Some possibly good news for Mitt Romney‘s fledgling 2012 campaign: two-thirds of Americans say his Mormonism doesn’t matter, including 58 of evangelicals. But he could still face a tough road threading the eye of the needle in the evangelical-heavy early primaries: Evangelicals, more than any other group, say they’d be “less likely” to support a Mormon candidate (see page 14 of the report here).
And the LA Times’ Doyle McManus probes the shifting sands of America’s religious/political landscape: In 2012, he notes, the Mainline Protestants who have for so long called 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. home won’t have a candidate in the race. Most of the GOP wannabes came to kiss the ring of Ralph Reed‘s Faith & Freedom Coalition this weekend in D.C.
And another one jumps in: Former Sen. Rick Santorum, one of the party’s most strident voices on both religion in the public square and the threat of so-called Islamofascism, made it official today. And then there’s Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who has invited other governors to join him “on our knees” at a Houston stadium in August to pray for national repentance.
One of the first en masse Episcopal conversions to the U.S. Catholic Church will occur here in Washington under a deal brokered by Cardinal Donald Wuerl and Episcopal Bishop John Chane; Wuerl has been tapped by B16 to oversee all U.S. Episcopal conversions to the new Anglican “ordinariate” in the Catholic Church.
The Deseret News asks how to get more religion in the media. NPR looks at the financial troubles facing the bankrupt and up-for-sale Crystal Cathedral.
Boston Cardinal Sean O’Malley and Vancouver Archbishop J. Michael Miller have wagered a friendly $100 bet over who will win the Stanley Cup; given the Bruins’ lackluster performance thus far, O’Malley better locate his checkbook. And it looks like O’Malley may be prepping for another round of significant parish closures … maybe.
And here’s something you don’t see every day: two identical twin brothers, both 92, both Franciscan friars, both died on the same day.
B16 wrapped up a quick weekend visit to Croatia, where he bemoaned “the spread of a secularization which leads to the exclusion of God from life and the increasing disintegration of the family.”
Lady Gaga‘s new album has been banned in Lebanon for being “offensive to Christianity.”
Britain’s Home Secretary fears that U.K. universities don’t take the threat of radical Islamic extremism seriously enough. A Catholic doctor in Australia says his faith has been “shaken” by a cancer study at his hospital, where patients are denied info about contraception even though the clinical trial carries a high risk of birth defects if they become pregnant.
Muslim women in Malaysia have launched the “Obedient Wife Club” with tips on how to “obey, serve and entertain” their husbands.One member put it this way: “A good wife is a good sex worker to her husband. What is wrong with being a whore … to your husband?”
— Kevin Eckstrom
