towards Santorum, I’m off to Mount Desert for a week. Happy Iowa, and see you in the new year!

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The latest PPP Iowa poll makes clear just how divided Iowa evangelicals are about who to caucus for next Tuesday. Six candidates poll within nine points points: Paul (21 percent), Romney (16 percent), Bachmann (15 percent) Santorum (15 percent), Gingrich (14 percent), and Perry (12 percent). Four years ago, Mike Huckabee garnered 46 percent of […]

(RNS) 2011 was supposed to be the year the world ended. Twice. But after evangelist Harold Camping’s doomsday predictions failed to materialize, all eyes are now on 2012 when, according to an ancient Mayan calendar, we need to once again prepare for the end of the world as we know it. Jesus was pretty clear: […]

Opposition to Health and Human Services’ rules on coverage of contraception under the Affordable Care Act is no longer just a Catholic thing. Last week, a collection of the evangelical elite plus the heads of the leading Orthodox Jewish groups wrote a letter to President Obama protesting the mandate as a violation of their institutions’ […]

The Religion News Roundup is on vacation until Tuesday, Jan. 3. Enjoy the holidays and thanks for reading. Cheers, RNS

The new Boston Globe New Hampshire poll, which has Mitt Romney far out in front (39 percent, followed by Gingrich and Paul at 17 percent), shows what happens when you’ve got a state with few evangelicals and a fair number of Ayn Rand libertarians. Romney gets his fair share of Protestants (39 percent), disproportionately large […]

(RNS) As Christmas nears, more than three-quarters of Americans identify themselves as Christian, Gallup reports. Pollsters found that 78 percent of Americans identify with Christianity. Overall, more than 82 percent of Americans have a religious identity, with this breakdown: — Protestant/other Christian: 52.5 percent — Catholic: 23.6 percent — Mormon: 1.9 percent — Jewish: 1.6 […]

SPRINGFIELD, Mass. (RNS) The second of three city men termed “shiftless and pathetic” by a judge was sentenced to nearly 14 years in prison for burning a local black church to the ground in the predawn hours after President Barack Obama was elected. Michael F. Jacques Jr., 27, did not go quietly during a three-year […]

Everyone is working on a newfangled menorah these days. Google may have gotten some flack this week for not making a Hanukkah “Google Doodle,” but they made sure folks knew about the lava-lamp menorah in their offices (at left). There are other techie menorahs too, such as this robotic menorah and even a “digital” menorah […]

Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George – never a man afraid to say exactly what he’s thinking – says “gay liberation” forces are now as big a threat to the Catholic Church as the KKK once was. And the other guy who isn’t afraid to say what’s on his mind – Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow – […]

PITMAN, N.J. (RNS) Located just 17 miles southeast of Philadelphia, Pitman, N.J., has the rural feel of fictional Bedford Falls in “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Life, however, became a lot less wonderful for Pitman’s mayor, Mike Batten, a week ago when he received an email from Annie Laurie Gaylor, co-president of the Freedom From Religion […]

(RNS) Like many Americans, Bill Cosby owns multiple Bibles — eight, in fact. And, like many Americans, he doesn’t read any of them regularly. But for a half-century or more, Cosby’s been looking for funny nuggets from the Bible, particularly the book of Genesis. He’s had audiences roaring, imagining poor Noah struggling to build his […]

According to Gallup, anyway. In its annual survey of Americans’ religious preferences, the eminent polling firm 1) declares that 78 percent of Americans “identify with some form of Christian religion”; and 2) breaks out Mormons as a separate category. Add up the numbers for Protestant/Other Christian, Catholic, and Mormon and you get…78 percent. I expect […]

A few days ago, Cardinal George of Chicago fretted to local Fox News that next year’s Gay Pride parade might go past a church where Mass was being said: “You don’t want the gay liberation movement to morph into something like the Ku Klux Klan, demonstrating in the streets against Catholicism.”  Meanwhile, Newt Gingrich begged […]