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James Faust, a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 1978, died on Friday. He also served in the high-ranking position of second counselor to President Gordon Hinckley since 1995.
The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has ordained gay clergy for years. Since it formed out of a merger of three Lutheran church bodies in 1988, it has defrocked three clergy for violating the church body’s requirement that gay clergy abstain from sexual relationships. At the group’s national assembly last week in Chicago, a vote to permit homosexual clergy to engage in sexual relationships failed on Friday but another vote requesting that the church body avoid disciplining gay clergy who violate the celibacy policy was passed on Saturday.
Bruce Tomaso at the Dallas Morning News‘ fine religion blog highlights a horrible Reuters story that Christianity Today‘s Ted Olsen found.
I completely gave up coffee (quelle horreur!) when I found out I was pregnant late last year. Later I was told by my wonderful doctor that I could have up to 300 mg or so of caffeine a day. I promptly left her office and went to the nearest coffee shop. Over the months of pregnancy, a fascinating thing has happened to me. While no one has begrudged me an occasional sip of wine or my husband’s beer — no disapproving looks, even — I have had tremendous trouble ordering coffee.
So candidates for the Republican presidential nomination had a debate at 9 a.m. Sunday. I could be completely wrong about this, but I can’t help but think that if Democratic candidates held their debate on a Sunday morning during the middle of worship for a vast group of Americans, people would snipe about how it was further evidence of their godlessness. But maybe Sunday mornings are officially just like any other day.
Today I was crowned Miss America. Except by “Miss America” I mean my husband said I was “one foxy-looking pregnant lady.” It’s a shame that pageant organizers do not recognize this triumph and bestow on me the crown I so rightfully deserve.
While visiting the blog of Episcopal priest Joseph Howard I came across a link to a new journalism and religion site. Funded by the Carnegie-Knight Initiative, the site has blogs, links to a Second Life community, and other features. Here’s how it’s described:
When I first read Eric Gorski’s piece on evangelicals and art last week, I thought it was another home run for one of my favorite religion reporters. But I’m always praising Gorski — and Stephanie Simon of the Los Angeles Times, among others — and I thought it might be best to let the piece pass. But so many GetReligion readers — from a wide religious spectrum — have commented favorably on the article that I want to make sure we highlight it.
Michael Kress is the assistant managing editor at Beliefnet and a freelance religion reporter. I’ve come across a few of his articles recently as he’s published in Slate, The Dallas Morning News and other sites.
