A healthy mystery over attending houses of worship

Miss Manners: A world without gratitude is a bleak place indeed

_**Dear Miss Manners:** What is the importance of thank-you notes?_ **What is the importance** of generosity? What is the importance of kindness? Miss Manners supposes that in a world in which there were no presents, favors, good deeds or thoughtful words, there would be no need for serious expressions of thanks. She just wouldn’t want to live there. _**Dear Miss Manners:** I attend church services nearly every Sunday at a small neighborhood church, where almost all the attendees know one another across many dimensions of life, not just religion/worship._ _Because the number of seats is usually less than the number of attendees, people tend to arrive early. Before services begin, there is an active buzz of conversation, about yesterday’s ballgame, politics, who is the host for tomorrow’s book club meeting._ _I find this inappropriate, as if attendees at a dinner party in someone’s home paid the host no attention until the meal was served. My “example’’ of quietly reading the day’s Bible passages has had no effect._ _Is mine an old fuddy-duddy attitude? If not, what might be a reasonable approach to changing things?_ **Different faiths — even different** worship groups within the same faith — practice different etiquette in regard to nonreligious discussions at church, synagogue or mosque. There are, however, common threads. Nearly all religions treat the place of worship as a holy site, literally the divine home. But services are also generally a communal activity — joint worship is a means to cement societal bonds. So Miss Manners cannot join you in condemning ordinary sociability, which most congregations see as strengthening their community. The comparison to a dinner party, though lighthearted, is therefore on point in many respects. While nonreligious conversation is acceptable, participants should be respectful of the host and mindful of the location. This means some topics are more acceptable than others, and jokes about the religious fervor of one’s devotion to the local sports team should be off-limits. _**Dear Miss Manners:** I am attending the (first) wedding of an old friend. The couple is registered at traditional sites._ _I’d like to do something less boring than cutlery or towels. These guys are in their 40s and have a reasonable household established. It’s okay for me to choose my own gift, right?_ **What a radical idea** — that you, as a friend, would put some thought into giving them something that might please them! Does anyone but Miss Manners remember that that is not only the real tradition, but also the entire justification for the custom of exchanging presents? By all means, do so. Let us hope that your friends and others will appreciate this and take it up as a novelty among those who otherwise merely exchange shopping lists. _**Dear Miss Manners:** Why would a lady — or a gentleman, for that matter — be obliged to answer any personal question?_ **They are not obliged.** So the real question is why they feel obliged to answer. Miss Manners supposes it is because they need a polite alternative response, which is, “Oh, I’m afraid that’s a personal matter.’’ New Miss Manners columns are posted Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays on washingtonpost.com/advice. You can send questions to Miss Manners at her website, missmanners.com. 2016, by Judith Martin

Obama worships in D.C. before MLK Day, but first family has never chosen one church

Women dressed in heels and fine fur coats started lining up in the cold outside Zion Baptist Church shortly after sunrise Sunday in hopes of worshiping with President Obama and his family. It is a scene that has been repeated each year on the eve of the federal holiday celebrating the life of Martin Luther King Jr. since the Obamas moved into the White House. The Rev. Keith W. Byrd Sr. greeted nearly 700 people at his Northwest church, which sees fewer than half that number on a typical Sunday. “They are coming to worship. Let the church say ‘Amen!’ ” Byrd told the congregation moments before the Obamas arrived. “How many people believe that the first family deserves the right to worship? . . . Let the church say ‘Amen!’ ” Although many just wanted to spend a morning with the first family, others had hopes the Obamas would choose their church exclusively. The Obamas have not joined a Washington congregation. Since becoming president, Obama has made one-time visits to Nineteenth Street Baptist, Vermont Avenue Baptist, Allen African Methodist Episcopa, Metropolitan AME and Shiloh Baptist. He has attended St. John’s Episcopal Church several times — most recently in December — but the Obamas have been only occasional churchgoers. Each time the president has stepped into an African American church in the District since his inauguration — six times, to be exact — his visit has been preceded by stern warnings from pastors to their flocks to be courteous and respectful in the hopes of wooing the first family. But pastors and members of the churches he has attended have resigned themselves to the fact that Obama might visit but most likely won’t join. Last year, the Rev. Marie Braxton, wife of the Rev. Ronald Braxton, made a friendly appeal from the pulpit to Michelle Obama to join Metropolitan AME. Marie Braxton even led the church in singing “Happy Birthday” to her and gave her a gift. In the end, the first family worshipped quietly and headed back to the White House a few blocks away. “When Jimmy Carter was president, it is my understanding that he taught Sunday school at First Baptist Church of Washington, D.C., but times have so drastically changed,” Ronald Braxton said. “Security, especially for this president, has to be so tight. It takes a lot of planning and preparation. “I believe that he is a man of great faith. He has taken the opportunity over the last four years to visit various churches and denominations,” Braxton said. “I firmly believe that he has been able to survive what he has been through because of his faith.” Four years ago, speculation abounded in pulpits across the city as to which church the Obamas would attend. Several pastors sent formal invitations, and White House officials fielded calls from people who hoped the president would join their church. The Rev. Derrick Harkins, pastor of the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church and director of faith outreach for the Democratic National Committee, said Obama is a strong man of faith. “The president has spoken and acted on his personal faith in a profound way many times,” Harkins said. “He has talked profoundly about being a committed Christian many times over. He is a man of prayer. He has spoken a lot about his faith, more than many of his predecessors.” That Obama hasn’t joined a church in the District is not a big deal to Stephanie Nash, a counselor and a member of Zion who came to church with her three children Sunday. “It’s good to know that we have a praying president,” she said. Jamal Nash, 16, said he was glad Obama came to his church because it keeps the focus on the legacy of King. “This brings everyone together for this important weekend to remember Dr. King,” Nash said. Joshua Dubois, director of the White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships, said the White House staff selected Zion, a church that dates to the 1860s, because it is “a pillar” in the District. On Sept 25, 1977, President Jimmy Carter visited the church to introduce the Rev. Martin Luther King Sr., who preached that Sunday. When the first family arrived Sunday, people rose to their feet, ushers snapped into place and the choir launched into a storm of music that was unabated until Byrd got up to preach. Byrd mixed Shakespeare with Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount. “I am so glad that Dr. King answered the question, ‘To be, or not to be?’ ” Byrd said. “Be a source of hope. You can live without a lot of things, but no human can exist without hope.” True to his tradition, Obama didn’t speak during the service. Dubois said that “the president deeply enjoyed worshiping with the Zion Baptist Church family.” After the first family left, Byrd began to cry as he reflected on the visit. “We are just so grateful that the president came,” Byrd said. “It was an historical moment, particularly as we celebrate the birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It has been some 30 years since a president has come to Zion, and from the looks on their faces, they enjoyed the worship and the people enjoyed having them here.” For Alfonso Campbell, 64, a deacon at the church, the presidential visit was the punctuation mark on a lifetime of honoring King. A 1968 graduate of King’s alma mater, Morehouse College, Campbell said he served as an honor guard when the civil rights leader’s body lay in state at Spelman College in Atlanta. Campbell said that while he is grateful that the president visited Zion, he is more appreciative of how God has treated African Americans. “Indeed, we have come a long way as a people,” said Campbell, a native of Montgomery, Ala., whose father, Alfonso Campbell Sr., was a colleague of King and served as transportation coordinator for the Montgomery bus boycott.

Feel like Americans are ignorant about other religions? Do your part to fix things.

At a recent event in my suburban Boston town, a Sikh acquaintance asked if it were okay for her and her family to visit my Jewish temple. Of course, I responded. I was at first surprised that she thought she had to ask. Services at our temple are open to anyone. Then I thought of my own preparation to visit a Sikh temple, known as a gurdwara, as part of research for my book, Faith Ed., about public schools’ efforts to teach about the world religions. I knew very little about Sikhism or the religion’s worship practices. I read a book about the religion. I chatted with a Sikh I knew for advice. I scrutinized the Sikh temple’s website for hints. I too would’ve been hesitant to just show up. Making visits to other houses of worship does not come naturally for most of us. Yet now, more than ever, it’s critical that Americans attempt to learn about other religions and meet people of other faiths. There is some evidence that hunger for such knowledge is growing. Harvard University last week rolled out a new series of free, online courses on world religions taught by Harvard and Wellesley College scholars. Each course is four weeks. The first course, which began last Tuesday, “Religious Literacy: Traditions and Scriptures” drew more than 20,000 people in the first week. By the second week, the enrollment had risen to 26,400 from more than 160 countries. Roughly 65 percent of the participants came from the United States. Several students who signed up posted messages on Twitter that they were motivated by their concern about the current climate. It’s not just presidential candidates spouting anti-Muslim rhetoric that’s at issue. Thousands of Americans have cheered them, and other religious minorities have been targeted, too. There have been beatings and shootings of Sikhs. There have been swastikas and anti-Semitic graffiti discovered at public schools. We can and should respond with outrage to such acts, but we can also help teach each other about our different faiths. The online courses, which I am taking, offer a great way to learn about religions and their nuances. But they can’t help but miss one aspect — the unforgettable experience of seeing a house of worship different from your own. When I arrived for that visit at the Sikh temple, the religious school principal acted as my guide. She advised me to cover my hair with a scarf and take my shoes off before entering the worship hall. Sitting on the carpeted floor on the women’s side, I watched as an occasional worshiper went to the front, clasped hands, and bowed and knelt in front of the holy book, known as the Guru Granth Sahib. Nearby, two men played harmoniums while a third musician accompanied them on tabla drums. Dressed in white, the men sang prayers in Punjabi. I could not understand the words, but the sight was beautiful and familiar. Like in my own temple and in mosques and churches I’ve visited, a community of all ages came together to pray. And like in my own temple, people were welcoming to a stranger, whether he or she was of their faith or not. It was easy, I admit, for me to recruit a guide for my visit to a Sikh temple. I was a journalist used to contacting strangers and being the stranger. Those who are more shy can consult “How to Be a Perfect Stranger, The Essential Religious Etiquette Handbook.” Edited by Stuart M. Matlins and Arthur J. Magida, the book is celebrating its 20th anniversary. The No. 1 reason for creating the book, Matlins told me, was the growth in interfaith marriages and blending of people from different faith traditions. People needed guidance about attending ceremonies in different houses of worship, and the book provided tips to avoid embarrassment or giving offense. The diversity of religions in America has increased as has the proportion of those who observe no faith at all. Consider that nearly a quarter of Americans now affiliate with no religion, and that the Christian share of the population has fallen from close to 80 percent to 71 percent since 2007, according to the Pew Research Center’s 2014 Religious Landscape Study. The percentage of those in non-Christian faiths has risen slightly from less than 5 percent to 6 percent. Along with that increased diversity is heightened fear of the ‘other.’ “Since Sept. 11, so many religions have been painted as dangerous, as invalid, as the bogeyman which some day will arise and wreak havoc on our nation,” Magida told me. “One way to reverse that misconception is to experience in flesh and in our very own eyes what transpires in another house of worship.” President Barack Obama knew that when he made his first visit to an American mosque in early February. He was sending the message that we are not a Christian nation despite views to the contrary. We are a nation of many faiths, and we should not fear any of them. We can let ourselves remain ignorant or dare to enter each other’s religious homes. _Linda K. Wertheimer, a former education editor for the Boston Globe, is the author of “Faith Ed.: Teaching About Religion in an Age of Intolerance.” Find her on Twitter @lindakwert_    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico **Want more stories about faith? Follow Acts of Faith onTwitter or sign up for our newsletter.**    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico **MORE READING:**    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico _Catholic conservatives to Trump: You don’t share our views on…anything_    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico _Donald Trump is right. Pope Francis’ visit to the border is political_    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico _The Catholic Church in Michigan just made a key concession on gay marriage_    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico _Professor who left Wheaton after saying Muslims share ‘same God’ finds new job at U-Va._    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico

In delegates they trust: Md. House members lead secular prayer

In the Maryland House of Delegates, there are prayers but no preachers. And no mention of Jesus. Or Allah for that matter. And so they pray for mothers, for the troops, for peace. They’ve recited Navajo prayers and a benediction by George Washington. And, as the Super Bowl approached, they pleaded with the heavens on behalf of the “mighty, mighty Baltimore Ravens.” “For those who are washed in the spirit of purple and black,” went the invocation as the congregants cheered, “fill the bodies and souls of our Ravens with the spirits and the souls of all who are cheering them on to victory.” During the legislative session, the 141 members of the House begin every day with a prayer. But unlike Congress, statehouses across the country and even the Maryland Senate, where the daily invocation is led by men and women of the cloth, the Maryland House has no clergy. It’s the politicians who are the preachers, taking turns leading the chamber in its morning reflection. They’ve been doing it for about a decade after members complained that some of the invited clergy had offended with overly Christian prayers that sometimes veered into politically touchy subjects, such as abortion. The House leadership at the time decided that inviting religious leaders was more trouble than it was worth. Since then, the House clerk’s office has been distributing a form at the beginning of the session asking members whether they’d be willing to perform “Divine Services.” About 50 sign up every year, according to the clerk’s office. But before they’re given the pulpit, the delegates are given a pamphlet — “Public Prayer in a Pluralistic Society: Guidelines for Civic Occasions” — that instructs them to “show respect both for public diversity and for the seriousness of prayer.” They are to use “inclusive terms for deity,” meaning “Mighty God” or “Our Maker” is acceptable. So is “Source of all Being” and “Creator and Sustainer.” But Jesus or Allah are serious no-nos. “The trick to the prayer is to make it secular and to avoid politics,” said Del. Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr. (D-Baltimore). “We want to hear a prayer. We don’t want to be preached to.” In Virginia, clergy invited to pray before the General Assembly are also urged to offer inclusive prayers, and the Senate provides its visiting clergy with the same ground rules as in Maryland. “They are only guidelines,” said Susan Schaar, the clerk of the Virginia Senate. “We do not tell them how to pray. . . . We have them saying, ‘In Christ’s name.’ ‘In Jesus’s name.’ It’s strictly up to their religion.” The practice of beginning legislative sessions with a prayer stems from the British Parliament, and the U.S. House and Senate have had chaplains nearly uninterrupted since 1789. In addition to counseling lawmakers, both the House and Senate chaplains sometimes open their respective chambers with a prayer. On other days, guest chaplains are invited to perform the duty. While guest chaplains are responsible for writing their prayers, “we view each prayer ahead of time to make sure they refrain from saying something inappropriate,” said Jody M. Spraggins, a spokeswoman for the Senate chaplain. The House chaplain’s office also vets prayers. Several dozen legislative chambers across the country permit someone other than the official chaplain — if there is one — to deliver prayers, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. In a few states, a guest in the gallery might be invited to the microphone to offer a prayer. Roughly half the states in the nation have established guidelines for the delivery of opening prayers, according to the NCSL. A few states require prayers to be reviewed in advance. While any mixture of government and religion can spark controversy, the Supreme Court affirmed the constitutionality of chaplains in 1983. The court found that the practice of opening prayers was “deeply embedded in the history and tradition of this country” and that having chaplains does not portend the creation of a national religion. In Maryland, some House members have pushed back against the secular rules, saying they infringe on their right to free speech. Del. Andrew A. Serafini (R-Washington County) said he believes that the First Amendment prohibits the speaker’s office from “censoring” the content of his prayers. “You should be able to pray in Jesus’s name or in Allah’s name or in Muhammad’s name,” he said. “The government shouldn’t be able to control the content.” “I’m trying to behave, but it is a struggle,” he said. Earlier this year, Del. Glen Glass (R-Harford County) walked the line, saying his prayer was “in J.C.’s name.” Others have used “in your son’s name” as a loophole. In past years, that might have caused Del. Shane E. Pendergrass (D-Howard) to lift the lid of her desk and let it slam shut, which she used to do when pastors delivered prayers that were explicitly Christian. Now, she said, the prayers are much more likely to be “inclusive.” She said she is “grateful for incremental progress” and doesn’t slam her desk anymore. (The chamber has tightened the hinges on the lids so they won’t slam.) On Valentine’s Day, Del. Mary Ann Love (D-Anne Arundel) led a “Love prayer.” And recently, Del. Stephen S. Hershey Jr. (R-Centreville) prayed on behalf of mothers, asking for forgiveness “for whenever we said they didn’t understand us, and for when we didn’t try to understand them.” This year, Del. Heather R. Mizeur (D-Montgomery County) led a Navajo prayer, addressing the “Great Spirit.” Mizeur, who is not Native American, is a practicing Catholic and said she used the prayer to expose her colleagues to “the importance of other spiritual traditions, our shared cultural heritage.” Del. Michael A. McDermott (R-Wicomico/Worcester) chose to read the prayer that Gen. George Washington circulated upon the disbanding of the army. Was McDermott trying to disband the General Assembly? No, he said — it was a chance “to expose my colleagues to our heritage.” There’s one thing, however, that delegates seem to agree on: The shorter the prayer, the better. One morning, after the Pledge of Allegiance, Speaker Michael E. Busch (D-Anne Arundel) announced the name of the delegate who would be giving the prayer. The honorable gentleman was a no-show, so Busch decided to give the prayer himself. “Lord, bless this dignified House,” he said. “And let them do your will in their work. Amen.” Fifteen words total. “Best prayer ever!” shouted a colleague. **Ben Pershing contributed to this report.**

How fights over Trump have led evangelicals to leave their churches

How did we get here? One answer is sorting. That is, people may reevaluate their religious membership when they sense political (or other) disagreement, leaving their houses of worship more homogeneous organizations. While this happens across the religious spectrum, here we highlight new evidence that disagreement over Trump’s candidacy actually led some evangelicals to leave their church. We surveyed 957 people before and after the 2016 presidential election, in late September and mid-November. Our goal was to gather data to assess how politics might shape church membership. While technically a convenience sample, our surveys — which were fielded online — are broadly representative of the American public. Of those who said they had attended a house of worship in September, 14 percent reported that they had left that particular church by mid-November. That’s a proportion in line with several of our previous estimates from surveys in the 2000s. In the 2016 election, “leavers” were distributed across the religious population, and included 10 percent of evangelicals, 18 percent of mainline Protestants, and 11 percent of Catholics. This represents an enormous amount of churn in the religious economy. But was that churn influenced by politics? To find out if they attended a “political church,” we asked respondents if their clergy addressed any of eight political topics. We also asked, more generally, if seeing evidence of politics reminded them of how divisive politics has become. About 15 percent of those who believe that American politics has become divisive left their political houses of worship. Of those who don’t think politics is inherently divisive, close to none left their political house of worship. For some, any mention of politics seems divisive, and they wish to leave it behind at worship. Others don’t mind some mention of politics, but are disturbed by mention of particular political disagreements. Arguably, Trump has been the most divisive candidate in at least recent U.S. history. So was conflicting sentiment about Trump more likely to drive some out of their houses of worship? We wondered this in particular about evangelical Protestants, among whom the question of Trump was hotly debated; some supported him while others were prominently #NeverTrump-ers. In the same survey, we asked evangelicals first to tell us their own level of support for Trump, and second to estimate their clergyperson’s support of Trump. Among this group, Trump’s average feeling thermometer rating — which ranges from 0 to 100 — was just over 48. While that’s low, Hillary Clinton’s average was only 25. On average, they felt their clergy liked him only slightly better, averaging 50 on the same 100-point scale. In the figure below, which shows results from a regression model, you can see that those who felt that they and their clergy disagreed over Trump in September were the most likely to report leaving that house of worship by November. The two groups you’d expect were more likely to leave: Trump supporters who felt their clergy didn’t support him (represented by the red line on the left), and those who felt cool toward Trump but thought their clergy strongly supported him (represented by the blue line on the right).   More specifically, for 20 years, liberal to moderate evangelicals have been leaving their churches because they disagree with the Christian right. This is important because it allows us to recognize that this sorting process is plural, local, and continual. It is not something owned by the left or right, but a regular and expected part of life in all religious organizations. Are these patterns troubling? Observers’ opinions differ. Religious institutions have long been practice grounds for skills later turned toward politics. On the one hand, if people are leaving houses of worship because of political disagreements, they may not be learning the skills needed to talk across differences and participate in politics. On the other hand, as congregations become more engaged with politics, worshipers learn to connect their values with their political options. And the members most likely to leave over political disagreements tend to be marginal, infrequent attendees anyway.

Fewer churches seem to be planning trips to see Trump’s inauguration. Is your church coming?

When Barack Obama was sworn in as president, churches near and far rented buses, piled congregants aboard and drove to Washington to see the nation’s 44th president take the oath of office. The 45th president’s inauguration doesn’t seem to be nearly as popular a destination for a church bus trip.  Representatives of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod and of the Presbyterian Church of America, both evangelical denominations, and of the mainline Episcopal Church all asked around in their networks, but they didn’t find any churches planning trips. Representatives of the Assemblies of God and the Jehovah’s Witnesses said they do not know of any either. Mormons, Seventh-day Adventists and United Methodists didn’t respond to inquiries on this subject. The Southern Baptist Convention — the nation’s largest evangelical denomination, so perhaps a likely denomination for a church looking to herald Trump’s inauguration — said it has no way of knowing the travel plans of its many churches. Jackie Frend knows about travel plans, though. As the president of the Guild of Professional Tour Guides of Washington, D.C., her inbox has been flooded with tour requests coming from groups visiting the District for the inauguration. “Oh my gosh, we’re all booked,” she said. “Every single tour guide.” But when she looked through the tour requests submitted on the guild’s website during the past several months, she didn’t see a single inquiry from a church group. The inauguration tourists seem to be mostly school groups this year, Frend said. Even searches for social media posts about “church trip inauguration” turn up plenty of posts from churches making plans in 2013, to attend Obama’s second inauguration, but none in 2017.

Americans lie about how much they go to church, even if they don’t belong to one

There are but three certainties in American life: death, taxes and fibbing about how often you go to church. That last item comes via a new Public Religion Research Institute survey (brilliantly titled "I Know What You Did Last Sunday"), which found that Americans significantly overstate their church attendance to pollsters.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday Most polling happens via interviews over the phone, and when we talk to complete strangers we have a tendency to tell them what we think they want to hear. Pollsters have long suspected that this dynamic has been in play with measures of religiosity in the United States, so PRRI decided to test it out. They administered the same survey questions to two groups of people: one group was asked via a traditional telephone survey, while another took the survey online. Less than one-third of phone respondents (30 percent) admitted to attending religious services seldom or never. But online, freed from the normative pressures of interacting with another human being, 43 percent of respondents said they seldom or never went to church. Similarly, online respondents were less likely to say they went to church weekly or occasionally than were phone respondents. These findings hold true across all religious groups. Catholics were the most likely to overstate their church attendance for a phone interviewer: Only 15 percent told a phone interviewer that they seldom or never attended church, but online more than 30 percent of Catholics admitted they rarely went to church. Even the unaffiliated -- those who say they belong to no church -- exaggerated their religious attendance for phone interviewers. While the number of religiously unaffiliated Americans has risen dramatically in recent years, measures like belief in God and church attendance have appeared remarkably stable. Researchers have hypothesized that people were turning away from religious institutions and taking more of a "cafeteria approach" to belief. Michael Wear, a former adviser to President Obama, has defined this as the "notion of 'picking and choosing' what one wants to believe and follow from religious traditions while ignoring the rest."    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday But these poll findings suggest that many more people are simply not going to the cafeteria at all. "This is consistent with what we see in the rise of non-affiliation," co-author Dan Cox said. "It's about more than a rejection of institutions." When it comes to measures like church attendance and belief in God, Cox doesn't think we're going to turn into Western Europe any time soon. But these findings do show that we are becoming a more secular nation than previously assumed.

Ask Amy: Reader finds faith queries offensive

DEAR AMY: I’m curious to know what you think of someone asking a semi-stranger, “What church do you go to?” or, even worse, “Do you go to church?” It seems as intrusive as asking “How much do you weigh?” or “How much money do you make?” or “Are your kids gay or straight?” Maybe churches today are trying to grow their memberships, but the way I was raised, someone’s personal relationship with God was PERSONAL. I know people like to categorize, but to me the question is rude. Am I just out of step? -- Offended DEAR OFFENDED: It could be that my own orientation has blinded me to how outrageous and offensive this question is. “How much do you weigh?” is a direct and unsubtle question. But in asking whether or where you go to church, the inquisitor might have been looking for guidance for a nice church to join. Churches are organizations staffed with personnel, housed in buildings with bills to pay and a lot to offer — for people so inclined. Asking if you go to church is not asking you to reveal your personal relationship with God, it’s literally asking what you do on Sunday morning. You could certainly respond, “I was raised to think that my relationship with God was personal” or you could say, “No, I don’t go to church. I go to the movies.” Of course, it is your right to act offended by this question, but there is a more peaceful response to this and literally any question on Earth that you don’t quite like, including “how much do you weigh?” You look at the person and say, “Hmm. Interesting. Why do you ask?” DEAR AMY: My spouse and I have season tickets to a performing arts center. We attend shows multiple times during the year and have our same two reserved seats. At the last performance the usher was very rushed and told us to take our own programs and usher ourselves to our seats, as she was too busy to help us. She was working alone as the curtain was about to go up. Upon arriving in our box we were surprised to see six ushers, all in uniform, sitting with us. I know the ushers see the shows for free (that is a perk for volunteering). I was just surprised to see them there. I always see the ushers sitting where they can help anyone who needs assistance. We pay thousands of dollars to be members and support the arts and I also do volunteer work. I was wondering what are the guidelines or rules for this sort of thing? -- Ticketed and Wondering DEAR WONDERING: I think it’s possible that these ushers could actually have been ticketed guests for that performance. Some theaters allow their subscribers to donate their unused tickets back to the organization. Might your usual subscription box-mates (or the theater itself) have donated tickets to this group of stalwart ushers as a gift? For all you know, one of the group was celebrating 50 years of showing people to their seats, and this was a special “thank you.” That’s the kindest assumption, and it’s the assumption with which to start. If you see this happening on future visits and you perceive a shortage of ushers during the performance — and/or you continue to meet with ushers who are too busy to show you to your seats — you should definitely ask to speak with a theater manager. Management wants its subscribers and most enthusiastic supporters to be happy with their theater experience. If you are not happy in your seats, you will find it more challenging to enjoy the performance — and enjoyment is what your visit should be about. DEAR AMY: I found the letter from “Relate or Wait?” disturbing. These parents were literally having a crisis over telling their kids that the father had previously been married and divorced before they were born. If they had been open and honest with their kids about this starting at a very early age, they would have avoided this problem. It’s not that big a deal. -- Been There DEAR BEEN THERE: I agree. Amy’s column appears seven days a week at www.washingtonpost.com/advice. Write to  Amy Dickinson  at askamy@tribune.com or Ask Amy, Chicago Tribune, TT500, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60611.

How the prosperity preachers supporting Trump are using him to sell themselves

These networks of prosperity preachers, with larger luminaries like Osteen, Paula White and Creflo Dollar commanding millions of dollars, represent a different type of religious endorsement than Evangelicals typically do for GOP candidates. These prosperity preachers are often neo-Pentecostals or charismatics who believe in healing and “gifts of the spirit,” unlike predominately mainline white Evangelicals. Their congregations are often, but not always, interracial. While many prosperity preachers are against abortion and same-sex marriage, their major concerns and messages are about the financial prosperity of themselves and their flocks. They are more apt to have schools about running businesses, obtaining home loans and investing. For these churches, Trump is the living, breathing proof that God’s blessings have financial rewards. Endorsing and promoting Trump is a way for them to gain visibility on an international scale, and more followers, opportunity and money.  Both of Burns’s faux pas generated much press, but in this election cycle, Trump seems to be sticking with his “pastor” for now. That has not been the case in other cycles. In 2008, both Sen. John McCain and President Obama had problems. Obama had an issue with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, whose sermon line “God Damn America” ran on a nonstop loop during the campaign. Obama responded by repudiating Wright and giving his now-famous “Race Speech” in Philadelphia.    It is also worth mentioning that this recent black church visit was likely the suggestion of Manigault, who is savvy enough to know that sending Trump to a social justice-oriented black church is out of the question. By aligning with black prosperity churches that are focused on economics and that downplay racial tension, Trump can gain the optics and credibility with white Christian voters who may be on the fence about voting for him.

Will D.C. churches invite Donald Trump to come worship?

Every four or eight years, after the nation goes through the ritual of picking a president, some of Washington’s churches go through another ritual — getting a president to pick them.   And now it’s time to ask: Will President Trump go to church in Washington? It may not be likely. Trump has previously been affiliated with Presbyterian churches, and he identifies as a mainline Protestant, but he is not a regular churchgoer.  In short: No. One minister of one of the denomination’s churches closest to the White House responded to The Post’s inquiry, “Are you kidding?” When a reporter replied that in fact the question was quite earnest, the minister then said that, come to think of it, he would send Trump a letter of invitation.  The response from most of these churches was essentially: Trump will be very welcome, if he thinks a church like this is his cup of tea. Bell and Gench said they would probably send Trump a letter to welcome him in writing.

Miss Manners: Private chats in public spaces are best ignored

DEAR MISS MANNERS: The sense of private space seems to have changed radically over the last several years. Everyone now seems so intent on texting, but there is still the person on public transportation who is yelling at his ex-wife about child support payments. I don’t think all of us on the bus need to hear about this. But the presumption seems to be that we are politely to pretend we are not hearing this. Any intervention, suggesting this might be better dealt with in the privacy of one’s home, is treated with hostility. Is pretending not to hear still the preferred mode? GENTLE READER: Yes and no. Eavesdropping is indeed rude, but Miss Manners suggests that you recast your objection as a warning to someone in danger. And people who air their legal complaints or other delicate private business in public are in great danger. For all that caller knows, his ex-wife’s lawyer is two seats back on the bus, alerted to the opportunity to add a harassment charge to reopen the divorce settlement. Or the child in the aisle is a classmate of one of his children who may use the information for taunting. You may therefore attempt to catch the caller’s eye, give him a sympathetic look, and wave your hand to indicate all the people who may be listening to the conversation. Mind you, Miss Manners still thinks it less trouble to move to the back of the bus. Or to get off, if the commotion occurs within reasonable distance of your stop. DEAR MISS MANNERS: If a family is getting together at Thanksgiving, and one of the families attending has a 2-year-old with egg and peanut allergies, does the mom have the right to e-mail everyone and tell them they cannot bring anything with eggs and/or peanuts to the function? I could understand it if the parents of the child were hosting the party, but if someone else is hosting and they are just attending, does that parent have the right to change everyone’s plans? GENTLE READER: The “right”? Does that mean that you are asserting a counter-right to risk making a toddler dangerously ill? Miss Manners is generally in favor of those with special requirements making accommodations for themselves without demanding them of others. But when the mere proximity of something poses a threat, it is polite, as well as humane, to comply. DEAR MISS MANNERS: My older sister and I are always getting into fights. She always wants something of mine and I always want something of hers. We’ve tried trading, but it doesn’t work. This apartment isn’t big enough for both of us. What can I do? GENTLE READER: Grow up? No, Miss Manners realizes that you are looking for a shorter-term solution that does not involve hair-pulling. Trading, as you have discovered, only opens up new areas for disagreement: Is a dinosaur worth two balloons or three? Unlike business transactions, family relationships involve gestures that are not immediately reciprocated. If your sister wants something of yours, you might try setting an example by simply letting her play with it or borrow it. If she doesn’t keel over from shock, she might, with quiet reminders, learn to reciprocate. New Miss Manners columns are posted Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays on www.washingtonpost.com/advice. You can send questions to  Miss Manners at her Web site, www.missmanners.com. 2014, by Judith Martin

Adam Hamilton to preach at inaugural prayer service

A Methodist pastor of a Kansas megachurch who has written popular books on world religions and the importance of accepting doubt will deliver the sermon Tuesday to the Obamas and others at the official inaugural prayer service at the National Cathedral. The Rev. Adam Hamilton, who pastors the 16,000-member United Methodist Church of the Resurrection, will preach at the morning interfaith prayer service, an inauguration tradition since the 1930s. The services, held the day after the inauguration, have almost always been held at the National Cathedral, the highest vantage point in the city and one of the world’s largest cathedrals. The service is heavily interfaith and includes prominent guests of the administration and faith leaders. It is planned by the inaugural committee and this year will also include anthems sung by soloist Wintley Phipps and the Washington Performing Arts Society’s Children of the Gospel choir – both of whom sang at President Obama’s last inaugural prayer service. Other musicians will be “The President’s Own” Brass Ensemble of the U.S. Marine Band and the Cathedral Choir. The service is invitation-only but will be webcast live at www.nationalcathedral.org. Hamilton heads one of the country’s most visible mainline churches and is often quoted as a faith leader embracing ambiguity — in politics, interfaith matters, relationships and in personal spiritual doubt. His books include “Seeing Gray In A World of Black and White.” He was in the news last year when his denomination voted to maintain their official stance that gay and lesbian act are “incompatible with Christian teaching.” Hamilton argued for a middle-ground proposal that would have changed the Methodist Book of Discipline to say that gays and lesbians are “people of sacred worth” and would have noted that church members are split on God’s intention about same-sex relations. The measure failed. There will be two prayers during Obama's actual swearing-in on Monday — first an invocation by Civil Rights activist Myrlie Evers-Williams and then a benediction by the Rev. Luis Leon, an Episcopal priest.

No U.S. president has ever visited a Sikh temple, so 20 congressmen want Obama to go

The members of Congress who wrote the letter said that a presidential visit would mean recognition for this religion, which is little understood by most Americans. Sikhism is a monotheistic faith that originated in India. Although Sikhism is unrelated to Islam, Sikh men, who often wear turbans, have been mistaken for Muslims in America and have been victims of hate crimes since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.  Rep. Judy Chu, another California Democrat who signed the letter, said in an email, “I believe that a visit by President Obama to a Sikh temple will serve multiple purposes. It will serve as a powerful statement that Sikhs — like all groups — are a part of our country, and it will demonstrate the openness that exemplifies Sikh houses of worship. Education and awareness are our most powerful tools against bigotry and violence. The President has an unparalleled ability to wield those tools — and I encourage him to do so by visiting a Sikh temple.” Six Republicans and 14 Democrats signed the letter. The White House confirmed that the letter was received, but did not say whether Obama would consider putting a gurdwara on his schedule during his final months in office.

