (Reuters)
  
  
• Richmond-area churches pray for Tech victims | St. John's Episcopal rector makes promise: 'There will be healing' (Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va.)
  
  
• Students turn to God in wake of Virginia shooting | By all accounts, the prayers started even before the gunshots stopped at Virginia Tech university, and the pleas to God from grief-stricken survivors of the massacre have continued ever since (Reuters)
  
  
• A place between grief and going forward | 'This isn't like a natural disaster. . . . It's like a storm inside.' (The Washington Post)
  
  
• Virginia Korean community still reeling | "We respond to this tragedy as Americans and as Koreans, so let's pray for this nation, that this nation will heal," the Rev. Dihan Lee said in prayer (Associated Press)
  
  
• Students told to charge in an attack | Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary's leader's comments on Virginia spree spark debate (The Dallas Morning News)
  
  
• After massacre, worshipers ask God 'Why?' | An unusually high number of people pack churches in Blacksburg, Va., seeking comfort and answers (Los Angeles Times)
  
  
• Grief counseling | Aid providers, some invited and some not, arrive en masse to Blacksburg (The Washington Post)
  
  
• The morality line | The killings at Virginia Tech happen at a moment when background forces stop and individual choice — and individual responsibility — begins (David Brooks, The New York Times, sub. req'd.)
  
  
• Leave religion out of it | A crime is a crime, and barbarity has no race, creed or colour (Anas Altikriti, The Guardian, London)
  
  
• Darwin, Brooks, and mass murder | Theoretical hindsight cannot divine purpose (Richard Kirk, The American Spectator)
  
  

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Memorials and ministry:

• Clergy speak of evil and suffering, love and strength | Religious communities' response to Virginia Tech shootings (The Washington Post)
  
  
• Mournful prayers rise for Virginia Tech | Area religious groups combine to offer comfort (The Washington Post)
  
  
• Sermons address Tech tragedy | Worshippers hunted for answers in sermons and Sunday school discussions as they flocked into country churches and city cathedrals (The Roanoke Times, Va.)
  
  
• Hampton mourners remember 'one of those special people' | Hundreds attended the afternoon service; some had to crowd into a nearby church because there was no room in the sanctuary (The Virginian-Pilot)
  
  
• Austin Cloyd: Her life 'reflected the loving voice of God at work in her' | Cloyd was active in her church's vacation Bible school program, and she also had spent four summers working with the Appalachia Service Project, a Christian organization whose volunteers repair homes for low-income families in rural areas of Central Appalachia (Richmond Times Dispatch, Va.)
  
  
• Spiritual awakening in the midst of tragedy | Pastor Dave Bounds of Restoration Church in Hampton, Va. believes so. A member of his congregation, 20-year-old Lauren McCain, was among those killed in the school tragedy (CBN)
  
  
• A day of mourning for Va. Tech victims | Gov. Timothy M. Kaine declared Friday a day of mourning and called for a moment of silence at noon to honor the 32 victims in Monday's massacre at Virginia Tech. Churches around the country, from California to National Cathedral in Washington D.C., have scheduled vigils and special prayer services (Associated Press)
  
  
• S. Korean religious groups hold memorial services for slain U.S. victims | South Korea's religious groups are sponsoring public services to mourn the victims who were killed in a shooting rampage at Virginia Tech University this week (Yonhap, South Korea)
  
  
• It was not any Sunday for Suffolk church | The weekly service is missing a beloved congregant, Nicole White, who was slain at Tech (Daily Press, Hampton Roads, Va.)
  
  
• Also: Hundreds mourn a 'child of God' in Suffolk | Nearly 900 people gathered in the sanctuary of the North Suffolk church to honor Nicole White (The Virginian-Pilot)
  
  
• Blacksburg faithful mourn together | Messages of hope, healing and sympathy mingle during services (Richmond Times-Dispatch, Va.)
  
  
• Va. town quietly mourns 1 of its own | Here and there, throughout White's hometown, are symbols of the sorrow felt even by those who didn't know the 20-year-old woman with long red hair, a big smile and a deep faith in God (Associated Press)
  
  
• What was missing from Edwards' prayer | Does John Edwards include Jews in his prayers? Or Muslims? Or Hindus? Or any other non-Christians? In order to commemorate those killed at Virginia Tech, Edwards led a prayer "in Christ's name" at Ryman Auditorium (Roger Simon, The Politico)
  
  

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Seung-Hui Cho:

• Bright daughter, brooding son: enigma in the Cho household | While her brother tried to disappear at Westfield High, Sun-kyung Cho was soaring. She worked at the college library and spent much of her spare time at prayer meetings and Friday night Bible studies with the Princeton Evangelical Fellowship. She refrained from pushing her faith, but would discuss it after dinner with a few close friends (Los Angeles Times)
  
  
• Graham: Killer was `demon-possessed' | Evangelist dispatches chaplains to college to meet and pray with students, parents (The Charlotte Observer, N.C.)
  
