Welcome to the day after the day after.
Journalists and politicos are continuing to ruminate on Tuesday’s elections. The overall religious contours stayed true to recent patterns, with white Protestants (now dubbed Teavangelicals) staying in the Republican camp, and non-believers camping out with Democrats. Catholics, however, swung back toward the GOP in a big way, according to exit polls, which has caused some loud crowing.
But wait a minute, say researchers at Georgetown University. When you count all the Catholic adults who stayed away from the polls on Tuesday (a whopping 57 percent), the number of Catholics who voted Republican actually dropped 24 percent in 2010 compared to two years ago. Accounting for non-voters, 23 percent of Catholics voted Republican, 19 percent Democratic, according to the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate. The Catholic Democratic turnout dropped 48 percent from 2008. Is apathy one of the seven deadly sins yet, or is that covered under sloth?
Nonetheless, there has been some hand-wringing in Democratic circles about whether party leaders have lost faith in faith-based outreach; and, after only 10 percent of African Americans turned out on Tuesday, some are (again) wondering if the black church is dead.
Sen.-elect Rand Paul says the Aqua Buddha attack ads backfired on his opponent. Americans crave forgiveness, but aren’t themselves so forgiving, according to a new study.
The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case about whether the First Amendment bars tuition tax credits from being used for religious schools. Federal authorities are stepping up enforcement against hate crimes, according to WaPo, including cross burnings and arson at black churches.
As if the midterm “shellacking” weren’t enough, President Obama’s star is fading among Muslims overseas, the AP reports. After the swine flu epidemic kept many pilgrims away, merchants in Saudi Arabia are hoping for a huge hajj crowd this year. Women won’t be selling anything, though, after the country’s Islamic clerics approved a fatwa banning female vendors.
Cuban President Raul Castro joined an American archbishop at the opening of a national seminary near Havana, the first religious construction on the communist-run island in more than a half century, the AP reports.
A leading bishop in the Church of England has triggered a fury by likening the debate over female bishops to the “serious threat” posed by the Nazis before World War II. A Philadelphia evangelical is suing Virginia for not allowing him to yell at people during an Apple Blossom Festival. Law enforcement officials say their fugitive surrender programs wouldn’t work without churches.
YouTube has removed videos by an al-Qaida-linked Muslim cleric calling for jihad after pressure from British and U.S. officials. The predominantly Muslim Maldives are embarrassed over videos that show a local minister marrying a Swedish couple while calling them “swine” and saying their children will have spots. Nearly three out of four Irish Catholic women say the church doesn’t give them any R-E-S-P-E-C-T. Take care, TCB.