Obama attends Easter service; minister criticizes ‘captains of the religious right’

President Obama and the first family walked from the White House across Lafayette Square to attend Easter worship atSt. John’s Church, their most frequent religious venue while in Washington. The Obamas worshipped at St. John’s on Easter 2009, and they have visited the Episcopal congregation, which is led by the Rev. Luis Leon, numerous times, including last year. With Obama in the pews, Leon took a shot at political conservatives, arguing from the pulpit that some conservative positions are holding people back. Quoting from John 20:1-18, Leon said in the same way that Jesus told Mary Magdalene not to hold on to him, it is time for conservatives to stop holding on to what he considers outdated stances in matters of race, gender equality, homosexuals and immigrants. “It drives me crazy when the captains of the religious right are always calling us back . . . for blacks to be back in the back of the bus . . . for women to be back in the kitchen . . . for immigrants to be back on their side of the border,” Leon said. Leon said that people instead should use “Easter vision” to allow them to see the world in a different, more “wonderful” way. After the sermon, Leon told The Washington Post that he was speaking about Mary realizing that she shouldn’t hold on, accepting it and changing from that point on. “That is the invitation for all of us,” Leon said. When asked to discuss his criticism of political conservatives, he said: “I will keep my thoughts there.” The Obamas walked back to the White House after the service. Obama has visited the church, near the White House, several times during his presidency. Like most of his previous visits to churches in the District, Obama did not make a speech. He sat on the end of a pew near the middle of the sanctuary, smiling and greeting members of the congregation with “Happy Easter.” Since taking office, Obama also has visited a number of African American churches, where he has almost always chosen to worship quietly, speaking only once. The Obamas have not become members of a congregation in the District, but they have started to develop a spiritual tradition, largely visiting churches close to the White House.

After Charleston massacre, uneasiness for Black churchgoers

The Black Church is one of the most welcoming places on Earth. The Black Church will take you in when others turn their backs, doors are locked in your face, and no one else seems to want you around. So when a white person enters a Black house of worship and quietly takes a seat, that person is immediately accepted as someone seeking God or, at least, as a person curious about what’s going on inside that particular church. Either way, African-American worshipers are expected to make room, and provide a seat in the pews, or at the table, or wherever the gathering is taking place. That’s the way it is and it has always been. What’s more, and it’s not said aloud, we are glad when a white person decides to join us in fellowship to worship the same God since, on so many other occasions they find reasons to keep us at a distance. But as a result of the slaughter at Mother Emanuel A.M.E Church in Charleston, at this coming Sunday’s worship services, things may be a little different. Oh, the choir will give voice in song, and the preacher will teach and preach from the Gospel. The ushers will pass the plates, and the doors of the church will be opened to all who have not entered and joined as members before. But this weekend, something else will enter the minds of even the most loving, forgiving, all-embracing congregants. That white face that we have never seen before, that man who nods but doesn’t seem to warm up to the people around him? This question will enter the mind: Could that individual be a Charleston copy cat? Could he be a visitor with the same white-hot, anti-black fury burning within him as that within Dylann Roof, who, with his gun, ended the God-given life of nine souls? I am a member of a predominately African American church-St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Foggy Bottom here in Washington. It’s one of the oldest black churches in our nation’s capital. This weekend, I will join my rector and fellow congregants in prayer for the nation, for the people of Charleston, and my family and fellow worshipers. But this Sunday, as God is my witness, I’ll be keeping an eye on the front door.

The waving priest of Aldie welcomes all to attend church services

He is a familiar sight, smiling and waving to drivers as they pass the Church of Our Redeemer on Route 50. He is the Rev. John Sheehan, the waving priest of Aldie. Fifteen minutes before the start of each worship service, no matter the weather, Sheehan stations himself outside the front doors of the 125-year-old church and waves to passersby. He keeps waving until the service begins, pausing only to greet worshipers as they arrive. Nearly all the drivers respond by waving back. Some honk, and some even pull into the parking lot. Sheehan estimates that in his 14 years as rector of the small Episcopal church, about 80 people have stopped to speak to him. Some have stayed for the worship service, and a few became members, he said. He started waving to drivers in 2001 and has been doing it ever since, before the church’s services Wednesday mornings and Saturday evenings, as well as the two Sunday morning services. “I would go out front and greet people as they were coming in,” he said. “But there’s always a gap. So I found myself turning around and waving to the cars going by.” Sheehan, 67, said that the waving grew naturally from his outgoing personality and his professional background. Before entering the seminary in 1998, he worked for 35 years as a senior congressional aide and political director of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Some days he considers not going outside to wave, he said. “But each and every time I think that, the Lord sends me a reason to do it.” One morning, he said, a woman drove past and then turned around and came back. She asked whether an atheist could go into the church. Sheehan told her that everyone is welcome. “She came in and worshiped with us, and at the end of the service, she was the last one out,” he said. “She said, ‘I thought I came because of you. But that’s not why I came, is it?’ And over a few weeks, she became a believer.” The waving has become an essential part of Sheehan’s ministry. A few years ago, a bishop asked him to consider moving to another church. “I half-kiddingly asked if the church is on a main highway,” he said. It wasn’t, and Sheehan eventually withdrew his name from consideration. “It didn’t feel right,” he said. “This is where I felt like I was called.” Aldie residents and drivers who regularly pass through on Route 50 now expect to see the waving priest at the usual times. Church member Kay Skelton of Gainesville said people notice when he is away on vacation. “If they don’t see him out there, they call and make sure he’s okay,” she said. Sheehan said he is often recognized in public as the waving priest. When he visited a medical clinic in Lansdowne, a woman working at the front desk said, “You don’t recognize me, but I wave to you every Wednesday morning. I drive the white Volkswagen.” “She said, ‘Please keep doing that, because it makes the beginning of the day the way it should be,’ ” Sheehan said. Skelton recalled a visitor who attended a Wednesday morning worship service. “It was her birthday, and she had been going past [the church] for a year,” Skelton said. “She had promised herself that on her birthday she was going to stop and worship with us. And she did.” Sheehan said he expects to keep waving as long as he is at the church. “I love doing it,” he said. “It’s the way the Lord has made me.” Barnes is a freelance writer.

Miss Manners: Canceling invitation requires contacting all invited guests

DEAR MISS MANNERS: One sends out an RSVP invitation with a specific deadline, and then, because of poor response, the hosts want to cancel. Obviously the regrets do not need to be notified. Those accepting the invitation should be notified. A topic of debate within my household: Is the host under any obligation to notify those who did not respond? GENTLE READER: Your implicit frustration with those who do not respond to invitations would normally find a sympathetic listener in Miss Manners. But she finds herself wondering instead about the “poor response” you cite in justification of revoking an invitation that has been both issued and, in some cases, accepted. To these people the host owes an apology, an explanation and, ideally, a replacement invitation. Given how many people are in the habit of attending events to which they did not respond, it would be wise to warn the non-responders as well, lest they appear on your doorstep expecting to be fed. In fact, you do not need to offer to feed them ever again. DEAR MISS MANNERS: I was invited to a dinner party hosted by my law school professor. It was on a Thursday evening and the invitation said dress was casual. I, and other students, wore jeans and a casual shirt. I overheard the host discussing our outfits as uncouth and that we should have been wearing “business casual” attire. I was embarrassed and put on my cardigan. Was I wrong for dressing casual? Should I have interpreted a dinner party “casual” to mean business attire? GENTLE READER: Has the factor of context never come up in your law classes? Or the question of what the understanding of a reasonable person would be? Actually, nobody knows the meaning of “casual.” As far as Miss Manners can tell — and she is as reasonable as one can reasonably be — it merely tells people that they don’t have to make any effort they don’t feel like making. So some feel like making the effort to look polished, and some don’t feel like making much of an effort, if any. Certainly, a reasonable student would interpret “casual” as meaning jeans. But your professor seems to have trouble understanding context. Correcting students when they are taking his courses is his job. Disparaging his guests when he has invited them to a party is rude. DEAR MISS MANNERS: I just turned 12, and my friends were very nice, brought balloons, cookies, etc., to school. The next day, several of them asked me what gifts I had gotten for my birthday. I told them the truth — that it had been a pretty busy night and I hadn’t opened them yet — but I couldn’t help but think that the question was a little tactless. What if, in this economy, my parents couldn’t afford a lot of presents? It seems almost parallel to adults asking each other how much money they make. Am I wrong for thinking this, and what would be an appropriate response in the future? GENTLE READER: The difference is that your friends are not really asking for the complete catalogue you are envisioning. Miss Manners assures you that they are expressing a conventional interest that can be answered with a conventional response: Express enthusiasm for all the wonderful gifts and name one, without suggesting that it is the best. New Miss Manners columns are posted Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays on www.washingtonpost.com/advice. You can send questions to  Miss Manners at her Web site, www.missmanners.com. 2014, by Judith Martin

St. John’s rector will appear in second inauguration, this time on short notice

The Rev. Luis Leon doesn’t mind preaching in relief. Leon, who feels a little as if he has been summoned from God’s bullpen to offer the closing benediction at President Obama’s inauguration next week, said he’s honored, thrilled and just a little nervous. “Relievers are important, as we learn in baseball,” Leon said Wednesday in an interview at St. John’s Church across the street from the White House. “It’s a great honor. It’s been a joy to be asked.” Leon, who has served as rector of the historic church since 1995, also knows something about the game of politics. The Episcopal church — whose worshipers have included every president since James Madison — ministers to Republicans and Democrats, Washington big shots and homeless folks. In 2005, Leon offered the invocation at the second inauguration of President George W. Bush. Bush worshiped at the church once or twice a month. Obama has also attended Sunday services on occasion. Leon was picked this week to replace the Rev. Louie Giglio, a conservative evangelical minister who withdrew two days after his selection was announced because of controversy over anti-gay remarks he made more than a decade ago. The Presidential Inaugural Committee, which chose Giglio because of his campaign against human trafficking, said organizers were not aware of the 1990s sermons and wanted a religious figure whose views reflected the administration’s. Shaun Casey, a Wesley Theological Seminary ethics professor, said the episode demonstrates the political challenge of finding a religious speaker who will be acceptable to everyone in an increasingly pluralistic society. Plus, almost every minister has a sermon or two in which he or she said something provocative, Casey said. “It’s hard to pick anyone without that political baggage,” Casey said. The controversy over Giglio also shows the distance the country has traveled on gay rights just since 2009, when Obama’s selection of the Rev. Rick Warren to give the invocation offended gay rights advocates. Warren spoke anyway. “In 2009, they were willing to do that. In 2013, they weren’t,” Casey said. This time, President Obama chose Myrlie Evers-Williams, the widow of slain civil rights activist Medgar Evers, to give the invocation at the president’s swearing-in ceremony. It is thought to be the first time a woman, and a lay person instead of a clergy member, will do so. Casey called her selection a “stroke of genius.” Giglio’s replacement is a safe and proven choice. “He is a superb preacher. He’s very committed to social justice. And he is also a very thoughtful, spiritual leader,” the Rev. Samuel T. LLoyd III, former dean of Washington National Cathedral, said Thursday. “He has an amazing personal story.” Leon came to the United States from Cuba in 1961 at age 12 with just $3 in his pocket after his parents sent him out of the country because they feared for the future under dictator Fidel Castro. Leon spent three years in Miami and then went off to boarding school in Rome, Ga., on a church scholarship. He attended the University of the South and the Virginia Theological Seminary before entering the priesthood. He earned a reputation for building an urban congregation while serving as rector at Trinity Church in Wilmington, Del., and St. Paul’s Church in Paterson, N.J., before coming to St. John’s in the nation’s capital. Known as “the church of the presidents,” St. John’s ministers to members of Congress and homeless people who wander Lafayette Square. Tourists drop in, too, sometimes by the busload. Among the church’s parishioners are defense secretary nominee and former senator Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.), Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.), FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III and former energy secretary Samuel Bodman. “It’s pretty much the unstated way of being here is that you have to check your partisan politics at the front door of the church,” Leon, 63, said. “That’s what I inherited when I came here. . . . I don’t know when that started, but folks respect that here.” The Rev. Canon Jan Naylor Cope, who is vicar at the cathedral, met Leon when she led the search committee that brought him to St. John’s. Cope said Leon impressed her as someone who has lived his life in the spirit of the words chiseled into stone on a building at Virginia Theological Seminary: “Seek the truth, come whence it may, cost what it will.” “That really is Luis,” Cope said. “Very early in his mission, he was willing to stand up and speak at St. John’s about things that weren’t popular.” Those things have meant discussing HIV/AIDS, acceptance of homosexuality and gay marriage, and pushing for affordable housing and other forms of social justice. “What he’s done is try to articulate the truth of the Christian faith in a very thoughtful way that’s not partisan,” said Lloyd, who is now priest-in-charge at Trinity Church in Boston. “He’s anything but somebody who’s offering pabulum.” Leon will have about three minutes to deliver the blessing that brings the ceremony to a close. He’s not sure yet what he’ll say, but he has an idea of a theme, and an interest in sounding the right ecumenical notes. “I always think of God’s blessing as calling forth the best in us,” he said. Beyonce will take it from there, with a rendition of the national anthem.

Another possible benefit of going to church: A 33 percent chance of living longer

Religious services aren’t just good for your soul — they might be good for your health. A new study, released Monday in a journal published by the American Medical Association, says that those who attend church services more often actually have a better chance of staying alive in the long run. Over a 20-year span, the study surveyed a group of more than 76,000 female nurses, most of whom were Catholic and Protestant. At the end of 20 years, more than 13,000 of them had died. The women who went to religious services more than once a week, it turned out, were 33 percent less likely to be in that group who died, compared to those who never attended services. Tyler VanderWeele, a researcher at Harvard’s school of public health who co-wrote the study, said the effect diminished as the study participants decreased their service attendance. Those who attended services once a week saw their odds of dying go down 26 percent. For those who attended less than weekly, the odds of dying decreased 13 percent, VanderWeele said. That led the study’s authors to a striking recommendation: “Religion and spirituality may be an underappreciated resource that physicians could explore with their patients, as appropriate,” they wrote. “Our results do not imply that health care professionals should prescribe attendance at religious services, but for those who already hold religious beliefs, attendance at services could be encouraged as a form of meaningful social participation.” VanderWeele said that other studies have suggested a similar link between service attendance and decreased mortality, but his team aimed to prove that service attendance actually causes the better health outcomes. Because the nurses answered questionnaires periodically over a long time frame, he said, the researchers were able to look at whether a change in service attendance led to a change in health. They found numerous benefits associated with attending services. Women who started going to services then became more likely to quit smoking and less likely to show signs of depression, for instance — even when the researchers controlled for a long list of other variables, from age and exercise habits to income and other non-religious social engagement. The effect of religious attendance, they found, was stronger than that of any other form of participation in a social group like a book club or a volunteer organization. “We were a bit surprised, initially, by the magnitude of the findings,” VanderWeele said. He said they found a long list of positive effects: “Service attendance is increasing social support. Through social norms, it’s also decreasing the likelihood of smoking. Perhaps through some of the messages of hope, it’s decreasing depressive symptoms. Perhaps self-discipline, a sense of meaning or purpose in life — it’s not just one pathway.” He continued, “I don’t think it’s one single reason that this effect is emerging. I think it’s that service attendance affects so many different aspects of life.” Richard Sloan, a Columbia medical school professor who has expressed skepticism of similar studies in the past, said these latest results should not lead doctors to talk about faith in the examining room. “Physicians threaten to compromise the religious freedom of patients to make decisions about religious practice on their own,” Sloan said. “It’s perfectly reasonable for physicians to make medical recommendations which they expect patients to follow…. When physicians stray from a medical agenda to some kind of social agenda, it’s a violation of the patient’s autonomy.” But VanderWeele said doctors should be aware of the apparent benefits of religious attendance. One of the team’s most striking findings was on breast cancer. Women who attended services were no more or less likely to contract breast cancer. But those who attended services were substantially less likely to die of it. “We were quite struck by that,” VanderWeele said. “Maybe it is a sense of hope or of faith, even in the face of illness and disease. A capacity to try to find meaning in the disease experience. Or feeling supported by a community even while struggling with illness. That would be my speculation as to those results. But I do agree it was surprising.” Daniel Hall, a University of Pittsburgh medical professor not involved in this study who trained as both a doctor and a minister, said that pious people might see this study as affirmation that there is a God listening to the prayers at those worship services, and others might see non-faith-based explanations. “Human beings are so religious in their behaviors. Quite apart from a truth clam in whether there is a God or not, it’s just anthropologically one of the strongest ways human communities are held together,” he said. Hall said that just as doctors learned in recent decades to be less squeamish about asking about patients’ sex lives, since the information can have medical value, physicians should keep patients’ faith lives in mind. “Talking about people’s religious beliefs and practices is one of the last taboos,” he said. “Something’s going on there that we ignore. You see something that has that much of an effect? In what way would it be appropriate to come alongside it and understand it — even if you can’t manipulate it in the same way as blood pressure.”

The White House is more afraid of offending China’s president than the pope

THE VATICAN has raised objections to a few of the guests invited to the White House arrival ceremony next week for Pope Francis. The Wall Street Journal reported that the guests include transgender activists, the first openly gay Episcopal bishop and a nun who criticizes church policies on abortion and euthanasia. The Vatican worries that photos taken with the pope might be used to suggest his endorsement of activities he in fact disapproves of. White House spokesman Josh Earnest, in his briefing Thursday, wouldn’t comment on individual invitees but noted that a very large crowd will assemble for the Wednesday event. “[T]hat’s why I would warn you against drawing a lot of conclusions about one or two or maybe even three people who may be on the guest list, because there will be 15,000 other people there too,” Mr. Earnest said. That’s a fair point. The White House also might argue that it can’t be expected to turn its back on people, or values, that are important to President Obama, especially in a house he’s occupying on behalf of the American people. No doubt there’s often a fine balance between hospitality and principle when foreign visitors come to town. The administration doesn’t want to give offense, but it also doesn’t want to give in to what it may see as prejudices that it doesn’t share. What struck us as we read about this small controversy is the contrast between the administration’s apparent decision to risk a bit of rudeness in the case of the pope and its overwhelming deference to foreign dictators when similar issues arise. When Secretary of State John F. Kerry traveled to Havana to reopen the U.S. Embassy recently, he painstakingly excluded from the guest list any democrat, dissident or member of civil society who might offend the Castro brothers. And when Chinese President Xi Jinping comes to the White House next week, shortly after the pope leaves town, it’s a safe bet that he won’t have to risk being photographed with anyone of whom he disapproves. Chen Guangcheng, the courageous blind lawyer, for example, lives nearby in exile, but he probably won’t be at the state dinner. Neither will Falun Gong activists, democracy advocates or anyone else who might, well, give offense. A cynic might say it’s easy to explain the difference. The pope, famously, has no army — or, to update the cliche, no carrier-busting missiles, and relatively few U.S. Treasury bonds in his portfolio. On the other hand, Pope Francis, whatever you think of the Catholic Church’s policies on abortion and gay marriage, has been during his short tenure a powerful voice for more tolerance and inclusion, while Mr. Xi is responsible for ever-growing repression. Maybe that should count for something, too, as the guest lists are drawn up. **Read more about this topic:** David Ignatius: On the eve of Xi Jinping’s U.S. visit, China loses some luster The Post’s View: Keep Lafayette Square open during the Chinese president’s visit The Post’s View: China’s insatiable appetite for power Chen Guangcheng: 26 years after Tiananmen, things are worse in China

When evangelical clergy oppose Trump, their flocks listen. But they’re not speaking up.

We draw that conclusion from an online national survey we conducted in September of 2,572 American adults through Qualtrics Panels. Although the sample is not a probability sample, it closely resembles the demographic makeup of the U.S. public. We first asked respondents whether they had heard their clergies talk about Trump, Clinton and several issues. We emphasized that their responses were anonymous and would not threaten their churches’ tax-exempt status. Among white evangelicals who reported attending worship services (21 percent of our sample), very few reported hearing about the presidential nominees in their houses of worship. For instance, just 9 percent said they had heard their clergies speak about Trump and just 6 percent about Clinton. When we asked respondents about their perceptions of their clergies’ support for Trump, there were no differences between those who said their clergies spoke about him and those who didn’t. On the other hand, a larger share of white evangelicals said their church leaders had spoken about immigration (12 percent). And 31 percent said they had heard messages about the importance of participating in the electoral process. By comparison, about twice as many black Protestants and Muslims in our survey reported hearing about Trump from their clergies. This suggests that support for Trump remains high among evangelicals in part because local religious elites are not regularly talking about his candidacy. Were those discussions to occur, it’s possible that they would highlight concerns that many evangelical leaders might have about his moral character. So what would happen if churchgoers heard critical messages about Trump connected to the values that many evangelicals embrace? To answer that question, we embedded an experiment in our survey.  One version read in part that Trump’s appeal is “dangerously close to Satan’s offer to Jesus in Luke 4:9: ‘All this I will give you,’ he said, ‘if you will bow down and worship me.’ ” A second version said that “Trump’s reasoning runs directly against Matthew 25:40.” This is the oft-cited verse about how treatment of “the least of these” is equivalent to the way one treats Jesus. The last version offered an argument about pragmatism, suggesting that Trump is outside the acceptable bounds of a compromise candidate. After reading the editorial, respondents were asked to rate Trump on a “feeling thermometer,” a scale ranging from 0 (very cool) to 100 (very warm). The figure below shows that the “Satan” condition significantly reduced Trump’s rating. Compared with a control group (that did not read an editorial), white evangelicals in the Satan treatment rated Trump nine points lower. Nonwhite evangelicals — who are cooler to Trump across the board — moved similarly, lowering their rating 11 points on average. (The treatments had no effect on feelings toward Clinton.) Neither the “least of these” treatment nor the argument that Trump was not an acceptable pragmatic compromise had an effect. The unique effects of the Satan treatment are consistent with an understanding of evangelicals placing a high priority on individual sanctity by avoiding sin. Ultimately, Trump’s support among evangelicals is certainly due in part to the power of partisanship and the Republican Party’s conservative stance on social issues. But our findings suggest that it is also due to the fact that evangelicals are hearing little about the presidential race from their local religious leaders.

Sanctioned prayer has no place at legislative meetings

THE SEPARATION of church and state always has demanded difficult line-drawing. That hard necessity was given short shrift by the near-flippancy with which the Supreme Court last week dismissed the concerns of minority religious or non-religious Americans, whose views must be counted as equally sincere and equally legitimate before the law. The case, _Town of Greece v. Galloway_ , concerned a hamlet in Upstate New York that in 1999 began inviting local ministers to offer prayers before town board meetings. Nearly all were Christian, and many offered invocations with explicitly sectarian messages and imagery, including references to Jesus on the cross. Though Greece had no long-established tradition of legislative prayer, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy nevertheless channeled the Founders to justify rejecting concerns from those who — with reason, in our view — felt uncomfortable having to sit through government-sponsored sermons simply to petition their representatives. The Founders’ views on this matter are more complicated than members of the majority admit. Justice Kennedy nevertheless emphasized that the time-honored point of legislative prayer is to promote solemnity and unity before moving to fractious lawmaking. “The reasonable observer,” he wrote, “understands that its purposes are to lend gravity to public proceedings and to acknowledge the place religion holds in the lives of many private citizens.” The justice went on to observe that “many Americans deem that their own existence must be understood by [religious] precepts.” The key word there is “many.” The religious views of the many deserve no more official acknowledgment than those of the few. Yet that is often the result of the sort of legislative prayer Justice Kennedy extols. His narrative of solemnity and unity may resonate if everyone at government meetings is Christian, or monotheist, or a believer at all. But imagine the perspective of a Hindu, a Jew, an agnostic or an atheist attending town board meetings. How could they fail to get the message that they are eccentric or inferior if they do not share in the officially acknowledged creed, or that they would have an easier time addressing their government if they believed in the right higher power, or any kind of higher power? Justice Kennedy writes in glowing terms about the virtues of acknowledging the divine. We are happy for him if religion gives him comfort or inspiration. But many Americans do not accept that such a thing as the divine exists, let alone feel a sense of gravity from its invocation. For many Americans — and how many should hardly matter — legislative prayer insults rather than inspires, alienates rather than unites. The town of Greece would better live up to this nation’s founding principles if it did away with legislative prayer. This would not banish religion from public discourse; when it came time to express personal beliefs, individual lawmakers could articulate sincere religious views in speeches using their own legislative time. But a town’s official procedures should be as religiously neutral as possible. **Read more about this issue:** George F. Will: Thin skins and legislative prayer Ruth Marcus: What the Supreme Court got wrong on prayer Alexandra Petri: Clarence Thomas’s curious ‘probably’; what would the Founders say? Richard Cohen: The Supreme Court is wrong — prayers divide

Guns would be restricted in D.C. churches under legislation advanced by council panel

The carrying of handguns would be banned in D.C. polling places and prohibited in houses of worship unless otherwise posted under legislation advanced Tuesday by a D.C. Council committee. The panel was voting on a permanent version of legislation providing for the concealed carrying of weapons, refining an emergency measure passed Sept. 23 in response to a federal court decision that had invalidated the city’s long- standing ban on civilians carrying guns. As in September, members expressed discomfort with having to loosen the ban. “The role of weakening handgun laws in the District of Columbia I’m reluctant to sign up for,” said Tommy Wells (D-Ward 6), who chairs the Public Safety and Judiciary Committee and crafted the bill that passed Tuesday. The bill sent to the full council for an initial vote Dec. 2 made several changes to the emergency measure. It added polling places and the U.S. Naval Observatory grounds to a list of places where carrying would be flatly prohibited. The latter site, location of the vice president’s residence, was added at the request of the Secret Service, Wells said. The revised bill also grants the police chief emergency powers to revoke a gun-carry license for 72 hours pending a hearing of the board charged with reviewing the chief’s permitting decisions. The makeup of that board was also modified in the new bill, expanding from five to seven members, including a mental health expert and two members with firearms experience. The most closely watched change involved the ability of permit holders to carry guns at churches, mosques and synagogues. Under the emergency bill, carrying guns at houses of worship was presumed to be allowed unless a congregation posted conspicuous signs indicating that firearms were banned. Wells’s revised bill reverses that presumption, to the delight of several clergy members who attended Tuesday morning’s committee vote at the John A. Wilson Building. As revised, congregations would need to post signs only if they wished to permit weapons on their premises. “Preachers packing and deacons packing? This is crazy,” said the Rev. Barbara Reynolds, an elder at Greater Mount Calvary Holy Church in Northeast Washington. “We have to change this culture of violence, and the one place we should not have guns is in church.” The committee, however, did leave in place the presumption that guns can be carried onto nonresidential private property unless signs are posted. Some business owners and business groups had objected to that provision. Panel member Mary M. Cheh (D-Ward 3) moved an amendment to reverse that presumption, too, saying the District did not have an “established gun culture” where the carrying of weapons was widely tolerated. “The only gun culture we have in the District is a culture of violence surrounding guns that we have had some success eradicating,” she said. “We don’t want to establish a new gun culture.” But other members of the committee objected to the amendment. Council Chairman Phil Mendelson (D), who attended the meeting, said it was “just not defensible in a constitutional claim” — such as the lawsuit that prompted the court ruling invalidating the gun-carry ban. The plaintiffs in that case have already objected to the District’s attempts to implement a gun-carry law, calling the emergency bill passed in September inadequate to comply with the court’s earlier ruling. They have asked the judge in the case, Frederick Scullin Jr., to hold the District in contempt of court for not creating a more permissive licensing system. Scullin heard arguments in the case last week; a decision is pending.

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner’s choice of neighborhood narrows the focus on Chabad

Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner’s choice of a new home in Washington’s Kalorama neighborhood suggests they may soon make another choice: a new synagogue. As Orthodox Jews who observe the Sabbath each Saturday by abstaining from driving, riding buses or trains or using electronics, Trump and Kushner were seeking a house within walking distance of a Jewish house of worship. The residence they have reportedly picked, on Tracy Place NW, is about half a mile from TheShul of the Nation’s Capital, a synagogue run by the active Orthodox Jewish organization Chabad. That’s about half the distance of Kesher Israel, the prominent Georgetown synagogue earlier rumored as a likely choice before the couple selected a place to live. Reached on Wednesday, representatives of Kushner and Trump would not comment on where the family will worship when they move from New York to Washington. And Rabbi Levi Shemtov, who leads TheShul, cited his policy of not discussing any of his conversations with prospective worshipers. “Our shul is a beautiful seven- to ten-minute’s walk from the address of the house they have reportedly rented,” Shemtov said. Norman Eisen, a lawyer who was special counsel to President Obama and ambassador to the Czech Republic, said people who work in politics at a high level, whether Democrats or Republicans, are frequently welcomed at TheShul, where he worships. “They welcome everybody of every political orientation to TheShul. Its what we call a haimish minyan: It’s a comfortable, friendly, intimate minyan,” he said. “If that ends up being Ivanka and Jared’s spiritual home, prayer home, it will be a wonderful one.”  Jewish Primary Day School has been named as a potential pick for the couple’s oldest child, who is in kindergarten, and people close to Adas Israel, a Conservative synagogue in Cleveland Park, say the couple have inquired about the preschool there for their middle child. As for Shabbat worship, speculation initially swirled around Ohev Sholom and Kesher Israel, the District’s two Modern Orthodox synagogues, which more closely match Kehilath Jeshurun, where Trump and Kushner worship in New York City. Ohev Sholom, on 16th Street NW near the border between the District and Maryland, is more than five miles, too far away for a Kalorama family of five to regularly walk to a synagogue. Kesher Israel in Georgetown is a more feasible distance from Kalorama, at just over 20 minutes’ walking distance, but less convenient than TheShul. TheShul, which attracts at least 50 worshipers on a typical Friday night, is one of 3,300 Chabad-Lubavitch centers in the world. The Orthodox organization is known for its fervent outreach into the most remote places where Jews might be found. It operates in dozens of countries, and recently dispatched a rabbi to South Dakota so that it now has a presence in all 50 states.    Some of Washington’s highest-profile observant Jews, including Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and longtime senator and 2000 vice presidential candidate Joseph I. Lieberman, have sometimes attended services at TheShul as an alternative to Kesher Israel, where they more frequently spent Shabbat. Numerous Jewish ambassadors from foreign countries have chosen to worship at TheShul. As part of the organization’s aggressive outreach efforts, Chabad centers all over the world gladly welcome Jews who belong to other synagogues or no synagogue but wish to attend Chabad services and programs occasionally. In addition to Shabbat services, TheShul offers a full slate of children’s programming, including Shabbat activities, Hebrew school, day camps during summer and winter breaks — activities in which the three young Kushner children could eventually take part.

The public will be allowed to visit the Mormon temple on the Beltway for the first time in 46 years

For anyone who drives around the Capital Beltway, the soaring white spires are a familiar sight — and yet a complete mystery to most. Maryland children have grown up believing that the fairytale building was Disneyland, or heaven itself. Drivers sitting in maddening I-495 traffic have likened the building to the Emerald City so often that pranksters started writing “Surrender Dorothy” on the nearby bridge. Finally, for the first time since the 1970s, all those curious onlookers will finally have their chance to peek inside. It’s not heaven or Oz; it’s the temple of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Kensington. The Mormon Church allows only members inside its 156 working temples. So, since this one opened in 1974, only the Washington area’s approximately 40,000 Mormons have had access.  Mark your calendars for 2020. That’s when you’ll get to take your tour. At the Kensington temple, guests have always been welcomed at the visitors center adjacent to the temple, and on the grounds, where the church puts on a spectacular Christmas light show. In a statement, the church said that the temple itself needs updates to its mechanical systems and new furnishings and fixtures. The temple isn’t used for worship services. Those take place in meetinghouses and chapels, which are open to any guest who wants to attend a service on any Sunday. Instead, Mormon temples host weddings and adoption ceremonies, and offer members quiet places for prayer and reflection.

Where is Trump’s evangelical base? Not in church.

