Somewhere in Minneapolis or Jackson or Baltimore, somewhere in America today, there is a young couple that is feeling vulnerable. Maybe one has been laid off due to outsourcing, and maybe, the other is working for something close to a minimum wage. They probably have no medical benefits. Today real income is lower for the typical family than in 2000, while the incomes of the wealthiest families have grown significantly. Things are tough for working people, but in America, we often turn to our faith in tough times.

When our couple shows up for worship service, probably on a Sunday, there is no doubt that the preacher will tell them of God’s unyielding love. “God loves you.” But the next thing the preacher tells them is crucial - not only to the young couple, but to us all. The next message from the preacher may help to shape, not only the next election results, but the political landscape of the nation.

Will the preacher tell our young couple, “God loves you – but only you and people like you?” Or will the preacher say “God loves you and you must love your neighbors of all colors, cultures, or faiths as yourselves”? One message will lead to be a stinginess of spirit, an exclusion of the “undeserving”, and the other will lead to a generosity of spirit and inclusion of all.

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The dramatic resignation this past Sunday of the newly installed archbishop of Warsaw, Stanislaw Wielgus, who admitted to having agreed to collaborate with the Polish secret police after initially denying any such involvement, has brought into the full glare of international attention a debate that has roiled the Catholic Church in Poland for two years: how should the church respond to the secret police files that are now housed in Poland's Institute of National Memory (IPN, in the Polish acronym)?

Under Polish law, those files are available to both victims of communist-era persecution and legitimate historical researchers. Historians had previously learned, and written, that several prominent Polish priests had collaborated, in different ways, with Poland's communist authorities. The Wielgus affair, which exploded over a period of two brief weeks, is the first time allegations of collaboration have touched a man who subsequently became a member of the Polish hierarchy.

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by ADELLE M. BANKS of Religion News Service

Leaders from 40 Baptist organizations are joining forces with former Presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton to hold a gathering next January that will emphasize their common goals.

The "Celebration of a New Baptist Covenant" was announced Tuesday at The Carter Center in Atlanta during a meeting between the presidents -- who were both raised Southern Baptist -- and dozens of leaders who together represent 20 million Baptists in North America.

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The classic Theory of Just War contains two components: the justness of the cause to go to war, and the justness of conduct during a war.

To determine the first component, several criteria are necessary: Having a just cause for going to war, having the war declared by a proper authority, possessing the right intention on the part of participants in the conflict, believing that the war has a reasonable chance of success, and judging that the goal of the conflict is proportional to the means used.

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Many citizens of my generation remember where they were when they first heard the news of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. I was driving across the Marshall Street Bridge in Richmond, Virginia, on my way to the Medical College of Virginia, where I was enrolled in chaplaincy training. When I reached the hospital parking lot, I remember sitting there with my hands on the steering wheel, tears streaming down my face. I shouted, “Martin, you shall not have died in vain!”

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The Bible states that in the very beginning of the human race God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.” (Genesis 1:27-28) In other words, the Biblical record is clear: God created men and women equal. Period. Dominion over everything was given to the woman as well as to the man. The woman was not created inferior to the man; nor was the man greater than the woman.

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My grandmother, in a Hasidic household in Warsaw Poland at the turn of
the last century, had all the hair shaved off her head the night before
her wedding. Her younger sisters, who had begun to turn away from
orthodox traditions, gathered outside the room where the deed was being
done and called through the door, in vain, for her not to let them do it.

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OUTRAGEOUS, CONTAGIOUS JOY: Five Big Questions to Help You Discover One Great Life
by Ed Young
Berkley Praise. 342 pp. $19.95

Reviewed by “On Faith” panelist Donna Freitas

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Why have women fared badly in religions? Women make babies and men do not. This fundamental fact of human existence has been reflected in all religions, either with affirmation and awe, or denial and dread. The monotheistic Judaeo-Christian religions that comprise the mythological foundation of contemporary Western societies fall into the latter category.

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America is the most religiously devout nation in the West and the most religiously diverse country in the world in an era of global religious conflict. The next President needs to help our country - and the world - understand how the combination of devotion and diversity makes us stronger.

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I believe that women have not fared well in religion through the ages. There are so many religions in the world, and more than half of them actually have laws or rules, or even gods, that may exclude women in many ways.

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To a political question, I’m afraid I have to give a political answer: “Yes, but…”

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