[DAISY] KHAN: The extremists have defined the agenda for the global Muslim community, and we wanted to amplify the voices of the ordinary Muslims who are, you know, law-abiding citizens, and it was my way of, like, helping rebuild by building a center that would create a counter-momentum against extremism.

[SALLY] REGENHARD: I want to make it clear that I and my””members of my group do not have anger towards Muslims. But it’s too close, it’s too painful, it’s too soon. I’m still trying to find remains of my son.

[MICHAEL] BURKE: It amounts to an insult. It comes across as intentionally provocative.

[BOB] FAW: Proponent Khan, though, has drawn a line in the sand, arguing that being forced to move the site elsewhere amounts to “surrender.”

KHAN: I think it would be un-American to ask anybody to leave the neighborhood. We’re part of the neighborhood. I don’t think anybody should be driven out of their neighborhood. It’s about acceptance. Muslims are not being accepted as equals in this country yet.

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Three sets of walls are being built. The first is national. China’s “great firewall” already imposes tight controls on internet links with the rest of the world, monitoring traffic and making many sites or services unavailable. Other countries, including Iran, Cuba, Saudi Arabia and Vietnam, have done similar things, and other governments are tightening controls on what people can see and do on the internet.

Second, companies are exerting greater control by building “walled gardens”””an approach that appeared to have died out a decade ago. Facebook has its own closed, internal e-mail system, for example. Google has built a suite of integrated web-based services. Users of Apple’s mobile devices access many internet services through small downloadable software applications, or apps, rather than a web browser. By dictating which apps are allowed on its devices, Apple has become a gatekeeper. As apps spread to other mobile devices, and even cars and televisions, other firms will do so too.

Third, there are concerns that network operators looking for new sources of revenue will strike deals with content providers that will favour those websites prepared to pay up.

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An exclusive poll for The Tablet this week reveals that the Catholic Church in Britain has so far failed to generate interest in the papal visit among the population at large. Two-thirds of respondents neither support nor oppose the visit even though they firmly acknowledge their Christian heritage and believe that religion is a force for good. Nor have the campaigning opponents to the visit won them over. And with thousands of places still not allocated for the three major gatherings in Scotland and England, it would appear the Church has also been unable to excite the vast majority of the British people about the opportunities to see the Pope in person. Despite that, one in 10 of all those interviewed said they would be likely to attend a papal public event.

Conducted for The Tablet between 20 and 26 August by Ipsos MORI, the poll was based on face-to-face interviews with 996 British people over the age of 15. Of these, 117 were Catholics reflecting their proportion of the general population. Perhaps the most surprising finding is the number of people who recognise Pope Benedict from a photograph bearing no clues to his identity. He was correctly named by a sizeable majority of all those polled (65 per cent) who recognised him more readily than the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, identified by only half of the respondents. Curiously, Dr Williams is more readily recognised by Catholics (54 per cent) than by the general public (50 per cent), although surprisingly nearly a quarter of the Catholics polled failed to recognise the Pope.

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They say there are no atheists in foxholes. There’s one on the front lines here, though, and the chaplain isn’t thrilled about it.

Navy Chaplain Terry Moran is steeped in the Bible and believes all of it. His assistant, Religious Programs Specialist 2nd Class Philip Chute, is steeped in the Bible and having none of it.

Together they roam this town in Taliban country, comforting the grunts while crossing swords with each other over everything from the power of angels to the wisdom of standing in clear view of enemy snipers. Lt. Moran, 48 years old, preaches about divine protection while 25-year-old RP2 Chute covers the chaplain’s back and wishes he were more attentive to the dangers of the here and now.

It’s a match made in, well, the Pentagon.

“He trusts God to keep him safe,” says RP2 Chute. “And I’m here just in case that doesn’t work out.”

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The Obama administration and the Federal Reserve want to fix the United States economy by spending more money. But while that approach might work for Europe, it is risky for the US. The nation would be better off embracing traditional American values like self-reliance and small government.

