Julia Duin

Warren waver on Prop 8 stuns leaders

Evangelical leaders say they are bewildered and stunned by the Rev. Rick Warren's apparent turnaround on gay marriage after the famous California pastor said earlier this week that he was not a proponent of California's Proposition 8.

April 11, 2009

Pro-life health workers fight for conscience protections

President Obama's campaign promise to dismantle new conscience protections for health care professionals could let governments and medical institutions threaten the careers of pro-lifers who refuse involvement with abortion and contraception issues, a pro-life medical coalition said yesterday.

April 9, 2009

DUIN: First look at faith council

A quasi-gathering of President Obama's new Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships council happened earlier this week, drawing an assortment of policy wonks, Washington insiders and outside-the-Beltway religious leaders.

April 9, 2009

DUIN: Beasts of burden get some relief

Today is Palm Sunday, one of two days in the year when the humble donkey takes center stage.

April 5, 2009

DUIN: Accuracy a plus in prophecy

Several weeks ago, one of the best-known figures in American Pentecostalism came out with an astonishing forecast of terrible doom.

April 2, 2009

DUIN: Francis Schaeffer, a lasting influence

Each year about this time, my thoughts turn to L'Abri, the influential Christian community founded in March 1955 in the mountains of French-speaking Switzerland.

March 29, 2009

DUIN: Obama, Notre Dame at odds

I had a sick child at home Wednesday, which is why I missed pro-life activist Randall Terry's press conference where he announced an ideological war against the University of Notre Dame for its temerity in inviting President Obama to speak at its May 17th commencement.

March 26, 2009

Notre Dame bishop to boycott Obama

The Catholic bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend, Ind., announced Tuesday he will boycott President Barack Obama's May 17 commencement speech at the University of Notre Dame, joining an estimated 80,000 people who have petitioned the university to rescind its plans.

March 25, 2009

Sebelius in trouble with Catholic Church

President Obama's nominee to head the agency that guides federal abortion policy is the latest Roman Catholic politician to find herself torn between her political beliefs and her faith.

March 24, 2009

DUIN: Knights hopefuls upset members

Not long ago, I got an anonymous letter from 24 "knights and dames" of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta about the proposed induction of former Washington Mayor Anthony A. Williams into one of the Catholic Church's most prestigious lay organizations. The problem? The former mayor is an unabashed supporter of several no-go places for Catholics.

March 22, 2009

DUIN: Tithing for world in need

When President Obama released his faith advisory council list last month, Richard Stearns, the president of World Vision, was the last of 15 names.

March 19, 2009

DUIN: Zen and the art of meditation

This column came about because of an oversight by President Obama. As he listed religious groups in his inauguration speech, he left out Buddhism, the world's fourth largest religion.

March 15, 2009

D.C. archdiocese hedges on Communion for Sebelius

UPDATED: The Archdiocese of Washington is trying to duck a growing debate on whether pro-choice Catholic politicians can take Communion within its boundaries.

March 13, 2009

DUIN: Save lives of frail unborn

What happens when a pregnant woman is told her unborn child has some ghastly defect?

March 12, 2009

Court to free missionary in religion case

A Unification Church missionary jailed in January in Almaty, Kazakhstan, will be freed Wednesday, an appeals court ruled Tuesday.

March 11, 2009

DUIN: Pursue a dream after ‘Half Time’

More than 12,000 people turn 50 each day in America. In this era of layoffs and downsizing, many wonder if it's all downhill from there for the next 30 years.

March 8, 2009

DUIN: Sebelius poses dilemma to Wuerl

The perfect political storm has descended upon the Archdiocese of Washington.

March 5, 2009

Evangelicals ponder Dobson’s successor

The long-expected resignation of Focus on the Family's James Dobson highlights an open secret among America's roughly 70 million evangelicals: There are no obvious successors to the group of evangelical leaders who created massive organizations or built up media empires in the 1980s and '90s.

March 4, 2009

Survey: U.S. Muslim women liberated

UPDATED: American Muslims include some of the world's most liberated Islamic women and the largest percentage of young people of any religious community in the country, according to a new report issued Monday by the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies.

March 3, 2009

DUIN: In-between years of Jesus a puzzle

It's been 25 years since Joe Girzone, a priest from Albany, N.Y., penned "Joshua," a most unusual novel about a Jesus-like character who shows up in a small American town.

March 1, 2009