  
• 'Jesus was crucifying me.' | So said Cho in the NBC package, according to The Telegraph (The Telegraph, London)
  
  
• Mother prayed as son brooded in silence | Kim Hyang-im spent much of her time in church praying for Cho to snap out of his unhealthy taciturnity. She attended the Korean church in Centreville, where she implored the pastor to help her son (The Guardian, London)
  
  
• U.S. shooter troubled parents as kid | About 130 people gathered at Myeongdong Cathedral in central Seoul, casting their heads low as they sang sad hymns and prayed for the souls of those killed (Associated Press)
  
  
• The road to Virginia Tech tragedy started with Bible ban | The shooter at Virginia Tech was a madman. However, he had also been raised on a solid diet of secular humanism which teaches no moral absolutes (Steven Grant, Greeley Tribune, Co.)
  
  
• Pastor, church can't fathom how quiet kid became killer | After hearing about the deadly Virginia Tech shootings, the Rev. Yong-Ho Cha immediately thought about the quiet, withdrawn boy he mentored at Bible study years ago: Seung-Hui Cho (The Star-Ledger, Newark, N.J.)
  
  
• Koreans offer their apologies for shootings | At the a church where the parents of Cho Seung-hui, the Virginia Tech killer, worship (The Telegraph, London)
  
  
• The Christian call to love victim 33 | Seung-Hui Cho was the 33rd victim of his own violence. And he was, perhaps, the most tragic victim of all: apparently a victim of years of mental illness, self-ostracism, anger and loathing, even before he was a victim of his own violence. In this swath of the Bible Belt, we who call ourselves Christians must include this sad, deluded young man in our memorials. We must remember Cho as we remember the others (Monty Leitch, The Roanoke Times, Va.)
  
  
• Did the devil make him do it? | Was Cho Seung-Hui schizophrenic … psychotic … manic-depressive? Or were the shooting deaths of 32 people, including Cho himself, at Virginia Tech University part of the ongoing struggle between God and Satan … good against evil … lightness and darkness? (Lauren Green, Fox News)
  
  

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Turkey:

• 3 evangelicals found slain in east Turkey | The victims were evangelical Protestants and authorities said it seemed likely that the attackers had a nationalist agenda (The New York Times)
  
  
• Christians in Turkey fear more attacks | Five more suspects detained after attack on Christian publishing house (Associated Press)
  
  
• 3 killed in attack on Bible publisher in Turkey | Five youths -- all with notes that say, 'They are attacking our religion' -- are held at the scene. (Los Angeles Times)
  
  
• Ten arrested over Turkey murders | Flat mates there said accused were quiet - believers, but not overtly devout (BBC)
  
  
• Christian workers' throats slit in Turkey | Three staff at a Bible publishing company in Eastern Turkey were killed in a brutal attack on the country's Christian minority (The Telegraph, London)
  
  
• Slain evangelists were tortured, says Turkish doctor | Three Protestants murdered at a Christian publishing house in Malatya, Turkey, were tortured for three hours before their assailants slit their throats, a press report said Friday, quoting one of the doctors involved in the grisly case (Middle East Times)
  
  
• Turkey must resolve the issue of religious freedom | Now, Christians were once more victims of an attack. The Turkish stance is to call this an exceptional case. But three exceptional cases equal a pattern (Mechthild Brockamp, Deutsche Welle, Germany)
  
  
• 12 to be charged in Turkey Bible murders | A court jailed five suspects. Six others were released pending trial, the court said. A 12th suspect, who tried to escape from police by jumping from a fourth-floor balcony at the scene of the killings, remains hospitalized (Associated Press)
  
  
• Turkish Islamists face Christians' death trial | The attack was the third against Christians in Turkey in a year. The common link was that the killers claimed they were defending Islam from Christian proselytizing (The Telegraph, London)
  
  
• The banality of the murders of three Christians in Turkey | We will continue to pray in our churches for our nation, but our nation will continue to see us as enemies. And sooner or later, 'birileri' who loves their country will attack us again. As our bodies will lay there on the ground, their abis, in the most banal fashion, will declare that birileri is trying to destroy Turkey (Ziya Meral, Turkish Daily News)
  
  
• Christian converts live in fear in intolerant Turkey | Turkish converts to Christianity fear for their lives after the brutal murder of three people at a Christian publishing house last week. Angela Merkel has called for Ankara to take action to promote religious tolerance, while secular intellectuals ask why the 99-percent Muslim country can't put up with a few Christians (Der Spiegel, Germany)
  
  
• Turkish police probe Bible killings amid shock | Turkish police have detained 10 people in connection with the killing of three people, including a German, at a Bible publishing house in the mainly Muslim country, authorities said on Thursday (Reuters)
  
  
• Court charges suspects over Malatya murders | Suspect had reportedly visited the publishing house several times and attended an Easter dinner hosted by the Protestant community in Malatya this month (AFP)
  
