These are important years in Islams efforts to win respectability in America. Pressing for their rights, keeping their cool and not returning the mindless venom that ignorant people use are essential. Here are my compliments for the measured, but firm, way the Muslim community is holding US Airways feet to the fire for the clumsy way it handled the treatment of Arizona imams in Minneapolis last week.Sadly, it has triggered ugly, anti-Islamic hated and vile comments all over the Internet and media talk shows, including accusations that the Muslim leaders deliberately created the highly publicized event.The incident has given the airlines a well-deserved black eye and raises new doubts about the consistency in protecting civil liberties in this country. The public and the airlines seem too quick to raise unsubstantiated fears about Muslims trying to go about their unique way of life in this country. It is unacceptable that airlines employees and security people could be so fast to respond to nervous passengers to have the imams taken off the plane and handcuffed and then to delay their ultimate departure in what became a national incident. The imams, including five from Arizona (one imam is blind), were flying out of the Twin Cities after attending a conference when a passenger penned a note about six suspicious Arabic men on plane. All were together saying, Allah, Allah. I have followed the reports and heard and read remarks by Imam Ahmad Shqeirat of the Islamic Community Center of Tempe and Imam Omar Shahin of Phoenix as they have retold their accounts. They say they did not chant Allah on the plane, but had prayed inside the terminal before boarding. Surely if the public were more sensitive and aware, such praying would not be a cause for concern. Somewhere came reports that the imams were flying on one-way tickets (a red flag), but the airline and imams discount that. The Muslim American Society and its Freedom Foundation plan to hold both a prayer service and an interfaith rally at 1 p.m. Friday at Tempe Beach Park across the street from US Airways corporate offices. There will be more remarks about the incident and a request for a formal apology from US Airways. We hope that this rally sends a strong message to US Airways, and others, that racial and religious profiling will not be tolerated and that equal protection under the law is still the law of our great nation, said Imam Mahdi Bray, executive director of the foundation. Long discredited, extremist commentator Ann Coulter weighed in immediately after the incident. In her famous mean spirit, she noted that Muslims were calling for a boycott of US Airways, then added, If only we could get Muslims to boycott all airlines, we could dispense with airport security altogether. And another cheapshot: About the only scary preflight ritual the imams didnt perform was the signing of last wills and testaments. Coulter, tongue in cheek, we hope, said, Come to think of it, the whole affair may have been a madcap advertising scheme cooked up by US Airways. It worked for me. US Airways in my official airline now.And Coulter blathers on. The entire incident is one more manifestation of the phony need to fear that is being widely perpetuated, that breeds mistrust and an insidious eroding of respect for others.At the least, the incident points out how wary much of America is about anyone with Middle Eastern features. It shows how knee-jerk people can be. Suspicious activity is one thing. Cultural ignorance is another. Airline personnel could have been quicker fact-finders and could have shown some restraints. And, in an age, where American business must carefully guard against P.R. fiascos, I am amazed someone with common sense didnt step in and nip this thing in the bud.