One of the most surprising parts of the 2016 election has been evangelical Christian support for Donald Trump. In the 20 states where primary or caucus exit polls have been conducted so far, Trump has won an average of 36 percent of the vote from white “born-again or evangelical Christians,” good for a plurality in 12 states and only slightly lower than his support (38 percent) among all other Republican voters. Many in the evangelical community have wondered how their religious brethren could possibly back a twice-divorced candidate whose commitment to moral and cultural conservatism appears shaky at best. The key to understanding Trump’s support among evangelicals is to realize that some evangelicals’ commitment to the faith is shaky, too. Trump does best among evangelicals with one key trait: They don’t really go to church. In short, the evangelicals supporting Trump are not the same evangelicals who have traditionally comprised the Christian Right and supported cultural warriors such as Rick Santorum and Ted Cruz. Recently released data from the 2016 American National Election Studies (ANES) Pilot Study illustrate this. The study was conducted from Jan. 22-28, and here I focus on white respondents who called themselves born-again Christian. I divided evangelicals into people who “seldom or never” attend church services, those who “sometimes” attend (a few times a year, once or twice a month), and those who attend weekly or more often than weekly. Evangelical support for the “establishment” candidates — Jeb Bush, Chris Christie, Carly Fiorina, John Kasich and Marco Rubio — didn’t depend much on church attendance. But evangelical support for Cruz and Carson, who are grouped because of their close association with evangelicalism and moral conservatism, was higher among those who attend church more frequently. In contrast, Trump did best among evangelicals who are never, almost never or only occasionally in the pews. These aren’t the only evangelical Trump supporters. He still attracted a plurality of those who attend at least every Sunday. Nevertheless, Trump performed worse among devout evangelicals than among non-devout evangelicals. Why is this? A considerable literature on religion and politics suggests that evangelicals who attend worship services irregularly tend to have less formal education and lower incomes than more devout evangelicals. They tend to care less about moral and cultural issues and vote more on the basis of economic concerns. In some cases, they are less tolerant of religious and racial minority groups. That’s true in this survey. too. Evangelicals who attend church at least weekly (“frequent” attenders) have higher incomes and are more likely to have a college degree, compared with those who attend church infrequently (never, seldom, a few times a year, or once or twice a month). Infrequent church attenders cared less about the traditional Christian Right policy agenda and more about Trump’s agenda of creating jobs, improving Americans’ economic welfare and stemming the tide on immigration. The graph below shows that infrequent church attenders were less likely to prioritize two “moral and cultural” issues (abortion and “morality and religion in society”) as one of their four most important issues. But they cared much more about jobs and economic welfare. Similarly, evangelicals who attend church less frequently are also less socially conservative. They are less likely to favor religious exemptions to the federal requirement that employers cover prescription birth control in their health-insurance plans. They also are less enthusiastic about allowing business owners to refuse on religious grounds to provide services for same-sex weddings. Trump’s lack of commitment to social conservatism may not bother these less-observant evangelicals very much. Meanwhile, Trump’s economic populism and emphasis on border control should appeal to evangelicals who are in church less often. This group is more opposed than frequent church attenders to free trade agreements and to allowing Syrian refugees to come to the United State. Evangelicals also differ in their feelings about racial, religious and cultural minority groups. While the Christian Right traditionally has focused criticism on groups such as feminists and gays and lesbians, Trump’s targets have been Muslims and racial minority groups. The ANES survey asked respondents to rate a number of different groups on “feeling thermometers,” ranging from 0 for the coldest feelings to 100 for the warmest feelings. Compared with more devout evangelicals, those evangelicals who attend church infrequently tend to react more negatively to the groups Trump has targeted and display less hostility than the more observant to the Christian Right’s demons. Less devout evangelicals rate gays and lesbians and feminists relatively low, but not as low as more-observant evangelicals do. However, infrequent church attenders give lower ratings to Muslims, Hispanics and blacks. Many evangelical Christians are distressed that so many of their fellow evangelicals are backing Trump for president. Although Trump receives considerable support from devout evangelicals, his base is among the less devout. It’s these evangelicals who best fit the demographic profile of Trump’s supporters and are more attracted by the blend of economic populism, racial antipathy and anti-Muslim rhetoric that has defined the Trump campaign. _Geoffrey C. Layman is a professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame_    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico

Deuteronomy meets Deadmau5 as church DJs seek exaltation

When you’re DJing a Baptist church service, is it more appropriate to mix electronic music by Daft Punk and Fatboy Slim as congregants are being ushered in or as they exit? Such were the choreographic and theological questions at play Sunday at the 104-year-old high-steepled Church at Clarendon, which for the day replaced its usual eight-piece band and singers on the pulpit with an Atlanta wedding DJ who has hipster glasses, a table of music-mixing technology and a tendency to fist-pump while playing. “Okay, let’s get going!” said Hans Daniels (whose DJ handle is Hans Solo) after being introduced at the start of the service, cranking up the beat — and volume — and eliciting a whoop that filled the bright, airy sanctuary. “Blessed Be Your Name” quickly became “B-B-Blessed Be Your Name,” and congregants started cha-cha dancing in their seats. The concept may have been radical at the 125-member church a decade ago, when worship meant a piano and traditional hymns. But in order to keep its doors open during a period of churn in American religion, the Arlington church has changed its pastor (three times), rebuilt its building, overhauled its services and now finds itself in one of the epicenters of young Washington life. And to people younger than 30, the drums and electric guitars of the contemporary rock that dominates much of American Christianity are not only _not_ edgy, “but for them, it’s like singing hymns,” Daniels said. “Why does the music you worship to and jam out to have to be completely separate?” Music is perhaps the most powerful spiritual tool there is, and experimentation is hardly rare for institutions trying to connect with a fickle public. Sixth and I synagogue in Chinatown puts racily dressed klezmer rockers on its altar, and the Community of Hope AME in Hillcrest Heights incorporates a go-go band, an improvising rapper and Christian hip-hop. A DJ seems like a reasonable next step, particularly at a time when they are filling concert halls and festival lineups, seen in some circles as artists in their own right. Yet a sole DJ, up there with his big foamy headphones in the spot usually reserved for robed choirs and clergy, raises questions: Does one person (doing a job most people associate with weddings and nightclubs) turn the service into a performance rather than a prayer? Or does it simplify a stage that has become visually busy, like some sporting events? Daniels and associate pastor Stephen Taylor, who came up with the idea of “Church Remixed,” see it as the latter. “This is such a pushback — where are all the musicians, and it’s just one guy? — but I think it’s what we need, instead of all this ‘let’s add another singer and someone walking back and forth!’ ” Daniels said before the service. “When I’m singing in church, I’m either looking at the screen or my eyes are closed.” Taylor’s sermon in a way mirrored that idea, positing that early Christianity was a simplified alternative to ancient Judaism, with its 613 mitzvot, or directives of things to do or not do. “Jesus Christ said: ‘Whomever knows me knows my God. . . . Let’s keep this simple,’ ” Taylor said. Anyone orchestrating a spiritual experience in 2013 walks a fine line between performance and worship. “Today there’s a lot of entrepreneurialism, but I wonder if it’s more of a philosophy or a pragmatism than theological,’’ said Ed Willmington, music director at the Fuller Theological Seminary’s Center for Worship, Theology and the Arts. “One of my worries is, am I thinking about God first? That becomes the question for anyone: Does it serve theology or some other purpose?” A DJ, Willmington said, isn’t inherently more distracting than anything else. “A tasteful DJ could make that work. In some cases, people might go away and say: ‘It’s cool we had a DJ today.’ Is the focus the person and performance?” Tony Lee, pastor at the 3,000-member Community of Hope, noted that what we now call classic gospel — practically the soundtrack of contemporary black Christianity — came out of jazz and originally was seen as “too worldly” for church. Thirty years ago, drums were seen as outrageous, and then liturgical dance. Of course, there are still some faith communities that forbid music during worship or the sounds of women singing. Lee’s musical staff includes Chris Chiles, a gospel songwriter who raps and DJs during services as part of a broader music team. He uses Christian hip-hop pieces, including Trip Lee’s “Robot” and Kirk Franklin’s “Before I Die” — both about God. “The purpose isn’t to get people bouncing. Our purpose is utilizing music, or whatever we’re doing, to communicate the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ,” said Lee, who studied divinity at Howard University and the Union Theological Seminary in New York. “If we hit that, we’re able to communicate to a generation that knows nothing about old-school gospel music. But they do know about a DJ.” Many of the congregants at the Clarendon church Sunday are under 30, and they seemed excited by seeing something new. Like many Baptist congregations, the ethos is relatively restrained; there isn’t much freewheeling clapping, dancing, shouting or singing. But they applauded between Daniels’s pieces. “It was much more upbeat,” said Sean Hipe, 23, who teaches preschool at the church. He especially noticed that vibe during the offering, when donations or tithes are collected. “Usually, that’s a very toned-down time. This was awesome. When he cranked it up, I feel awesome; I’m ready to give.” Taylor emphasized to his congregation that this was a one-time thing. Finding anything that would satisfy every member of such a diverse congregation would be challenging, as there are still some longtime, more traditional members, as well as people from around the world and a group of families from the Southeast D.C. neighborhood of Garfield Heights. After the service, people swapped stories of growing up hearing everything from somber Slavonic a cappella music in an Orthodox church in Russia to Catholic folk hymns in a Virginia parish to gospel singing in a Prince George’s County mega-church. Jackie Doll, 81, who has been active in the church for more than a half-century, said she has become used to changes there — but she still wasn’t comfortable with clapping after a song, because it made it feel too much like a performance. “I like the music more than I did last year,” she said.

President Obama to attend Easter services at Nineteenth Street Baptist Church

President Obama will worship this Easter Sunday at the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church, a Northwest Washington congregation that welcomed the Obama family on the eve of his first inauguration. The 175-year-old African American congregation has been a welcoming venue for Democrat and Republican lawmakers since the days when the church was located a few blocks from the White House. In the 1940s, the church, which is actually located on 16th Street, hosted an ecumenical Lenten service for federal workers at lunch time, a tradition that has grown into a city-wide affair with many churches. “We are pleased that the president and the first family decided to worship with us again,” said Nineteenth Street Rev. Derrick Harkins, a former faith adviser to the Democratic National Committee who has been helping the White House promote the president’s health-care reform bill. The Obamas attended St. John’s Episcopal Church last Easter, and though they have visited several other District congregations since they moved into the White House, they have not joined a particular church. Obama was a member of Trinity United Church of Christ before his presidency, but resigned during his campaign after its former pastor, Rev . Jeremiah Wright, made controversial comments from the pulpit that were published on YouTube. The president made lengthy comments about faith during a White House Easter prayer breakfast last week.

Churches encourage singles to develop healthy romantic relationships

The house lights were dim. A DJ was churning out a groove that prompted the well-dressed crowd to pulse in a unified rhythm on the dance floor, while others sank into the plush couches because the conversation was too sweet to quit. The 21-Plus Lounge could be on H Street in the District, Georgetown or any urban strip. But the club, which strutted its stuff for only a few fleeting hours on Friday night, was in the foyer of the Ebenezer African Methodist Episcopal Church in Fort Washington, an extension of the church’s singles ministry. After the Valentine’s get-together, the couches are history, probably until next year. And the dance floor, too. “The goal . . . is to allow Christian young adults to fellowship with each other in an upscale setting,” said Rev. Vernon Ware, senior minister for young adults at Ebenezer. “The Bible said David danced out of his clothes. That wasn’t in a church service.” Many churches and other houses of worship in the Washington region are playing a key role in the dating game, counseling singles and hosting social events, and often nudging them to turn away from rowdy clubs and online dating and to return to go-slow roads to romance. In the District, the Washington Hebrew Congregation has so many events for young adults and singles that it divides them into three categories: strictly social, religious social and social justice, said Rabbi Aaron Miller. McLean Bible Church has young-adult ministries, comprised of many singles, at four venues, along with a popular podcast, led by John McGowan, pastor of the program. Megachurches appear especially active, with pews full of the uncoupled, and some have full-time staffers for young adults and the singles ministry. On the other side of the equation, it’s not unheard-of for singles to “church shop” to find desirable dates. The churches have their work cut out for them. At Ebenezer, more than a third of the church’s 8,000 members are single. Some have already been counseled about nurturing healthy relationships and putting off sex until marriage, among other concerns. And Friday’s pop-up nightclub event, “Love and Happiness!,” started off with a panel of relationship experts who offered advice on relationships from a Christian perspective. The focus on propriety hardly faded amid the dancing. The crowd of 20- and 30-somethings — there were more than 350 last year, and about 500 were expected on Friday — was being watched. Church officials monitored the party, ready to step in if necessary. A video camera was also keeping an eye out. “There are many challenges to being a godly single,” said Ware, who is divorced. He offers straight talk as well as Bible lessons, more of a warning than an order. “The problem is, sex doesn’t give you intimacy,” he said in a later interview, echoing a common message to singles. “More times than not, it will not satisfy. Intimacy comes from the relationship. You have to be careful. . . . Don’t show everything.” Such admonitions put off some singles. “What is being taught in these churches is one-sided and not realistic,” said Sophia Nelson, author of “Black Women Redefined.” “The Bible is very clear that sex outside of marriage is wrong, but what women are being taught is to be nuns without taking vows.” She believes there is often a double standard. “If all you are doing is telling the women to be chaste and to wait and you let the men run around, then you are not accomplishing anything,” said Nelson, who is single. Dana Carl, a member of Metropolitan Baptist Church in the District who has attended church-sponsored singles events, sees the upside of singles ministries. “In general it’s a good thing . . . because church is not just [about] worship,” she said. But Carl added that she doesn’t “rule out finding friends at events outside the church, because there are no guarantees.” Brian Crutcher, 30, is local coordinator of the National Christian Singles Seminar, to be held in the District in August. He also works to connect singles at his church, the 60-member Georgia Avenue Church of Christ, with other Church of Christ churches in the area. As for himself, he is preparing with a more Biblical approach. “The Bible says in Matthew 6:33 to “seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you,” including marriage, Crutcher said. Others have put the pursuit of a partner on the back burner. Renette Dallas, a lay minister, naturopathic doctor and fitness trainer, said she is often asked why she isn’t married. “When I was 20, I wanted to be a millionaire; I fell in love,” said Dallas, who ministers weekly to residents at the Washington Home. “Now, I don’t look for a husband. I look for friends. My number one qualification for any man is that he fear God.” The Rev. Grainger Browning, who leads Ebenezer with his wife, the Rev. JoAnn Browning, said times have changed since he met her at a Cambridge, Mass., pancake house in 1979. “The reality is, persons are not interacting face to face anymore,” he said. JoAnn Browning praised time-honored methods. “Nothing can replace eye-to-eye contact and sitting across the table and having a conversation with someone,” she said. _Read more religions news from the District, Maryland and Virginia on On Faith/Local. _

After shootings at Wisconsin temple, Sikh community locks its doors

Three years ago, before gunfire erupted at a Sunday morning service, members of the close-knit Sikh community in suburban Milwaukee seldom locked the temple doors. Those who arrived Thursday evening to pray for the victims in Charleston, S.C., are still adjusting to ringing a buzzer for a security guard to let them inside. This is life at the Sikh Temple of Wisconsin after a gunman killed five men and one woman in 2012, the last major bloodshed at a place of worship in the United States. “It used to be in the Sikh religion, all doors stayed open,” said Balhair S. Dulai, vice president of the temple. “But what happened here, and what happened in South Carolina — these things could happen anywhere. No one is immune.” The temple’s Thursday gathering focused on Charleston’s Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, a historic African American church,   where authorities say Dylann Roof, 21, fatally shot nine people during a Wednesday night service in an apparent hate crime. News of the tragedy rocked the Sikh community in Wisconsin. Members recall the day that Wade Michael Page, a white supremacist, stormed the temple and sprayed automatic gunfire as priests were preparing lunch. Worshipers scattered in the chaos that August morning, locking themselves in bathrooms and rushing outside. The bullets killed six and wounded three. After an Oak Creek police officer shot Page in the stomach, the gunman put the weapon to his head, taking his own life. There have been 13 mass murders at a house of worship since the Birmingham, Ala., bombing that killed four African American girls in 1963, according to the FBI. The Charleston shooting was the bloodiest since Johnathan Doody killed nine people at a Buddhist temple near Phoenix in 1991. When violence shakes a house of worship — a symbol of comfort and safety for millions across the globe — confusion often intensifies loss, said Mary Moschella, a professor of pastoral care and counseling at Yale Divinity School. The place where many would seek comfort after a traumatic event is also the site of the nightmare. “It represents a home, especially for those who come not just on Sunday but for a Wednesday night Bible study,” Moschella said of the Charleston church. “Going back becomes an act of courage, a way of reclaiming the space as sacred.” Bishop Robert Guglielmone of the Diocese of Charleston called the church a “sanctuary” in a Thursday statement. “For anyone to murder nine individuals is upsetting,” he said, “but to kill them inside of a church during a Bible study class is devastating to any faith community.” Dismantling that community wasn’t an option after the gunman invaded the Wisconsin temple. After the shooting, temple leaders met with state leaders and a terrorism task force to design a new security system for the 17,000-square-foot building. The $75,000 protections resemble those at a military base. Twenty-four cameras monitor the sprawling grounds, broadcasting footage to the local police department. Contractors have reinforced windows to withstand bullets. New safe rooms have the capacity to hide the temple’s approximately 500 worshipers, Dulai said. Only a couple of suspicious people have drawn police to the premises, he said, and ultimately they proved harmless. An estimated 314,000 Sikhs live in the United States, according to the Association of Religion Data Archives. The Oak Creek temple, one of two prominent congregations in greater Milwaukee, started in 1997. Membership has grown since the tragedy. Worshipers enter the light-brown brick building without fear, Dulai said. Those who lost family members and friends in the 2012 rampage come to pray each week. “They never stopped,” he said. “That only makes us stronger.” Dulai said he hopes those who lost loved ones in Charleston will also find comfort in their faith. Sarah Pulliam Bailey contributed to this report.

Ask Amy: Host in search of a blessing

DEAR AMY: My partner and I are fortunate to have many wonderful friends of diverse religions and backgrounds. We host dinner parties that may include folks of the Muslim, Jewish, Catholic and Baptist faiths (there may also be a few atheists and agnostics). I was raised Catholic, but consider myself an agnostic. My partner was raised reformed Jewish. I find that asking for a moment of silence/prayer before dinner is a cheap way out of the situation. Guests have asked if they could say grace and have been allowed to do so. Each time they have insulted my partner by breaking one of the commandments (as his faith/background/upbringing sees it). They say the word “God” aloud, instead of offering a silent recognition. It is stressful enough having to deal with the diet requirements for a large group due to allergies and religious beliefs. A proper blessing seems to elude me. Can you suggest a blessing that is all inclusive and non-insulting? Do we hold hands around the table? Is it okay to sit, or should we stand? Dinner next week will include an Episcopalian, a few Southern Baptists, a couple of Catholics, my Jewish partner and a few other friends. -- Bill DEAR BILL: If people are determined to be insulted, they will find a way to be insulted. Your partner, for instance. Because he is so spiritually sensitive, perhaps he should provide a blessing for your group meals. Otherwise, given the wide variety of faiths and non-faiths represented in your circle, you might do best to offer a more general greeting to your guests and an expression of gratitude to all of the unknown people who grew and harvested your food and helped get it to your table. This should be done just after all of your guests are seated and before the food is presented. Please — no hand-holding. DEAR AMY: My husband is approaching the end of his life. He doesn’t want a funeral or a memorial service; he just wants to privately have his ashes blessed by a minister. This is something that we have discussed several times over the years. I’m okay with that. I go to church, he doesn’t. I’m social; he’s been reclusive since he retired 20 years ago. Someone said to me that not having a service is selfish on his part because it denies me closure. Amy, I’m a pretty straightforward person and I don’t think that not having a service will cause me any problems. It’s what’s in my heart that counts. Having a service in a church seems wrong since he doesn’t attend. I’ve been to memorials that seem more like parties. The people who would come to any memorial party would be mostly my friends and they would support me without the formal get-together. I’d rather see them one on one, anyway. There aren’t any other family members to consider in this matter. I don’t want to seem cold or unloving, but a funeral would be completely out of character for my husband’s personality and his desires. What do you think? -- Teresa DEAR TERESA: I think you should do exactly what you and your husband want to do — the way you want to do it. It is intrusive and insensitive for people to weigh in on your husband’s perceived “selfishness.” There is no “right” way to memorialize, bury or grieve. For you, this might mean a private blessing followed by a walk in the woods. “Closure” is a slippery concept; it does not happen at a funeral. DEAR AMY: “Loving Mom” wrote to you about her son, whose marriage was brief. The father was insisting that the son repay money he had given to the couple as a wedding gift. Why should the son pay back money that was a gift? If it is to be given back, then the son should return half and let his ex-wife return the other half. This father needs to stay out of this couple’s business. -- Alberta DEAR ALBERTA: I suggested repaying the money as a point of pride, but I agree that a gift need not be repaid. Your suggestion that the repayment be shared by the couple is excellent. Amy’s column appears seven days a week at www.washingtonpost.com/advice. Write to  Amy Dickinson  at askamy@tribune.com or Ask Amy, Chicago Tribune, TT500, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60611.

Obamas attend Easter services at Nineteenth Street Baptist Church

The first family attended Easter services Sunday at the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church, a Northwest Washington congregation that welcomed the Obamas on the eve of the president’s first inauguration. The Obamas’ motorcade left the White House shortly before 10 a.m. The cars and SUVs traveled past St. John’s Episcopal Church, where the Obamas attended Easter services last year, north on 16th Street, as crowds of curious onlookers lined the street. The motorcade pulled up to the church, about four miles away, just after 10. The first family arrived through a tented entrance and sat in the second pew in a mostly, but not completely filled church, joining an estimated 250 others. The president wore a light khaki suit. The first lady was wearing a cream dress and sweater. Daughters Malia, wearing a yellow dress, and Sasha, in a pale gray blue, sat beside. The president’s head rocked as he kept rhythm with the choir. The Rev. Derrick Harkins welcomed the Obamas and newcomers that the first family seemed to attract. The crowd in the church rose to its feet and applauded as Harkins announced the presence of the president of the United States. After calling on everyone to stand, turn and welcome their neighbors — but remain in place — Harkins watched with amusement some collective disobedience. The president turned to shake hands behind him with one of a collection of Secret Service agents in the pews. Then five minutes of crowd crush took place in which every smartphone, iPad and baby came forth. The president and first lady greeted everyone they could. Obama high-fived a baby boy and hugged and kissed women, and his wife blew kisses. Harkins got everyone back in their seats with “amens” and a joke: “I didn’t know we had as many people seated in this front section!” “Isn’t our first family gracious?” he added. Harkins urged everyone to join in prayer and offered thanks to God for providing comfort to those in need, including the sick and struggling. He asked that God give Obama “every measure of encouragement” and “wisdom,” and “tend to his spirit” under the weight of criticism. There were loud “yes” responses from worshipers after each sentence. Harkins also offered prayers for Malia, Sasha and the first lady. During a Bible reading — with the worshipers and first family standing — Malia rested her head on her dad’s left shoulder as he draped his arm around her. The choir led the crowd in spirituals before Harkins moved onto his Easter sermon. Dressed in a striking red robe with black accents, the pastor talked about supporting people “living in the shadows and the margins,” including LGBT people. On Resurrection Sunday, he talked about how Easter is a time when people can pause, reflect and say “I can rise.” The president listened attentively from his seat, with his chin propped on his left hand at times, and his fingers entwined as the sermon shifted toward a rousing finale. He joined in applause at the end. Harkins is quite familiar with the president and his family. He is a former faith adviser to the Democratic National Committee, which has been helping the White House promote the president’s health-care law. Services ended about noon, and after expressing their thanks, the Obamas exited the church to return to the White House. As the motorcade proceeded down 16th Street, crowds once again lined the route. Many waved and took photographs. One group, however, held up a banner stating, “Stop Deportations,” in reference to the president’s continued enforcement of immigration laws. The presidential limousine pulled up to the North Portico at 12:19 p.m. The president waited for his daughters to enter ahead of him and placed his hand on the first lady’s back as they entered the White House together.

From pharmacy student to suspected San Bernardino terrorist: The baffling journey of Tashfeen Malik

MULTAN, Pakistan — Syed Rizwan Farook, Chicago-born, a college graduate working steadily in Southern California, was a quiet and devout man who went in search of a wife. He eventually found one, a woman named Tashfeen Malik who lived in a distant land and had never been to America. What happened next — and the question of how and why a suburban couple with a new baby decided to become mass murderers — is the subject of a frantic global terrorism investigation that includes Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and San Bernardino, Calif. The FBI is looking at the dynamic between Farook and Malik, who a couple of years ago did not even know each other but wound up dead on a San Bernardino street, riddled with bullets after they had killed 14 people at a holiday party and wounded 21 others. Did he lead her down the path of radicalization? Or did she lead him? Did they have direct ties with the Islamic State or other international terrorists, acting as part of an elaborate conspiracy, or were they a freelance operation drawing only inspiration from abroad? A senior U.S. law enforcement official said one possibility is that Malik was already radicalized before she came to the United States last year as Farook’s new bride. “Was she the hit, or was he already headed down that road?” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation. Farook’s profile is relatively robust. He was 28, born to parents who had immigrated to the United States from Pakistan. He attended high school in San Bernardino and graduated from the state university there. He had a good job as a county health inspector, making sure restaurant counters were clean, food service workers had properly washed their hands, and public pools were safe for swimming. Although he was something of a loner, plenty of people knew him at the office and at the two mosques where he often prayed. Much about the 29-year-old Malik, however, remains a mystery. More than three days after Wednesday’s massacre, no one had surfaced as a friend — or even an acquaintance — of Malik’s in San Bernardino. She was always veiled, wearing a niqab, a covering that left only her eyes exposed. She did not drive. She was known to stay in the car when her husband prayed at the mosque. But new details about Malik surfaced Saturday during interviews in Pakistan. She came from a prosperous Pakistani family and grew up in Saudi Arabia. She returned to Multan, Pakistan, about 100 miles from her ancestral village, in 2007, pursuing a pharmacy degree at Bahauddin Zakariya University. One of her closest friends, Abida Rani, said Malik changed around 2009, suddenly paying more attention to Islamic studies than to pharmacology. Malik would travel across town, nearly every day, to a madrassa, where she would spend her evenings, Rani said. Rani added that she thinks the madrassa belongs to the Wahhabi branch of Sunni Islam, a particularly conservative interpretation of the faith that is widely practiced in Saudi Arabia. “We were like, ‘What happened to Malik?’ ” said Rani, who attended school with Malik all six years. “She became so religious, so serious and so focused on Islamic teachings, and she lost her interest in her studies.” While students at the university were busy socializing, Rani said Malik would watch one of Pakistan’s 24-hour Islamic television channels. She always wore a burqa. She never sat in the front row in class. She would not interact with young men. “She was conservative but calm,” said Atif Nisar Ahmad, a professor at the school. During her final year at the university, Malik became so rigid in her conservative Islamic religious beliefs that she refused a staple of college life: getting photographed. When Malik graduated from pharmacy school, she tried to remove all of her pictures from university databases. She collected all of her university identification and library cards and destroyed them. “I don’t want any pictures without the veil,” Malik said, according to Rani. Malik’s religious conservatism did not carry any hints of radicalization, though, according to people who knew her. Her conservative attire was not unusual; about half of the female students at the school were fully veiled, according to local residents. Khalid Janbaz, one of Malik’s pharmacology professors, said Malik never discussed her personal beliefs, even though professors often tried to engage students in freewheeling discussions about science, philosophy and medical ethics. “She never said to others: ‘You should do this or you should that,’ ” Janbaz said. “I don’t see any evidence how she could move from that into a shooter.” According to relatives, Malik’s parents moved from the Layyah district of Pakistan’s southern Punjab province to Saudi Arabia 25 to 30 years ago after a family dispute over property. Malik Anwar, who is Malik’s uncle, said the family was estranged from the rest of the family that still lives in the Layyah area. Some of Anwar’s distant relatives did travel to Saudi Arabia over the years to visit Gulzar Malik, Tashfeen’s father, Anwar said. They reported back over the years that Gulzar Malik had become increasingly religious while in Saudi Arabia. After Malik graduated in 2013, she moved back to Saudi Arabia. It was apparently there that she connected with Farook, who had been searching for a wife on Internet marriage sites. They were legally married in the United States in August 2014 in Riverside, Calif., although a lawyer for Farook’s sister said they were married at an earlier ceremony in Saudi Arabia. Amir Abdul-Jalil, 50, who knew Farook and prayed with him regularly at a San Bernardino mosque, said Farook told him that his family and Malik’s family had arranged the marriage. “After he got married, I didn’t have the same connection with him,” said Abdul-Jalil, who was visibly upset after learning that Farook had been the shooter in San Bernardino. Another friend, Rashid Thompson, said Farook had become more distant recently. “Once he got married, it was just him and his family,” said Thompson, who last saw him at the mosque two months ago. Farook, Malik, the baby and Farook’s mother lived together in a two-story townhouse on a residential street in Redlands. The interior of the rented apartment, which the landlord opened to reporters on Friday, revealed what appeared to be the elements of an ordinary life: baby formula, books, personal documents. A tub of laundry detergent and a partially eaten plate of food sat on top of an appliance in the kitchen. What reporters did not see were the items the FBI said it had already taken away, including 4,500 rounds of ammunition, a dozen pipe bombs and materials to make other bombs. A U.S. official confirmed Saturday that Farook had attempted to reach out to the terrorist groups al-Shabab, which is based in Somalia, and Jabhat al-Nusra, al-Qaeda’s affiliate in Syria. It wasn’t clear when or how Farook made those attempts. The couple had four guns in their arsenal: two assault rifles and two handguns. The two assault rifles were different brands, but they had been accessorized in a similar way, with identical slings, grips and optics. Husband and wife could use either one interchangeably. That is how the U.S. military trains small units, so that one person can use another’s weapon if necessary. There are still many uncertainties, but also some hard facts. The couple left the baby with the grandmother at home. They attacked the Inland Regional Center just before 11 a.m. Wednesday, and soon after the shooting, apparently from a mobile phone, Malik went on Facebook and pledged allegiance to the leader of the Islamic State. About four hours later, Farook and Malik were spotted by police and made their last stand on San Bernardino  Avenue, firing from their SUV. They were surrounded by nearly two dozen officers. At some point, Farook made a dash for it but reached only the far curb of the street  before he fell to the pavement. Malik stayed in the SUV. Between them, they fired off 76 rounds. Police fired 380. Their baby is in the custody of child protective services. A hearing is scheduled for Monday. Phillip reported from San Bernardino and Achenbach from Washington. Haq Nawaz Khan in Pakistan, Missy Ryan, Thomas Gibbons-Neff and William Dauber in San Bernardino, and Adam Goldman, Julie Tate, Ellen Nakashima and Peter Holley in Washington contributed to this report.

It’s Ramadan, but State Dept. not expected to hold a reception for Islam’s holy month

The Muslim holy month of Ramadan began Saturday, but in a break with almost two decades of tradition, the State Department still has not decided whether to mark it with a reception. State Department officials said Sunday that they are “exploring” options to observe Ramadan with an iftar dinner or a reception around Eid al-Fitr, the end of Ramadan’s month of day-long fasting. Invitations are usually issued weeks in advance to events at the State Department, the White House and other agencies. Because most guests typically would have received them already, that suggests no Ramadan event will be held at the State Department. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson apparently decided not to host the Eid al-Fitr reception, according to Reuters, which first reported the news. Tillerson is said to have rejected a recommendation from the Office of Religion and Global Affairs, which usually handles the arrangements. The tradition began 18 years ago under Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. “U.S. ambassadors are encouraged to celebrate Ramadan through a variety of activities, which are held annually at missions around the world,” said a State Department statement that did not offer an explanation on why there may not be an Eid al-Fitr reception this year. Last year, Secretary of State John F. Kerry made an appearance and told attendees that they could be “citizen diplomats” for Muslim values of charity, compassion, justice and peace. Tillerson issued a statement Friday just before Ramadan began, calling the holiday a month of “reverence, generosity, and self-reflection.” “Most importantly, it is a cherished time for family and friends to gather and give charity to those who are less fortunate,” he said. “This time reminds us all of the common values of harmony and empathy we hold dear.” In contrast, the White House issued a statement from President Trump, wishing Muslims a blessed month but also going on at some length about terrorism. “America will always stand with our partners against terrorism and the ideology that fuels it,” the statement said. “During this month of Ramadan, let us be resolved to spare no measure so that we may ensure that future generations will be free of this scourge and able to worship and commune in peace.” Even if the State Department had sent out invitations, however, many Muslims may not have attended because of concern about the administration’s rhetoric and policies, said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “Given all the Islamophobic rhetoric, appointments and anti-Muslim policy proposals,” Hooper said, “it sends the message American Muslims are not worthy to engage. In Saudi Arabia, President Trump never mentioned the millions of Muslim Americans and their contributions to society. He and his policy people view Islam and Muslims as a foreign issue, or a security issue.”

Why Christianity’s holiest shrine is guarded by two Muslim families

The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem's Old City is Christianity's most hallowed shrine. It's believed that the rock-cut tomb at the heart of the church was where the body of Jesus Christ was once laid.      And when the world surrounding the religious complex was not convulsed in chaos, tensions among the faithful worshiping within often boiled over. The church has been shared for centuries by six old Christian congregations — Latin (Roman Catholic), Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic, Syrian Orthodox, Ethiopian Orthodox and Egyptian Copts. Disputes among these sects over the sharing of the church have sparked skirmishes and street riots. Through the ages, clerics from the various orders have battled over the ritual sweeping of steps, the placing of carpets in front of altars, and even the right of walking in procession to the Edicule.    The intractable nature of these rivalries has led to a rather curious, unique arrangement that dates to the 12th century: Two Muslim families were entrusted by a presumably weary Arab potentate to be the gatekeepers of the church. The Joudeh family keeps the key, while the Nuseibeh family opens up the church door every morning and locks it in the evening.  "For me, the source of coexistence for Islamic and Christian religions is the Church of the Holy Sepulchre," he said.

The truth behind your Orlando shooting hoaxes, theories and conspiracies

On Facebook, certain skeptics have circulated memes that allege three shooters attacked the Pulse nightclub. On YouTube, a viral video implies a link between Omar Mateen and an Iranian imam. On Twitter, rumors floated that Mateen used the gay dating app Jack’d and that a screenshot proved so. And in more obscure corners of the Internet, a surprising (but not unusual!) number of people have insisted that the whole thing was a “false flag” attack — a hoax. The people who propagate these rumors, the last sort of rumors especially, often claim that the mainstream media never listens to or addresses them. And that is largely true, because — to someone who has just dropped everything, hopped a flight to Florida and spent three days interviewing traumatized witnesses — the notion that the whole thing might be made-up is patently ridiculous. Still, we get that people have a lot of questions and suspicions after a tragedy, particularly when so many details remain unknown. So we asked a group of Post reporters, both in Washington and on the ground in Florida, to address some of the more popular rumors and conspiracy theories currently going viral on Twitter, YouTube and Facebook. Here are their explanations.  Matt Zapotosky: Law enforcement officials have said repeatedly that Mateen was the only shooter, and Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer reiterated that point this morning. Dyer said some witnesses might be confused because of the volume of gunshots they heard or saw. Mark Berman: During and after many shooting rampages, there are often conflicting accounts about the number of shooters. Part of this is because things are chaotic and terrifying, and eyewitnesses are often recounting what they saw while running for their lives. People also often see and hear gunfire in different locations during shooting rampages, making these witnesses and the police who are responding unsure if it’s the same shooter moving around or multiple people. (It is almost always a lone shooter, according to FBI research.) The Orlando police have said there was only one shooter here, and while they have not offered evidence, investigators so far have said nothing about any evidence any other people were involved.  Zapotosky: Police and the FBI have yet to provide a thorough accounting of this, though they’re expected to give more information [in coming days]. I talked to one witness who said a number of people did escape, though it was a chaotic herd in which getting around was difficult. Another witness I talked to said he stayed underneath a table voluntarily, fearful that an escape attempt might lead to his demise.  Zapotosky: An Orlando police officer working as a security guard in uniform at the club was the first to encounter and exchange fire with Mateen. It is unclear — at least to me — what other security the club had, and what level of weaponry they possessed. Asked about security footage at a briefing earlier, Orlando Police Chief John Mina said it was uncertain as to whether it existed or what it showed.         Zapotosky: We don’t know definitive answers to those questions. The FBI is exploring the claims that have been made publicly about Mateen and dating apps. Abby Ohlheiser: And as far as Jack’d is concerned, the story is not yet clear-cut. A spokesperson for the dating app told us that they had no definitive confirmation that Mateen had a profile on their site, although it is possible that he used the app anonymously.  There’s also some pretty good evidence that, whether Mateen was on the app or not, a screenshot floating around that appears to show his profile on Jack’d is a hoax. According to Jack’d, whoever took the screenshot showing Mateen’s alleged presence on Jack’d was viewing a photograph that they’d uploaded to the app themselves, and not one that was received from another user. “The reason we can tell it’s not a screenshot of someone else’s profile,” Kevin Letourneau, spokesperson for Jack’d, told us “is there would be a report button visible.” In the screenshot, provided to The Post and other media outlets, there’s no “report” button at all.   Michelle Boorstein: It’s unlikely that the Afghan American assassin was a member at an Iranian mosque. Muslims are the most racially and culturally diverse U.S. faith group, and often mosques are made up of Muslims from similar regions/sects. Islam’s teachings against gay relationships are not significantly different from those of other large faith groups, such as Christianity. However, outside the United States, Muslims tend to be likely to embrace traditional views against gay equality, and many in the relatively small U.S. Muslim population tend to be just a generation or few from immigrating. Thus a 2015 Pew poll showed U.S. Muslims among the least accepting — 45 percent said homosexuality should be accepted by society. This was far lower than Catholics, Jews, atheists and mainline Protestants, but higher than evangelicals and Mormons (36 percent) and similar to historically black denominations (51 percent). The scripture of Islam, like that of all faiths, contains complex and contradictory passages, and is interpreted differently by Muslims everywhere. It also, like other faiths, doesn’t describe marriage-like relationships, which is why more liberal Muslim scholars push for it to be reinterpreted. A huge factor in discussing what is “Islam” is that the faith — like Buddhism or Hinduism — in this part of the world has virtually no institutional hierarchy. There is not only no pope but no major accepted institutions or groups (like the Southern Baptist Convention) that can be said to be followed as the true voice or authority in Islam.   Zapotosky: Nothing, so far as I know.     Zapotosky: There does exist some news footage of the immediate aftermath. I’m no gun expert, but I’m not exactly sure what is meant by it being “physically impossible” to reload a gun more than a certain number of times. Media has interviewed countless law enforcement officials, hospital staffers, witnesses, survivors and victims’ family members. Are they all in on the hoax? Paid actors? That’s absurd.    … not that we’re aware of, but it’s bound to happen.

