12:21 pm: “‘I knew that my God was bigger than his. I knew that my God was a real God and his was an idol.'” Berta Delgado of The Dallas Morning News reports on the soon-to-retire Jack Graham, president of the Southern Baptist Convention, who says he’s served in a “time of war – not only the war in Iraq, and the worldwide war on terrorism, but a cultural war.”
12:06 pm: The European Union’s Consitution to remain God-less.
11:52 am: Ronald Brownstein and Faye Fiore on the Sunday Divide.
11:35 am: “Fallouja has become a symbol of a different sort,” writes Laura King in the LA Times, now that it has taken on the status of a mini-fiefdom, ruled by insurgents and an austere form of Islamic law. While Western visitors are stalked through its streets, Fallouja residents are warned not to cut their beards, beauty parlors are shut down and illegal alcohol sellers are publicly flogged–devotional repayment for what Falloujans see as their victory over occupying forces. “These laws might not have been fully followed prior to the occupation of our city,” said one iman, “but the fact that Americans attacked our holy sites … has made us more sensitive about these issues.” A Falloujan government worker drew this moral: “We believe God saved our city. And we believe [Americans] learned a lesson: not to mess with Fallouja.”
12:02 pm: “Taming Wild Horses in God’s Eyes.” Matt Monaghan on Utah’s missionary horse-trainer.
11:55 am: God’s face on a bikini.
11:49 am: In Belzec, Poland, a mass grave of 500,000 has been opened to the public with the digging of a viewing trench–a move partially calculated to combat “Holocaust fatigue.” Former Holocaust Memorial Museum director, Walter Reich, laments the disturbing of his family dead. Read more.
11:20 am: “Religious tolerance be damned.” Joe Bageant in Counterpunch, on “The Covert Kingdom.”
10:50 am: In their image: The Washington Post compares the different Reagans evoked by Bushes, Jr. and Sr., who “yesterday identified in Ronald Reagan the separate traits that have defined each of them in the public’s eye. The elder Bush, known for courtliness and decency, emphasized Reagan’s civility and humility. The younger Bush, by contrast, emphasized Reagan’s ideological firmness, and his fierce opposition to communism and big government. He spoke of Reagan’s commitment to entrepreneurship, freedom, and the struggle of good against evil — all themes of his own administration. Perhaps the biggest difference between father and son in their eulogies was the way they portrayed Reagan’s religious faith.”
9:10 am: In court: The ACLU has filed a lawsuit against the Nebraska city of Omaha on behalf of a Muslim woman who was barred from entering a city pool while fully clothed. And Brigitte Bardot is convicted in Paris of inciting racial hatred for the negative portrayal of Muslims in her recent book, A Cry in the Silence.
8:35 am: Bugs and computer chips at the Vatican .
8:24 am: “‘Long before there was a Jerry Falwell or a Pat Robertson or even a Tom Delay, there was a Martin Luther King Jr., a Dorothy Day and an Abraham Heschel,'” said John Podesta, a Catholic, the Center’s president, and a former Clinton White House staffer. “‘For them, justice and fairness in the community was inseparable from their faith in God. That’s the real story of religion in American life and we’re here to reclaim it.'” Juliana Finucane reports on a Democratic attempt to retake religion.
8:18 am: Via Bartholomew’s Notes On Religion: evolutionist author Richard Dawkins frets over the growing influence of religion on state schools in the UK, namely a private, evangelical sponsor, Peter Vardy, who encourages a curriculum of Bible-study and Creationist theory.