Heres a story that instantly belongs in the archives of Tempes colorful history. Its how the community Interfaith Thanksgiving service was rolling along until it came to the time to take the offering, for the passing of the plate, the receipt of the gifts of the people. But to everyones astonishment, no one came forth with offering plates because the church had none. There were not even ushers assigned for the task.Clergy and laity from 17 Tempe congregations took part in this years interfaith service on the eve of Thanksgiving at the Tempe Arizona Stake Center of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at College Avenue and Alameda Drive. It is a great Tempe tradition going back to the early 1980s. Typically the special service has moved around from one house of worship to another. It is coordinated by clergy taking part in Tempe Emergency Assistance Ministry, or TEAM, which is made up of congregations that primarily work to meet wide need for food, shelter, transportation and other short-term emergency needs of the poor. The service brings together Jewish, Protestant, Islamic, Mormon, Independent Catholic, Salvation Army and others to set aside creeds, practices and differences for a night in the common American tradition of giving thanks in unity. Side benefits include experiencing rich elements of other religions like Rabbi Andrew Straus of Temple Emanuel blowing a piercing shofar in a sustained squawk or a Quaker, Anne Hardt, leading silent prayer. Mayor Hugh Hallman came forward to read his Tempe Thanksgiving Proclamation and to tell how the Indians around Tempe Butte interacted with the first white settlers in kind of the same tradition as the Plymouth Colony and the Indians of that region in 1620-21.While different clergy take segments of the full service, like the invocation, reading scriptures from the Torah, Christian Bible, Quran and the Book of Mormon, a childrens moment or benediction, one religious leader is selected out to deliver the sermon. This year, it was Sue Ringler of Guardian Angels Independent Catholic Church and a key organizer of the new Interfaith Homeless Emergency Lodging Program, or I-HELP, which arranges for various Tempe churches to feed and house about 20 or more homeless people for a night and ensure their safety and healthier living. Almost 20 years ago, TEAM recruited me to be the main speaker for the Thanksgiving Eve service when my church was hosting it. This year, as in past years, I sang in the combined choir. When it came to the time for the offering, the Rev. John Herman of Desert Palm United Church of Christ stood and gave a rousing call for people to give to help the poor through I-HELP, Tempe Community Action Agency and Tempe Salvation Army (personal disclosure: I have been president of the boards of the last two groups). Then our choir leader Gerald Ford, who ordinarily leads music at the Mormon Ward commanded we stand, and we proceeded to sing Because I Have Given Much.As I looked out at the religiously diverse audience, I saw no activity. No usher moved, no one came in from the halls. By the third and last verse, there was some stirring. First Stake President Lee Clegg go up off the podium and walked out. Suddenly other men left and came in carrying grocery sacks and a couple cardboard boxes including the box that I had brought food in for the food pantries. They had emptied the food out of them onto a table and turned them into collection containers. The organist replayed the hymn without the choirs participation as bags rather haphazardly were passed around for cash and checks. In the end, the Rev. Al Gephart of University Presbyterian Church got up and joined everyone in a great group Oops! and explained that some faith groups (like the Mormons) dont have a tradition of passing an offering plate around during services. So they simply didnt have any on hand, and no one on the planning team had foreseen it. So folks improvised and manifested their generosity anyway.TEAM MEMO: Next time the Mormons are hosts, another congregation needs to bring some plates and arrange for ushers. Happy Thanksgiving to all!

Marian Axford Shea is an 89-year-old woman in her own tidy, memento-rich room in the Health Care Center of Friendship Village Retirement Center of Tempe. Her mind is sharp but her body has not kept up as well, and she is bed-bound. Marian, a retired longtime college teacher, author and social justice activist, has been a friend of mine for about 15 years. She was once active at my church where she regularly spoke out forcefully for others.On Wednesday, I was on a panel at the Kiwanis Club of Friendship Villages special Thanksgiving-theme meeting, coming on the eve of the holiday. Our topic was how Kiwanis Clubs manifest their commitment to the first two of the six Objects of Kiwanis: To give primacy to the human and spiritual rather than to the material values of life. To encourage the daily living of the Golden Rule in all human relationships.As the person who has been delivering the invocations to my Kiwanis club in Tempe since October 1991 and producing its weekly newsletter since January 1990, I noted how I try to celebrate the humanity of our members on a regular basis, make the club aware of members and their loved ones health and share achievements of the Kiwanis family. We periodically have a religious speaker and surely try to live out the Golden Rule.At the end of my remarks, I reminded the Friendship Village Kiwanians of Maria Shea, one of their health care center residents and a one-time Tempe candidate for the Arizona House of Representatives, albeit it unsuccessful bid in the general election in the mid-1990s. I told how her social witness was fierce an advocate for peace, children, widespread health care and legal justice for the poor. Then I read from one of my lesson plans from April 27, 1997, when I taught a contemporary issues class at my church. It was titled, Words to Live By Maxims Driving Us:When Marian Sheas friend, Vicki Austin, telephoned her on Aug. 14, 1996, to wish her a happy 79th birthday, Vickie gave her an assignment. For every year of her life, she would write one thing or one truth she has learned. This is what Marian wrote off the top of her head: On the front and back of my hand-out were 79 sayings, aphorisms and inspiring lines — most just a few words long. To that Kiwanis contingent Wednesday, I shared some of those pieces of wisdom that this one-time school teacher so easily volunteered. Among them:: Lifes greatest joys come in serving others. Use your talents lest they atrophy. Always begin the day on a positive note. See the beauty in each individual, Use the microwave to simplify your life. If youre angry, count to 10 before your speak. Beauty if only skin deep. Real beauty comes from character.Others include: Rejoice along with others in their accomplishments. Watch your weight. Learn when to compromise and when to stand firm on principle. Maintain a healthy sense of humor. Beware of flattery. Begin each day by acknowledging the goodness of God in granting another day of life. Learn from others rather than trying to learn the hard way. Seize the moment. Get your education. Revere your parents wisdom. Avoid even the appearance of evil. Have long-range goals, but be able to change them if necessary. And there is a lot more practical advice for life. Ten more birthdays have come along for Marian, and she could proffer at lest 10 more maxims, for sure. So I will just end on one more of her expressions. Take time to be overwhelmed by the beauties God has created.