On Ash Wednesday, some faithful appear reluctant to wear belief on their foreheads

As the sea of commuting humanity marched through Union Station on Wednesday morning, something was attracting stares. Some gawked openly; others stole quick peeks as they trooped past. Matt Norton removed his ear buds and walked directly up to the priest with a black cross on his forehead and a bowl of ash in his hand. “What’s the deal?” Norton asked. “It’s Ash Wednesday. It’s a reminder of our dependence on God,” said the Rev. Peter Schell, a 32-year-old Episcopal priest, at once explaining the start of Lent and the reason he was offering to etch the mark of Christian faith on the foreheads of passersby as they headed for offices, which, for the most part, would appear faith-free. “Huh,” Norton said noncommittally before heading off to his job as a mobile app designer for PBS. In fact, Norton, a Catholic, had a lot more to say about wearing ashes. He planned to get them during a midday Mass near his office. On Ash Wednesdays, he’s picked the time to receive the mark based on “how self-confident I’m feeling” about sharing his beliefs. It depends on how empathetic he’s feeling toward people who have felt rejected by the Catholic Church, or religion in general. Or whether he feels he’s wearing his Christianity for pure, selfless reasons and not “showing my faith in a pompous way.” This is the sort of reflection Schell and other priests had hoped to bring about when they took to Union Station and a handful of Metro stops around the region at morning rush hour to offer ashes and a prayer — an acknowledgment that many Americans are no longer going to houses of worship, so the houses of worship need to come to them. More than 200 Protestant congregations across the country now offer ashes in public places on Ash Wednesday, according to Ashes to Go, a national organization that began the practice about five years ago. The day marks the beginning of ****Lent, a 40-day period of reflection and fasting that ends on the Thursday before Easter. The public displays come at a time when Americans, particularly younger ones like Norton, are more cautious about openly professing their spiritual identities, according to two decades of data from the Barna Group, a major research firm on U.S. religion. One reason is that, in an increasingly pluralistic society, some see overtly religious jewelry or T-shirts, or even an ancient, liturgical ritual such as ashes during Lent as a possible imposition on others who do not share the same beliefs. The trend also stems from a fear of oppression by a secular culture and partly from a personal challenge, said David Kinnaman, president of Barna Group and author of several books on young Christians. In a society questioning the very truth of God, what do you _really_ believe? “In the past, evangelism didn’t have that high a standard; you were sort of signing people up for something they already were predisposed to accept,” Kinnaman said. “Today it’s about people asking: How does that translate into real transformation? When I wear something, what is this saying about me?” An increasing number of Americans describe themselves as “unaffiliated” with a traditional faith group, including some who call themselves Christians, and the practice of wearing ashes for Lent is primarily associated with members of traditional Christian denominations, such as Catholics and Episcopalians and other Protestants. Based on national faith statistics, the vast majority of the hundreds of people who walked Wednesday past Schell, and two lay ministers from Calvary Episcopal Church on Capitol Hill, would at minimum describe themselves as Christian. But their responses to being asked to wear their faith on their forehead varied widely. About 100 commuters approached during the two-hour window to receive ashes and the traditional prayer: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Some almost charged over when they saw the untraditional, pop-up chapel in the crowds, cutting off other commuters. Some appeared surprised, paused and then approached. “Baptists don’t do ashes, but I’m versatile with my religion,” said Tina Buckmon, 53, who was heading from the bus to her job as a cook at a child-care center next to the station. “It doesn’t matter where it comes from, everyone needs a blessing. I’m with all religions.” Buckmon said she doesn’t wear a cross because she believes Jesus has risen and is no longer on the cross. She is deeply religious, describes having premonitions and believes God has used her in daily ways to help others. Yet she doesn’t talk a lot about her faith at work because “some people don’t want to hear it.” Most commuters walked past the priest, who stood between a Pret a Manger and an Au Bon Pain, with no acknowledgment. Others stole furtive looks that could have been interpreted as curiosity, or guilt. A few gave a small smile and a nod, the obligatory kind you’d give to a person ringing a Salvation Army bell at Christmas. One man thought the priest was actually a man in costume making fun of Christianity. Another launched into a rap about the Rapture. Some just watched from afar. Jason Williams, 37, was in town from Annapolis and was having some oatmeal and an iced coffee when he noticed the trio. A “non-practicing” Catholic, Williams said he’d worn ashes at various times in his life and would “absolutely not” think it would be hard to wear them in a diverse place such as Washington. Asked whether he’d feel comfortable discussing all this at work, his answer was quick: “No, no, no. That’s a professional environment.”

The Insiders: Does Putin call the shots?

Suddenly, an apparent peaceful solution in Syria has walked onstage. Who wouldn’t welcome that? Well, we have to hold our applause while we consider the source. It looks like Syria has agreed to a Russian proposal where President Bashar al-Assad will give up his chemical weapons to the international community, whatever that means. Skepticism is in order. This latest development reinforces the impromptu nature of this White House. This is a group who can’t influence events, led by a wandering president whose words and actions reveal him to be a witness to events he doesn’t control. The whole affair is looking more Carter-esque than ever.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University Of course it’s a good idea for us to come to a diplomatic solution. But whether or not this proposal is serious and viable or if Russian President Vladimir Putin is just having some fun manipulating President Obama remains to be seen. The metaphors are many: A classic tease, Lucy holding the football, a head fake, etc.  Wise heads will have to determine if this is anything more than a delaying tactic straight from the North Korean and Iranian playbooks: make an appealing, sensible gesture to get us to politely wait for the peaceful breakthrough but, all the while, build their bombs. The reality is that the risk that Obama is being shamelessly and comically manipulated is counter-balanced by the prospect of securing deadly, dangerous weapons that could kill Americans. Is Putin toying with us?  Is all of Washington — including leaders from both parties — now Putin’s puppet? We know that Putin does seem to delight in taunting Obama, but maybe he has overplayed his hand this time. If the votes in Congress become about calling the Russian president’s bluff rather than supporting a bumbling president at home, Obama’s hand could be strengthened. Even though it is tempting to think the president could now prove a larger point by ignoring Putin and striking hard at Syria, there are still too many good reasons not to engage in military action. Of course, Assad actually giving up his WMDs would be one such good reason, and the prospect is worth probing.  Republicans, like me, who have said they are against a strike can’t now insist that the president proceed with an attack. I sympathize with the tangled conundrum the administration is in, even if much of it is a result of their own hubris, inexperience and sheer blundering. If we have any hope of success, Obama must be clear in his words and performance tonight and demonstrate to the American people that he is not being played for a fool.

Lonnae O’Neal: A once-a-year churchgoer confronts a preacher

It’s a few days before Easter, and I’m contemplating my annual trip to church. My older daughter once told a friend that we go to church once a year. The friend replied point-blank: “I can’t believe you guys only go to church on Easter,” Sydney recounted. “Well, right, but did you tell her we don’t miss an Easter, though?” I joked. But even that hasn’t been true for several years now. This puts me in sizable company. A 2013 Gallup study found that while 56 percent of Americans said religion is “very important” in their lives and an additional 22 percent called it “fairly important,” only 4 in 10 people had self-reported attending services the previous week. Weekly attendance has ranged between 40 and 45 percent since the early 1960s, the study said, but it has averaged 39 percent since 2008. There’s a word for people like me, I found out from Facebook. “CMEs,” or Christmas, Mother’s Day and Easter churchgoers. Opinion about these drop-ins was mixed. Some questioned our motives. Some said that going on holidays was better than never going. “Going once a year is only good if the spirit leads you to continue worshipping in His house, otherwise stay home and continue your couch and TV ministry,” one person wrote. I headed to the Community of Hope AME Church in Temple Hills, Md., hoping Pastor Tony Lee might share a word on the subject. Turns out, he shared several. “One of the things I talk to the church about is that, for us, Easter is our great celebration. Easter is the church’s Super Bowl,” Lee said as we sat near the pulpit. “We’re celebrating the resurrection of Christ, so, for me, anybody who wants to come to that party is welcome.” Lee has seen the online memes making fun of people who go to church only on holidays. And he has heard the grumbling of God’s regulars who worry that they won’t get a seat because of the Easter influx. “Sometimes we get so caught up in religiosity we miss the blessing,” Lee said. This may be the one day where people who always say no to church say yes. I told Lee that I haven’t been to church, but I talk to God, I meditate, I see the divine in ordinary things, and every Sunday, I listen to Music Choice Gospel on cable. There is a blessing for those who get their church from TV or streaming on their laptops, Lee said. But then he spoke to the thing that has felt truest for me since I was a little girl: There is also the spirituality that comes from being in community, he said. That’s about getting out of your silos, even if it is a silo with God, and being in fellowship with the person next to you — “grappling with people who are also grappling, and trying to get it right.” Once a month, his parishioners give dollar bills to everyone who has had a birthday that month, and not long ago, they gave all the birthday dollars to one 95-year-old church mother. Watching children scrounge in their pockets to give this old woman a quarter and a hug as she cried was a blessing, Lee said. I nodded because I felt blessed just to hear the story. The church celebrates marriages and graduations, Lee said, but not just for high school and college. “I’m talking about truck-driving school and cosmetology graduations, amen,” he said. “Anything you had to study for, we celebrate you moving forward.” Lee told of members praying with people as they’ve had to disconnect their mommas from a ventilator. And when they come back to church that first Mother’s Day after their mothers are gone, the congregants know to give them extra attention. He told stories of how people come to church drunk, and they find a place for them. How as a younger man he came to church after drinking a fifth of Thunderbird wine and a 40-ounce Red Bull. Drunk. Vomiting-in-the-bathroom drunk. “Oh, they loved on me so hard,” the pastor says. And he knew church was where he was supposed to be. Lee walked the empty sanctuary and pointed to extra chairs and spots where they’ll seat the overflow crowd. He talked about the Easter lilies that will adorn the pulpit, and how they’re making it a dress-down Sunday for the ones who want to come but don’t have new clothes. And as I stood there, I felt like I’ve missed church and I didn’t want to leave. It’s something I think I might like to feel more than once a year. For more by O’Neal, visit wapo.st/lonnae.

Idled workers find places to pass the time during government shutdown

The cascading fountains were turned off and the trash cans overflowed. But neither those differences nor the sawhorses placed outside Meridian Hill Park deterred hundreds of people from claiming it Sunday as their personal neighborhood space. People walked dogs, played stickball, strolled with babies, read novels, laid out picnics and smooched on benches, enjoying the mild weather as if it were any other Sunday and the park in Northwest Washington were not closed, officially speaking, as part of the federal government shutdown. And just in case those quiet activities were not a sufficient challenge to the powers that be, they drummed. At midafternoon, an informal circle of drummers that has gathered and played in the park on Sundays for decades began to form, hesitantly at first. “We’re not sure if they’ll kick us out, but we are awfully hard to silence,” said Babatu Olubayo, 68, who was the first player to arrive with his twin congas in a grocery cart. He has been part of the circle since 1972. “This is not noise. It is an act of spiritual and mental health,” Olubayo said. “It’s a community institution.” An hour later, there was still no sign of anyone in uniform and a crowd was gathering around a dozen drummers as they warmed to their deafening rhythmic ritual. Meanwhile, at scattered church services in the Washington region, furloughed federal workers and frustrated tourists tried to assuage their disappointment and count their blessings. “I’ve been studying my Bible and praying about all of this,” said Glenda Gregg, an employee of the Food and Drug Administration who was worshiping at the University Park Church of Christ. “It just seems like God is trying to get our attention.” Some of her fellow worshipers were not as philosophical. Ken Wyatt, 46, who works at the Library of Congress, said he felt he was being “used as a bargaining chip by our government leaders, just to get what they want.” Several other federal workers said they were afraid to comment because of their jobs. But Rebecca Simpson, a visitor from San Antonio, expressed indignation at the petty ways that officials prevented people from enjoying national landmarks. She said her husband and two daughters saw the graves at Arlington National Cemetery but were blocked from peeking into historic buildings there. At Arlington House, a 200-year-old mansion overlooking the cemetery, she complained, “they even put black plastic in the windows so we couldn’t look in.” Before the weekend, young furloughed workers were welcomed at the Sixth and I Historic Synagogue in the District for some morale-boosting fellowship. Dozens streamed in and out of the building, looking for affirmation and trying to make sense of an uncertain future. Several smirked at a cartoon figure on the entrance sign with a thought bubble that said, “My Mom says I’m essential.” During the recession, when furloughs seemed like the pitiable plight of the private sector, several young federal workers said they had opted for the most stable employer they could find — the government. “These were the things I watched my friends go through and thought they couldn’t happen to me,’’ said Sarah Reynolds, 34, who works at the Corporation for National and Community Service. “And now I’m wondering if I even have the skills set to get a job in the private sector.” But around the region, restaurant owners and other businesses found creative ways to attract federal workers and boost their spirits. Bars extended happy hours; a dance studio offered free pole-dancing classes. There were free theater tickets, beer discounts and trapeze lessons. In Columbia Heights, Z Burger offered free hamburgers to anyone with a government ID. Bill Blackburn, owner of Pork Barrel BBQ in Alexandria, said he felt he had to do something to ease the burdens of his regular customers. “They’ve really supported us, so we wanted to support them,’’ said Blackburn, who gave out free pulled pork sandwiches to 276 people on Tuesday. He said he hoped the shutdown would end soon, however, because he couldn’t afford to give away sandwiches forever. At the synagogue, spokesman Hannah Orenstein said staff members came up with the idea of becoming a shutdown hot spot last week. They arranged for free yoga classes and sessions on networking techniques. To keep the tone light, they slapped cutouts of House and Senate leaders on table tennis paddles. Some played table tennis and others watched “The West Wing.” One called his parents to make sure they’d be able to support him if the shutdown is prolonged. Conversations were laced with sarcasm. One visitor asked another the familiar Washington question: “What do you do?” His new friend, a lawyer, replied. “I’m a pawn for a staggeringly baroque government.” Several colleagues from the same government agency wondered where might be a good place to hang out. “The Smithsonian must be filled today,” mused Doug Hale, 29. “All that space, the beautiful atrium, the free WiFi.” Then someone reminded him that the Smithsonian museums were also shut down, and they all sighed. Rahkia Nance was also in search of something to do. She is a communications manager for the D.C. Water and Sewer Authority, which is partly funded by Congress and thus shut down. She said she had already toured the National Geographic Museum, grabbed a discount lunch and taken a free knitting class. “I had never knitted before, but I thought this was a good time to learn,” she said. “We are all looking for deals. There are a lot of things that I haven’t gotten to do that I have the time to do.” In Meridian Park on Sunday, the mood was defiantly carefree and therapeutic. Several furloughed workers playing stickball or walking their dogs asked not to be quoted, but they were clearly relishing their semi-   scofflaw status. One couple said their regular weekend ritual was bringing their dog to run around and watch the ducks. “For us, this is a safe place near home where we can let her off the leash,” said Melissa Peli, 29, an architect. When the shutdown began, Peli and other visitors said, they were confused and worried about crossing the park barricades. But by Sunday, with dozens of dogs romping and the drummers pounding away, it felt as if the shutdown had never happened.

Several pastors prayed over President Trump. Another one says they bordered on ‘heresy.’

Being president of the United States is hard, and one could argue that the person sitting in the Oval Office needs all the help he can get — earthly or divine.  But an image of evangelical pastors laying hands on and praying over President Trump last week has struck an especially visceral chord with critics of Trump and his policies.  But in the short term, their photo turned into a lightning rod. Chief among the critics on Saturday, was Rev. William Barber II, the leader of several morality-based protest movements that have targeted Trump and his policies.  “When you can p-r-a-y for a president and others while they are p-r-e-y, preying on the most vulnerable, you’re violating the most sacred principles of religion,” Barber told host Joy Reid. The attack is unsurprising given Barber’s history. He’s lashed out at politicians who he says use obscure biblical texts as scriptural cover for laws that hurt people. Barber has extended his disdain to the religious leaders who support them.  That biblical admonition, he believes, should extend to the political debate over who gets health care and who goes without, as he told Reid:  But things start to get dodgy when the practice is brought out of the church and into, well, the Oval Office. Trump has said he is a Presbyterian, but he does not attend church regularly and has not joined any of the D.C.-area Presbyterian churches.  Johnnie Moore, who photographed the “laying hands” moment, then tweeted it, said Monday’s meeting was an informal gathering where they prayed for wisdom, that God would protect him and his family and that God would lead him. “It was normal, what a lot of us pray when we pray for elected officials,” he said. “It was like a meeting of friends.” Still, Barber repudiated the religious leaders, who he said should be calling out Trump’s actions, not laying hands on him. “What leaders ought to be doing is challenging the president — challenging McConnell, challenging Ryan and challenging these senators and others and not trying to appease them,” Barber said. “Instead, they’re acting like priests of the empire rather than prophets of God.”

The secret presidency

FOR DECADES, and particularly since President Richard Nixon’s administration, public pressure has led presidents to become steadily more open with citizens about how they conduct business, and more mindful of ethics. Major party candidates have released their tax returns, revealing information about their finances and any potential conflicts of interest. Presidential relatives have avoided high office. The Justice Department has insulated itself from the Oval Office. And, as of the Barack Obama presidency, the White House has released voluminous records on who visited the executive mansion grounds so citizens could know who was meeting with the president and his staff. Some of these practices flowed from formal rules, others from norms based on the American notion that the president works for the people and that transparency and ethical guidelines are essential checks against abuse of that trust. Though presidents have chafed at the expectations that follow from this principle, none before President Trump has so brazenly attempted to reverse the decades-long trend toward an above-board presidency. The latest news is that Mr. Trump will not routinely release White House visitor records, as Mr. Obama did. The White House cited “grave national security risks and privacy concerns.” The former is not persuasive, since a national security exception was built into the policy. So Mr. Trump must argue that his right to privacy, or that of the lobbyists coming to see him, outweighs the public’s interest in knowing who is getting an audience. We don’t find that persuasive, either. Mr. Trump’s decision to claw the White House logs back into the shadows follows several other moves that show contempt for the public. As a candidate, Mr. Trump promised to disclose his tax returns; then postponed the release date; then seemed to decide that he never need keep that promise. His excuse — that the IRS is auditing his recent tax forms — has been thoroughly discredited as a rationale, and provides not even phony cover for refusing to release older returns. Given Mr. Trump’s sprawling, secretive business, and unanswered questions about its ties to Russians, his departure from tradition in this matter is particularly unsettling. Nor has he made as clean a break from his business as taxpayers have a right to expect. Judging from his public statements, Mr. Trump calculates that there is little to no political price to be paid for flouting norms of ethics and openness. But his dismal poll numbers consistently show that Americans question his honesty. A time may come when he needs to ask the American people to have confidence in him. After undoing the nation’s progress toward transparency, he may find that the reservoir of trust is very shallow. **Read more about this topic:** The Post’s View: The public deserves to know who is visiting the White House Dana Milbank: The open-and-shut administration

Why Melania Trump wore a head covering in Rome but not in Saudi Arabia

During the Trumps’ meeting with Pope Francis on Wednesday, first lady Melania Trump wore a long-sleeved Dolce & Gabbana black dress and a black veil, following a tradition of many first ladies before her to wear black when meeting the pope. The other women in attendance, including Trump’s daughter, Ivanka Trump, wore similar dresses and veils. There was some confusion, however, over why the first lady wore a veil — or a mantilla — at the Vatican while she didn’t wear a headscarf in the Muslim country of Saudi Arabia. Her spokeswoman wrote in an email that the first lady was following Vatican protocol where women who have an audience with the pope wear long sleeves, formal black clothing and a veil to cover the head. “There was no request/requirement for her attire in Saudi,” Stephanie Grisham wrote.  Pope Francis has relaxed the expectation that bishops wear cassocks when meeting him, so now they wear clerical collars. And Francis famously stopped wearing the red shoes of his predecessor. “It’s been part of his message of simplicity,” Palmo said.  “The last place the White House would want to snub is the Vatican,” Palmo said. “Presidents who win the white Catholic vote win the White House. If she hadn’t worn a veil, people would’ve been reading into it.”  “I think people are reading into it and misinterpreting it,” said Jane Hampton Cook, a presidential and first lady historian. “The pope is the head of a church. The king of Saudi Arabia is the head of state. There is a difference between seeing a religious leader vs. showing respect to a king who’s the head of state.” (Clarification: Pope Francis is both a head of a church and a head of a state since Vatican City is a country.) And while Trump did not wear a headscarf, she dressed in loose clothing with her arms and legs fully covered, fitting for Saudi Arabia’s standards for modesty, Cook said. Trump’s visit was not with religious leaders or at a house of worship, and while Saudi women cover their hair in public, many Muslim women around the world do not.  Some tweets show photos of Obama and Clinton in headscarves next to Trump not wearing a headscarf, but those photos of the former first ladies were taken in different Muslim countries (Obama was in Indonesia; Clinton was in Pakistan), not in Saudi Arabia. “The headscarf misinterpreted by different people and become overly politicized,” said Melanie Elturk, CEO of Haute Hijab, an online brand for modest fashion. “Sometimes we make a bigger deal of it than it needs to be.” While in Israel this week, the Trumps visited the Western Wall, the holiest site where Jews can pray. Ivanka Trump, who converted to Orthodox Judaism, wore a small hat while praying at the wall, while Melania Trump did not wear anything on her head. President Trump, who became the first U.S. president to visit the wall while in office, wore a yarmulke, which is customary for men who visit the religious site. He also wore one at Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial.

This is my confession: I struggle with patriotic worship services

_This opinion piece was written by Marty Duren, who works in social media and is a teaching pastor at The Fellowship at Two Rivers in Nashville, Tenn._    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico The argument has been made that a strong co-mingling of Christianity and American patriotism began in the middle of the last century. American patriotic songs are interspersed through Christian hymnals. Some practically identify love of the United States with love of God.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Full-blown “patriotic services” are held around every Fourth of July; productions almost like Christmas pageants in July for pomp and planning. Performances of the military service hymns, color guards and red, white and blue bunting are required parts of the festivities. Neither the Democratic nor Republican conventions can compete for passion. Large churches sometimes ask a soldier – or someone playing one – to repel from the rafters. Flags wave ferociously. In the past these were honest attempts to evangelize by reaching people who might not attend a regular service. Pastors probably deemed them successful given the sheer number of churches involved. My discomfort with patriotic worship services culminated when visiting a church during vacation. The front of the auditorium was covered by an enormous American flag. Beneath the flag was the opening for the baptistry where the pastor baptized a new believer. Under the American flag. With no cross in sight, I suppose it was covered by stripes. It was not surreal for me; it was troubling. The imagery was all wrong. Writing last year on American patriotic services, Trevin Wax compared his experiences in Romania:    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Similarly, Ed Stetzer says,    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Sunday gatherings of believers are a microcosm of the Kingdom of God. For me, at their best, patriotic services celebrate baseball, hot dogs, apple pie and Chevrolet at the expense of Jesus Christ crucified and risen. At their worst they rehearse selective history, celebrate decisions of a man-made government, and blur the line between the kingdoms of man and the kingdom of God. Sundays find followers of Jesus gathered celebrating His victory over sin, death, hell and the grave, not American victories at Iwo Jima, Normandy and Bastogne. We gather with the promise of a Prince of Peace whose return will not only render Valley Forge, Gettysburg, New Orleans, Normandy, Guadalcanal, Da Nang and Baghdad impossible; He will make them unneeded. But with 53 percent of Americans still believing “God has a special relationship” with the United States, I am mystified. Among evangelicals 45 and older that figure is a staggering 71 percent. They may be the majority, but they will not read of National VIP status in heaven.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Hebrews 11:13, 14 records of the heroes of the faith: Even Abraham, who journeyed to a plot of ground promised by God, lived there as an outsider, an alien. God’s kingdom isn’t defined by geo-political boundaries. Every nation, tribe, people and language contains its citizens. Followers of Jesus are like missionaries living with a green card in the country of God’s choosing. Sing “The Star Spangled Banner” at baseball games, football games, Olympics parties, parades, on July 4, Memorial Day, Flag Day and Veterans Day. Erect a flag pole in your front yard, or angle one from the front door of your business. But churches should be distinct by divine decree, not by the Stars and Stripes. _This piece was adapted from a post onMarty Duren’s blog._    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico **Want more stories about faith? FollowActs of Faith on Twitter or sign up for our newsletter.**    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico For God so loved Caitlyn Jenner    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico The Satanic Temple’s giant statue of a goat-headed god is looking for a home    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Honoring the Charleston nine: Today, we mourn. Tomorrow, we organize.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico

How (not) to behave: Manners and the classical music audience

Thou shalt not talk. Thou shalt not clap in the wrong places. Thou shalt not unwrap cough drops in crinkly paper during the music. Thou shalt not use thy cellphone. You can find the prohibitions, in various forms, printed in the back pages of concert playbills around the country, often under rubrics such as “The Ten Commandments of Concertgoing.” They’re supposed to be funny, but they’re also supposed to be followed. Disguised as humor, they are actually propagating a widespread and pernicious idea: that the performing arts in general, and classical music in particular, require specialized knowledge and a particular code of behavior — a code in which, if you don’t know it, those who do will be all too happy to instruct you. And thus the future of our field rides in disproportionate part on questions of etiquette. _[Etiquette in the arts: How to behave in the digital age]_ Etiquette dominates the public discourse about classical music — because music-lovers, veterans and newcomers alike, are too often unsure what else they should say about it. The rules, and the conventions, provide a kind of handrail for insiders, who clutch it as they move through sometimes uncertain terrain; but form, all too often, is a barrier to those on the outside. The rules and conventions are the most visible mark of insider knowledge. Many people who might feel uncertain talking about chord modulations, a singer’s passaggio, or the relative merits of seating the second violins on the conductor’s right will jump in with the self-righteous vehemence of certainty when it comes to questions of how to behave when listening to all of this. The whole experience of concertgoing too often seems to be focused on debates about knowing when to clap. Get rid of the conventions? I’m not sure that’s the answer. In principle, true, I’m all for democratization. Let people come to concerts dressed any way they like; let people bring drinks into the concert hall (as they do at the Wolf Trap Barns), or eat meals during the music in a nightclub setting; let them clap when they like what they hear. Let’s be looser about following the rules, and remember that in 19th-century Italy, going to the opera felt much like going to a baseball game — with people hawking food and drink, comings and goings between boxes, conversations in the seats, and vociferous responses to the onstage action. And let’s remember that a loud “SHHH!” or even a disapproving glare can be far more disturbing to more people than one person’s quiet infraction — to say nothing of the man who, years ago, whacked a talkative friend of mine over the head with a rolled-up program. I am allergic to self-righteousness. I’d like concert halls to be open to a generation of people who don’t mind texting, or snapping photos, during the performance — who see in this an expression of enthusiastic participation rather than a threatening specter of The Downfall of Civilization. I’d like people to feel that the music is something that belongs to them, something that’s theirs to consume, listen to and debate rather than representing some kind of privileged, sacrosanct territory. In short: I talk a good line. In practice, though, I have a double standard. I have been guilty of turning around to give a significant look to someone who wouldn’t shut up after the music had started; I have been guilty of wincing in visceral annoyance when applause broke out between movements of a symphony when I was using the pause to process what had gone before and clear the head for what was still to come. And it is a truth almost universally acknowledged among serious concertgoers that the experience of being deeply immersed in a quiet, ethereal passage of music, only to be ripped from the moment by the sound of someone’s cellphone — that muted bubbly electronic jingle, which momentarily grows louder as the embarrassed owner yanks it from pocket or pocketbook in order to silence it — can give rise to a brief flash of pure, murderous rage. Concert halls represent the intersection of art and society. In this space, this silent hall in which we are supposedly united in a mutual contemplation of high art, the social compact is exposed and tested at every turn, as 2,000 people explore the mores of coexistence. Here are debates about human rights: whether your right to blow your nose impinges on my right to hear music unimpeded and germ-free; whether my right not to smell your clouds of perfume takes precedence over your right to want to deck yourself out in your finest going-out accoutrements, especially when you’ve spent $300 for the ticket that I, as a critic, got free. Clearly, we need guidelines, of some sort. Yet the Ten Commandments of Concertgoing aren’t it. That’s because those Commandments, like much of the classical music experience, are tacitly predicated on the idea that our music, our art form, and therefore our way of thinking, is superior to yours. In looking for a way to prevent those cellphone interruptions, we tend to lapse into a rhetoric that comes off as at once defensive and bossy: There is a “right” way and a “wrong” way to hear this music. Concert-hall rules are born of a well-meaning, even poignant hope: that someone else can have the same reaction that we do to something we love. It’s a hope that’s eternally doomed to disappointment, since each person’s experience is by definition individual, personal, indescribable and unrepeatable. And in trying to realize the hope, people often forget the basic human truth that if you’re trying to win someone over to something you love, it helps to approach her not as a child, but as an equal. The conventions of concert behavior are bound to evolve in the coming years. It would be great to juxtapose the formality of orchestra presentation with some concerts that are less formal; it would be great to work out a way to include and contain the smartphone, perhaps by setting aside designated areas for its use, like the score-reading seats, with their illuminated music stands, that are a feature of many great old concert halls. But one rule should be writ large atop all guidelines for concert-hall behavior. It’s a basic principle, in fact, of any form of etiquette: Thou shalt not impose thy beliefs on someone else. **Read our critics’ takes on etiquette in their respective fields:** \- Hornaday: Improving manners at the movies \- Sietsema: Hoping to have a good dinner? Be a good diner. \- Kaufman: Dance audiences are too caught up in the performance to be rude \- Pressley: Turn off your phone at the theater. And ignore the prostitute. \- Richards: How to not be a jerk at a concert \- Kennicott: At museums, selfie sticks poke holes in the idea of anything goes

Is your U.S. representative holding a town hall in August? Probably not.

By the time members of Congress return from recess next month, only a fraction of their constituents will have had the opportunity to stand up in a public meeting and question them on issues dominating the conversation in Washington. Less than a third of representatives confirmed that they are holding traditional town halls with their constituents during their month-long break from Capitol Hill. The Washington Post contacted the offices of every member of the House — 434 in all, not counting a vacant seat in Utah — to find out whether they are holding open, face-to-face meetings with voters in August. We contacted the offices of every member of the House — 434 in all — to find out whether they are holding town halls during August. There were 111 members — 73 Democrats and 38 Republicans — who confirmed that they would meet with their constituents this month. There were 47 members who confirmed they had no town halls planned, and another 276 members that did not return phone calls and emails or said they had no details to share. If we were not able to get confirmation from the members’ offices directly, we checked congressional websites and social media pages and added any town halls we found to the list. In the survey, we asked for events during August that meet these criteria: the representative appears in person, the event is announced in advance and the event is open to the public to discuss public policy. We didn’t include private meetings, events held over the phone or online — increasingly common ways for members to meet with their constituents — or town halls held in June or planned for September. We found that while House Democrats were twice as likely be hosting town halls, still just 40 percent of Democrats and 18 percent of Republicans planned to host these types of public, in-person events. Reasons cited for the low numbers included the contentious crowds that House members, especially Republicans, have faced in previous town halls this year and concerns about safety. Rep. Raúl R. Labrador (R-Idaho) was booed at a town hall on April 19 after discussing health care. When Rep. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) hosted a town hall in Mandan, N.D., on May 11, a man repeatedly stood up and screamed at the congressman. As we searched for public events listed on House members’ websites and social media pages, we noticed that few featured broad announcements about upcoming town halls. In some cases, we found that citizens must register in advance in order to get an email notification when town hall events have been scheduled. On House member sites where there were no open town halls listed, there were often mentions of other interactions with constituents: online chats, conference calls or even small group sessions where a representative may meet with constituents a few at a time. For example, the public Facebook page of Rep. Mia Love (R-Utah) highlights a recent event where she met with a series of small groups of constituents. If representatives are meeting with constituents in other ways, why does it matter if members of Congress don’t host town halls? Despite the at-times unpleasant interactions that can happen at larger, live events, Mark J. Rozell, dean of the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, said public town halls are a critical component of a democratic system based on accountability. Lawmakers can’t achieve the same level of communication through mass conference calls, known as “tele-town halls,” or Facebook Live events, he said. “Nothing comes close to seeing people in person and hearing their concerns firsthand,” he said. Rozell, who has studied the presidency for decades, said it’s understandable that Republicans would be more reluctant to face residents when President Trump has set a tone that encourages heated discourse. “That does not surprise me at all,” he said. “It’s the resisters, the anti-Trumpsters, who are using these town halls as vehicles for staging loud protests and getting as much attention for themselves and any grievances they have about the direction of the administration.” Rep. Dave Brat (R-Va.) endured a barrage of shouting and insults at two town halls this year in his suburban Richmond 7th Congressional District. Activists recently demanded he hold one focused on health care, but he declined. “It is clear these individuals are more interested in scoring political points with TV cameras running than in having a constructive dialogue about issues,” Brat said in an email to The Post. “I will not spend 90 minutes being shouted at by individuals who have already demonstrated they have no interest in a productive exchange of ideas.” Instead, Brat said he will travel the district, meeting with constituents at community events and businesses — a strategy members have increasingly turned to as a way to avoid unscripted or combative encounters. In Brat’s heavily Republican district, that approach is unlikely to have political consequences. But in Northern Virginia’s 10th District, Rep. Barbara Comstock (R) represents a district that Hillary Clinton won by 10 points last year, giving Democrats reason to believe they can unseat her next year. Comstock’s decision not to hold a town hall — she favors small meetings with residents and visits to parades and festivals — has drawn criticism from some residents. Activists from a group calling itself Dump Comstock created electronic mobile billboards admonishing her to “Do your job!” and hold a town hall. This week, the group announced that eight Democrats vying for the party nomination to challenge Comstock and her Republican challenger, Shak Hill, signed an “Accountability Pledge,” promising to hold three town halls a year and “remain open to opposing viewpoints.” In southwest Texas, Rep. Will Hurd (R-Tex.), whose 23rd Congressional District spreads across 58,000 square miles, is taking his town halls on the road. Now in its third year, the “DC2DQ” tour has Hurd hosting 21 town halls in six August days, 11 of them at a Dairy Queen. “Dairy Queen is a place where everyone knows where it is,” Hurd said in an interview. “The key is to meet constituents where the constituents are.” Although some Republicans may more often find themselves in the hot seat over Trump, Rozell, the politics expert, said residents deserve answers from their representatives, no matter the party. “With the polarization of American politics,” he said, “the intensifying partisanship makes them all look bad.” A complete list of the town halls can be found here.

