J. Tolson: "From the ban on the wearing of visible religi-ous symbols in French public schools to the refusal of the EU to include specific mention of Christianity's influ-ence on Europe's distinctive civilization in its first consti-tution, a mountain of anecdotal evidence suggests that an aggressive form of secularism—what the British reli-gion writer Karen Armstrong calls 'secular fundamental-ism'—is afoot in Europe. Numerous analysts suggest that the spreading 'Christianophobia' is tied to a Europe-wide spiritual malaise that is pushing the Continent to-ward broad cultural and economic decline. Others des-cribe a more complicated process, in which—as the last vestiges of established religions are disappearing in various European nations—a new spiritual awakening may be taking place...."

Mona Charen, Creators Syndicate: Calling "the presi-dent's position as that of a 'conservative Christian,' cheerleaders for stem cell research hope to avoid grap-pling with the moral question altogether. The New York Times objects, 'The president's policy is based on the belief that all embryos, even the days-old, microscopic form used to derive stem cells in a laboratory...should be treated as emerging human life and protected from harm. This seems an extreme way to view tiny labora-tory entities no larger than the period at the end of this sentence ...' ...An embryo does not look like a baby, but that is part of the miracle of creation (or reproduc-tion...). Surely the stem cell enthusiasts can recog-nize...that denying the humanity of others is at the root of countless atrocities in human history.”

New York Times via IHT: "Joseph Ratzinger, as a theologian and cardinal, returned to the question often. ...And now that he is Pope Benedict XVI, his paper trail on the issue provokes skepticism...among more liberal Roman Catholics. The question, in his own words: 'Is the church really going to get smaller?' ...in an interview published in 1997 in Salt of the Earth, he explained it this way: 'Maybe we are facing a new and different kind of epoch in the church's history, where Christianity will again...exist in small, seemingly insignificant groups that nonetheless live an intense struggle against evil and bring good into the world—that let God in.' The standard argument is that Benedict 'wants a more fervent, orthodox, evangelical church—even if it drives people away.'..."

Albert Mohler, Christian Post: "[T]he legacy of the 1960's is mixed precisely because 'classic liberalism' devolved into something very different—an ideology that celebrates liberty without an accompanying respect for moral character. Kurtz wants to understand this ex-change of classical liberalism for something far more radical. 'If the movements that began in the 1960's have in some significant measure departed from classic lib-eralism, how are we to understand their inner ration-ale?,' Kurtz asks....'And if classic liberalism suffices for many Americans, what has prompted them to set it aside?' ...Kurtz moves to answer his own question. 'I ar-gue that the sixties ethos, and the transformation of lib-eralism it has produced, is best understood as a secu-lar religion, and in many respects an illiberal religion.'"

AP's Richard Ostling in Sun-Sentinel: "In 2004, many Jewish leaders and their gentile friends voiced outrage over Mel Gibson's film The Passion of the Christ and its depiction of Jews handing Jesus over to the Romans for crucifixion. A year later, a book by Jewish writer David Klinghoffer says of course that's what the Jewish author-ities did: Why the Jews Rejected Jesus: The Turning Point in Western History (Doubleday). He bases that not only on the New Testament—whose history he distrusts to a fair extent— but on the Talmud, Judaism's author-itative compilation of Bible commentary and rabbinic law, and later Jewish sages such as Maimonides. The Tal-mud says that 'on the eve of Passover they hung Yeshu,' Jesus, on charges that he 'performed magic, enticed and led astray Israel.'"

AP via Los Banos Enterprise: "Brazil's 13th 'March for Jesus' began Thursday morning as hundreds of thou-sands...walked more than 1 mile from the University of Sao Paulo's School of Medicine to skyscraper-lined Ave-nida Paulista. The number of hymn-singing marchers swelled and by the time they reached Avenida Paulista the crowd had grown to 2 million, according to the Reborn in Christ Church that organized the event. Sao Paulo pol-ice placed the number at 1.5 million. The financial district was packed with sound trucks blaring catchy religious tunes and wave after wave of people with colorful T-shirts, banners and headbands proclaiming their love for Jesus Christ. 'The purpose of this march...is to conquer Brazil for Jesus Christ,' said Camila Nascimento, a spokes-woman for the Reborn in Christ Church."  

The State.com: "Dobson, who insists his organization backs only issues—not parties or candidates...says the strong rhetoric and emotions are no surprise at a time when there is fierce debate about the actions of the na-tion’s federal courts, which he describes as a 'liberal stronghold.' 'The federal judiciary more and more is mak-ing the great moral decisions of our time,' Dobson said during a 75-minute interview with The Associated Press. He ticked off rulings involving abortion, the Pledge of Al-legiance and the definition of marriage. 'This Supreme Court has co-opted for itself many of the issues that the American people ought to be making through their elec-ted representatives,' he said. 'The decisions that are coming down from the Supreme Court have profound implications for the family and...morality.”

