January (Web-only) 2001

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Religion is good. Not a religion, just religion
Seventy percent of Americans want religion to play a greater role in society, says a new survey by opinion research organization Public Agenda. But 80 percent don't care which religion. And apparently their belief doesn't carry over into the political sphere: only 47 percent of those polled believe that if more elected officials were deeply religious, they likely would make better decisions. "A majority of Americans recoil at the use of religion as a litmus test and have an almost instinctive wariness of injecting religion directly into politics or putting their own faith on a pedestal above others," says Deborah Wadsworth, president of Public Agenda. "On the other hand, they believe religion has enormous power to elevate people's behavior and address many societal problems." Those evangelicals polled, the study says, "take a distinctive view on many issues. … On certain issues, like religion in the public schools, their views are in step with the rest of the public—they favor a moment of silence over an explicitly Christian prayer. But evangelicals are less likely to countenance compromise on hot-button political issues." And apparently 84 percent of evangelicals agreed with the statement that Satan was behind the fight against religion in public life. (See more coverage from The Washington Times and The Christian Science Monitor, which also editorializes on the findings.)

Church apologizes for priest's naked calendar photo Father Olan Rynn of a Galway, Ireland, Catholic church approached his bishop, James McLoughlin, about posing for a calendar to raise money for cerebral palsy and cancer charities. "Thinking it to be a straightforward fundraising project in aid ...