  
• Slain German highlights Christian plight | The story of a quiet and deeply religious German missionary ended with the sound of dirt being scattered over his coffin in eastern Turkey, his violent death a sign of the plight of Christians in this Muslim country (Associated Press)
  
  
• Barred pastor: Church complains | A church group is complaining to the foreign affairs department after two South Africans were refused entry to attend a funeral in Turkey at the weekend (SAPA, South Africa)
  
  
• Turkey's Christians face backlash | Several recent murders have confronted Turkey's growing ranks of Christian evangelicals (The Christian Science Monitor)
  
  

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Mugabe:

• African Anglican bishops support Mugabe | The 14 Anglican bishops blamed the worsening plight of poor Zimbabweans largely on Western economic sanctions (Associated Press)
  
  
• Anglican bishops rap sanctions | The Anglican Church Province of Central Africa has added its voice to the growing condemnation of the illegal Western sanctions imposed on Zimbabwe and called for their scrapping, urging Britain to honour its obligations to fund land reforms in the country (The Zimbabwe Herald)
  
  
• Do not cause disunity, Zimbabwe churches told | Government yesterday expressed concern over the attitude of some churches, which are meddling in politics by unfairly denouncing the State under the disguise of "prayer meetings" (The Zimbabwe Herald)
  
  
• Defrocked pastor, sons cause stir at city church | A defrocked pastor of the United Apostolic Faith Church's Belvedere Assembly allegedly mobilised his three sons and son-in-law to disrupt church services in protest against the church's national executive council's decision to rescind his ordination (The Zimbabwe Herald)
  
  

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Sudan:

• Bush presses Sudan on Darfur, citing possible U.S. sanctions | President Bush warned that the U.S. would impose stiff economic sanctions if Sudan does not end the violence in Darfur (The New York Times)
  
  
• Sudan accuses U.N. panel of lying | Sudan accused a United Nations panel on Thursday of fabricating claims that the government was conducting bombing raids in Darfur and disguising planes to look like U.N. aircraft (Associated Press)
  
  
• Report: Darfur kids endure horrific acts | Children in Darfur are enduring "unspeakable acts of violence and abuse" from killing and rape to abduction, torture and recruitment as fighters in the escalating four-year conflict in Sudan's vast western region, a report said (Associated Press)
  
  
• Envoy: Sides want Darfur peace | The United Nations' special envoy for Darfur said Monday that both the Sudanese government and rebel forces wanted to find a negotiated settlement to end the conflict in Darfur (Associated Press)
  
  
• Sudanese want action on Darfur | Opposition politicians and residents in Khartoum say they're tired of the government's obfuscation (The Christian Science Monitor)
  
  
• U.S. seeks to extend Sudan peacekeeping | The United States sought to use a U.N. resolution that would extend the U.N. peacekeeping mission in southern Sudan to press for the deployment of 20,000 U.N. troops in Darfur. But the strategy is likely to face difficulties from Security Council members who want to keep two operations separate (Associated Press)
  
  
• Darfur and diplomacy | The U.N. is unable to learn the ancient lessons of murder. (Editorial, The Wall Street Journal)
  
  

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Other religions:

• Back in Africa on missionary work: Madonna, I presume? | The Kabbalah teaches that we 'create angels with our actions'. Local Christians are horrified by such mystical nonsense (Joan Smith, The Independent, London)
  
  
• Muslims write to pope after convert's beating | Islamic community pledges 'a common path of understanding' after incident (Reuters)
  
  
• Islamic fanatics beat journo in Canada | Stop "writing against Islam" they told Muslim journalist Jawaad Faizi (Editor & Publisher)
  
  
• Cruel and unusual punishment | A rare glimpse into remote North Korea uncovers new stories on persecution—300 people a year killed for their faith—amid an unbending communist regime (World)
  
  
• Guilty Bible rapist's sick ploy | The man found guilty of raping a woman as punishment for reading the Bible lured her to his unit by claiming he had news of her family overseas (The Daily Telegraph, Australia)
  
  
• Are religious groups using threats to get converts on campus? | Extremist Muslim students at some of the UK's leading universities are using threats, force and intimidation to convert Hindu and Sikh classmates to Islam - and getting paid handsomely for it, according to reports (The Guardian, London)
  
  
• A growing Buddhist population tests the neighborliness of a city | Fort Wayne, Ind., a city of 248,000 people and 606 Christian churches, is in the midst of a Buddhist temple boom (The New York Times)
  
  
• Christians and Hindus clash over land | Hindu extremists organise demo today calling for land purchased by Christians be returned to Tribals. Missionaries use revenue raised from the land to provide education and improve living conditions of the local population, something extremists do not want, says bishop of Raipur (AsiaNews.it)
  
  
• Iran exonerates six who killed in Islam's name | The Iranian Supreme Court has overturned the murder convictions of six members of a prestigious state militia who killed five people they considered "morally corrupt." (The New York Times)