After months of work, President Barack Obama’s Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships has sent him a list of proposals on revamping the White House’s faith-based program. The proposals will also set priorities for the office and will renew debate — and media coverage — of this controversial initiative.
As President Barack Obama delivered his first State of the Union address on Jan. 27, 2010, religious groups that support health care reform were pressing the White House and Congress to continue to try to pass a comprehensive overhaul. Prospects for that dimmed considerably with the Republican victory in Massachusetts’ Senate election Jan. 19.
Religious differences are increasingly complicating child custody cases and are fueling a growing number of news stories. A generation ago, mothers almost always were granted custody and deemed responsible for most aspects of a child’s upbringing. Today these responsibilities are split more evenly between parents, and religion increasingly is a flash point.
The anniversary of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision legalizing abortion always sparks discussions about this hot-button issue, and the annual March for Life on the National Mall in Washington is one focus of much media attention. But this year there are a number of developments driving the abortion debate in new directions.
The debate over torture is heating up on two fronts: politics and popular culture. The airline bombing attempt on Christmas Day brought renewed calls to use torture on terror suspects, and the Jan. 17 premiere of the new season of “24″ again thrusts that drama’s frequent depictions of torture into the mix.
Two reports in early January highlighted the ongoing tumult in the national debate over the death penalty. A story in The New York Times looked at a prominent legal group’s decision to end its support for capital punishment. And the annual survey from the Death Penalty Information Center presented a mixed picture.
Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople, the spiritual leader of more than 250 million Eastern Orthodox Christians worldwide, is in the midst of a 17-day apostolic visit to the United States — a pilgrimage that puts the focus on a diverse and important community of Christians that often receives little in-depth coverage.
A landmark hate-crimes bill expanding federal statutes to include protections for homosexuals was signed into law on Oct. 28, 2009 by President Barack Obama. The law is a landmark achievement for the gay community but a dividing line for some religious groups.
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