There’s no question about it: The 20th century was America’s era. The United States rose rapidly from virtually nothing to become the most politically powerful and economically strongest country in the world. But the financial crisis and subsequent recession have now raised doubts about its future. Are we currently witnessing the beginning of the end of the American era?

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The former president of the United Church of Christ is divorcing his wife and is now in a committed relationship with a former co-worker at church headquarters, the UCC announced.

The Rev. John H. Thomas was general minister and president for a decade of the mainline Protestant denomination before he resigned at the end of his term in 2009.

Thomas and his wife, Lynda, are divorcing, and “he has formed a relationship with another woman with whom he worked” while he led the Cleveland-based denomination, the UCC said in a statement.

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The global median proportion of adults who say religion is an important part of their daily lives is 84%, unchanged from what Gallup has found in other years. In 10 countries and areas, at least 98% say religion is important in their daily lives.

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Episcopal Church Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori, House of Deputies President Bonnie Anderson and Executive Council member Rosalie Simmonds Ballentine have issued a letter to the church calling for study on the Anglican Covenant.

“We strongly urge every congregation in this Church to engage in discussion of the proposed Covenant at some time in the coming two years,” the letter states.

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My wife, Jan, and I did not celebrate a damn thing this summer. We didn’t take a family vacation or meet up with old friends or invite neighbors to our backyard for a picnic. Instead, we got in the car one morning and drove to the annual national conference of The Compassionate Friends, a support organization for parents who have lost a child.

Or, in our case, children. All of our children….

I caught this one by happenstance yesterday on the way home from the Post Office. Emotionally overpowering, so get prepared before you try to take it in. Read or listen to it all (almost 8 1/3 minutes)–KSH.

This country, which had sought to show solidarity with Islamist groups and allow religious figures a greater role in public life, has recently reversed course, moving forcefully to curb the influence of Muslim conservatives in its mosques, public universities and charities.

The government has asked imams for recordings of their Friday sermons and started to strictly monitor religious schools. Members of an influential Muslim women’s group have now been told to scale back activities like preaching or teaching Islamic law. And this summer, more than 1,000 teachers who wear the niqab, or the face veil, were transferred to administrative duties.

The crackdown, which began in 2008 but has gathered steam this summer, is an effort by President Bashar al-Assad to reassert Syria’s traditional secularism in the face of rising threats from radical groups in the region, Syrian officials say.

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Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair has described radical Islam as the greatest threat facing the world today.

He made the remark in a BBC interview marking the publication of his memoirs.

Mr Blair said radical Islamists believed that whatever was done in the name of their cause was justified – including the use of chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.

Mr Blair, who led Britain into war in Afghanistan and Iraq, denied that his own policies had fuelled radicalism.

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The number of Americans who were self-employed dropped in August to the lowest level in eight years, showing the economic recovery is not strong enough to nurture new businesses.

There were 8.68 million people working for themselves last month, the fewest since January 2002, according to Labor Department data released today. That’s down 13 percent from a record 9.98 million reached in December 2006, 12 months before the latest recession began.

Self-employment tends to increase during and immediately following economic slumps as tight labor markets prompt recently fired workers to venture out on their own, said Scott Shane, a professor of economics at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland. The data this time is testament to the lack of credit and a slump in demand that is choking small businesses, he said.

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Merciful God, who didst send thy beloved Son to preach peace to those who are far off and to those who are near: Raise up in this and every land witnesses, who, after the example of thy servant Paul Jones, will stand firm in proclaiming the Gospel of the Prince of Peace, our Savior Jesus Christ, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing; thou hast loosed my sackcloth and girded me with gladness, that my soul may praise thee and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to thee for ever.

