Friday Religion News Roundup: Obama invokes Lincoln; God as prop; Bishop Finn convicted

President Obama invokes Abraham Lincoln who was "driven to my knees." God as prop. Missouri Bishop Robert W. Finn is sentenced to two years probation.

Barack Obama invoked Abraham Lincoln in Thursday’s speech in which he accepted his party’s nomination for president.

“I have been driven to my knees many times by the overwhelming conviction that I had no place else to go,” the president said, quoting his Illinois predecessor.

To judge by early reviews, he may be staying on his knees.


David Brody at the Christian Broadcasting Network, said the speech felt like recycled campaign material.  “We’ve heard all of this before.”

David Brooks at The New York Times called it “modest and incommensurate with the problems at hand.”

Meanwhile, the blogosphere continues to light up around the issue of God’s absence/presence, on the Democratic Party’s platform.

Stephen Prothero suggested both parties still rely on God as a prop.

No surprise, God’s last-minute inclusion, has already made its way into a new political ad from Florida Rep. Allen West, a Republican.

As for the flap over Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, the Public Religion Research Institute poll shows only 4% of Jewish Americans say that Israel is the most important issue in their vote for president.

In other news, a judge in Kansas City sentenced Bishop Robert W. Finn to two years probation for failure to report suspected child abuse.

RNS blogger Mark Silk said he was more troubled by Finn’s inability to own up to his legal reporting obligation than by the light sentence.


Spurred by restrictive new voter laws, African-American clergy are joining forces with civil rights groups to push for increased voter registration.

A new study shows less than half of churchgoers understand what it means to be a member of a church.

A Christian girl arrested in Pakistan for defaming Islam was granted bail.

Leaders of the monastery near Jerusalem torched by angry Jewish settlers say Israel tolerates a powerful culture of anti-Christian attitudes.

An official Mormon news site altered a photo of a young Salt Lake City girl sitting on the lap of an adult woman. The girl was wearing a sundress with wide straps. She now has a white T-shirt under it.

And finally, Pope Benedict XVI is now a bit greener, thanks to the Renault Kangoo, the Vatican’s new electric car. The 85-year-old pontiff will use it to motor around the gardens of the papal summer residence at Castel Gandolfo. That's the promotional photo of the Kangoo, above.

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