I’m a Muslim, not a terrorist. So why did the NYPD spy on me for years?

A couple of weeks after I began lecturing on Islam at New York City mosques, something strange happened. Acquaintances and congregants told me they’d been approached by law enforcement officers who asked about me and my talks. Soon after, I began to notice suspicious people in the audiences. One gentleman stood out — he was the most frequent attendee, but he regularly fell asleep while I spoke. It was 2003. I was enrolled at Brooklyn College, studying English literature. I’d grown up in New York and loved the city. But I’d also seen the way Muslims were discriminated against, particularly after Sept. 11, 2001. In the year after the attacks, hate crimes spiked tenfold. I wanted to encourage Muslims to stay strong in their faith in spite of these assaults. I spoke on theology and visiting the sick, on skepticism and the sinful pursuit of instant gratification, on the gravity of injustice and the vastness of God’s mercy.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico I wasn’t doing anything wrong. I consistently rejected violence and terrorism in my lectures. Still, for a decade, I felt like I was under surveillance, pursued by shadowy law enforcement officials seeking out a crime that didn’t exist. In 2013, my fears were confirmed. I found out from an Associated Press investigation that I was a victim of the New York Police Department’s aggressive surveillance of Muslims. After 9/11, the NYPD began to track large swaths of us. Officers secretly labeled entire mosques as terrorist organizations, then spied on imams and recorded sermons. The department conducted at least a dozen of these “terrorism enterprise investigations” since 2001, often without specific evidence of criminal wrongdoing and minimal oversight from judges. No charges were ever brought as a result of the activities of the so-called “demographics” unit.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Entire congregations were targeted. Entire Muslim communities — from bookstores to restaurants — were monitored. Those practices turned innocent people into suspects, making us feel isolated and afraid of the police. Because of the NYPD’s widespread use of informants, we stopped trusting our neighbors as well. Though I’d suspected that local cops were spying on innocent Muslims, the extent of their surveillance surpassed even my worst fears. The police had been following me everywhere, according to documents unearthed in the investigation. Once, a man came to my home claiming that he would do anything for a certain Egyptian delicacy his late mother had made for him years prior. Others in the community warned me later that he’d been asking about me. An informant even infiltrated my wedding, videotaping everyone who attended. My wife and I had been surveilled while shopping for rings earlier that day, according to internal police documents. “We have nothing on the lucky bride at this time but hopefully will learn about her at the service,” one NYPD lieutenant wrote in a report about me that was uncovered by the Associated Press. After the AP revelations, I wasn’t just uneasy. I was terrified. I felt like I lived in a house without walls, vulnerable to police scrutiny all the time. I was constantly anxious about what I said and whom I talked to. I feared for my wife as well. I suspected those around me, including friends and family. People from outside our community — they appeared to be undercover officers or informants — were asking about me. Friends and colleagues distanced themselves out of fear that they, too, would be swept up in the NYPD’s net. After 2013, I began creating mental filters through which to run my speech in sermons and among my peers holding back anything that could be seen as controversial. In my lectures, I played down Islamic values of valor and heroism, worrying that informants would assume, incorrectly, that I was promoting aggression or violence. I hesitated before publicly discussing the devastation faced by innocent civilians in the Muslim world, in case someone distorted my lessons on empathy as something “anti-American.” To justify its spying, the NYPD used my charity work against me, suggesting that the camping trips I’d organized for low-income children and teens whom I’d mostly met through my talks at mosques was actually a military exercise. In truth, during those weekends, we played basketball, ran obstacle courses and swam in races. The police accused me of downloading the most extreme parts of radical clerics’ talks. In fact, I listened to a wide range of speakers in preparation for my lectures. The police pointed to suspicions about my father, saying he was a close associate of Omar Abdel Rahman, who was convicted of aiding in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. I was a child at the time, and my father was never charged with any crimes. The NYPD even accused me of radicalizing members of my mosque whom I’d never met.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico The police kept this investigation up for years, long after the FBI determined that I wasn’t a threat, according to the Associated Press. ****    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico ****Now, I’m hopeful that those difficult years have ended. In June 2013, I joined a lawsuit against the NYPD’s expansive surveillance targeting New York’s Muslims. Last month, the NYPDsettled that case with me and five other plaintiffs. The department agreed to a number of important safeguards on police practices, including a ban on investigations that stem mainly from religion, race or ethnicity. The settlement, subject to final approval by the court, would also impose reforms to prevent years-long, open-ended surveillance. And it would install a civilian monitor to act as a check on any investigation relating to political or religious activities.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico __I don’t expect my fellow citizens to agree with all of my views, like my conviction that Islam is the divine truth revealed from Almighty God, and that all Muslims should follow the timeless guidance of the Qur’an. But our country protects equality and the freedoms of speech and religion for all Americans. When Muslims are targeted because of our faith, it’s an assault on those values and on the country I love.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico

Ask Amy: Agnostic is offended by prospect of church ceremony

_**Dear Amy:** I am a 49-year-old man. I was raised in a conservative Christian family, but now I am firmly agnostic and I have no interest in setting foot inside any church again._ _About nine months ago I moved to the East Coast. I’ll be visiting my family in the Midwest again in June._ _My younger sister has planned to renew her wedding vows with her husband while I am there._ _The service will be held at their church. I absolutely cringe at the thought of going, interacting with the people there and putting on a fake front of approval._ _I want to tell my sister that I love her dearly but going to the church makes me feel extremely uncomfortable. She knows I am agnostic, and it makes me wonder if she might be trying to get me back into a church to inspire me back into the fold._ _What should I do?_ **Conflicted in CT** **Conflicted in CT:** My understanding of agnosticism is that agnostics believe that the existence of god or gods simply cannot be known. It is a statement of neither faith nor disbelief. If this more or less describes your thinking right now, then your deep offense at entering a worship space and witnessing a ceremony is baffling, so is your harsh judgment toward people who have a belief system that you don’t share. You also seem to think that your sister’s choice to renew her own vows is really all about you. Because of your attitude toward this, it would be best if you stayed home. Don’t judge your sister for her choices, and wish her well. _**Dear Amy:** My husband and I rented a house in a beautiful neighborhood for many years, but we couldn’t afford to make the repairs on our house when it came up for sale, and so we left that neighborhood and recently bought our very first home in a new, less chic, neighborhood. The house has a great back yard and is well cared for._ _We have a few neighbors that seem to be good people but don’t keep up their homes all that well. Visitors cannot seem to help but compare our previous neighborhood and comment on the neighbors in general._ _We are so excited to have bought our first home, and the negative chatter is bringing us down. I feel that these neighbors are a good lesson in tolerance for people that are different from us._ _I would like to have a housewarming party to share this joy with others, but if I am being honest, I am afraid of judgment and dread all of the commentary._ _Is there a way that I can politely spin these conversations in a less offensive direction? If not, I don’t know if a housewarming will feel like much fun to me. I’m pregnant with our first child, so sipping wine and ignoring rude comments is not a viable option._ **Homeowner** **Homeowner:** It sounds like this judgment will fly your way, regardless of whether you invite or discourage it. When it comes to houses, homes and neighborhoods, some people simply cannot seem to resist judging everything from the quality of the countertops to the school system. In your case, these opinions may reveal judgments or prejudices you’d rather not be exposed to. However, I suggest that you steel yourself and dive right in. Answer every question in the affirmative. If people criticize your neighbors, you can play dumb: “What about their house don’t you like?” or simply be truthful: “We’ve met them, and they seem like nice people.” If a question or observation seems less nosy and more patently rude, you can use my mother’s comeback, “Oh, why do you ask?” and then choose how (or whether) you want to respond. All of this boundary-building and responding is great practice for parenthood, by the way. If you think people will weigh in on your neighbors’ qualities, just wait until they latch on to your parenting! _**Dear Amy:** “Want to Forgive” sent out a group email about a serious cancer in the family, and then they were shocked when someone in their circle shared the email far and wide._ _How naive could these people be? Anything sent via email can fly around the world, and nothing can stop it._ **Not Naive** **Not Naive:** Email is a very efficient way to transmit information to a group of selected people. There are websites such as Caringbridge.org, which offer a more secure way to convey health information, but the fact is that anyone can choose to be indiscreet about anything. Write to  Amy Dickinson  at askamy@tribune.com or Ask Amy, Chicago Tribune, TT500, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, Ill. 60611. 2016 by the Chicago Tribune

When Trump says he wants to expand religious freedom, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about

Maybe, just maybe, I thought, some of Trump’s blunt talk would help us advance our goal at the Interfaith Alliance of reducing the misuse of religion on the campaign trail. Little by little I got the sense that my hopes about Trump were misplaced. On Tuesday, he crushed them for good. The man who less than a year ago called his own faith a personal matter stood in front of an audience of Religious Right leaders and called Hillary Clinton’s faith into question, saying we never hear from her about it. This attack followed days of trying to tie President Obama to the Islamic State and implicitly calling into question his faith. So much for it being a personal matter. Misusing religion for political purposes has become a fact of modern-day campaigning. It frustrates me, but sadly it does not surprise me. All too often candidates appear to be running for “pastor-in-chief” instead of “commander-in-chief.” In doing so, they violate the clear mandate of the framers of our Constitution. Article VI leaves no room for misunderstanding: “no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.” Anyone who cannot abide that standard has no business swearing to “preserve, protect and defend” the Constitution itself (Article II). And it is the Constitution that is the ultimate law of the land. As a person of faith, you may answer to God and choose to live your life in service to that belief. But as Americans we agree that it is the Constitution — all of it, and not just one phrase of the First Amendment — that secures the blessings of liberty. In government, it is the Constitution we collectively ordained. All other ordinations take a back seat. Unfortunately, Trump now seems willing to make matters even worse by lending his backing to the Religious Right’s efforts to overturn the so-called Johnson Amendment. The rule, which dates back to 1954, prevents houses of worship from engaging in partisan political activities. Let’s be clear on what that does and does not mean. Houses of worship can and do participate in the campaign season, through hosting candidate forums, voter registration drives and other forms of engagement. They just can’t take sides. Members of the clergy may endorse anyone they want, just like any other American. They just can’t do it from the pulpit or by using other resources of their tax-exempt house of worship. Clergy may also speak out as strongly as they like on any and every public policy issue, and they may do so from the pulpit. If your minister, rabbi or imam wants to rail against same-sex marriage or advocate for the right to abortion, nothing in the Johnson Amendment or any other law prevents him or her from doing so. I should know. As a congregational rabbi for nearly four decades, I’ve spoken regularly from the pulpit about public policy issues I felt strongly about. As an individual, I have endorsed many candidates, but never once from the pulpit of my synagogue. That’s as it should be. Houses of worship are treated like any other tax-exempt charity. We accept the tax-exempt status in exchange for agreeing to stay out of political campaigns. The First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion; it does not guarantee that religion will be tax exempt. There is nothing stopping any house of worship from waiving their tax-exempt status if they want to preach politics from the pulpit. Our freedoms are not absolute — they have well-established limits. Your freedom of speech does not allow you to slander someone, your right to bear arms does not allow you to possess an improvised explosive device, and your freedom of religion does not give you a free pass out of any law with which you disagree. The truth is that the Johnson Amendment has done little to limit the ability of faith leaders to speak out when they want to. Some of the most prominent voices on the political landscape in recent years have been religious leaders. Trump has shown a distinct ability to shift his position for political expediency. I hope he will find his way back to his early views on keeping religion out of political campaigns. After all, it is part of what makes America great.

Republicans distance themselves from Trump’s agenda at rowdy town halls

GARNER, Iowa — When a voter here asked whether Sen. Charles E. Grassley supports a probe of President Trump’s tax returns, the Republican gave a qualified “yes.” In Virginia, asked about Russian interference in the presidential election, Rep. David Brat said an investigator should “follow the rule of law wherever it leads.” And in Arkansas, Sen. Tom Cotton told 1,400 people sardined into a high school auditorium that the Affordable Care Act “has helped Arkansans.” This week’s congressional town halls have repeatedly found Republicans hedging their support for the new president’s agenda — and in many cases contradicting their past statements. Hostile questions put them on record criticizing some of the fights Trump has picked or pledging to protect policies such as the more popular elements of Obamacare. And voters got it all on tape, promising to keep hounding their lawmakers if they falter. “There’s more of a consensus among Republicans now that you’ve got to be more cautious with what you’re going to do,” Grassley said after an event here, referring to efforts to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. “That didn’t mean much to me in November and December. But it means a lot now.” No Republican could say that the raucous town halls surprised them. Since December, a growing number of liberal organizations and activists have shared strategies for getting public answers from members of Congress. More than a thousand local groups have been founded to organize around the Indivisible Guide, an organizational how-to manual drafted by former Democratic staffers. And thousands of Trump detractors — whether inspired by organized social-media efforts or there of their own volition — have shown up at town halls in their districts. At the town halls, some activists have followed Indivisible advice, spreading themselves around the rooms to avoid looking like a clique, holding up signs with simple messages such as “Disagree” and synchronizing their chants. The efficiency of the protests has led some of their targets, including Trump, to question their legitimacy. “The so-called angry crowds in home districts of some Republicans are actually, in numerous cases, planned out by liberal activists,” Trump tweeted Tuesday. Coverage of the town halls in conservative media has largely focused on the role of liberal groups in organizing the protests, or the role of the Barack Obama-founded Organizing for America in promoting the Indivisible Guide. “Obama told them to get in our faces,” Rush Limbaugh told listeners of his radio show on Wednesday. “Well, they’re in our faces now, and how’s it working out? People are starting to get tired of it.” A number of Republicans have refused to hold town halls — and courted ridicule. In California, Colorado, Florida, North Carolina, Ohio and Pennsylvania, local Indivisible groups held “empty-chair town halls” where activists could meet — and note the absence of their legislators. In Pennsylvania, activists propped up an empty suit to symbolize Sen. Patrick J. Toomey; in other states, following the guide, they posted dummy “Have You Seen Me?” ads. In New York, they derided Rep. Elise Stefanik for canceling town halls just a week after publishing a report, titled “Millennials & the GOP,” urging more members of Congress to hold them. “It is unfortunate and counterproductive that a small number of activists believe the best way to address the very serious issues facing our country is to hijack and ambush community events for the sole purpose of political theater,” Stefanik wrote on Facebook. It’s true that organization has boosted attendance at town halls. “If you’ve got a personal connection to what this member of Congress is trying to do, you’ve got a great story to tell and a lot of legitimacy to ask that question,” Indivisible Guide co-   author Ezra Levin said Sunday night on a conference call that more than 30,000 people dialed in to hear. “It’s really important to be polite, but don’t be scared of being firm.” One lawmaker, Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-Tex.), issued a statement this week blaming his decision not to hold a town hall in person on “the threat of violence at town hall meetings.” He pointed to a specific violent event to bolster his case, invoking the 2011 shooting that severely injured then-Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, an Arizona Democrat, and killed six others. The former congresswoman responded Thursday, and she made clear that she does not agree with lawmakers shying away from meeting with members of the public. “To the politicians who have abandoned their civic obligations, I say this: Have some courage,” Giffords said in a statement. “Face your constituents. Hold town halls.” Other Republicans who held public events this week have pushed back against Trump’s characterization of protests and his attack on the media as an “enemy” of Americans. “No American is another American’s enemy,” Cotton said Wednesday night. He also said: “I don’t care if anybody here is paid or not. You’re all Arkansans.” Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) tweeted Tuesday, referring to the protesters: “They are our fellow Americans with legitimate concerns. We need to stop acting so fragile.” Although the National Republican Congressional Committee warned of possible violence at town halls, this week’s events have been peaceful. The harshest treatment has been loud heckling at answers attendees have not liked, for instance when lawmakers struggled to defend the new secretary of education, Betsy DeVos, or to provide details on how the Affordable Care Act could be replaced. In Iowa, Grassley was booed over his vote for DeVos, and he defended it only by saying that a president deserved to pick his Cabinet. In Louisiana, Sen. Bill Cassidy was laughed at for saying he had not stayed for the entire DeVos hearing. Cassidy, a doctor, is the author of an ACA replacement bill that Republicans such as Grassley have tentatively endorsed. It would allow states to keep the structure of the ACA, including its Medicaid expansion, even if other states opted out. Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), chairman of the House Freedom Caucus, has derided that solution. “If you like your Obamacare, you can keep your Obamacare,” is how Meadows described it — a wry reference to an Obama pledge about individual plans that was belied when the ACA went into effect. The Republicans who’ve emerged from town halls with fewer bruises had already promised to save major portions of the law. Rep. Leonard Lance (N.J.), one of 23 Republicans whose districts voted for Hillary Clinton over Trump, told an audience Wednesday night that he would go for a replacement plan only if it saved popular parts of the ACA. “I do not favor repeal without there being a replacement in place,” he said. Instead, he explained to a patient crowd that he wants to protect coverage for people with preexisting conditions, allow people under 26 to remain on their parents’ plans and ensure no lifetime caps on coverage. “I want to assure the public that the majority in each house of the present Congress, I believe, will make sure these provisions continue,” he said. Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.), a staunch Trump supporter from a deep red district, told constituents Wednesday that “preexisting conditions and 26-year-olds were the two Republican provisions that made it into the bill” and would obviously be part of a replacement. But in 2009, it was Democrats, not Republicans, who introduced those provisions of the ACA. The replacement framework from Republican leadership promises “continuous coverage” for people with preexisting conditions and also current health-care plans; only the Cassidy plan, co-sponsored by moderate Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and derided by conservatives, goes further. Republicans have also struggled to answer constituents who took advantage of the ACA provision that allowed states to expand Medicaid to some people over the poverty line. In Cotton’s state, where a Republican-run government has maintained a version of the expansion called “Arkansas Works,” more than 300,000 people are estimated to have received coverage since the ACA went into effect. Those results, and the stakes of repeal, were less clear when Cotton won his seat. The ACA, he said during a town hall meeting in 2014, was “nothing but a churn operation designed to grow the power of the federal government.” That year, he defeated an incumbent Democrat by 17 points. Kim Kavin in Branchburg, N.J., and Mark Berman in Washington contributed to this report. _**Correction:** In an earlier version of this article, a quote from Rep. Leonard Lance on repealing the Affordable Care Act appeared in two places, potentially making it seem the statement was from Rep. Mark Meadows. Also, Sen. Patrick J. Toomey was misidentified as a member of the House. This version has been corrected._

Miss Manners: Those who like to entertain should keep it up

DEAR MISS MANNERS: For years, my husband and I entertained guests for holidays with gusto, pleasure and enjoyment. Now that we are in our 70s, we decided to keep quiet and not send any written invites nor make calls and wait to see if we get invited. The telephone company assured us the phone was in working order, but it never rang. We stayed home at Thanksgiving and had a convenient turkey frozen (but cooked) dinner and enjoyed the laughs about all the past nice times we had, and how thoughtless people have become. It seems that if we don’t send Christmas cards first, we won’t get any in return. What is going on with these obvious social changes in America? GENTLE READER: The world is changing all the time, in many ways, and always has been. But whenever social change is mentioned to Miss Manners, it is with one of only two conclusions: That nobody has any manners anymore, or that nobody needs to have manners anymore. Neither is true. Some things have changed for the better — society no longer tolerates the open expression of bigotry — and others, such as the open expression of greed, for the worse. Similarly, adaptations because of changes in the way we live may be done well or badly. Therefore, Miss Manners is not convinced that your strategy of waiting for people to seek you out has revealed that the world has turned callous. Here are some of the factors she believes are at play: Many people simply do not entertain, even those who used to do so. They plead that they can barely manage their work and family commitments, but Miss Manners suspects it also has to do with the unreliability and picky behavior of guests. What real (non-networking) social life survives is likely to be in organized groups, such as book clubs, or at meetings in restaurants. When feeling overscheduled, people tend to react to social opportunities, rather than to initiate them. There is an age factor in this out-of-sight, out-of-mind assumption: People who do not hear from you may think that for one reason or another, you have retired from the social scene. Technology has changed correspondence dramatically, in that the regular use of cards, written invitations and even the telephone can no longer be assumed. Now, where does the relentlessly optimistic Miss Manners find an upside to all this? You may safely assume that she shares your yearning for home entertaining, reciprocating invitations, staying in touch and handwritten correspondence. But so do your socially delinquent friends. Those of us who provide such things now find ourselves all the more valued. Miss Manners hopes we will serve as models for a renaissance of satisfying and mutual social life once society has figured out how to lessen the work-family conflict. So she urges you not to retreat now, but to advance. Think of yourselves as medieval monks, who are preserving civilization until that time. DEAR MISS MANNERS: My oldest friend (since kindergarten) let me borrow a set of four books. Another friend was having a hard time finding two books in the set. I asked my friend if I could let her borrow the books. She said it was fine. Over the last couple of years, I have asked for the books back so I could return them. She has just ignored me. I asked her again, sent her a map from her work to my house and on to her house. According to Mapquest, it would add 6 minutes to her commute to drop the books off at my house. She drives within a mile of my house daily. I waited three more weeks and sent a friendly reminder. I received a text back swearing at me and saying I will get them when I get them. I dropped the books off to her at her work when she borrowed them. So I went out of my way twice to be sure she had them. I am at my wits’ end. My friend who owns the books said not to worry, and it is not worth subjecting me to the abuse. What do you think? GENTLE READER: That you have one good friend and one really bad one. New Miss Manners columns are posted Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays on www.washingtonpost.com/advice. You can send questions to  Miss Manners at her Web site, www.missmanners.com. 2014, by Judith Martin

The discomfort of standing for ceremonial prayer

Regarding the May 7 Metro article “Injunction on prayers by officials is lifted”: This Orthodox Jew and former member of the Maryland House of Delegates is saddened by the Supreme Court’s ruling allowing public prayer at government meetings. Invocations long have been an accepted practice in Maryland. Even Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D), a fellow congregant, called for them when he was the speaker of the House of Delegates. Having little choice in the matter, I accepted them. For 20 years, I stood daily, often with an uncomfortable feeling in my stomach. For me, the issue is not philosophic or academic. Jewish history is replete with forced conversions. On two of the most sacred of days in our calendar, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the “Unetaneh tokef” prayer is recited. The prayer is said to have been composed more than 1,000 years ago when Rabbi Amnon of Mainz died after his tongue was cut out and his limbs amputated because he refused to convert to Christianity. Certain elected officials view public prayer as their freedom of speech. Others view it as bordering on violation of separation of church and state. For me, it is being forced to stand for someone else’s prayer. ****Theodore Levin** , Pikesville, Md.** The writer, a Democrat, was a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from 1975 to 1995. He is running for delegate in Maryland’s 11th District. ● Regarding George F. Will’s May 8 op-ed column, “Thin skins and prayer”: Mr. Will seems to believe that atheists, including me, are just “offended” by hearing a prayer, specifically a Christian prayer. No, we understand that, if we go to a church for the wedding or baptism of a family or a friend, there probably will be prayers. No sensible person can object to these prayers. We object to governmental officials (such as the members of the town board in Greece, N.Y.) using their authority to offer prayers. This favors religious speech over non-religious speech. The proper stance of government, when it comes to religion, is neutrality. Let people to decide to pray or not, and do not invite clergy to urge prayer. If someone decides to pray before a city council meeting or a session of Congress, he doesn’t need a cleric to lead him. He can do it on his own. ****Jerome McCollom** , Milwaukee**

Miss Manners: Beware the invitation with hidden agenda

Fraud on the social scene! It has come to Miss Manners’s attention that invitations that are deliberately and shockingly misleading are being issued to unsuspecting people. She does not mean to justify imperious guests who are outraged if the hosts fail to cede them control over the menu, the time, the dress code and the remainder of the guest list. Nor does she blame hosts who are unaware of their guests’ legitimate restrictions, although it is prudent, these days, to ask if such exist. Rather, she is thinking of dinners that turn out, upon arrival, to be fundraisers; outings whose secret purpose is unauthorized matchmaking; and parties with unannounced amateur entertainment programs, even if those do not star resident children. Most outrageous are the total bait-and-switch invitations by which hospitality has been apparently extended to those who, upon acceptance, are issued hosting responsibilities, such as bringing the food or paying a restaurant bill. If frankly offered, these opportunities might be welcomed. But prior warning — like highway signage announcing falling rocks — offers the opportunity to take another road. Or at least to close the sunroof. Miss Manners believes that a guest’s commitment to an invitation, once accepted, is generally binding. But she leaps to protect guests who discover that a pertinent — and perhaps unpleasant — fact was omitted when the invitation was issued and accepted. There are ways to rescind an acceptance once such a hidden purpose is revealed. One may firmly state a refusal to end mourning and to “move on” by considering a new romance. One may claim sudden indisposition without specifying that the indisposition came on at the prospect of home theatricals. One can explain that one’s disposable income already goes to charities or candidates of one’s own choice. One may plead to be excused because of an inability to comply with the shopping and cooking assignment. But when there has been no warning at all, compliance cannot always be avoided. The correct response will vary depending upon whether one is being pelted with pebbles or boulders. It may be possible to demur when asked for a donation at an unexpected fundraising party. But when an invitation to a restaurant party turns out to be pay-for-yourself (and perhaps even chip in for the purported host), Miss Manners will not allow a fuss that ruins whatever good feelings may have accumulated before the nasty surprise finish. The hapless non-guest should pay the bill and consider the relationship paid off, with no further obligations. At least it will be clear what lies down the road when the next invitation arrives. DEAR MISS MANNERS: I received the following invite from my brother’s companion (over 79 years old): “My son wants a big gathering for Thanksgiving, as his son will be home from college, so he made arrangements for dinner at an Irish pub. They have a dinner for $18 complete with Irish music, etc. I would like it if you and your husband would join us too. My son has a place for two more at the table.” What kind of invite is this? Should I be prepared to pay $18 per? Does this sound like a treat . . . but she did say her son wants to do it up big, etc.? What say you? GENTLE READER: What Miss Manners would say is, “No, thank you.” But, then, she is not tempted to buy a ticket to meet a presumably unknown student whose parent’s idea of “doing it up big” comes at other people’s expense. You may feel differently, and should be grateful that you have been warned in time to decide. New Miss Manners columns are posted Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays on www.washingtonpost.com/advice. You can send questions to  Miss Manners at her Web site, www.missmanners.com. 2014, by Judith Martin

For Easter, first family worships at Alexandria’s Alfred Street Baptist Church

In a change from tradition, the first family chose to celebrate Easter Sunday by worshiping at Alexandria's Alfred Street Baptist Church.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico The predominantly African American church, led the Rev. Howard-John Wesley, has more than 7,000 members, according to its Web site. Wesley's sermon in the wake of George Zimmerman's acquittal in the killing of unarmed African American teenager Trayvon Martin, "When the Verdict Hurts," attracted national attention in 2013.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico "How fitting that on the day we celebrate the rising of our Lord and savior, we also welcome our sitting president," Wesley told the congregation, which began to applaud, as he also welcomed the first lady. The pastor encouraged the crowd to stay seated. "This is not selfie time," he said, as many laughed. "Let the brother worship in the house of God." Obama rose to his feet during a jubilant rendition of the hymn "He Lives," bobbing his head, clapping and swaying slightly. Presidents and their families often attend church service at St John's Episcopal Church, across the street from the White House, but at times they have opted to worship elsewhere. The Obamas have attended services at a number of other D.C. area congregations, according to the White House, including those at the Nineteenth Street Baptist Church, Washington National Cathedral, Allen Chapel A.M.E. Church, Vermont Avenue Baptist Church, Metropolitan A.M.E. Church, Shiloh Baptist Church, Zion Baptist Church, St. John's Episcopal Church and Evergreen Chapel at Camp David.

Top Trump administration officials flock to weekly Bible study classes at White House

Drollinger also leads twice-weekly Bible study classes on Capitol Hill for members of the House and Senate, according to the ministries’ website: CBN reported that DeVos, Sessions, CIA Director Mike Pompeo, Energy Secretary Rick Perry, and Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price have been among the participants, and that President Trump has been invited and receives a copy of each week’s Bible lesson. It quoted Drollinger as saying: “It’s the best Bible study that I’ve ever taught in my life. They are so teachable. They’re so noble. They’re so learned.” There was no immediate response to queries about this from the White House, the vice president’s office or the Education,  or Health and Human Services departments. A CIA spokesman said he could not comment. A Justice Department spokesperson said Sessions does attend the White House Bible study sessions when he is in town. Drollinger did not immediately return phone calls. The website of his ministries says this on its media contact page: Drollinger was quoted as saying this about Sessions: “He’ll go out the same day I teach him something and I’ll see him do it on camera and I just think, ‘Wow, these guys are faithful, available and teachable,’ and they’re at Bible study every week they’re in town.”  There are no rules against studying the Bible in a federal building, though the U.S. government issued rules in 1997, titled “Guidelines on Religious Exercise and Religious Expression in the Federal Workplace,” that stresses the importance of supervisors being careful not to press employees into participating in any way. “Because supervisors have the power to hire, fire or promote, employees may reasonably perceive their supervisors’ religious expression as coercive, even if it was not intended as such,” the guidelines say. “Therefore, supervisors should be careful to ensure that their statements and actions are such that employees do not perceive any coercion … and should, where necessary, take appropriate steps to dispel such misperceptions.”

What to look for from Democrats during Bibi’s speech Tuesday

Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu’s speech Tuesday before a joint session of Congress has Democrats divided on whether  to attend. As of Monday afternoon, you won’t see some 47 House members and eight senators — all Democrats — attending the controversial speech, which was arranged by House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Netanyahu without consultation with the White House.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico In addition to feeling sandbagged, the White House objects to the timing of the speech just two weeks before Israel’s national elections and in the midst of negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Many Democrats — and some Republicans —  nonetheless feel obliged to attend — especially because they don’t want to be seen as disrespectful to the Israeli P.M. or to Israel. But keen political observers know that you can’t paint all Democratic attendees with the same brush. There are always subtleties involved and, in this case, there are several categories of “attendance” to look for. So, here is what to look for: 1. Going but not clapping and looking glum (or miserable). Kind of like the NYPD and New York City Mayor Bill DeBlasio. 2. Going but just not clapping. 4. Going and clapping occasionally at statements lauding the long U.S.-Israeli friendship. 5. Going and warmly clapping throughout. 6. Enthusiastic applause and getting up for an occasional standing O. 7. And finally, not only going but being one of the two dozen senior House and Senate members who are scheduled to escort Bibi to the House chamber.

Women-friendly houses of worship

Lisa Miller’s March 10 On Faith column, “Will women abandon conservative churches?,” gave needed attention to discrimination in this country’s houses of worship. I am happy that women are working within their faiths to undermine an elite boys-only club. Still, should they decide to leave, they have options. They can choose from among Unitarian Universalist and Christian churches, Buddhist sanghas and Jewish synagogues that believe women and men can lead others to holiness. In doing so, they would be contributing to and nurtured by a clerical and leadership body that represents more faces of the heavenly kingdom. ****Daniel Lambert,** Washington**

Miss Manners: Reading is rude in the company of others

DEAR MISS MANNERS: My 62-year-old sister has the habit of pulling a book from her purse in any social outing involving friends, relatives, etc., and reading. She has done so in the lobby of a theater while our group (which she organized) awaits a dramatic performance. She did so as my husband and I, along with several other family members, were en route to my mother-in-law’s funeral via a professionally driven limousine. I consider her behavior the height of rudeness, ignoring everyone in her presence in favor of a book. And I’m a 66-year-old retired librarian! May I have your opinion on her conduct? GENTLE READER: Why doesn’t she use a telephone to be rude, like everyone else? Does she believe that books are presumably more elevating, and thus exempt from the rule against ignoring actual people to attend to something you obviously find more interesting? Miss Manners can assure her that no such exception is made. Or does the lady claim that she has to keep checking the book in case there is an emergency in the plot (as there so often is)? DEAR MISS MANNERS: Growing up, I was blessed to have the good fortune of attending many live performances of different kinds of theater and music. My parents taught me about appropriate behavior for these events, like waiting until the end of a piece to applaud, or bringing cough drops with wrappers that don’t crinkle. They also taught me that standing ovations are reserved for truly exceptional performances (which I have happily participated in on several occasions). For most concerts, I remain in my seat, giving hearty applause in gratitude for the performers’ efforts. What should I do, then, in instances that I don’t think warrant standing ovations? I recently went to a business training in which the keynote speaker was given a standing ovation. She was a gifted speaker, but not extraordinary. Everyone in the room leaped to their feet in applause. I noticed I was one of the few people in the room still sitting. I felt like remaining seated was calling attention to myself and was attracting glares from others — as if my sitting was somehow declaring her training subpar. Thus, I stood too. I realize that “exceptional” is in the eye of the beholder. I have seen/heard better performances than most people, so perhaps I simply have higher standards. So should I stand with the crowd, regardless of how I feel about a performance, or should I reserve my acclaim for what I find truly noteworthy? And where do children’s recitals fall into this? GENTLE READER: To answer your last question first: They don’t. Contrary to human experience, children’s recitals and other amateur performances are considered social events because no one attends unless a personal relationship exists with someone involved. Unbridled enthusiasm is therefore expected. Professional entertainment is in an entirely different category. Unless you are there as a guest (in which case, “Darling, you were marvelous!” is mandatory), you are a paying customer, entitled to an opinion. Miss Manners would consider that applauding lightly while remaining seated would express the positive, but not thrilled, reaction that you described. New Miss Manners columns are posted Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays on www.washingtonpost.com/advice. You can send questions to  Miss Manners at her Web site, www.missmanners.com. 2014, by Judith Martin

Can Congress behave itself when the pope visits?