TES: "Most teenage boys taught in Christian schools believe it is wrong to have sex before marriage....More than six out of 10 pupils aged 13 to 15 at independent Christian schools thought pornography was too readily available. Only four out of 10 pupils at other schools held this view, according to the study from the Univer-sity of Wales, Bangor. Nearly two-thirds of Christian-educated boys said it was wrong to have sex outside marriage, many more than the 13% of state school teenagers who felt this way. The study...surveyed 13,000 boys in school years nine and 10. It found nearly twice as many...at independent Christian schools than state schools thought abortion was wrong. 76% of boys in a religious education believed it wrong to have sex under legal age, compared with 29% of other pupils.”

Brent Bozell in Sacramento Union: "The riots caus-ed by Newsweek’s story claiming American interrogat-ors were flushing the Koran caused many Americans to be amazed by the extreme reaction in the Islamic world. Ken Woodward, the long-time religion writer of News-week, tried to explain to Christians just how offensive Koran-flushing is to Muslims: 'Recitation of the Koran is for Muslims much like what receiving the Eucharist is for Catholics—a very intimate ingestion of the divine itself.' There’s a certain irony here. If you wanted to see the Eucharist in the toilet, you needed only to watch the NBC sitcom 'Committed' in February, when NBC played for laughs the idea that two main characters thought they accidentally dropped a communion wafer in a bar toilet."  

Washington Times: "’The conservative movement is in large part a reaction to the social revolution that had been imposed on this country from above, without the consent of the people, by the Supreme Court. Frankly, you would not have a cultural war in this country if the Supreme Court had said, "Look, free speech is one thing, but pornography is not covered by the First Amendment."' If the justices ‘had stayed away from forced busing, if they had let the states decide abortion and gay rights, you would not have had the cultural war —and probably not have had the victories that the Re-publican Party had in the 1970s and '80s.’ Mr. Buchan-an declares war on a faction of the movement in his latest book: Where the Right Went Wrong...."

IHT: "What has changed is the class status of evan-gelicals. In 1929, the theologian Richard Niebuhr des-cribed born-again Christianity as the 'religion of the disinherited.' But over the past 40 years, evangelicals have pulled steadily closer in income and education to mainline Protestants in the historically affluent estab-lishment denominations. In the process, they have over-turned the old social pecking order in which Episcopal-ian, for example, was a code word for upper class, and fundamentalist or evangelical was shorthand for lower class. Evangelical Christians are now increasingly likely to be college graduates and in the top income brackets. Evangelical chief executives pray together on monthly conference calls and evangelical investment bankers study the Bible over lunch on Wall Street."

Via Buffalo News: "Saddleback Church is the nation's largest church. Its senior pastor, Rick Warren, is bigger still. His best-selling book, The Purpose-Driven Life, is the sentinel of an evangelical movement designed to do nothing less than bring about a Second Reformation in world Christianity. In the millions of lives he has touch-ed, the 350,000 pastors he has trained, the global net-work he is creating, and the serious acts of charity he performs, Warren is charting the future of 21st century religion. But as his celebrity grows, Warren may also be challenging mainstream politics. He distances himself from the strident, narrow agenda of traditional evangeli-cal leaders—especially in his work combating poverty and disease. But it's hard to tell whether he realizes how much power he could have."

Article 8 Alliance: "(Caution: extremely gross and dis-gusting. We debated posting this in unedited form; we did so because it was given to schoolchildren in a pub-lic school, written with public money. Unfortunately, it's necessary that the public see it.) 'The Little Black Book - Queer in the 21st Century'...was distributed to hund-reds of kids (middle school age and up) at Brookline [MA] High School.... It was written by the Boston-bas-ed AIDS Action Committee, with help with the Mass. Dept. of Public Health and the Boston Public Health Commission. The event that day was designed for chil-dren and their teachers across Massachusetts, organ-ized by the Gay Lesbian and Straight Education Net-work....You must ask: What kind of person would write this? What kind of person would give it to kids?..."

Detroit Free-Press: “One-third of the faculty members have signed a letter of protest that will appear in a half-page ad in the Grand Rapids Press on Saturday, the day Bush is to deliver the commencement address to 900 graduating seniors at Calvin. The ad cost $2,600. ‘As Christians, we are called to be peacemakers and to initiate war only as a last resort,’ the letter says. ‘We believe your administration has launched an unjust and unjustified war in Iraq.’ More than 800 students, faculty and alumni also have signed a letter protesting Bush's visit that will appear Friday as a full-page ad in the Grand Rapids paper. The ad cost more than $9,500.... And about 100 students are expected to adorn their graduation gowns with armbands and buttons bearing the slogan: 'God is not a Republican or Democrat.'”

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