God in Government readers,

Starting today, we are merging with Under God, the popular On Faith news blog written by On Faith editor David Waters.

We hope the new Under God will become your destination site for all Post-produced news, analysis and commentary on religion's impact on politics, policy and government in Washington, across the country and around the world.

Post religion reporters Michelle Boorstein and William Wan will continue to post on God in Government -- religion and politics in the news.

On Faith editor David Waters will continue to post his regular discussion starters that ask you to weigh in on religion's impact on the news.

Other Post staffers might join us in the coming weeks.

We'd also like to take this opportunity to bid farewell to our colleague and fellow GIG blogger Jacqueline L. Salmon, who is leaving the Post to pursue other projects. Thank you, Jacqui. We hope to be blogging about you soon.

Michelle and William

By Michelle Boorstein

After successfully influencing the health-care reform bill in the U.S. House, the nation's Catholic bishops are conducting their annual meeting this week in Baltimore, where they'll debate how to keep up their influence with the Obama Administration.

The formal agenda for the meeting of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops includes adopting a position paper (they call it a "pastoral") on marriage, which some bishops and Catholic pundits have called too negative at a time when same-sex-marriage is a divisive political issue, including in D.C. where the City Council is about to pass a measure legalizing it.

Bishops will also publicly debate something that sounds arcane but is hugely influential - the English translation of the Roman Missal, which is the prayerbook for regular and special Masses. American Catholics have been using one translation since the 1970s, after the reformist Vatican II Council said Mass didn't have to be said in Latin. This is the first time since then that the whole book will be re-translated in keeping with Pope Benedict's belief that the first translation was too loose and not faithful enough to the initial Latin words.

By Michelle Boorstein

Some Jewish groups are praising the conviction of the former head of a kosher slaughterhouse where federal agents conducted a massive immigration raid last year in Iowa. The case of Sholom Rubashkin and the Rubashkin family has prompted a lot of debate in the Jewish community about the concept of being kosher, or of the laws of kashrut, and whether they do or should include not just the condition of food but the ethics of food, including how food businesses are run. The case has given a lot of fuel to the movement of Jews from all parts of Judaism who want to create a special seal certifying ethics.

By Michelle Boorstein

The same-sex marriage measure making its way through the D.C. City Council is proving good fodder for the debate that's heated up in recent years between faith-based groups and groups advocating for same-sex couples.

Same-sex marriage and civil union measures have spun off a cottage industry of lawyers working on this issue. It's framed as a standoff between civil rights (of the GLBT community) and religious liberty (of the faith-based groups to deny same-sex couples equal status to heterosexual couples). You can't imagine the number of conferences and academic papers written on this and how to accommodate both ascendant movements.

Back to D.C. Church-state lawyers disagree about how to characterize the D.C. bill. A diverse group of scholars said the reason the D.C. measure was setting off more of a confrontation than in other cities and states was because its exemption for faith-based groups was much narrower.

By Tim Craig and Michelle Boorstein

The Catholic Archdiocese of Washington said Wednesday that it will be unable to continue the social service programs it runs for the District if the city doesn't change a proposed same-sex marriage law, a threat that could affect tens of thousands of people the church helps with adoption, homelessness and health care.

Read more.

By Michelle Boorstein

What's really behind the power shakeup going on at The Washington Times, which is owned by the Unification Church?

Our media and financial reporters ran a piece yesterday focusing on the tough reality of trying to run a newspaper in the midst of both a national recession and a newspaper industry crisis, but church members are telling me this has much more to do with church politics.

Check this out from a former Washington Times reporter:

By Michelle Boorstein

One of the largest Jewish meetings of the year has wrapped up in Washington, with some 3,000 Jewish community activists and leaders hearing in the past few days from the Israeli prime minister and President Obama's chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, and having dozens of meetings about how to fund social service work in a recession.

Reports from the Jewish media - The Forward and the JTA wire service - quoted Emanuel (who stood in for Obama, who had to cancel a Tuesday speech last-minute to go to Fort Hood) as calling for negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians without conditions. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lavished praise on the U.S. president (who is extremely popular with American Jews, but not so much with Israelis) but didn't mention the preconditions he supports for talks with the Palestinians.

By William Wan

The White House just launched a new page on its website for the Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships. So far, some press releases have been posted, a video from the prayer breakfast a few months ago, and a note from the faith office's director Joshua DuBois.

He writes:

In the coming days, you can expect this blog to: * Provide more information about the day-to-day work of the White House Office and Centers at Federal agencies; * Highlight the latest work of the President's Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships; * Point nonprofits to federal resources that can help them implement effective programs; and * Spotlight innovative local organizations that are strengthening our communities

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Speech at the Jewish Federations of North America General Assembly:

Thank you all.

My dear friends, leaders of the Jewish communities of North America,

The history of the Jewish people has been marked by a paradox. We are at once both small and great. We are few in number but luminous in achievement. In the ancient world, the Jews were a small people on the foothills of Asia touching the Mediterranean. But in Alexandria some 2200 years ago, the Bible was translated into Greek, and the world has never been the same since.

The Jews brought to civilization at least three big ideas: the idea of monotheism, the belief that all people have innate rights that transcend the power of kings, and a prophetic vision of universal peace.

By Michelle Boorstein

THE event of the professional Jewish community's year is happening in Washington D.C. today. More than 3,000 people are at the Marriott Wardman Park Hotel for the annual conference of The Jewish Federations of North America, which is made up of the groups that serve hundreds of Jewish communities across the continent. People who run Jewish community groups, big and small-time philanthropists, Jewish social service workers and tons of others come to this event to shmooze about everything from how to raise money to what are the cutting-edge ways to educate kids, help immigrants and take care of the elderly.

This year, according to the Jewish newspaper The Forward, the big topic is how to make do in a post-recession, post-Bernie Madoff world. This is such a major event that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is speaking today (read the text), and President Obama was supposed to speak tomorrow, but was called to Fort Hood because of the shootings. Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel is speaking in his place.

By Michelle Boorstein

Muslim American organizations hurried Friday to condemn the shootings at Fort Hood, saying they have already begun receiving some hate mail and emphasizing that there are thousands of Muslims serving in the armed forces.

Officials from the Islamic Society of North America, the American Muslim Armed Forces and Veterans Affairs Council and Imam Mohamed Magid of the large Northern Virginia mosque ADAMS (All Dulles Area Muslim Society) among others held a news conference Friday, urging Americans to view the shooter as a criminal individual, not a representative of Islam.