#1 Mother Teresa’s Crisis of Faith
As all great saint-like types, I'll let it up to my betters to decide if she should be a saint or not, but there are now letters Mother Teresa wrote to her confessors. She described the agony of not being able to sense her beloved God for half a century. Most saints had such lapses. Why is this so important? Anyone read Martin Luther or St. John of the Cross? The letters make her more human, and more saintly.
#2 Faith Stalks the Campaign Trail!
So its not just Bush who loves religion but Hillary has a White House prayer group. Should this be so surprising? Look who she is married to, she needs it. Then again, Mitt explains his Mormonism and Huckabee is a real preacher. If preachers are real.
#3 The Rev. Jerry Falwell Dies
This might be ranked higher. Falwell fell from the limelight but he did mark a right-wing path of conservative political power. That is significant.
#4 The Pope and Latin Mass
If the story is that Benedict XVI relieves priests of having to get their bishop’s permission to celebrate Mass in old-school Latin, truth be told, Latin could always the language of the Mass, even after Vatican II. The story is more symbolic or lamented, depending on your bias.
#5 The Slow-Motion Episcopal/Anglican Train Wreck
This story is painful. The Episcopal Bishops’ meeting in New Orleans fails to stem the ongoing defection of conservatives over the church’s positions on gays, or the likelihood of a worldwide Anglican split over the same issue. Here are really good people stuck on an impossibly complex issue to resolve. Lotsa' luck.
#6 Green Evangelicals
This story has been building for some time and if you examine stewardship amongst Christians, the notion has been percolating for over twenty years. Thus, global warming, along with poverty and torture, have become hot issues to a maturing conservative Christian movement.
#7 The Roar of Atheist Books
Anyone is better than Madilyn Murray O'Hare, but seriously, the Sam Harris' have done the thinking world a service and have written some fine books.
#8 Another Blow to a Megachurch
A year after Ted Haggard resigned as pastor of Colorado’s New Life Church--having admitted to “immorality” involving a gay escort--a gunman kills two congregants in its parking lot. Haggard’s replacement, Brady Boyd, moves to heal many wounds.
Tragedy is not found only in churches, this is a sign of the times, not so much a religion story.
#9 The Creation Museum
The Petersburg, Ky., multimillion-dollar monument to the Flintstone (Young Earth) principle doubles projected attendance, now we can all laugh and move on. 77% of Americans think God at least guided our development.
#10 Kidnapped Korean Missionaries
The Taliban kills two of the 23 and eventually releases the rest amid rumors that South Korea paid $10 million in ransom. This is another sign of the times type of story and hardly religion alone.
All in all, a disappointing lot with few real significant religion stories. This year's summary makes it look like religion is secondary and simply follows more general news stories.
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