The possibility of Congress truly, massively embarrassing itself (is that possible?) and the entire country during Pope Francis’s historic address next week is starting to give some members the willies. After all, we’re not talking about the president or some random foreign leader. This is His Holiness Pope Francis, whose official title is, among other things, “Bishop of Rome, Vicar of Jesus Christ, Successor of the Prince of the Apostles,” as well as head of state of the Vatican and leader of more than 1 billion adherents worldwide.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico [ _A pope for all seasons_ ]    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico So, for example, it might not do for the House Sergeant at Arms to bellow at the entrance something like: “Mr. Speaker. . . . The Pope!” And it would be most unseemly if members who go at dawn to snag primo seats on  the aisle were to try to shake his hand or clap him on the back or, God forbid, hug him. (Maybe he should use a different entrance?) It goes without saying no one will be boorish enough to say “you lie” if His Holiness mentions the environment or global warming — or if he reiterates doctrine on contraception. But even the tradition of bipartisan, goofy, wild cheering, clapping or of standing O’s — or sitting boos — could be seen by many as way out of line. Which is what has some people worried. So last week, four House members — Democrats Dan Lipinski (Ill.), Juan Vargas (Calif.), and Republicans Jeff Fortenberry (Neb.) and Tim Murphy (Pa.) sent a letter to House Speaker John Boehner and Democratic Leader Nancy  Pelosi, asking them to put out some sort of guidance “to the House and Senate on the appropriate decorum, protocol and behavior. . . .” Members could use info on “how to greet the Pope, proper attire [no jeans?] . . . among other matters of etiquette,” the letter said. “They should,” Lipinski told us, “applaud when he comes in and applaud when he finishes.” We are hearing that Boehner and Pelosi are indeed now working on a “guidance card”  of some sort to members to, as the letter notes, ensure “proper respect for the Pope” and “avoiding anything that could be construed as politicizing or making a spectacle of his visit.” Some members, such as Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.), are optimistic. “The House and Senate will be on their best behavior,” he told the Loop. “There’s no upside in showing disrespect.” One can only hope . . . and pray.

Come for Jigglypuff, stay for Jesus: Church in the age of Pokémon Go

Before heading to church this past Sunday, I said something to my 14-year-old son that I had never said before: “No playing Pokémon Go during the service.”  The game relies on players visiting local landmarks — including, frequently, churches. Or at least church parking lots.     Every church I have driven past since downloading the game has been a PokéStop — a location in the game where players can stock up on the Poké Balls used to capture the creatures. Other churches serve as gyms, where players battle their best Pokémon. Many pastors and leaders are now trying to find the best way to connect with the players sitting on their doorsteps.  Church leaders have even downloaded the app themselves to place special “lure modules” at their doorsteps, which attract both Pokémon and the real-life millennials who follow. Is this a bait-and-switch tactic? “Come for a Jigglypuff, get Jesus instead?” These pastors and leaders don’t see it that way. They want to be a positive part of their community, and they want to get to know the people around their church building. Pokémon Go is the latest creative means to spark those connections.  Of course, pastors’ aim to give millennial gamers a different view of church does not mean they want to turn their church building into a 24/7 Pokémon tournament.  Like every single app on a smartphone, Pokémon Go offers a tempting distraction at the fingertips of anyone sitting through a sermon. And no pastor wants his message competing against invisible Pokémon popping up on Sunday morning.  But that opposition is more in theory than in practice. Cellphones are often out in the open during today’s church services — and frequently, phones enhance the worship experience.  Now, pastors and teachers may struggle to know who is reading Scripture and who is trying to catch Pokémon. Before we started our class Sunday, the young adults I teach wanted to talk Pokémon Go. We shared our best catches and embarrassing failures. Before I began the lesson, I joked, “Don’t play during class unless you see a rare Pokémon. Then you have to let me know, so I can catch it, too.” Everyone laughed, and we started class. Most kept their phones away and engaged in the discussion. But for a few, the temptation was too great. They didn’t want to miss any Pokémon that might virtually wander in while we talked Bible. That’s the dilemma for churches trying to “catch ’em all.” They want to encourage millennials to be at church, and Pokémon Go is a way to at least get them to the doorstep. But once gamers come in the building for a religious service, teachers and preachers want them to put away what may be the very reason they showed up. I kept an eye on my son, and his phone stayed in his pocket, even though he was missing out on potential catches. That wasn’t the case for the 20-something man walking his dog outside our church. Toward the end of the service, I noticed him standing directly outside the window staring at his phone. The hand movements on his phone were unmistakable — he was playing the game. Presumably, he grabbed the items from our PokéStop, caught a Pokémon and went on his way. He didn’t seem interested in what was happening on the other side of the window. But now, thanks to the game, he knows the location of our church. Maybe that’s a first step to his coming inside, or maybe it’s just the next step to evolving his Pokémon. Time will tell.

Halloween ‘has become a night when the devil rejoices,’ according to Pat Robertson

Each year, Dianne lets her teenage son attend a Halloween event with friends at a local theme park. But this year seemed different, she explained in a letter sent to the Christian Broadcast Network. Rumor had it, she wrote, that the theme park was going to have a haunted house “based on Satan and demons.” But this wasn’t just any rinky-dink production put on by neighborhood high school kids. There would also be “girls” in suggestive demonic attire selling “drinks” and even listening to techno music, wrote the mother, who identified herself only as “Dianne.” As if that wasn’t bad enough, she explained, a “demon DJ” would be in attendance — one who planned to do use his electro-magic dubstepping wizardry to “encourage people to dance.” “I know my son is a good boy, and he will be disappointed if I don’t let him go,” she wrote. “How can I make him understand that keeping him away is the best thing for him?” The answer, according the anti-Halloween crusader known as the Rev. Pat Roberston, is simple: “Tell him the truth.”  “The answer is, mother, don’t let you babies to grow up to be demon worshipers, if I can quote from Willie Nelson,” he added. “Don’t let them do it. That’s just the way it is.”   Unlike last year’s attack on Halloween, Robertson recently offered a solution for parents worried about the soul-corrupting holiday. “There needs to be alternative Halloween celebrations in churches, where they have all the games and all the fun and all the nice pretty girls and all the handsome boys and all that,” he said. “They all come together and they’re praising the lord as opposed to worshiping Satan.” “Halloween has become a night when the devil rejoices,” he added.  The survey revealed that each Halloween, two in three Protestant pastors encourage their congregants to attend church events such as a fall festival or a judgment house. Half of those surveyed said they tell their church members to befriend trick-or-treaters at their doors. The survey revealed that one in 10 pastors instruct their flock to skip Halloween altogether. “Most pastors see Halloween as an opportunity to reach out,” says Scott McConnell, executive director of LifeWay Research. “This is a time when your neighbors literally come to your doorstep. Pastors don’t want their church members to waste that chance to make a connection or invite someone to church.”  Although elements of Halloween may be loosely inspired by ancient pagan harvest rituals, the holiday is strongly rooted in the Christian traditions, such as the Feast of All Saints and the Feast of All Souls, according to Colorado University history professor Scott Bruce.  “In popular tradition, the giving of the soul cake was good for the soul of the giver.” Bruce said the consumption of a soul cake “represents a soul that will be released from purgatory.” The professor noted that Christian Halloween traditions share a sensibility with ancient Pagan traditions, one that becomes more apparent as the natural world changes each fall. “What pre-modern people may have shared is this sensibility that as the days got shorter and as the night encroached upon their lives, the membrane between the world of the living and the dead was thinner,” Bruce said. “This explains our modern fascination with haunting and fantastical entertainment during the days leading up to Halloween.” As recently as last year, Robertson referred to Halloween as “a festival for demonic spirits.” “All this business about goblins and jack-o-lanterns and all that all comes out of demonic rituals of the Druids and the people who lived in England at that particular time,” he said.

Black church leaders try to inspire congregants to vote for Obama

Two dozen of this region’s most influential black pastors sat in the cramped conference room of a suburban Baptist church last week, brainstorming how to inspire congregants still dismayed by President Obama’s support for same-sex marriage. One idea that emerged was to focus black churchgoers on the differences between Obama’s traditional brand of Christianity and Republican nominee Mitt Romney’s Mormonism, especially its history of racial discrimination. “We can’t tell people who to vote for, but we can certainly point out the differences,” said the Rev. Lin Hill, associate minister of the 2,500-member Bethany Baptist Church, which hosted the gathering on Saturday. “Our president has declared Jesus Christ to be his Lord and savior, while his opponent denies the deity of Christ.” Hill’s analysis of Mormon theology is rejected by Romney and church officials, who say they believe in Christ’s divinity. It is unclear how widespread Hill’s sentiments are; many black church leaders say it is inappropriate to attack a candidate’s religion, and Obama campaign officials have said Romney’s faith is off limits. That such a meeting occurred at all reflects growing concern among African American pastors and other community leaders that a significant dropoff in black voter turnout could prove devastating to reelecting the first African American president, particularly in closely fought swing states such as Virginia. How best to motivate black voters, however, is a topic of wide-ranging opinion among clergy. “I want people to vote because they’re pro-health-care, not because they’re anti-Mormon,” said the Rev. Howard-John Wesley, pastor of the Alfred Street Baptist Church in Alexandria, who added that questions about Romney’s religious beliefs were coming up so frequently within his 5,000-member congregation that he decided to host a course on Mormon theology to counteract misconceptions that lead to prejudice. Romney also has had to confront skepticism about his faith from many white evangelicals who make up a large segment of the Republican base. His campaign used last week’s GOP national convention to provide more information about Romney’s faith and his past work with the church, including stirring presentations from fellow Mormons. The Norfolk-area pastors who met for two hours on Saturday agreed to produce a voter-education guide for wide distribution in churches and community centers throughout the Hampton Roads region. As a starting point, they shared a one-page, side-by-side chart comparing “Biblical Christianity” to Mormonism, describing its differing views of Jesus Christ and noting that people of “African ancestry were not granted full access to Mormon priesthood and privilege until 1978.” Obama campaign spokeswoman Clo Ewing said: “We have made clear — and do so again — that a candidate’s religion is out of bounds.” Obama complimented Romney’s church work in a new Time magazine interview published last week, saying that “he takes his faith very seriously. And as somebody who takes my Christian faith seriously, I appreciate that he seems to walk the walk and not just be talking the talk when it comes to his participation in his church.” As for whether Obama’s stance on gay marriage continues to haunt him in some black churches, Ewing said that blacks will turn out for the president “because of his achievements on the issues that most affect their lives — including his historic health-care reform, investments in education and our progress in getting people back to work.” Obama, who had opposed same-sex marriage as a presidential candidate, made his change of heart public during a May interview with ABC’s Robin Roberts. “I’ve just concluded that for me personally it is important for me to go ahead and affirm that I think same-sex couples should be able to get married,” the president said. Obama advisers say the gay-marriage issue was a hot topic in black churches immediately after that interview, but that questions now come up only occasionally during routine conference calls and meetings with black ministers from across the country. “There was a lot of discussion at the beginning, but now most of it comes from the media rather than from the pews,” said Vashti McKenzie, an African Methodist Episcopal bishop and a national co-chairman of the Obama campaign. At the time, Obama’s new stance on marriage was seen largely as a political plus. It created a buzz of excitement among many liberals who had been feeling ambivalent about Obama’s reelection, and the news prompted many gay donors to send money to Obama’s campaign and the Super PAC supporting him. Even so, Obama and his aides immediately recognized the potential to create unrest in some black churches. A third of blacks disapproved of Obama’s decision, according to a Washington Post-ABC News survey conducted shortly after the announcement. And some strategists in both parties believe anti-gay-marriage ballot initiatives helped drive black voters in some states, including in the presidential battleground of Ohio, to support Republican President George W. Bush’s reelection in 2004. Conservatives campaigned heavily on the issue that year in black churches. The Pew Research Center has found that only about 40 percent of African Americans think same-sex marriage should be legal, though Post polling has shown a modest rise in support since the president made his views known. Shortly after his May announcement, Obama hosted a conference call with a number of black ministers to explain his thinking. He described it as a matter of fairness, but emphasized that he believed individual churches and states should be allowed to make their own decisions about marriage. One of the pastors on the call, the Rev. Delman Coates of Mount Ennon Baptist Church in Clinton, Md., said in an interview later that only a “small cohort” of black pastors remained motivated solely by their opposition to gay marriage. He said Obama’s position has pushed more blacks to support legalized same-sex marriage. Obama “has much more to gain from this than he has to lose,” Coates said. At the Baptist church in Chesapeake last week, however, the pastors who were gathered in the conference room felt differently. The e-mail announcing the get-together and inviting pastors from around the Norfolk area laid out the concerns in stark terms. “We are concerned that many of our congregants are developing an aversion to supporting the President at the polls” because of the marriage statement, read the e-mail. The Aug. 17 note was written by Hill, who is on the board of the Chesapeake Democratic Committee, and the Rev. George Spicer, a fellow associate minister at Bethany Baptist. At last week’s gathering, participants discussed listing health care and other issues in the voter-education guide they would prepare in the coming weeks. Yet they worried that the marriage question could “tie down” Obama, as one pastor put it, and that it threatened to make the election a one-issue race in some places. “We need to make our parishioners aware,” said the Rev. Joseph E. Lamb Sr. of St. Thomas AME Zion in Norfolk, as heads nodded affirmatively throughout the room, “that not voting is a vote for the other guy.” Several pastors speculated that Obama’s repeal of the military’s ban on openly gay service people might be hurting him in the Hampton Roads area, home to many military personnel. Others said they doubted that ending the “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy would be an issue, but that marriage was a more difficult subject to reconcile. “I say this as someone who supports our president,” said the Rev. Michael Toliver, senior pastor of First Baptist Church South Hill in Chesapeake and one of the participants in the meeting last week, “but I’m finding it difficult to wrestle with the fact that our president is a devout Christian, yet takes a stance that is not in line with Christianity.” Similar concerns about gay marriage and turnout are being expressed by congregants and clergy in other black churches across the country, according to interviews with pastors in several battleground states. In the central Florida city of Melbourne, for instance, several ministers joined forces recently to host a community forum to address lingering questions about Obama’s gay-marriage announcement. Roughly 200 people attended the meeting, during which pastors tried to reassure congregants that Obama, however misguided on this one issue, still demonstrated Christian values in his personal life and policy decisions. Most parishioners seemed satisfied, the pastors said. “The picture I gave them was that this may be the platform on which he speaks for the Democratic Party, but he epitomizes the picture of what we preach in terms of the family,” said the Rev. S. Benjamin Brown, pastor of the Kingdom Life Church of God in Christ in Melbourne. “He and Michelle are raising children, taking them to church, acknowledging God, acknowledging that they are a Christian family.” Rev. Brown said a number of congregants posed questions about Romney’s religion during the public forum he and other area pastors held over the summer to discuss Obama’s marriage position. “People wanted to know, is this really a Christian church?” Rev. Brown said. In Raleigh, N.C., the Rev. Stenneth Powell Sr. of the 1,200-member Abundant Life Christian Center said Romney’s Mormonism does come up in conversation with friends and congregants as a point of concern. “There’s a lot of good things about the Mormon faith, but you’ve got to remember the Mormon people, their opinions of the African Americans were not good until recently,” he said. Scott Clement contributed to this report.

The people who are supposed to be constraining Trump clearly aren’t

There is, we strongly suspect, no master plan that involves attacking the mayor of a victimized city, blowing your cover on the Muslim travel ban and worsening our already- tarnished image with European allies. This is impulsive, unhinged behavior — and that’s an inconvenient fact for those convinced that it is honorable to serve in this administration because the presence of mature, sober figures keeps the country from running into a ditch. With the exception of Jim Mattis, who might prevent a nuclear volley or other calamity involving our armed services, there seems to be less and less reason for others to hang around.  Maybe he was peeved there was no sword dance or lavish reception, as there has been in Saudi Arabia. Maybe he didn’t like French President Emmanuel Macron’s handshake. Whatever the explanation, a president who on the spur of the moment decides not to communicate a key commitment is also a president who might not keep it even if he said it. He repeatedly proves himself feckless and thereby undercuts the United States’ standing with allies and its image with foes. And once again, it demonstrates that when it matters most, top advisers serve up the appearance of sanity without prompting him to act more sanely. In other words, they are enabling him. As I said before, literally to prevent nuclear war, Mattis should remain, but the other two in his national-security triumvirate have failed to constrain and guide the president when it mattered. Their leaving would be more beneficial than their staying at this point.

Saudi Arabia is moving to rein in its religious police. Sort of.

Parliament? Constitution? Sort of, but there’s a bit of exaggeration there. Biting public debate about religion? Yes. In Saudi Arabia now, foreign policy debates are monitored and dissenting opinions squelched. Religious debates are much more freewheeling and wide open. The religious police being rendered toothless or even abolished? The first has happened; the Hay’a no longer has police powers. The second seems unlikely because it may be unnecessary, but it is under discussion. Since the early decades of the Saudi state, the Hay’a, whose full name is generally translated as the “Committee for Promoting Virtue and Combating Vice,” enforced its interpretation of Islamic strictures on public behavior. Its personnel are sometimes known as mutaww’in, or volunteers. They have prevented vice with enthusiasm, focusing to varying degrees over the years on mixed-gender gatherings, the closure of business places during prayer times and honest practices in public markets.    These past few months, rumors have been rife that the Hay’a’s days are numbered. Before a recent visit to Saudi Arabia, I was told jokingly that I may not find it by the time I arrived. No move has yet been made, but in July, the Saudi Consultative Assembly — a body that does not have full legislative authority but does review and discuss policy and public administration — debated a recommendation that the Hay’a be folded in to the ministry of Islamic affairs. The Interior Ministry is also mentioned as a possible host for the body. Such steps would be a serious bureaucratic demotion for the Hay’a, which has enjoyed considerable autonomy as a free-standing body. The parliamentary debate hardly determined the fate of the Hay’a. But it is a mark that such discussions have become fully public in Saudi Arabia, which is sharply polarized about the Hay’a — and about the role of religion in Saudi society and in public life more generally. For some, the Hay’a is necessary to maintain order and public morality; for others, it is a retrograde body that has a history of enforcing rules in a thuggish manner. Those who live in Saudi Arabia have experienced significant variations in the Hay’a’s role and presence — but rarely has its existence been up for discussion. The Saudi state seems to be consolidating itself. The country’s rulers are rearranging fiefdoms to suit their needs, bringing others to heel, and increasingly, abolition is discussed. Such a drastic step would be a surprising departure. The Hay’a has a constituency in support of its work. Its personnel are drawn from pious parts of Saudi society whose influence has diminished over state policy but who still might be seen as costly to alienate totally by depriving them of their jobs.   The range of issues on which scholars all disagree is, of course, limited. In that sense, almost all the law in force would be that which the king had decreed. Should such views prevail more broadly, sharia will not disappear from public life, but the system in which Saudi judges and other officials are granted leeway to act in accordance with their own scholarship and interpretations is clearly eroding.

Where was Sasha Obama during her father’s farewell address?

It was one of the more emotional moments of President Obama’s farewell address. His eyes swelling with tears, he spoke of his wife, “Michelle LaVaughn Robinson of the South Side,” and then, of his pride in their two daughters, Malia and Sasha.   When his family joined Obama on the stage, at the close of his farewell speech, they held hands and waved at the audience, creating an image of the family that mirrored a similar one from more than eight years ago, at Obama’s victory rally in the same city. But one member of the family was missing: the youngest, Sasha. And immediately, the Internet noticed. People tweeted in confusion, wondering where the teenager could be.  https://twitter.com/dorantesmarisol/status/819017767575834624 Soon enough, the answer arrived. She had an exam at school Wednesday morning, a White House official said. While her family traveled to Chicago, Sasha stayed in Washington. The 15-year-old attends Sidwell Friends, a highly selective school in the nation’s capital. On the school’s website, exam protocols include guidelines that “students must adhere to the published examination schedule. Absence for travel is not an adequate reason to re-schedule an exam.” Even, perhaps, if the travel is for your father’s presidential farewell address?  “Transferring someone in the middle of high school — tough,” the president said.

Take him out to the ballpark: Obama Little League stop part of carefully planned photo op

Jim Wallis, the founder of Sojourners magazine, was preparing to coach his 11-year-old son Jack’s baseball team this week in Northwest Washington when two people he assumed were parents approached him on the field. Instead, they were White House aides, and they had some surprising news: President Obama was on his way to the game and would arrive in 15 minutes. “I said, ‘Really? He’s coming here?’ ” Wallis, 64, a pastor who has served on Obama’s faith council, recalled in an interview. He looked at his charges who were holding baseball bats and had not been screened by the Secret Service, and he assumed the president was stopping by on a whim. “It seemed impromptu,” Wallis said. In fact, Obama’s appearance Monday evening at the Friendship Park baseball diamond — during which he threw a pitch to a 10-year-old and took photos with the players — was a carefully planned photo op known in White House parlance as an OTR, or “off the record,” stop. Planned in secret, with no warning even to the press corps traveling in the presidential motorcade, the events are designed for Obama to engage in everyday activities with ordinary people, while subtly making a broader point about his political agenda — and usually drawing positive media coverage in the process. Most commonly, Obama visits a deli or burger joint for a midday meal, as he did when heshowed up at Shake Shack on Connecticut Avenue NW with Vice President Biden on Friday to have lunch with four construction workers and talk about investing in infrastructure. Other times, he is attempting to boost the political campaigns of fellow Democrats, such as when he ordered cheesecake at Junior’s restaurant in Brooklyn with then-New York mayoral candidate Bill de Blasio in October a week before de Blasio was elected. Obama also has been known to reward businesses that support his causes, such as when he visited a Gap store in New York in March after the retailer raised workers’ wages at a time the president is calling for an increase in the federal minimum wage. He plopped down a credit card to pay for sweaters for his daughters and a workout jacket for the first lady — and joked about the newfangled credit card machines at the register. Administration officials said Obama’s stop Monday evening at the Little League game was a bid to foreshadow his visit to Cooperstown, N.Y., on Thursday, where he is scheduled to visit the Baseball Hall of Fame and deliver remarks about the economic benefits of tourism. “It’s the national pastime; it’s spring,” White House press secretary Jay Carney said in an interview. “But the purpose of the visit to Cooperstown is to highlight the president’s initiative on tourism in a week where we’re focusing on foreign investment in the U.S.” The connection between foreign tourists and Danny Ringel, 10, may seem tenuous. Ringel deftly scooped up a pitch from Obama, prompting the president to tell him, “You saved me from grounding.” Obama did not mention any grand economic incentives during his time at the field, which was about 12 minutes before he got back into his limousine. Reporters traveling with the president, who was on his way to a Democratic fundraiser in Potomac, Md., were unaware of the stop ahead of time and appeared uncertain about the reason for the visit even after they arrived. Some mentioned the upcoming trip to Cooperstown but others — including those from local Washington media outlets who arrived after the president had departed — did not. Wallis said he suspected there was another reason for Obama’s visit: Carney’s 9-year-old daughter, Della, was playing in another game at the park at the same time with her team, the Royals. Carney said that was pure coincidence. The White House travel advance team had selected the field earlier in the week, the spokesman said, and he didn’t find out until staff members disclosed it in a planning meeting Monday morning. Carney said he didn’t even tell his wife, television journalist Claire Shipman, who was attending the game with their son, for fear of compromising the security around the presidential stop. “I try to make her games, so I was going to go anyway,” said Carney, who hitched a ride in Obama’s limo. Also on the Royals was the son and daughter of “Meet the Press” host David Gregory. The son of former Obama adviser David Plouffe was on the opposing team. “It’s Washington,” Carney said of the collection of notable names on the field. The president was a good luck charm for the Tigers and the Royals, which both won their games. Jack Wallis had a double, a triple and a homer, and Della Carney made a stellar catch in left field. Her father, who stayed at the game as Obama went on to the fundraiser, watched proudly. __

GOP candidates swim against the tide on gay marriage

No one can be certain which way the Supreme Court will rule on gay marriage, but the direction of history’s arrow is plain for all to see — except, apparently, the Republican candidates for president. Actually, the very fact that the court is hearing arguments on the issue this week seems to telegraph how the justices are leaning. Prior rulings have been read by lower courts as a mandate to throw open the courthouse doors, with the result that same-sex marriage is now legal in 36 states and the District of Columbia. The main arguments against gay marriage, always as thin as tissue paper, have become irrelevant. There has been no rending of the fabric of society. There has been no deleterious impact on “traditional” marriage. A recent Washington Post-ABC News poll showed that 61 percent of Americans now support same-sex marriage — meaning no one can claim the nation is somehow unprepared to see two men or two women walking down the aisle. For much of the country, gay marriage is becoming old news. But you would never know that from listening to the GOP presidential hopefuls, who play rhetorical Twister whenever the issue is raised. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker says he firmly opposes gay marriage. But he’s no bigot — he attended a relative’s same-sex nuptials. But he went only to the reception, not the actual ceremony. What, pray tell, is the distinction Walker is trying to draw? He was happy to celebrate an exchange of vows that he refused to witness? Would he maybe have been comfortable attending the ceremony but sitting way in the back, perhaps with a bag over his head? Sen. Ted Cruz (Tex.) — who, like Walker, hopes to do well among social conservatives in the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses — is typically vocal and uncompromising in his opposition to gay marriage, maintaining that the “traditional” definition is “ordained by God.” But when he attended a recent New York fundraiser hosted by two gay businessmen, a perfect setting for one of his tour de force demonstrations of confrontational rhetoric, Cruz mostly maintained a mouselike silence on the subject. He did offer that if one of his daughters were gay, he’d be fine with that. But when asked whether he would attend a same-sex wedding, he didn’t say yes or no. Cruz’s spokesman, Rick Tyler, claimed to see no confusion in any of this. But of course there is. For an increasing number of Americans, opposing same-sex marriage means being anti-gay. Being pro-gay and anti-gay at the same time is something not even a candidate with Cruz’s gift of gab can pull off. Sen. Marco Rubio (Fla.) is also trying to split the difference. Like Walker and Cruz, he says he opposes gay marriage but argues it should be left to the states — which is, when you think about it, more of a cop-out than a solution. Ours is a peripatetic nation; families move from state to state in search of better jobs, different lifestyles, relief from allergies, whatever. It is absurd that couples would have all the legal rights and responsibilities of matrimony in the state they’re leaving and not in the state they’re moving to. That was the situation faced by Richard and Mildred Loving, an interracial couple, in 1967 when their case reached the Supreme Court — the Lovings’ marriage, performed in the District of Columbia, was illegal in Virginia. The court struck down all laws across the country banning interracial marriage — as it should now do with laws prohibiting same-sex marriage. Despite his “states’ rights” position, Rubio has been seeking support from the Log Cabin Republicans, an association of gay conservatives. Perhaps to this end, he says he would attend the same-sex wedding of a friend if invited. Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) says he supports “traditional marriage,” but he also favors “the neutrality of the law that allows people to have contracts with another.” But if the law were truly neutral, same-sex couples would be treated just like opposite-sex couples, right? Or is Paul somehow redefining neutrality? Rick Santorum, Mike Huckabee and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal are at least unambiguous and consistent in their opposition to same-sex marriage. Their problem is simply that most Americans disagree. Finally, Jeb Bush: With several prominent supporters of gay marriage on his staff, might his views be evolving? I think he should call a news conference and announce full support for marriage equality. It might just help his lumbering campaign get its mojo back. _Read more fromEugene Robinson’s archive, follow him on Twitter or subscribe to his updates on Facebook. You can also join him Tuesdays at 1 p.m. for a live Q&A;._ **Read more on this topic:** Dana Milbank: The new argument against gay equality: Same-sex marriage kills Jennifer Rubin: Republicans venture to gay weddings and gay power couples’ homes The Post’s View: Despite resistance, Alabama heads the right way on same-sex marriage Ruth Marcus: America’s amazing transformation on same-sex marriage Charles Lane: Pushing same-sex marriage ahead Telnaes: Marco Rubio needs a lesson in the history of marriage

Obama to make first visit of his presidency to a U.S. mosque next week

President Obama will make the first visit during his presidency to a U.S. mosque, the White House announced Saturday, part of the administration’s push to promote religious tolerance at a time when rhetoric linking Islam with terrorism is growing. On Wednesday, the president will visit the Islamic Society of Baltimore, a sprawling community center in the city’s western suburbs that serves thousands of people with a place of worship, a housing complex and schools, according to its website. It is one of the Mid-Atlantic region’s largest Muslim centers and describes itself as aspiring “to be the anchor of a growing Muslim community with diverse backgrounds, democratically governed, relating to one another with inclusiveness and tolerance, and interacting with neighbors in an Islamic exemplary manner.”    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico The president is making the visit “to celebrate the contributions Muslim Americans make to our nation and reaffirm the importance of religious freedom to our way of life,”  a White House official wrote in an email Saturday. “The President believes that one of our nation’s greatest strengths is our rich diversity and the very idea that Americans of different faiths and backgrounds can thrive together – that we’re all part of the same American family. As the President has said, Muslim Americans are our friends, and neighbors; our co-workers, and sports heroes – and our men and women in uniform defending our country.” At the Islamic Society, the president will hold a roundtable discussion with community members, the official said. The visit will be part of the tightrope-walking Obama has done during his presidency around Islam. For years, Muslim Americans have lobbied him to visit a mosque, citing Islamophobia. At the same time, a segment of Obama’s critics have said since he took office that he is a Muslim pretending to be Christian, and that he plays down the religious aspect of Muslim extremism. Recent polls show that 29 percent of Americans and nearly 45 percent of Republicans think he is a Muslim. The visit comes in the last year of his presidency. The possibility of a mosque visit came up again a month ago, when several prominent Muslim Americans met with senior White House officials to discuss concerns about rising hostility toward people of their faith. During that session _ which was attended by White House senior adviser Valerie Jarrett, Domestic Policy Council director Cecilia Muñoz and deputy national security adviser Ben Rhodes — the Islamic leaders asked for Obama to visit a mosque, ideally with former president George W. Bush.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Presidents rarely visit houses of worship, aside from when they have attended church for their own religious practices. Obama regularly attends religious services on key holidays. In May, he visited a synagogue for the first time as president. In 2001, Bush visited the Islamic Cultural Center of Washington, six days after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, where he declared, “Islam is peace,” and “the face of terror is not the true faith of Islam.” While Islamophobia has been an issue for some time, particularly as the Islamic State has gained strength in Iraq and Syria, it intensified once Republican lawmakers and presidential candidates began calling for a halt to refugees from the Mideast after terrorist strikes in Paris and San Bernardino, Calif., late last year. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) and former Florida governor Jeb Bush (R) have suggested screening asylum seekers on the basis of religion and accepting only Christians. And in December, Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump called for a “total and complete shutdown” of the entry of Muslims to the United States “until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.” More broadly, Cruz and several other Republicans have criticized Obama and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton for refusing to use the phrase “radical Islam” when discussing terrorist activities. Obama has increasingly spoken out against the anti-Muslim rhetoric. “When politicians insult Muslims, whether abroad or our fellow citizens, when a mosque is vandalized, or a kid bullied, that doesn’t make us safer,” he said during his State of the Union address this month. “That’s not telling it like it is. It’s just wrong. It diminishes us in the eyes of the world. It makes it harder to achieve our goals. It betrays who we are as a country.” Speaking at the Israeli Embassy Wednesday night at the first Righteous Among Nations awards banquet held in the United States, the president said the impulse to stigmatize people of other faiths is “deep within us.” “Too often, especially in times of change, especially in times of anxiety and uncertainty, we are too willing to give into a base desire to find someone else — someone different — to blame for our struggles,” the president said. “An attack on any faith is an attack on all of our faiths.” The president is making the visit “to celebrate the contributions Muslim Americans make to our nation and reaffirm the importance of religious freedom to our way of life,” a White House official wrote in an email Saturday. “As the President has said, Muslim Americans are our friends, and neighbors; our co-workers, and sports heroes — and our men and women in uniform defending our country.” The official added that the event, coming just days after Obama spoke out against anti-Semitism and right before his appearance at the National Prayer breakfast, amounts to “reaching out to our fellow Americans to let them know we’re here for each other, regardless of where they come from, or what they look like, or what faith they practice.  This is a message the President wants every American – of all faiths – to hear.” Former White House senior adviser Dan Pfeiffer wrote in an e-mail that the symbolism of Obama visiting a mosque would resonate nationwide. “The President of the United States is the most powerful person in the world,” Pfeiffer wrote, “and his presence sends a very powerful message to the Muslim American community.” One close watcher of the role of religion in presidential politics said the timing of events next week was not a coincidence and that the mosque visit would be a stark contrast with the anti-Muslim rhetoric coming from multiple leading GOP candidates. “By linking those two events so closely — that’s politically significant,” said the person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they did not want to upset the administration. It was not immediately clear why the White House selected the Islamic Society in Baltimore, although it has been the subject of threats in recent months. Baltimore County beefed up security there last spring after it received two phone threats, one citing a bomb and the other from someone threatening to “spill Muslim blood,” CBS Baltimore reported at the time. It also is the mosque of the family of Adnan Syed, whose conviction for murder drew huge global interest when his story was told through the radio podcast “Serial.” The series was made because of the activism of a friend of Syed’s family from the Islamic Society, Rabia Chaudry, a Greenbelt lawyer who advises law enforcement about Islam, the Baltimore Sun reported in 2014.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Hoda Hawa, director of policy at the Muslim Public Affairs Council, an advocacy group that has been involved in discussions with the White House about a mosque visit, said the Islamic Society is “the average Joe mosque” — meaning it has no newsmaking components or leaders and perhaps had been chosen for that reason. Obama has visited several mosques overseas but never one in this country while serving as president. “I think it would be enormously comforting and also send a powerful message to Americans about recommitting to religious freedom — especially if we had Bush and Obama visit together,” Farhana Khera, executive director of Muslim Advocates, a legal advocacy group, said last month when she met with the president’s aides. Obama’s relationship with American Muslims has been complicated. They are among his most enthusiastic backers, but some feel he has not done enough to address their concerns at a time of social unrest.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico He has shown support for Muslims overseas, including the 2009 “New Beginning” speech in Cairo before the Arab Spring, and he has drawn praise — and intense criticism from conservatives — for declining to connect Islam and terrorism. However, concern about profiling and domestic surveillance at mosques has escalated under Obama, and some Muslim leaders expressed concern last year when he held a key summit about violent extremism that focused significantly on Muslim extremism. During his tenure, American Muslims have become more institutionally organized, and a wider diversity of Muslim perspectives have become public, including on issues such as Obama’s policies in Syria or the fact that the military detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, remains open. However, Hawa said, most Muslim organizations feel their voices have been heard much more under this administration. “We have at least had a seat at the table, and that is a level of engagement we haven’t seen for some time,” she said. The end of the administration is a “critical point. We don’t know who will replace him, but regardless, we need to be involved in the conversation.” **Want more stories about faith? Follow Acts of Faith onTwitter or sign up for our newsletter.**    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Obama thought he could unite a religiously divided America. He was wrong    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico When Muslims are the targets, religious freedom advocates largely go silent    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Britain might deport Muslim women who can’t learn English. As a Muslim, I support that    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico

