GOD IN GOVERNMENT : The Best From This Week's Blog

Catholics Split Over Obama's Notre Dame Appearance

A vocal and influential constituency of American Catholics disapproves of the University of Notre Dame's decision to invite President Obama to speak at the Catholic university's commencement and receive an honorary degree in two weeks, but almost twice as many Catholics approve of the invitation, according to a new poll.

Many people are angry at what they see as one of the nation's most prominent Catholic institutions honoring Obama, who supports abortion rights and embryonic stem cell research. But a poll just released by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life shows 50 percent of Catholics saying they approve of the Notre Dame award to Obama, with 22 percent saying they disapprove. Twenty-two percent said they didn't know. That's pretty similar to the views of Americans overall on the issue -- 48 percent of the general public said they approved, 25 percent disapproved and 27 percent said they didn't know.

The pollsters note, however, that there is a gap in the Notre Dame controversy between more and less observant Catholics. Among white, non-Hispanic Catholics who attend church weekly or more often, approval of the decision plummets to 37 percent. Forty-five percent said the decision was wrong. Among those who attend "less often," 56 percent support the invitation while 23 percent oppose it.

The dispute shows no sign of calming before the May 17 commencement. This week, former ambassador to the Vatican Mary Ann Glendon said she would decline Notre Dame's Laetare Medal, one of the most prestigious awards to American Catholics, because of the Obama controversy. Instead, the university announced that a past medal recipient, U.S. District Judge John T. Noonan will give a speech at the commencement "in lieu of awarding the medal this year."

A group of Notre Dame alumni who are angry about Obama's planned appearance have obtained commitments of $8.2 million in withheld donations from alumni.

The online effort, http://replacejenkins.com, wants the university's president, the Rev. John Jenkins, forced out for the decision to invite Obama. The $8.2 million is a lot of money, but the university is a financial powerhouse. It has (or had, depending on its stock market performance lately) a $5 billion endowment. In 2007-08, its alumni contributed more than $139 million. The university boasts that its level of participation is among the best in American higher education.

But the folks behind replacejenkins.com vow to push on, pointing out that their effort is only a week old.

Shultz Joins Evangelicals in Bid To Eliminate Nuclear Weapons

Former secretary of state George Shultz has teamed up with a slew of evangelical Christians to launch what could be seen as a crusade with a quixotic goal: the worldwide elimination of nuclear weapons.

Schultz has been working on that for a while with some old friends -- former secretary of state Henry Kissinger, former senator Sam Nunn and former defense secretary William J. Perry.

But now he's garnered support from a slew of young evangelical Christians from across the social and theological spectrum: the Rev. Rob Bell, 38, founding pastor of megachurch Mars Hill Bible Church; Shane Claiborne, 38, considered the leader of the "New Monastic" movement; and Jonathan Merritt, 26, spokesman for the Southern Baptist Environment and Climate Initiative. "What human being thinks that he or she should have that kind of power to unleash that kind of destruction?" said Shultz in a news teleconference this week announcing the Two Futures Project.

Sojourners See Open Door In Obama Administration

Two years ago, attendees of the annual Sojourners conference barely filled the sanctuary of a downtown Washington church. But this week, 1,100 of them crowded into a cavernous hall at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center for the group's Mobilization to End Poverty.

In many ways, these are sweet times for Sojourners founder, the Rev. Jim Wallis. The group -- a network of progressive evangelical Christians -- has the ear of the White House. Wallis said the current administration is "offering an open door that we haven't seen for a very long time."

But he is also wary. "We have to connect the access to the results," he said. The Sojourners' goal: reduce poverty and lift up the vulnerable -- the elderly, the homeless, children. The group has embraced the Millennium Development Goals, which vow to achieve a significant reduction in poverty by 2015.

So far, at least, the Obama administration is on board. At the meeting, President Obama delivered a videotaped message (although organizers had hoped for an in-person visit), and three members of the administration endorsed the goals and asked for the group's help in pushing Obama's proposed budget through Congress. Present were Josh Dubois, director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnership; Van Jones, special adviser for Green Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation; and Martha Coven, director of the White House Office of Mobility and Opportunity.