COMMENTARY: My top 10 religion stories of the year

c. 2007 Religion News Service (UNDATED) My choices for the top 10 religion stories in 2007 are: 1. Even as Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, investigated possible wrongdoing within six prominent evangelical megachurches, the mixture of religion and politics in the United States intensified. Mike Huckabee’s surge in the polls, Mitt Romney’s need to speak about […]

c. 2007 Religion News Service

(UNDATED) My choices for the top 10 religion stories in 2007 are:

1. Even as Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, investigated possible wrongdoing within six prominent evangelical megachurches, the mixture of religion and politics in the United States intensified.


Mike Huckabee’s surge in the polls, Mitt Romney’s need to speak about faith in America, and John McCain’s claim that the U.S. is a “Christian nation” underscored the evangelical community’s potency in the political arena. The year also saw a host of religious leaders who delighted in conducting spiritual litmus tests on political candidates.

2. The aggressive Islamic campaign for political and religious hegemony in parts of the world showed no signs of abating. The increasing power of Islamic states and movements _ Iran, Saudi Arabia, Hamas and Hezbollah _ represents a serious challenge to democratic institutions and nations. At the same time, frequently violent intra-Islamic tensions between Sunni and Shiites continued.

3. Myanmar’s military dictatorship cracked down on dissidents in the nation formerly known as Burma. The anti-government movement was led by Buddhist monks, as was a similar campaign more than 30 years ago in South Vietnam. In 2007 President Bush presented an award to the Dalai Lama, while Laura Bush publicly denounced the repression in Myanmar.

4. The controversy surrounding private ownership of guns divided our nation while the “slaughter of innocents” took place at Virginia Tech University, an Omaha shopping mall, two Christian institutions in Colorado, and numerous other murder scenes. Yet the powerful gun lobby rolled on with few real curbs on its insatiable appetite for more and more deadly weapons. A united and truly “pro-life” faith community is required to achieve meaningful effective gun control.

5. The cost of the sexual abuse scandal among Roman Catholic clergy reached $1.1 billion in damages and legal expenses. As a result, many social services, educational programs and other vital activities have ended or been cut back. The Los Angeles Archdiocese alone paid $660 million dollars in damages, and last summer Cardinal Roger Mahony was physically attacked as he mailed a letter near the Los Angeles cathedral. Mahony was hospitalized for his injuries, and his assailants were reportedly angered by the priestly scandal.

6. The Vatican issued two important documents. One allows priests to celebrate the Mass in Latin, which fell into officially sanctioned disuse following the Second Vatican Council (1962-65). Ironically, some young Catholics, who never experienced a Latin Mass, are eager for such a service. But many Catholics and Jews are concerned that formerly discarded anti-Jewish prayers in Latin may now be reintroduced during Holy Week. The second Vatican document urged Catholics to seek converts without coercion. Performing good works of “justice, freedom, peace, and solidarity” without “evangelization” is not “enough” for Catholic missionaries, the Vatican said.

7. In November, the Bush administration convened a multi-nation conference in Maryland to re-energize the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians. No negotiations took place at the meeting, but with his time in office running out, the president publicly committed himself to a personal role in the effort to create a Palestinian state that will live in peace next to a secure Israel. Earlier in the year, the violent anti-Israel terrorist organization Hamas gained control of Gaza, fired daily rounds of rockets against Israeli civilian targets, and ignited an internal Palestinian war with the rival Fatah group.

8. The past year witnessed a flurry of books espousing atheism. Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens published best-sellers that inspired a strong “push back” to the claims, teachings and actions of organized religion.


9. The Anglican Communion, numbering 77 million people, was in the midst of a bitter battle centered on gay bishops and same-sex unions. Some conservative Episcopal churches in the U.S. wanted to secede (shades of the Civil War!) from the more liberal national denomination, taking with them not only their clergy, members and money, but valuable church property as well. Litigation lies ahead for a church that is already shrinking in membership.

10. Death claimed a great Christian leader, the Rev. Robert Drinan, priest,professor, congressman, supporter of Israel and Soviet Jewry, and a personal friend. Billy Graham’s wife, Ruth, and the Rev. Jerry Falwell died in 2007, as well as Raul Hilberg, a prominent scholar of the Holocaust.

(Rabbi Rudin, the American Jewish Committee’s senior interreligious adviser, is the author of the recently published book “The Baptizing of America: The Religious Right’s Plans for the Rest of Us.”)

A photo of Rabbi Rudin is available via https://religionnews.com

DSB/LF END RUDIN

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