From a movie theater church, pastor Mark Batterson blends orthodoxy and innovation

Packed sidewalks are part of weekend life on Capitol Hill’s Eighth Street, a gentrifying half-mile of sleek pubs and high-end comfort food restaurants. But in recent months, the biggest sidewalk scene has been at 9 a.m. on Sundays, when hundreds of people pour into a retro movie theater with a huge, white cross over the door. The mostly 20-something crowd looks like a bushy-tailed version of the people who might have been — and probably were — on Eighth Street the night before or who during the week do partisan battle up the street as congressional staffers or lobbyists or White House aides. Many members of this unusual church are on Capitol Hill for the same reason as their pastor, Mark Batterson, a one-time University of Chicago basketball player who felt God called him from the Midwest to the District in 1995 to “influence the influencers.” Batterson, 42, seems to be doing just that. His seven-site National Community Church is one of the fastest-growing ministries in the city, having ecently purchased $15 million worth of real estate properties — that it owns debt-free across Capitol Hill at a time when it’s rare for a city church to expand. Close watchers of the evangelical pastor scene say Batterson is among the most promising leaders for the next generation. “I’m not sure if anyone could make a bet as to whether he’ll reach the rare echelon of the top two or three pastors, but he’s clearly putting himself in the hunt,” said David Kinnaman, president of the evangelical polling and research firm the Barna Group. Batterson’s typical Sunday crowd is hardly typical. In a back row of the movie theater, which the church is restoring, sits an aide to a Republican presidential contender. With the place packed to overflow, as usual, a jeans-clad member of President Obama’s faith-outreach team sits cross-legged on the floor. Leaders of national advocacy groups from across the spectrum dot the audience. The type of people whose days are jammed with partisan power politics, they love Batterson in part because he has embraced a credo that is gaining popularity among younger conservative evangelicals: Lay off the politics, particularly of the divisive kind. Beyond his no-politics-in-church rule, a key hallmark of Batterson’s is how he blends orthodoxy and innovation. Raised in the Assemblies of God denomination, he has created a nondenominational megachurch that actually has no church, in the conventional sense. His 3,000 members meet in movie theaters, coffee shops and, he hopes soon, a large concert venue. As an aspiring filmmaker who came to faith through a movie, he thrives on popular culture, from the arts to the slickest marketing. His staff includes pastors for visual story-telling, or multimedia, and branding. Outreach magazine, which covers growing churches, named the National Community Church one of the country’s most influential. Walking into church one recent Sunday in jeans, a cowboy-style shirt and a stubbly goatee, the 6-foot-3 former shooting guard hugs people left and right as he walks to the front. In sermons, even after thunderous contemporary Christian rock from a live band and even with ushers gathering tithes in faux popcorn boxes, his style is casual but intimate, sort of like it was his turn to talk at a 12-step meeting. No judgment, no talking down, no politics, no policies, except one: This worshiping God business is no game, no metaphor. His best-selling books and sermons are filled with people who listened to what they believe were direct orders from God: to drive to a friend’s house in the middle of the night, or to get on their knees in the Cleveland airport (that one happened to Batterson). The point is to obey God. “Prayer is not about letting God know your will; it’s about completely submitting to him. You die to yourself,” he said one recent Sunday. Batterson is already a popular author and blogger who speaks before tens of thousands of evangelical pastors each year. His new book, “The Circle Maker,” was picked by Christian publishing giant Zondervan as one of its top three to promote this year to tens of thousands of churches. The book, a how-to on prayer, debuted as a New York Times bestseller in the advice category and sold 50,000 copies in its first two months. The devout from both the Obama crowd and the Liberty University crew seem attracted to Batterson’s focus: finding a way in a secular culture to have an intense, submissive relationship with God. In a town filled with strivers, Batterson teaches that if you pray deeply and specifically, God will provide that job, that piece of real estate. “God is for you,” he writes in “The Circle Maker.” “If you don’t believe that, then you’ll pray small timid prayers.” Batterson came to Washington to take over a church of 19 people after a small church he tried to start in Chicago failed. Five years later, the church, using the theater at Union Station, had grown to 500 followers. Batterson and some experts think his business model may be the future of urban Christianity: Make “church” the places where people already are. He has been known as the icon for the “theater church movement” for a decade. “In an urban environment, a church building is a thing of the past. We’ll approach this like a developer,” he said in an interview. Prayer circles are another Batterson trademark. He talks about walking around neighborhoods or buildings in prayer, meditating on things he thinks God is calling him to do in those places. Sometimes the prayer circles are in his mind. The concept is to keep prayers, and goals, specific. “The Circle Maker” tells of a 4.7-mile prayer walk he did one sweaty August day in 1996, a route that now encompasses all the properties the church would eventually acquire. This is classic Batterson: an orthodox concept — a real God, who intervenes in your life if you seek His will — presented in motivational language. The church’s core values and beliefs include the literal truth of Jesus’s resurrection and the inherently sinful state of humans, as well as self-helpy axioms such as “Everything is an experiment” and “Do it right and do it big.” Many churches have “small groups” for prayer and support; National Community Church has a “free-market society,” encouraging people to form groups based on shared interests, from the Book of Job to milkshakes and stopping sex trafficking. Congregants can put the group together. If it flies, great; if not, kill it. Batterson is known for pithy sayings: We don’t brainstorm, we praystorm. Coffee shops are post-modern wells, like the ones where biblical characters would gather. If Christianity was a company, his church would want to be R&D. Kinnaman said it’s this merger of faith and communications skills that make Batterson a pastor who can thrive in today’s culture. “No one is quite putting the package together quite like he is,” Kinnaman said. “He has this extra optimism and hopefulness at a time when people are really struggling.”

Congressional leaders ask members to show restraint when pope visits

We posed the question earlier this week: Can Congress behave itself when the pope visits?    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Appears there is some real concern that grown adults won’t be able to restrain themselves from acting like adolescents at a One Direction concert the moment Pope Francis enters the chamber next week. So on Thursday, lawmakers received a letter signed by House and Senate leaders requesting decorum. (Yes, really, this had to be asked.) “Out of respect for the Pope’s schedule and the expectation of a timely address, we respectfully request that you assist us by refraining from handshakes and conversations along and down the center aisle…,” read the letter, signed by House Speaker John Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid. More information on “dignitary protocols” would be available on their congressional internal Web sites. We’re hearing from several Senate sources that it’s not posted yet. Well, these things take time when there’s so much to cover. (No selfies. No fist pumping. No cheering. No, not even a hearty, “amen.”) Such little faith in members of Congress.

Services set for slain Charleston churchgoers

Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, a sanctuary shattered by one of the deadliest church shootings in U.S. history, became the place many of the victims’ families returned to bury their loved ones. On Friday, three consecutive visitations were held in the historic church known as Mother Emanuel, which President Obama referred to as “a church built by blacks seeking liberty, burned to the ground because its founders sought to end slavery only to rise up again, a phoenix from these ashes.” Obama called the church, “the beating heart” of a community … “where children are loved and fed and kept out of harm’s way and told that they are beautiful and smart and taught that they matter.” Emanuel was a “sacred place” whose members held steadfast against segregation laws, banning all-black church gatherings. Throughout its history, services continued at Emanuel “in defiance of unjust laws.” Obama said. From its pulpit, Martin Luther King Jr. preached. From its steps, civil rights marches began. And this week, it was to the doors of Mother Emanuel, where many of those faithful members who were slain while attending that fateful Bible study, returned one last time. Dylann Roof, 21, an avowed white supremacist, is accused of shooting and killing nine church members attending Bible study in the fellowship hall on June 17. Roof, who was arrested June 18, in Shelby, N.C., was charged with nine counts of murder and possessing a firearm in the commission of a violent crime. The visitation for Susie Jackson began at 5 p.m. Friday. It was followed two hours later with the visitation for her nephew Tywanza Sanders, 26. An hour and a half later was the visitation for Cynthia Hurd, who usually didn’t make it to Wednesday night Bible study meetings because she often worked late at the library a few doors down Calhoun Street from the church. Hurd’s funeral was scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday at the church. Families of Sanders and Jackson decided to hold joint funeral services at 2 p.m. Saturday at Emanuel. Sanders, had tried to save his “Auntie” Susie, 87, the oldest member attending the Bible study that night. On Sunday, the visitation for Myra Thompson is scheduled from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Emanuel. Thompson’s funeral is scheduled for 11 a.m. Monday at the church. The last of the Emanuel Nine is scheduled to be buried Thursday. The funeral service of Rev. Daniel Simmons Sr., who tried to save his pastor from the shooter, is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. Thursday at Bethel AME Church in Columbia, S.C. (Services for Ethel Lance and Sharonda Coleman-Singleton were held earlier this week, on Thursday. The Reverend Clementa Pinckney’s funeral, which Obama eulogized, was Friday.)

A shutdown hours away, Congress spends time praying, hiking, parenting, partying

It’s an odd predicament for a modern-day member of Congress: How do you kill time during a weekend in Washington? With precious hours remaining until the end of the fiscal year, there were no meetings between House and Senate leaders Sunday to break the logjam and avoid a government shutdown. Both sides dug in, leaving lawmakers with plenty of free time. They rarely spend idle time in the nation’s capital, usually fleeing Capitol Hill quickly on Thursdays or Fridays to fly home to see their families and address political concerns. But on this rare weekend — with the House in session, the Senate returning earlier than usual on Monday and the immediate fate of the federal government hanging in the balance — hundreds of lawmakers took advantage of a rare stretch in the District and explored. Rep. Vicki Hartzler (R-Mo.) went to church. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) took a hike. Rep. John B. Larson (D-Conn.) missed a chance to honor his late parents back home, while Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Tex.) kept in touch with his kids from afar. House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) played tour guide, and Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) went to a wedding. Hartzler did what many Washingtonians do on a Sunday morning and headed for the pews. She started with a rare hour-long prayer service in the House chapel and later attended services at Capitol Hill Baptist Church. The prayer service was the idea of Rep. Tim Walberg (R-Mich.), who remembered how Benjamin Franklin summoned the Founding Fathers to prayer during a deadlock at the Constitutional Convention. Walberg “suggested that it might be a good time to follow the examples of our forefathers and spend some time praying,” Hartzler said. “We had a very special time, somber time, praying for our president, praying for the Senate and praying for our constituents.” Noting how rare it is to see colleagues on the weekends, Hartzler acknowledged that she could not recall the last time she spent a Sunday in Washington. Gabbard spends several weekends in the District because a flight to Hawaii can take a whole day. Knowing that many of her colleagues were in town with nothing to do, “I woke up and gave a few people a phone call and said, ‘Hey, let’s go for a hike.’ ” She piled into a car with Reps. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.) and Beto O’Rourke (D-Tex.) and headed for the Billy Goat Trail along the Potomac River in Maryland. “It’s just absolutely beautiful,” O’Rourke said. The freshman lawmaker, who flies home every weekend to visit his wife and three young children, had been warned by longtime legislators that he would have little time to explore Washington. “At the time, I thought: ‘Well, that’s crazy. You’re in one of the greatest cities in our country. I’m sure you’ve got to have a chance to do that.’ But I now realize that you don’t,” he said. “You’re working, you’re voting, you’re in committee meetings, and you rarely leave the Hill. And when you’re not doing those things, you’re on a plane back to your district.” Asked whether anyone recognized the trio on the trail, Schock said no. “We don’t really look the same when we’re in shorts and T-shirts,” he said. Schock said he realized that “gee, maybe if we spent more time together like this that maybe we could get more done.” Shortly before dinnertime Saturday, Larson was wandering the Capitol basement in search of coffee. He had no idea when votes might be held and thought a Washington Post reporter might know more than he did. It was not supposed to be this way for Larson, not this particular night. Up in East Hartford, his parents were being honored for a lifetime of community service, and he had wanted to be there. Local officials were renaming the health center in the Mayberry School for his mother, Pauline, who had served on the school board, and his father, Ray, who was a noted local businessman. But back in the House basement, Larson finally found the Capitol Carry-Out, leading to a burst of energy after some coffee. He said his wife told him that she had become used to him missing big events, but the one for his parents was different. “It is what it is,” he said with a shrug. Instead of honoring parents, several lawmakers were seen filling their roles as parents on the House floor Saturday afternoon. Reps. Stephen Lee Fincher (R-Tenn.) and Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) had their young daughters with them and introduced them to colleagues. Cuellar was not as lucky; an aide said he spent part of his weekend on the phone helping his daughters in Texas with homework. He spent the rest of the time cleaning his apartment. Eager to get out of town, Reps. Joe Garcia (D-Fla.) and Filemon Vela (D-Tex.)and Vela’s wife, Rose, hopped in a car early Sunday and headed to Charlottesville to visit Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello estate. “I promised my wife we’d do it the first day we had time to go,” Vela said. McCarthy spent his Sunday as a tour guide for a visiting World War II Honor Flight group. After a tour of the Capitol, McCarthy joined the group at the National World War II Memorial on the Mall to lay a wreath at the California column. Aides said he was planning a 20-mile bike ride with about half a dozen colleagues Monday morning, something they have done before. House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) got out of Washington for a few hours Friday night to attend a dinner with coal producers at the Greenbrier resort in West Virginia. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) also left town, flying home to San Francisco on Saturday to celebrate her 50th wedding anniversary. She flew back early Sunday and held a dinner for several Democrats on Sunday night at  Acqua Al 2, an Italian restaurant near Eastern Market, aides said. Reid spends most of his weekends in Washington and showed up at the Four Seasons in Georgetown on Saturday night to celebrate the wedding of Guy Cecil, executive director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Several other senators, including Heidi Heitkamp (D-N.D.), also attended. Eager to avoid suggestions that the senator lingers too long in Washington, an aide noted that Heitkamp spends most of her weekends in North Dakota.

Anne Applebaum: In China, the only certainty is uncertainty

BEIJING In Beijing last week, every conversation ended the same way. You could start off talking about art, or the stock market, or food. You could be sitting at a formal banquet or in somebody’s house. You could be chatting with a businesswoman in a chic dress or a bureaucrat in a gray suit — but sooner or later she or he would lean over and ask: Have you heard anything? And no one had. Or, at least, no one had heard anything remotely credible about the disappearance of Xi Jinping, the man designated to be the next leader of China. Days before my arrival, Xi had abruptly canceled meetings with Hillary Clinton, the Danish prime minister and others. No public explanation was given, so the rumor mill produced dozens: back trouble, a heart attack, an assassination attempt, a Politburo dispute, a corruption scandal. Even after he was photographed at a Beijing university Saturday after two weeks of unexplained invisibility (and, indeed, met with Leon Panetta on Wednesday), the rumors didn’t stop. “Ah,” said a skeptical acquaintance, only half joking: “But was it really him?” The absence of information about the health and welfare of the soon-to-be most important man in the country comes as no surprise to anyone in China, where many aspects of public life remain mysterious. Xi is expected to assume leadership at the next Communist Party congress, for example, but while hotels in Beijing are booked up for mid-October, there’s no official word on when that congress will begin. Once it does, other senior officials might also change jobs, but nobody knows exactly which ones or what the selection of one person over another would mean. When several Chinese central bankers — among the most important and influential economists in the world — switched jobs this summer, nobody knew if that meant policy changes either. “Those who know, don’t speak,” one Beijing resident told me. “And those who speak, don’t know.” Everybody keeps talking anyway: Although the strict taboos on public discussion of high politics are carefully observed by the print and broadcast media, they are broken constantly on the Chinese equivalents of Twitter and Facebook. Meanwhile, outside of politics, information about everything else flows remarkably freely. “We don’t worry about high politics,” one Chinese journalist told me. “We can’t write about our leaders anyway, so why bother? There are so many other subjects.” Investigative journalists working for newspapers and magazines do indeed produce stories about corruption, about buildings with dubious ownership, about shabby infrastructure. Of course when such stories lead back to senior party members, as they invariably do, journalists tread cautiously. There is a method: They write, then wait for a reaction. If no reaction comes, they write some more. If a party official calls up to complain, they switch subjects. The result is an endless conversation about what can and cannot be said and who can and cannot say it. One also spends a lot of time in Beijing arguing over basic facts. Is the economy really growing at 7.5 percent annually, as officials say? Or has the rate of growth secretly sunk to 4 percent, as some perfectly legitimate economists claim? Without reliable information from the government, it’s impossible to discuss critical problems — the supposedly deep indebtedness of Chinese banks, say, or the allegedly large budget deficits of provincial governments — let alone find ways to solve them. Conspiracy theories breed in the vacuum, sometimes inspiring not just gossip but also riots like the one that damaged the U.S. ambassador’s car on Tuesday. It’s not what one expects: Since at least 2009, many in — and outside — China have touted their system as stable and predictable; an alternative to the United States, where squabbling politicians might lead the country over a fiscal cliff; and an alternative to Europe, where elected officials postpone tough decisions and bureaucrats resist reform. But close up, China’s system looks less stable than it seems from far away. The combination of silence and rumor must create real uncertainty for investors. Economic forecasting is a lot harder if no one knows the leadership’s plans. Meanwhile, there is no lack of squabbling, indolence, corruption and bureaucratic obstructionism in China. It’s just that, unlike us, the Chinese don’t openly berate themselves about it. China’s opacity keeps critics guessing. But does it mean the world’s second-largest economy is better-run? **_applebaumletters@washpost.com _ ** **More on this topic:** The Post’s View: Where is China’s heir apparent Xi Jinping The Post’s View: In China, a trial of leadership The Post’s View: Chipping away at China’s state capitalism Jackson Diehl: A foreign policy choice

Miss Manners: Funerals bring up confusing questions of etiquette

DEAR MISS MANNERS: When my boss’s brother died suddenly and tragically, I, along with other employees and co-workers, went to calling hours. The next day, the brother’s funeral was at my church, so I went to it. I was surprised that I was the only one from our workplace to do so. I thought I was showing concern and support for my boss. But the funeral Mass was a difficult one, with sad tales of struggle and pain, and many, many tears. I didn’t know if I really belonged there, or if I was intruding on private family matters. I wondered the same thing about the calling hours, with such an intimate thing as my boss’s dearly loved brother’s body, and all the happy family photos all around. I don’t know if the following is relevant, but I’ll explain a little. I’ve worked for him for two years. He is a great boss, very friendly, though truthful and lets us know when we mess up and guides us to improving our performance. He will stop and chat with us here and there, so we know a little about each other’s families. When my co-worker and I first arrived at the calling hours, there was our boss. We both stood there awkwardly for a moment, then gave him a hug. It was fine, but afterward I was thinking that wasn’t really appropriate of us, was it? Please help, so I’ll know what to do next time something like this comes up. GENTLE READER: The variety of funeral rites does tend to sow etiquette confusion among mourners. And the situation is made worse, in your example, by the blurring between a person’s personal and professional life. The rules are different at state funerals than at family ones. Some religious institutions expect community participation. Some families prefer more private rites. For whatever reason, your co-workers believed that the calling hours were for professional colleagues to show their respect, while the funeral itself was reserved for friends and family. This understanding does not put you in the wrong for also attending the funeral: In that case, you attended as a member of the congregation, a social relationship distinct from the professional one. While the hug would, Miss Manners assumes, have been inappropriate if no one had died, expressions of sympathy and support offered in moments of personal crisis need not shatter normally more circumspect professional relationships. DEAR MISS MANNERS: A good friend’s father-in-law insists that I call him “John” when I prefer to call him “Mr. Baylor.” His flirtatiousness makes me uncomfortable, and calling him “Mr. Baylor” asserts a distance that I wish to express to him. Does etiquette allow me to refuse the request of someone to call him by his first name? Or must one always follow a request to “Please call me John”? GENTLE READER: It is true that one should address people as they have requested to be addressed. (Within reason, of course. Miss Manners would draw the line at “Your Exalted Excellency.”) In this case, you also have a point to make: that you do not consider him a contemporary who might — if also unattached and subtle — be entitled to flirt with you. Therefore, she suggests that you reply to his request with, “Yes, sir, John,” and insert the word “sir” thereafter. New Miss Manners columns are posted Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays on www.washingtonpost.com/advice. You can send questions to  Miss Manners at her Web site, www.missmanners.com. 2014, by Judith Martin

ACLU warns congressman about restricting video recordings at town halls

“Seating is limited,” the rules say. “Doors open for check-in at 2 p.m. Due to Chester County Court rules there will be no videotape recording of the event. This meeting is for constituents only. Please note your address will be verified at the door.” That language attracted the ire of local Indivisible groups, which have frequently taped their interactions at town halls, resulting in awkward media coverage for the members of Congress. The American Civil Liberties Union, after spotting the Eventbrite language, suggested that it might violate laws around free speech. “It raises serious Constitutional concerns for a sitting Congressman to host a public event at a courthouse, forbid any recording, and deny entry to any constituent who doesn’t turn over their cell phone at the door,” ACLU spokesman Karthik Ganapathy said in a statement. “Government officials serve the people, which is why constituents have the right to record public meetings. The ACLU won’t stand for any attempt to impede on people’s rights or shroud the workings of government in secrecy, simply because a Congressman is afraid of democracy. If Rep. Costello doesn’t honor the first amendment at his town hall, then we’ll assemble some concerned citizens outside who will.” Costello’s spokeswoman Natalie Gillam pointed out that other members of Congress have held town hall meetings at courthouses — which in some states restrict filming and recording — and that the news media would not be restricted from coverage. “Constituents attending Rep. Costello’s town hall will have their cell phones and characterizations otherwise are false,” Gillam said in a statement. “The press was notified of the town hall and we expect they will be in attendance, as well. We are complying with the rules determined by the courthouse. We are very surprised the ACLU is opposed to the Congressman providing a public forum for citizens to discuss issues important to them with their Congressman, but that’s their prerogative.” Costello was one of dozens of Republicans who rejected the American Health Care Act. Such resistance to the GOP leadership’s plan to replace the Affordable Care Act led to it to being pulled from the House floor last month, putting Republicans into a sort of limbo as voters and insurers ask whether they’ll substantively change the health-care system. But Democrats, who see Costello as a top 2018 target in a district that has grown bluer since it was drawn, point out that Costello came out against the AHCA only when it was collapsing. When the bill was rocketing through the Energy and Commerce Committee, Costello voted for it — a vote his Democratic opponent may hang around his neck.

Millennials are turning to Harry Potter for meaning. That’s a mistake.

__ One evening last week, more than 500 Washingtonians, most under 35, crowded into a historic synagogue for a recording of the podcast “Harry Potter and the Sacred Text.” The podcast — currently around Episode 60 of a planned 199 — aims to give J.K. Rowling’s children’s novels the same treatment as the Bible or Koran. In the words of the two Harvard Divinity School graduates who host the program, the books are to be scrutinized “to glean what wisdom and meaning we can make” as “instructive and inspirational texts that will teach us about our own lives.” To give them some credit, the hosts are aware that “Harry Potter” is not, in fact, a sacred text. Their tagline, thankfully, is “reading something we love as _if_ it were sacred” (italics mine). Even so, news of this event filled this Potter-loving millennial with dismay. It seems more a reversion to childhood than a real search for meaning. It’s no secret, of course, that many millennials tread a different spiritual path than Gen Xers, baby boomers and their elders. Attendance at religious services has cratered among young adults relative to older generations. According to the Pew Research Center, more than a third of millennials say they have no religious affiliation at all. The reasons are varied and open to interpretation. Millennials don’t like to have their behavior policed, as more traditional denominations are wont to do. Or, viewed from a gentler angle, millennials are seen as wanting to design their own identities, from the ground up. Self-creation aside, many in my generation are mistrustful of institutions in general — whether it’s government, their employers or their parents’ churches — and for good reason: There are only so many sex scandals and self-serving Trump endorsements one can take before a certain cynicism sets in. Yet the search for significance continues: Members of my age group are just as likely as those in earlier generations to spend time thinking about the meaning and purpose of life. So why am I so skeptical of using The Boy Who Lived to fill that empty space? It’s not because the books themselves are empty; it’s because the action being taken here is. “We’re here to practice faith,” says one of the hosts of the “Sacred Text” podcast in the teaser for its first episode. “And to make it easier for ourselves, we’re going to practice faith with something we already love: Harry Potter.” Why not practice on something outside of your childhood comfort zone? Harry Potter, Hermione Granger, Albus Dumbledore and the rest of the cast are soothingly familiar to those of us who grew up alongside the series, starting from the first book’s U.S. publication in 1998 to the release of the last one in 2007. In a world that seems less stable than ever, comfort is a powerful thing. Plus, the writing is full of charm, the magic is exciting, good and evil are easily distinguishable, and the heroes always win. But writing recently in the Spectator, Lara Prendergast described the downsides to this comfort well: “To believe in [the Potterverse], even ironically, is to divide people into goodies and baddies, and ignore the complexity of reality.” Rowling didn’t set out to create a Bible — the books are a compelling fantasy tale and nothing more. It’s not fair to try to turn her series into a guide to living one’s life, and it won’t be particularly rewarding even if you succeed. There’s no challenge there. Real meaning often depends on toil. As a millennial myself, I find it hard to get behind much of the offhanded criticism to which my generation is subjected. Many of my peers’ supposed flaws — not getting married! not moving out! not being loyal to employers! not growing up! — are more accurately pinned on the economic climate in which we’ve come of age. They also seem like ones that we’ll soon age past. Yet this inability to search for meaning in any but the safest, softest locales feels different — less an accident of time and more like a willful infantilization. Perhaps it’s a symptom of a larger societal fatigue that rather than seeking out something larger than ourselves, we revert back to the small, safe spaces of childhood. While I understand their appeal, I hope we’ll grow out of them soon. **Read more:** Alyssa Rosenberg: Grappling with ‘Harry Potter’ on the series’ 20th anniversary Sonny Bunch: If you’re going to use books to resist Trump, pick better ones than ‘Harry Potter’ Alyssa Rosenberg: The missing ingredient in ‘Harry Potter and the Cursed Child’: Good writing Rachel Held Evans: Want millennials back in the pews? Stop trying to make church ‘cool.’ Michael Gerson: The end of casual Christianity

‘It’s just like God to use a young Jewish couple to help Christians:’ Trump’s evangelical advisers defend Kushner

Ten evangelical leaders issued statements of support for President Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, many of them lauding his character and dismissing stories of his alleged ties to Russia on the eve of his closed-door testimony Monday before Senate investigators about his contacts with Russian officials. Evangelical leaders often issue statements about policy issues such as abortion, same-sex marriage and religious freedom, but they don’t often comment on specific administration officials. The leaders who sent statements come mostly from those who were on Trump’s evangelical advisory council, which operated during the campaign and is no longer official but whose members still stay in touch.  “I deplore that politics in this country has descended into blood-sport wherein good people like the Kushners, in order to serve the country they love, must endure unfounded attacks on their character, honesty, and trustworthiness,” wrote Wood, who added that he had dinner with Kushner and Ivanka Trump several weeks ago. Rodriguez wrote that Kushner has been “a great gift” to evangelicals. “We have always found him to be ‘an ever-present help in time of need,’ ” Rodriguez wrote, a reference to Psalm 46, which refers to God as an ever-present help in time of need. Falwell and White both openly doubted the Russia stories in the news media. “Clearly, this Russian story is nonsense and it must end, enough-is-enough,” White wrote. The statements supporting Kushner were released to the public by Moore, who handles media relations for many pastors and ministries. Moore said that it was his idea to share the praise of Kushner and that the White House did not suggest it. Kushner has “been a real friend to us. He’s opened doors for us,” Moore said. “It’s like if I have a family member that’s accused of something and I know that’s absurd I’m going to raise my voice. That’s how we feel.”  During Trump’s administration, Kushner has met with evangelical leaders several times, Moore said, including when pastors prayed with Trump earlier this month, when they gathered at the White House in April for an executive order on religious freedom, and earlier in the presidency when Trump’s Supreme Court nominees were being floated. The leaders’ statements are an unusual display of support, said Rob Schwarzwalder, who has worked in conservative Christian politics for many years and now teaches at Regent University. He believes that it may stem from conservatives’ beliefs that the news media wants to derail Trump’s efforts. “There’s a circle-the-wagons effect, and it might be resulting in the unqualified support from leaders,” he said. “The only person we should give unqualified allegiance is the Lord Jesus Christ. Anything other than that is a form of idolatry.” While there is a deep divide in the Southern Baptist Convention over whether pastors should continue to vocally support Trump, several Southern Baptist pastors continue to support the president. Jeremiah, a pastor of a Southern Baptist megachurch in California, said that Kushner and Ivanka Trump, who are Jewish, may have been chosen by God to help Christians. “It’s just like God to use a young Jewish couple to help Christians in the United States, defend their rights, and secure their religious freedom for now, and for subsequent generations,” Jeremiah wrote in his statement. Moore said that many evangelicals feel “a connectedness” to Kushner’s Orthodox Jewish faith because it’s so “seamlessly integrated in his life. ”  Graham, pastor of Prestonwood Baptist Church in Texas, wrote that Kushner has been evangelicals’ key liaison. “I’ve never known him not to take seriously any question or issue we’ve raised with him,” Graham wrote. Bishop Harry Jackson, who pastors a church in Maryland, said he was motivated to support Kushner because he has connected with him during a small group dinner on the issue of criminal justice reform and believes they can do “powerful things” together. “I feel like there’s just character assassination and vilification,” Jackson said. “I have a heart for people who are being double teamed, the underdog.” Many people who represent faith-based groups have been critical of the access given primarily to evangelicals and not to members of other faith traditions, said Michael Wear, an evangelical who handled faith outreach for President Barack Obama’s 2012 campaign and worked in his faith-based office. “In many policy disagreements, the [Obama] White House didn’t go the conservative evangelical way, but that’s totally different from being shut out,” Wear said. Trump, he said, has given access primarily to a select group of evangelicals instead of finding people who represent other kinds of Christians, including leaders of black Protestant denominations and Catholic institutions. Under President George W. Bush’s administration, evangelicals who wanted to communicate their policy issues usually went through liaisons or White House officials such as Mike Gerson or Peter Wehner, who are evangelicals. Obama’s faith team reached out institutionally to faith leaders, including heads of denominations and faith-based ministries who had people working on policy in Washington. Many of Trump’s supporters, however, are Pentecostal or Southern Baptist pastors who don’t have formal constituents outside their own churches. “Who does Paula White represent? What policy expertise does she have?” Wear said. “Who has empowered her to speak on behalf of their policy recommendations … unlike Trump’s hand-picked supported people who will put a collar on defending Jared Kushner.” The group of evangelicals from the campaign is not formally connected to the White House, so it’s unclear, Wear said, what advice is being directed to agencies and staff members. But some of them are given access to the White House, and many of them have been given a tour of Trump’s private quarters. “It’s mutually beneficial for both sides to say they’re talking all the time even if they’re not talking all the time,” Wear said. “We don’t know how meaningful whatever interaction there actually is, or if it’s just let me show you the Lincoln bedroom so you can tweet it out.” On Tuesday, Kushner will speak behind closed doors before the House Intelligence Committee.