–Psalm 30:11,12

Slow growth will have Washington seeking stimulus. This may be a better-than-expected jobs report, but the job growth is still very small. The economy needs to be adding hundreds of thousands of jobs every month to absorb new people entering the job market and put the unemployed back to work. So lawmakers may be looking for more stimulus. “There is a good chance that the Obama Administration will introduce a set of targeted economic stimulus programs,” [Sung Won] Sohn says. “Payroll tax relief to encourage new hiring for small businesses is a good possibility. State and local governments are laying off employees as revenue falls. Some assistance from Washington could stem job losses here.” Shortly after the release of the August jobs report Friday, President Obama encouraged lawmakers to pass a $55 billion bill that would provide additional loans to small businesses. Housing stimulus may also be coming–along with more unemployment benefit extensions, Sohn says.

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Every gallon of gasoline you pump would cost you 5.5 cents more.

You’d pay 19 cents more each month to run the water from your tap.

The medicines you take to treat your illnesses would cost an additional 88 cents a month.

Turning on the lights and the television would help run up an additional 79 cents a month on the electricity bill for the typical South Carolina household.

You would have to open your wallets for new taxes at the grocery store and get used to paying for sales taxes on more of the services you buy, such as home pest control treatment, pampering at the beauty salon and a storage unit to stash your stuff.

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To achieve the goal of speaking meaningfully today, Kasper reasons, the Church must engage in two related tasks: the first is internal to the Christian community (ad intra), while the second regards the Church’s external ministry to the world (ad extra). The Church’s internal task is to understand Jesus Christ and itself more deeply. Kasper argues that the Church encounters problems in proclamation because it does not understand its own beliefs clearly enough (ad intra) to express them convincingly (ad extra). To show the significance of its message in the 21st century, the Church must look inward to better comprehend its own tradition and commitments. On this point Kasper writes:

The present crisis facing Christianity in the West does not touch merely on some peripheral concerns; … We are dealing here primarily with a crisis of relevance. We hear daily that dogmatic teachings and, even more, the moral rules of the Church no longer reach a large segment of believers. They appear to offer answers to questions which are no longer being asked. Nonetheless, the crisis of relevance represents merely the superficial side of the problem. It has long since led to a much deeper identity crisis within the churches. The question is no longer how the Church will be able to reach the modern, secularized world; rather, the question is what constitutes Christianity as such. What can Christianity, must Christianity, say to the modern world? Does it have something of its own to say, something unmistakable? (“Nature, Grace and Culture: On the Meaning of Secularization,” Catholicism and Secularization in America: Essays on Nature, Grace and Culture, p. 32)

Therefore, to succeed in its mission, the Christian community must continue to look introspectively, to deepen its appreciation of the mystery which constitutes its own identity. In order to know how to address the modern world effectively it must have a clearer understanding of what it is trying to convey.

The second task the Church must face if it hopes to communicate its message convincingly is the nature of its ministry to the world

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“There are delicate, difficult issues between our two churches at the moment,” Archbishop of Westminster Vincent Nichols, head of the 5.2 million Catholics in England and Wales, told Reuters.

But, Nichols said the offer came after groups of Anglicans repeatedly asked for a response to their request for special provision to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church.

“Sometimes people want to say ‘oh, this is the initiative of the pope who is going fishing for Anglicans’. That is not true. He is responding to requests that he has received, and those requests we have to handle sensitively on both sides.”

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Something has changed on many college campuses across America. As they seek to raise their profiles, universities are investing in once-obscure sports that do not come close to paying for themselves, even in the face of dire budget cuts. It’s still not clear whether it pays off, but winning in all sports is what matters now, and the message is driven home from the highest levels of the university.

“If we are going to compete in something, we want to win at it ”” whether it is in pediatrics or women’s gymnastics,” said J. Bernard Machen, the University of Florida president. “It is important to our supporters, both financial and among our community. It is part of our culture. We want people to know that Florida is a place for winners.”

Some university officials and even athletic directors worry about whether the emphasis on athletics is worth the significant sums that universities invest in them.

“We talk about football coaches’ salaries, we talk about basketball coaches’ salaries,” Gene Smith, Ohio State’s athletic director, told his colleagues last year at a conference on spending in college athletics. “The salaries in many of our Olympic sports have tripled since 1994.”

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