In Brief

But even for such a worthy goal as eliminating poverty, it will take time to build trust across political divides, said Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), one of the conference's keynote speakers.

"We can affirm the importance of poverty in the Bible and discuss the religious call to environmental stewardship all we want, but it won't have an impact if we don't tackle head-on the mutual suspicion that sometimes exists between religious America and secular America," he said.

Too often, Obama said, Democratic politicians assume that all religious Americans are "fanatical" and "only care about issues like abortion and gay marriage."

-- Religion News Service

Insurance for Raising Baby Jesus Withdrawn

A $1.8 million insurance policy-- taken out by three Scottish sisters in the event that one of them gave birth to Jesus on his second coming -- has been withdrawn by the insurance company after a complaint by a Catholic.

The policy was originally taken out in 2000 by the three women living in Inverness, Scotland. They were paying annual premiums of about $180 each. The premiums -- now totaling about $3,240 -- have been refunded.

The proposal was one of a number of "weird requests" received by British Insurance Ltd. of Braintree, Essex, around the time of the turn of the millennium. The company's main business is unemployment insurance.

The insurance policy was meant to cover expenses related to raising the young Messiah.

"I thought the request legitimate, albeit weird," explained the company's managing director, Simon Burgess.

But Burgess said the company was mindful of people's sensitivities and did not want to offend. So when a woman telephoned him, saying she was from the Catholic Church in Scotland and asking if he would reconsider offering the policy, he decided to withdraw the coverage and refund the premiums.

However, according to the Scottish Catholic press office, no official complaint was made by the Catholic Church in Scotland.

-- Religion News Service