Churches grapple with clothing and what’s appropriate as summer heats up

As Ann Cabiness stood in the Communion line at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church on Sunday morning, two things were on her mind: connecting with God and getting out of the humid sanctuary before someone mentioned her skimpy tank top and tight, knee-length running pants. “I know I’m inappropriate, but I’m trying to save time. I know I’m in the wrong. My mother would not approve,” the 30-year-old said sheepishly as she made a beeline from Mass at the Bethesda church to the gym. “But would it be better that I not come?” Summer in our sweltering region forces a theological question: How does God feel about exposed shoulders in a house of worship? Or toes? Or some glimpse of thigh? With temperatures in the 80s by 7:30 a.m. services, this is the season for church bulletin items like the one in Our Lady’s: “Dignity & Decorum: Please try not to wear beach shorts, tank tops, and flip-flops to the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass. Thank you.” In general, casual has pummeled formal everywhere in America, from airplanes to offices. But places of worship — where debates on modesty are not confined to the summer months — may be the final frontier for questions about what constitutes overly risque. And those questions have recently sprung to new life. A popular campaign aimed at young evangelical women called “Modest is Hottest” has triggered backlash by devout younger women who see the slogan as sexist. When the Bible calls for “modesty,” they argue, it refers to displays of things like wealth and is describing the depth of one’s spirit, not their neckline.Teaching women that their value rises if they have more clothes on is objectifying, a torrent of essays have argued. “A woman’s breasts and buttocks and thighs all proclaim the glory of the Lord,” said Sharon Hodde Miller, a doctoral student at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School whose critique of “modest is hottest” in the online evangelical magazine Christianity Today was one of the best-read of recent years. “Modesty is an orientation of the heart, first and foremost. It begins with putting God first. To look at an outfit and say if it’s modest or immodest, I’m not sure you can do that.” Some critics say the drive for looser, longer fabric has political tones, a “modesty nostalgia” for a happier, more fully clothed America that some feel never was. But advocates for less skin in the sanctuary see modest attire as transformational — part of the process of moving into a spiritual head space. Particularly today as institutional religion bleeds members, many churches — even some theologically conservative ones — advertise that dress is “come as you are.” “We don’t want clothes to ever be a barrier. That’s one reason we don’t talk about it,” said the Rev. Don Davidson of First Baptist Church of Alexandria. Some even argue that informal clothing signals not a new lack of respect for institutional religion but a new genuineness and familiarity. Grass-roots pew patrolling, on the other hand, is as alive as ever. Charisma Wooten, a singer and actor, had been a parishioner and lay leader at Refreshing Spring Church of God in Christ in Riverdale for more than 30 years when she was told moments before taking the pulpit for a Scripture reading one baking July Sunday a couple of years ago that she couldn’t because she didn’t have on pantyhose. Wooten said she was wearing a dress that nearly hit the floor, but Church of God in Christ is a formal denomination where ushers wear gloves and the handbook says that “dressing in a sensually provocative manner produces inclinations to evil desires.” Another summer Sunday, Wooten was wearing a sleeveless black-and-white polka-dot dress and “my little matching shoes and hat,” when the pastor’s wife said sweetly: “Honey, aren’t you cold?” It took Wooten three days to realize she was likely being politely asked to cover her shoulders. Wooten says she generally brushes it off when she’s been scolded for her church clothes, but the pantyhose incident led her to send a mass e-mail decrying the misplaced focus on rules and dogma. “You can follow all these rules men set up and be on your way to hell,” she said. Concepts of appropriate dress are, of course, a mix of denominational, regional, racial and ethnic components, and they are sometimes specific in unpredictable ways. Black churches are generally known for formal, modest and elaborate style, even in summer. Catholics stereotypically are dressed simply for Mass — full suits and hats are less common, as are plunging necklines. Rainey Ray Segars, 26, grew up with a Southern Baptist pastor-father in Tennessee, where shorts were common around church but strapless dresses were not. At 24, she moved with her new youth-pastor-husband to Illinois and found out on the first warm week since their move that jeans and Packers jerseys were fine at church activities but shorts were not. After coming to a choir practice in shorts, a congregant “sent by a group of offended people” told Segars that she had caused someone to be lustfully distracted — “That it was my fault,” Segars remembered. “I said, ‘I’m interested to know if _that_ person will seek out help for themselves,’ ’’ Segars said. “I don’t agree that a woman is to blame for lust someone feels towards her. My thought was to start a dialogue.” Did she? “It was like: ‘Yeah, that’s all fine, but please don’t wear shorts,’ ” she remembered. The congregation she’s part of now, Segars said, includes a huge range of dress and cover. “I think it shows a loveliness and a comfort: ‘I came just as I am, just looking to be known.’ It communicates a safety I think is really beautiful,” she said. Conversations (and condemnations) on the issue of modest clothing and summer worship seem to focus on women. Monsignor Ed Filardi said he put the notice in the bulletin at Our Lady of Lourdes at the request of women reacting to the clothing of other women. Personally, he said, he doesn’t see a real problem, though after services Sunday morning one usher engaged the priest on the topic. “You’re coming to see the Lord,” said Len Thompson, 65, recently retired from the Navy, and one of two men out of about 80 wearing a jacket at Mass. “What if I was going to see the Obamas? It seems skewed.” Foundry United Methodist Church in Dupont has many gay men as members, and last Sunday many men present wore dress shorts and polo shirts. “I’m not sure if my shins are distracting anyone in here,” one 39-year-old man, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said with a smile. Discussions about possible sins of immodesty inevitably lead to discussions about another sin: judging. “Jesus is most strong when he speaks about judging people,” said Johnnie Moore, youth pastor at the evangelical Liberty University, noting students have come to his services in pajamas. That said, he feels religious and secular Americans are joining forces over concern about an oversexualized youth culture. “Generally speaking, you shouldn’t come to church as you would to a club,” he said. Northwest Washington image consultant Ketura Persellin has written about appropriate clothing for worship, down to the size of bag, jangly jewelry and skirt length. This is a woman who cares about clothes. But as her preteen children are getting older, Persellin finds herself less tolerant of clothing chatter at her synagogue, Adas Israel. “I don’t want people talking about my kids like that,” she said. “I’ve definitely been trying to get down from my high horse.”

Massachusetts: Churches may be covered by transgender discrimination bans, as to ‘secular events’

Now, churches hold events “open to the general public” all the time — it’s often how they seek new converts. And even church “secular events,” which I take it means events that don’t involve overt worship, are generally viewed by the church as part of its ministry, and certainly as a means of the church modeling what it believes to be religiously sound behavior.   Under Massachusetts law, refusing to use a transgender person’s preferred pronoun would be punishable discrimination. (At least this is true of “he” or “she” — I saw nothing in the document about “ze” and other newly made-up pronouns.) The Massachusetts document I linked to makes that clear in the employment context, and it also makes clear that the antidiscrimination law rules apply to places of public accommodations (including churches, in “secular events” “open to the public”) just as much as to employment.  Now some might think this is fine: Everyone should use the pronouns that the subjects prefer, the argument would go, even if the speaker views such use as endorsement of what the speaker sees as falsehood, or of a wrong-headed ideology. People shouldn’t say derogatory things about transgender people, at least when those people can overhear. Maybe churches could do something different in sermons, or behind closed doors — but once they open their doors for “secular events,” church leaders have to use the words that the law requires, even when they view them as false or even blasphemous, and have to suppress offensive speech by their congregants. I don’t share this view, but I take it that some do. But I just think it should be clear that this is where these rules are headed, at least in places like Massachusetts but likely elsewhere as well.

No, religious voters don’t hold total sway over GOP presidential primaries

With the chatter about the coming GOP presidential primary already heating up, Mike Huckabee yesterday gave the keynote address at a meeting of the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, in which he offered an emphatic defense of his party’s position on same-sex marriage. He said:    *[WSU]: Wayne State University As a Baptist minister, Huckabee spends more time explicitly talking about the Bible than other potential 2016 Republican candidates do. But all of them are going to be making these kinds of appearances, in Iowa and elsewhere. And when they do, reporters are going to write stories about the power Republican evangelical leaders and voters have over the nominating contest. When you encounter those stories, be warned: that power is vastly overrated. That doesn’t mean the candidates won’t do plenty of pandering to conservative Christians, because they will. There will be speeches given to Christian groups, pilgrimages made to the homes of religious leaders and Christian colleges, and dozens of Sunday morning sermons in which candidates will testify that the spirit of God is coursing through their veins. But it would be a mistake to see all that activity as a contest in which one candidate will come out ahead of the others and reap a meaningful political benefit. Think of it less like an Olympic race and more like a kids’ soccer game: everybody gets a ribbon just for showing up. As I’ve written before, primary voters in both parties are ideological satisficers: they don’t seek out the most ideological candidate, they seek out the candidate who is ideological _enough_. Christian conservatives are, to a degree, the same way; they aren’t necessarily looking for the most religious candidate, just one who can assure them he’s religious enough, or at least understands where they’re coming from on matters of faith.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University And it almost doesn’t matter where you start from. Consider what happened in recent elections. In both the 2008 and 2012 primaries, there were a zillion articles written wondering whether Mitt Romney could win the votes of evangelicals, many of whom consider Mormonism not to be a Christian sect, or even to be a cult. He worked hard to win them over, and whether their opinions of Mormonism ever changed, they eventually decided he was good enough. Something similar happened with John McCain in 2008. No one had ever known him to be a particularly religious person, but he went to the events and met the leaders, and in the end Republican voters got on board. It is true that in Iowa, there are a large number of evangelical Republicans. They helped Mike Huckabee win the 2008 caucuses, and did the same for Rick Santorum four years later. You might recall, however, that neither Huckabee nor Santorum actually became his party’s nominee. The nominee ended up being the establishment candidate everyone predicted at the outset would prevail, even if there were candidates whose faith was more at the center of their identity. Just to be clear, I’m not arguing that evangelical Christians don’t still exercise a powerful pull on the party’s policy agenda, and no where is this more clear than on marriage equality. As Greg noted recently, though the country may be rapidly changing in its views toward marriage, the GOP can’t, because such a large part of its base is made up of evangelicals. A recent Washington Post/ABC News poll showed that while 59 percent of Americans supported allowing gay people to marry, only 28 percent of white evangelical Protestants did. None of the 2016 candidates is going to contradict them on that, and as such, they will hold the party to a position that’s unpopular nationally.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University But as usual, the Republican field will feature some candidates whose Christian faith is their defining characteristic, like Huckabee and Santorum, and others for whom it had seldom been in evidence before the campaign began. In the end, that will have almost nothing to do with who becomes their nominee.

Robert Griffin III falls: For Redskins fans, a dark night of the soul

It was just a week ago that a hush fell over FedEx Field when Robert Griffin III fell for the last time. There was a communal holding of breath, of disbelief, of trepidation. The hero had fallen. What did this mean? At that moment, everyone in the stadium, everyone watching on television, was part of the same congregation. Football was their religion. Just days later, I attended a three day silent retreat in a Trappist Monastery. I watched as the robed monks led their services, chanted their verses, repeated their prayers, begged for mercy, ate and drank the Eucharist, proclaimed their loyalties and demonstrated their passion. The symbols, rituals and celebrations are eerily similar to those of a football fan wearing burgundy and gold, watching cheerleaders in costumes, praying for a touchdown, drinking a ceremonious beer, chanting cheers and proclaiming this passion and his fealty. They are part of the pageantry and the event, the show. And every religion must have someone, something to worship. How much better to have an RGIII than to have nobody one can identify with? And Griffin fits his role: a seemingly perfect young man with a perfect background; a Heisman Trophy winner with sterling grades; a devout Christian who went to a religious school, has a bumper sticker with the name of his church on it, who crosses himself after a touchdown and thanks God at the end of the game. He is kind and gentle, friendly and humble. He does charity work for the poor. His teammates follow him and his fans pray for him. He has all the markings of a savior to a team that hasn’t had a prayer for over 20 years. In a town as dispirited as Washington, D.C., never has anyone given so many such hope. He was too good to be true. It was too good to be true. When The Post’s David Sheinin wrote a laudatory profile of RGIII, one reader complained that Sheinin made RGIII sound like the second coming. Well? It was apt, if a little overstated. He was being treated almost as a sacred figure. What is it about the game of football, particularly in this country, that evokes similarities to religion? “Spirituality is about ‘me,’” says Tim Shriver, Director of Special Olympics and a religion scholar. “Religion is about ‘we.’ Everyone is looking for the ‘we.’ Even in a monastery where they commit to solitary lives. We live in a lonely world, oriented toward the personal, the digital. We live in a ‘My Space’ world. Sports takes you out of yourself into the ‘we’. People are participating in something bigger than themselves.” If the quarterback is the Jesus figure (who can forget the near religious hysteria around Tebow as a person and his Tebowing?) then the other players are the disciples. And what about the saints of old, the Larry Browns and the Sonny Jurgensens, the St. Benedicts and the St.Francises of their field, whom we venerate even today? We seem to want, to need those people in our lives to reassure us of the glories that have been and the glories that will be to come and to serve as an inspiration to us in difficult times. Everyone in Washington knew that RGIII was going into the game wounded. He had had surgery on his knee when he was at Baylor and he had suffered several blows already this season. But the Redskins were in the playoffs for the first time in 20 years. They’d won seven games in a row including Dallas the week before. The team was ecstatic. The fans were ecstatic. All of Washington was ecstatic. (Religious ecstasy is to stand outside and transcend oneself. It is the experience of one’s relation to or union with the divine.) Could he possibly take the Redskins to the Super Bowl? Nothing was impossible in the eyes of our quarterback, so confident was he in his own abilities and those of his team. His optimism was contagious and it had carried his team through a victorious season. But as the game wore on, we all knew our leader was in trouble. You could tell he was in pain. When he finally crumpled to the ground, the Redskins season went down with him. The fans knew it. The coach and doctor knew it. He knew it. Then came surgery a few days later and word that it will be at least six months before he can play and perhaps much longer. Now the fans have turned on the coach, Mike Shanahan, and the team doctor, James Andrews, the famed orthopedic surgeon for allowing him to play. RGIII, in character, blamed only himself. “You respect authority,” he said, “and I respect Coach Shanahan. But at the same time, you have to step up and be a man sometimes. There was no way I was coming out of that game.” That was to be expected. At the National Prayer Breakfast last year he spoke to the thousands of people, including the president, assembled for the annual event. He asked them to accept the values of Jesus and to “show the world, not only with our words but with our actions.” He bravely tweeted just before he went under the knife last week, “Thank you for your prayers and support. I love God, my family, my team, the fans, & I love this game. See you guys next season.” This is the Redskins dark night of the soul. How do the fans, the religious community of football lovers, survive? When things go terribly wrong, one has to always look forward to a brighter day, to next year, to continue to be joined to something bigger than life. Tim Shriver, a devout Redskins fan, likens this to the poetry of St. John the Divine who found meaning in “the dark night of the soul.” _“O lamps of fire!_ _In whose splendors_ _the deep caverns of feeling,_ _Once obscure and blind,_ _Now give forth so rarely, so exquisitely,_ _Both warms and light to their beloved.”_ Keep the faith Redskins fans. Out of darkness comes the light.

Pub theology: Beer, burgers and a side of spirituality in D.C.

I had an amber Speakeasy Prohibition Ale. One of my companions had an Abita Purple Haze cherry beer. The Very Rev. Gary Hall, dean of the Washington National Cathedral, had a diet Coke. Most of the 16 or so gathered around a table in the cellar of the Bier Baron Tavern were drinking beer and eating burgers and fries. The dress code? Well, never mind. Although Hall debated, he finally decided to wear his clerical collar. It was, after all, Pub Theology night at Bier Baron on 22nd Street NW in D.C. Monday is Church of the Pilgrims Theology on Tap night, Tuesday is the open discussion Pub Theology and an event one Wednesday a month draws about 60 to 70 young people thirsting for answers. Forget church, say a lot of the millennial SBNR (spiritual but not religious) crowd. Sitting around a table with a couple of pints with interesting people, discussing things that really matter, is a lot more fulfilling and edifying than the liturgy and the stuffy hymns. Hall, who is totally intrigued, is there to observe and learn and participate. He understands the problem. How to “bring  ’em into the tent.” The group leader distributed a list of six ideas “Trending for Tonight.” No. 5 brought out some interesting conversations (“The most important part of my religion is to play guitar” — Lou Reed. Can you relate?”). The ground rules were that regular participants cannot be quoted by name. Hall responded to question No. 1 (“Name three things that will be obsolete in 10 years?”) by saying about the church, “institutions will be defined in another way. The issues that defined institutions are no longer issues.” He went on to say that the “nones” — those who say they have no religious affiliation — “have the same spiritual religious questions. I don’t think this is about believers or nonbelievers. People want to explore God in their lives but they look at the churches and synagogues and say, ‘This is not where I want to explore these issues.’ ” Burns Strider, one of our companions, talked about sharing Shabbat dinner (the Jewish Friday night Sabbath dinner, and “how beautiful it was to see such a strong sense of family tradition. It’s what we can do collectively.” “Without a community, my faith could go away,” said one young man. “I have a hard time separating the two.” He also attends church and enjoys the community there. Why attend Pub Theology if you’re a regular churchgoer? “Beer,” he said to knowing laughter around the table. Another young man (Hall’s wife, Kathy, and I were the only women, but I was assured women regularly attend) talked about the difference between church and Pub Theology. “In the coffee hour,” he said, “you don’t get into, ‘What’s going on with you?’ Because we can share so many things here, we can share our hearts. What’s great about a more relaxed setting is that you are comfortable being honest.” Someone chimed in: “Young people in church are not being able to say ‘I’m struggling with my belief now.’ To have something like this you can kind of think and struggle. The younger generation has lost the ability in church to say I’m struggling with anything. They feel like they have to have the perfect persona in church.” What’s the difference between Pub Theology and recovery programs, such as Alcoholics Anonymous? “This is a lot more stimulating spiritually,” said one. “I needed to be excited about it again. This is not a new thing. People have been gathering in pubs for a long time.” Though all of the participants were Christian except for one atheist this night, they say people from many faiths come as well. “You begin to see the humanity,” said one. “You find more community.” “The early church was probably something more like this,” said Hall. “The question is, is it possible to have a transcendental experience and have different modes of spiritual practice? How can we make Sunday morning more like this?” As for faith online, one person said he couldn’t deal with it. “You don’t have somebody insulting you here like they do online. Like Facebook with ‘likes’ and ‘don’t likes.’ ” One person had recently been to a Buddhist retreat. “We spent most of the time walking and breathing and paying attention,” he said. “At the end of the day, I was going crazy. At the end of the week, I felt I had gotten my life back. If we don’t do things like that, we’re missing out on the human experience. It’s not a luxury item.” The talk turns inevitably to human suffering. “This is where we get into theology,” says Hall. “Does God want a car crash?” He says the God in the Bible is “a different character” than the God that Western civilization has constructed. “I believe God is personal but not necessarily omnipotent. Like, did he cause the Holocaust? Once during an earthquake in San Francisco, someone said, ‘God saved me’ and I said, ‘You mean God killed the other guys?’ ” He says non-omnipotence “makes it more relevant.” Prayer comes up naturally. For Hall, “it’s a dialogue, a relationship. I try to empty myself. I hear what I get back.” The story is told of one Jesuit saying to another, “I pray for an hour.” “I wouldn’t know what to say for an hour,” says the other. “I listen,” says the first. “Meditation is really hard,” says Hall. “I have a monkey mind.” Though he believes the monkey mind can be calmed with persistence, “the night before my wedding I tried to meditate and it just didn’t work for me.” Pub Theology, for most of the participants, intentionally opens your spirit. “Whatever floats your boat,” says one. “Whatever connects you to the divine.” “Over a beer and a list of questions,” says another, “it does inspire. And I’m not normally inspired.” Don’t be surprised if Washington National Cathedral opens a pub in the near future.

‘Will people think we are a threat?’

One Muslim woman who wears a headscarf said she felt people were “moving away from me” on a D.C. street this week. Another went into a store in suburban Maryland to look for a wedding gift but left without buying anything after other customers fell silent and stared. A third woman was buoyed by a friendly greeting from a total stranger as she loaded her children into her minivan. From uneasy silences to unexpected hugs, Muslims in the greater Washington area say they are experiencing a mix of reactions from non-Muslims as the nation reels from a series of terrorist attacks at home and abroad, and anti-Muslim rhetoric inflames the presidential campaign. None of those interviewed this week, including professionals, students, parents and activists, had experienced any direct threats or physical hostility. But some said they felt a new, uncomfortable chill when interacting with non-Muslims in public — as well as surprising displays of support. Sheba Massood, 32, a Muslim mother of four from Sterling, Va., went out for dinner and a movie with her husband last weekend, days after a young Muslim couple staged a massacre at a workplace gathering in San Bernadino County, Calif. As usual, she wore a headscarf and loose robe; her husband, a technology specialist, wears a beard. But when they walked into the theater, Massood felt oddly self-conscious. “I thought, ‘Oh my God, will people think we are a threat? If we change seats or sit too close, will they be suspicious?’ ” Massood said Wednesday. “I don’t want people to be scared of us. I want to tell them we are an American family. We are so sad about everything that has happened, and we are scared, too.” But the next day, she was putting her children into the family van when a stranger across the street waved and called out a greeting. “I could feel his sincerity,” Massood said. “It made my week.” Muslim advocacy groups have reported scattered incidents of harassment against individuals or mosques in various parts of the country, and one local case of a fake bomb being discovered, at the Dar al-Hijrah mosque in Falls Church, Va. But the Washington area — home to tens of thousands of Pakistanis, Indians, Iraqis, Egyptians and Africans — has been historically welcoming to Muslim immigrants. On Monday, Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson gave a supportive news conference at the All-Dulles Area Muslim Society, the largest mosque in the capital region. Still, Muslim parents say they are urging their children to be cautious in public. Some worried that behaving like a normal American working family — Massood is a Cub Scout den mother, for example — is no longer a source of reassurance to their neighbors or co-workers, because the San Bernadino attackers were a seemingly typical husband and wife with a 6-month-old baby. Others find themselves struggling to explain the violent scenes and ugly comments their children have been seeing on television, including declarations by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that Muslims should be barred from entering the country. “My kids are 7 and 9, and they asked me what is going on. I told them about the history of African Americans and how segregated they were before some good people decided to stand for their rights,” said Sonia Rehman, a psychologist and business owner in Springfield, Va. “I told them history is about to repeat itself, and we will come out a much stronger and more insightful nation,” she said. Rehman said one parent she knows was asked worriedly by his 13-year-old son whether he would be allowed to go to college if Trump became president. Rahima Ullah, an English teacher in Herndon, Va., said she is concerned about what her 14-year-old daughter might face in a society in which anti-Islamic emotions and rhetoric seem to be spreading more widely than at any time since the terrorist attacks of Sep. 11, 2001. “There is a little bit of fear out there, so I tell her to be careful. Unfortunately, there are angry people and their actions may not be sensitive,” Ullah said. “But we don’t stop her from going out and doing things. Thank God, most of the [non-Muslim] people we know are being reassuring, and they are sad and worried about the same things we are. We are on the same vibe.” Muslim women, who are easily identified by their head coverings, may be more susceptible to religious hostility than men. But several men also said they have felt a sudden coolness in the atmosphere at work in recent days, a fraught silence beneath perfunctory conversation. Some said they are being bombarded with questions about Islam — not in accusation, but in confusion and fear, as if they had suddenly become spokesmen for their faith. “There’s been no direct hostility, just a sort of mutual uneasiness,” said Tariq Zakaria, who works in an accounting firm in Northern Virginia. He said he felt uncomfortable being called on to explain things such as jihadism or distant terrorist attacks “when we are regular people with families and mortgages,” but he added that he was “encouraged that down the road this will lead to more openness and education.” On area college campuses, Muslim student activists said they have seen growing consternation and worry since the terrorist attacks in Paris and California but had not heard of any direct slights or confrontations. Nada Mousa, an active member of the Muslim Student Association at American University, said that campus police are stepping up patrols and that non-Muslim friends have volunteered to walk her and other Muslim students to class. She also said the recent terrorist attacks, as well as the threatening comments by Trump, have led to a burst of curiosity about Islam among non-Muslim students. “We had a huge turnout at our latest ‘Meet a Muslim’ event. This is definitely a hot topic now,” Mousa said. But like Zakaria, she complained that it was awkward for Muslim students to feel as if they have to defend Islam against the image of terrorism. “When you have to act defensively, you are giving the terrorists just what they want,” Mousa said. “It is better to try to ignore [the issue] and just be nice to people.”

Obama thought he could unite a religiously divided nation. He was wrong.

When Barack Obama delivered his first inaugural address seven years ago this month, the newly-elected president went further than any others in explicitly naming religious diversity as an essential American ideal. “We are a nation of Christians and Muslims,” he said, “Jews and Hindus, and non-believers.” Like so much of the rhetoric that helped win him the election, it was at once an acknowledgement of a history more diverse than is often remembered, and a hopeful evocation of a less divisive future. As he delivers his final State of the Union address Tuesday night, however, Obama leads a nation more divided along religious lines than at any other time in recent history. The White House has said the speech will call on the country “to come together as one American family.” Yet many responses to his words suggest that coming together – at least as he envisions it– is not a value shared by all, particularly where religious matters are concerned. It might be asked if this is an unintended consequence of Obama’s pluralist presidency. By attempting to gather all kinds of believers and non-believers in the same big tent, he has revealed an enduring and inconvenient truth: Despite our attachment to the idea of religious freedom, a majority of Americans continue to hold some degree of mistrust of those with beliefs different from their own. Within the past year, protesters carrying crosses on the steps of state Capitols in Texas and Oklahoma have shouted “Go home!” at Muslims born in this country. In Idaho, state senators refused to listen to a non-Christian prayer because it invoked “false gods.” In just the last six weeks, there have been reports of harassment, vandalism, and violence committed against synagogues, mosques, Hindu temples, Sikh gurdwaras and the people of faith who attend each. That all of this has occurred on the watch of a president who has embraced a more inclusive approach to religion than any of his predecessors may be just a coincidence, but more likely it is an indication that the nation as a whole does not agree with Obama’s broadminded understanding of faith. While continuing the long-standing traditions of lighting the national Christmas tree and hunting for Easter eggs on the South Lawn each spring, the president has repeatedly attempted to make good on the ecumenical promise of his inaugural. Not only has he presided over Ramadan iftar dinners, as Bill Clinton and George W. Bush did before him, he hosted the first White House Passover seder in 2009. Later that year at a celebration of Diwali (a day held sacred, he noted, by “Hindus, Jains, Sikhs, and Buddhists”), he became the first president to light the ceremonial diya oil lamp, which according to one prayer, “removes the darkness of ignorance” with its flame. Unfortunately, two terms of a president who has made the recognition of religious pluralism a priority seems to have had an opposite effect in much of the country. Which is curious, according to the data. According to a recent Pew study, more Americans than ever before are affiliated with spiritual traditions different from those with which they were raised. Yet expressing an interest in or understanding of multiple religious perspectives is to many a cause for suspicion—perhaps most notably in the case of the president himself. Though Obama has written movingly and at length about his Christian faith, polls show that nearly a third of Americans simply do not believe him. A possible explanation for this can be found not only in the tireless efforts of those who think claiming he is a Muslim is a smear, but also in the open curiosity for other faiths Obama has long displayed. Reactions to him have embodied our conflicted attitude toward pluralism, and seem to have become more contentious as the end of his administration is in sight. As he described his earliest spiritual education in his 1995 memoir “Dreams from My Father,” when he moved to Indonesia as a boy, he attended both a Muslim school and a Catholic school. Neither one inspired devotion, but he was taught a first commandment applicable to either learning environment: “Be respectful,” his mother told him, as if consideration for others’ faiths mattered more than his own individual belief, or lack thereof – good manners to some, a clear sign of not taking religion seriously to others. Back in the United States at age 10, the future president’s exposure to religious diversity became more layered still. His mother, he has said, was “the last of the great secular humanists.” Yet as he wrote in “The Audacity of Hope”: “This isn’t to say that she provided me with no religious instruction. In her mind, a working knowledge of the world’s great religions was a necessary part of any well-rounded education. In our household the Bible, the Koran, and the Bhagavad Gita sat on the shelf alongside books of Greek and Norse and African mythology. On Easter or Christmas Day my mother might drag me to church, just as she dragged me to the Buddhist temple, the Chinese New Year celebration, the Shinto shrine, and ancient Hawaiian burial sites.” It is almost poignant to consider that during Obama’s astonishing rise on the national stage less than a decade ago, such eclectic experiences and his resulting capacity to see both sides of multiple religious divides were considered by some to be assets that might bring the country together. Eight years ago last month, Andrew Sullivan suggested in a cover story for The Atlantic, that the then-senator was “someone whose ‘complex fate,’ to use Ralph Ellison’s term, is to be both believer and doubter, in a world where such complexity is as beleaguered as it is necessary.” “By virtue of generation and accident,” Sullivan wrote, Obama “bridges this deepening divide. He was brought up in a nonreligious home and converted to Christianity as an adult… His faith—at once real and measured, hot and cool—lives at the center of the American religious experience.” As we have lately been reminded, such an assessment avoids the darker side of “American religious experience”—the side that has always insisted that spiritual differences might be the nation’s undoing. In the waning days of the Obama era, we have seen the latest manifestation of a paradox at the heart of our national self-understanding. Throughout history, Americans have touted the importance of religion while frequently expressing fear of so-called foreign influences, rarely pausing to consider that any religion, even the most homegrown of denominations, is a foreign influence itself. Any church, mosque, synagogue, or temple is part of a community that transcends borders, asking loyalty to ideas without regard to one’s citizenship or place of origin, while simultaneously, the nation demands a competing loyalty no matter what else one believes.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Every moment of religiously influenced nativism in the United States has begun with the assumption that one form of loyalty must trump the other. From the belief that Catholics were, as Protestant alarmists said, “a threat to our free institutions” in the middle of 19th Century, to warnings that the West Coast would be, in the words of one preacher, “swamped, inundated, despiritualized, and un-Americanized” by Hindus and Sikhs a few decades later, holding sympathy for multiple religious perspectives has been lauded in general terms as a value, but treated practically as a threat. For many Americans, this tension has been made flesh in the nation’s pluralist-in-chief. If his speech tonight hopes to bring the country “together as one American family,” the president would do well to avoid simple platitudes of religious diversity and acknowledge – as he has often done with race – that the differences that define our rancorous present have a long and fraught history. Pluralism need not mean merely an ever-expanding calendar of White House holidays, but should instead begin by acknowledging the complexity of living in a nation where we are all are free to believe, or not believe, as we please. While the president has made peace with religious differences in his own life, much of the country remains unwilling to do the same. As he begins the final chapter of the story he has been telling about the meaning America these past seven years, listing the many faiths that call the United States home is not enough. He might say more about the challenges and benefits of coming together with those whose beliefs we don’t share. _Peter Manseau is the author most recently of “One Nation Under Gods: A New American History_.”    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico **Want more stories about faith? Follow Acts of Faith onTwitter or sign up for our newsletter.**    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico 2015 clarified the right to gay marriage. It opened a world of questions for religious objectors.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico Hillary Clinton just said ISIS’s assault on Christians is “genocide.” That’s huge to some voters.    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico White House sends highest-ranking official ever to Sikh house of worship    *[WSU]: Wayne State University   *[Tue]: Tuesday   *[Wed]: Wednesday   *[UNM]: University of New Mexico

Confidants: Secret Service agents contend misbehavior on trips not unprecedented

Some Secret Service employees accused of misconduct in the Colombian prostitution scandal are privately contending that their conduct didn’t warrant dismissal because senior managers tolerated similar behavior during official trips, according to people familiar with the employees’ thinking. Several of the men who agreed to resign under pressure last week are also considering reversing their decisions and fighting to keep their jobs, said the people knowledgeable about the case. The prospect of Secret Service agents sharing embarrassing tales about rank-and-file employees and superiors partying to the hilt could bring more anguish to an agency reeling from scandal. Those close to the accused employees said that in an effort to fight for their jobs they could opt to divulge details of how colleagues spent some of their downtime on presidential trips — drinking heavily, visiting strip clubs and cavorting with women for hire. “Of course it has happened before” said one agent not implicated in the matter, remarking on the Secret Service’s history of occasionally licentious partying. “This is not the first time. It really only blew up in this case because the [U.S. Embassy] was alerted.” In a statement Tuesday, Assistant Director Paul S. Morrissey said the service “is committed to conducting a full, thorough and fair investigation in this matter, and will not hesitate to take appropriate action should any additional information come to light.” President Obama, visiting the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Tuesday, faced questions from late-night host Jimmy Fallon about the quality of the president’s protectors. Obama stressed that the actions of a few should not overshadow the dedication of the agency. “The Secret Service, these guys are incredible,” Obama said, according to a press pool report of his visit. “They protect me, they protect our girls. A couple of knuckleheads shouldn’t detract from what they do. What they were thinking, I don’t know. That’s why they’re not there anymore.” Twelve Secret Service employees and 11 military service members have been implicated in the misconduct ahead of Obama’s trip this month to Cartagena, Colombia, for an economic summit. The men are accused of heavy drinking, visits to strip clubs and payments to prostitutes. Last week, the agency moved to oust six of the service’s employees, including two supervisors, and cleared a seventh of serious misconduct. On Tuesday, it made decisions on the other five, saying that two more had agreed to resign, two would retain their service employment but face demotion, and another would be recommended for dismissal but could work for other federal agencies. Lawrence Berger, attorney for several employees who were recommended for removal, declined to comment on his clients’ cases. As the investigation continues, differing accounts have emerged about the men’s alleged behavior on the night of April 11 and morning of April 12. Congressional officials briefed on the investigation have said some of the men argued that they did not know the women were prostitutes when they brought them back to the Hotel Caribe, where they were lodging, not far from the Hilton where Obama was scheduled to stay. In an internal employee-only briefing Tuesday, Secret Service security officials said that not all of the men may have had sexual encounters with prostitutes, according to a person familiar with the briefing. But the officials said that the employees implicated in Cartagena violated policy simply by soliciting prostitutes and negotiating prices for services, whether they received the services or not. In Colombia, prostitution is legal, but hotel guests are often asked to pay a fee if an additional guest joins them overnight. The people familiar with the accused employees said some of them have said there was no sexual activity because the men were so drunk that they fell asleep immediately after bringing the women to their rooms. Agents not involved in the Colombia trip, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss matters publicly, said the events in Cartagena may be embarrassing, but they are not without precedent. They pointed to a 2009 visit to Buenos Aires by former President Bill Clinton, whose protective detail included agents and uniformed officers. During that trip, the agents said, members of the detail went out for a late night of partying at strip clubs. “You take a bunch of guys out of the country and have a lot of women showering them with attention, bad things are bound to happen,” one agent said. The scandal has been a deep blow to morale among current and former agents, who feel tarred by the behavior of the relatively small group of men, said James Huse Jr. , a former assistant director. He called the alleged misconduct “an egregious failure on the part of those people involved.” One former agent disputed the suggestion that agents and officers accused of misdeeds in Cartagena risked impairing their abilities to perform their assignments after Obama arrived two days later. “Some guys could have a good time Wednesday night, and Friday morning they would be on their post, shaved and ready to go,” said this person, who emphasized that he does not condone paying prostitutes for sex. __Huse said he is particularly dumbfounded that the men partied so openly during an era when smartphones and social media can so easily spread details of misbehavior. “We live in different age that makes the behavior of these people more impossible to comprehend,” he said. “What were they thinking?”