Julia Duin

Catholic voters heavily favored Obama, analysis shows

Large numbers of Catholics and religiously unaffiliated voters heavily contributed to President-elect Barack Obama's huge margin of victory over Republican Sen. John McCain, according to an analysis of exit poll surveys by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life.

November 7, 2008

DUIN: Evangelist Tomczak still a force

More than 30 years had passed since I last saw him, but Larry Tomczak looked like the same guy I'd seen leading a wildly successful series of youth prayer meetings in the 1970s called "Take And Give" (TAG).

November 6, 2008

Catholics probe aid directed to ACORN

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has hired forensic accounting specialists to investigate more than $1 million in church funding to voter-registration group ACORN, fearing the money may have been spent in partisan or fraudulent ways that could jeopardize the church's tax-exempt status.

November 4, 2008

DUIN: Beliefs versus business

Next time you're in a pharmacy, take a closer look at those folks in white coats. They're on the front lines in a war of conscience versus contraceptives.

October 30, 2008

Pro-choice Obama repels evangelicals

Abortion is the key issue keeping many social conservatives and religious voters - especially young ones - from supporting pro-choice Democrat Barack Obama for president, leaving most of them to throw their support to his pro-life Republican opponent, John McCain.

October 30, 2008

DUIN: Episcopal Church losing members

Several people told me I needed to check out columnist George Will's recent column on the fading away of the Episcopal Church, once "America's upper crust at prayer," as he termed it.

October 26, 2008

DUIN: 40 Days overlaps election

Several weeks ago, I began overhearing conversations among friends about whose turn it was to pray 24/7 in front of the Planned Parenthood clinic on 16th Street downtown.

October 23, 2008

Full house greets ‘faith-based’ pharmacy

Divine Mercy Care Pharmacy, one of fewer than a dozen pharmacies in the country that refuse to stock any kind of birth control, cigarettes, pornography or condoms, opened with a Catholic bishop's blessing and sprinklings of holy water Tuesday in Chantilly.

October 22, 2008

Va. pharmacy caters to pro-life customers

When Divine Mercy Care Pharmacy opens Tuesday in a Chantilly, Va., shopping center, it will have on display a picture of St. John Leonardi, the 16th-century patron saint of pharmacists.

October 21, 2008

History muddies battle over church

Lawyers for the Episcopal Diocese of Virginia and nine conservative churches that broke away two years ago tangled Monday in Fairfax Circuit Court over who owns the Falls Church, a historic Northern Virginia parish that George Washington once attended.

October 21, 2008

DUIN: Humanist take on Sunday school

When is a Sunday school not your typical Sunday school? When it is a secular Sunday school.

October 19, 2008

19th-century deeds surface in church dispute

The Episcopal Diocese of Virginia and a group of 11 conservative breakaway congregations wrangled yesterday over ownership of the historic Falls Church, a 276-year-old congregation that until two years ago was one of the crown jewels of the denomination.

October 16, 2008

DUIN: Christians persecuted in India

On my refrigerator, there is a laminated photo of a serious-looking man from India named Arakhita.

October 16, 2008

Court rules church’s land belongs to departed parish

A Fairfax County judge ruled Tuesday that a piece of church property involved in a lawsuit pitting conservatives against liberals in the Episcopal Church belongs to the Truro Church in Fairfax, a leading traditional parish that left the denomination nearly two years ago.

October 15, 2008

Wuerl in Rome for Bible synod

As the world's economy teeters on a precipice, 253 Catholic bishops are in Rome discussing one thing they consider rock solid in uncertain times

October 13, 2008

DUIN: Artist focuses on biblical scenes

When Diane Knippers, the president of the Institute for Religion and Democracy, succumbed to colon cancer on April 18, 2005, she left behind her husband of nearly 33 years.

October 12, 2008

Young evangelicals’ voting habits differ

Young, white evangelicals are slightly less supportive of Republican presidential nominee Sen. John McCain than their older counterparts but aren't wholeheartedly embracing the Democratic Party, according to two recent polls on how they vote.

October 9, 2008

DUIN: Reach out to homeless

As I headed for a nearby Starbucks one recent morning to fortify myself with some iced java, a man pulled up in a motorized wheelchair and positioned himself about 10 feet away from me.

October 9, 2008

Va. Episcopal church joins land dispute

Christ Episcopal Church of Alexandria, one of the most venerable parishes in the Diocese of Virginia, has joined a historic lawsuit against several Northern Virginia parishes attempting to leave the denomination.

October 8, 2008

DUIN: Tortured animals need compassion

I am eating a piece of chicken as I write this. One of my co-workers had an extra portion from our cafeteria, and handed it off to me. By chowing down, I may be committing an immoral act.

October 5, 2008