Dont make us have to listen to some notion that the so-called war on Christmas is raging anew. It was a phony war last year, and we dont need to fuss again in 2006 that some insidious force is trying to turn it into a secular holiday. Already the Alliance Defense Fund, based in Scottsdale, is announcing that it has more than 950 attorneys ready nationally to combat attempts to censor Christmas. Their fourth annual project to save Christmas from the Humanists and pagans will take on anyone or any group that tries to replace Merry Christmas with Happy Holidays or other steps to censor the celebration of Christmas in schools and on public property. The Defense Funds president, Alan Sears, in a release, pronounces, Frankly, its ridiculous that Americans have to think twice about whether its OK to say Merry Christmas. Thanks to the ACLU and its allies, Christmas isnt what it used to be. Sears suggests it is time to fix the damage those organizations have done to Americas favorite holiday and that overwhelming majority of Americans opposed censoring Christmas. To back that, he offers four polls. They say 95 percent of Americans celebrate Christmas (Fox News/Opinion Dynamics, 2005); 90 percent of Americans recognize Christmas as the birthday of Jesus Christ (Gallup, 2000); 88 percent agree that it OK for people to wish others Merry Christmas and the majority are more likely to wish someone they just met Merry Christmas rather than Happy Holidays (CNN/USA Today/Gallup, 2004); and, finally, 87 percent believe nativity scenes should be allowed on public property (Fox News/Opinion Dynamics, 2003).So, with all that, how can it even be an issue? Christmas is as safe as Wal-Marts survival. Much of Sears additional remarks are a diatribe against ACLU, accusing it of fear, intimidation and disinformation. The ADF insists school officials, for example, may safely say Christmas vacation of the December-to-January days off, or that government-sponsored Christmas displays are not banned as some people believe.An author and pastor, David Jeremiah, capitalizes on the phantom war to promote his book, Why the Nativity? 25 Compelling Reasons We Celebrate the Birth of Jesus. But his press release is titled, The War on X-Mas, and he begins the release by saying, Most every December, peoples thoughts often turn to peace on earth but the on-going war over Christmas promises to make this holiday season yet another better known for bah, humbug than for good will toward man. He promises that the soon to be released film, The Nativity Story will also address the escalating war on Christmas and make the true meaning of this season an unavoidable topic in our culture.Look for retailers to be smarter this year and relent on the issue and use Christmas more freely. Theyll avoid getting caught in the controversy lest the zealots attack them and start boycotts and badmouthing for trying to be more universal and culturally sensitive.I stand with what the Rev. Barry Lynn of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, has said, There is no war on Christmas. And its insipid to say so when there are really nasty wars raging in Iraq, Afghanistan and other trouble spots. In short, this silly debate trivializes the real wars. Tell people you know who are Christians, Merry Christmas. To others whose status you just dont know, use Happy holidays or have a good one, pal.

A rich life is so very much about the people met on the path, even if for only a short time. Recently, the elections prompted me to Google the name of a Peace Corps comrade from my stint in 1968-69 in Paraguay, a guy who later went home to Ohio and became Clevelands and Ohios most enduring TV anchorman. On election day, I sent Ted Henry at Channel 5, the ABC affiliate in Cleveland, to tell him how he had come up in a conversation with my Tribune supervisor who was from Cleveland and who remembered Ted, who has been a news fixture there since 1972. I reminded Ted how a decade ago, I called the station while I was serving as vice-chairman of an American Red Cross committee while it was holding its national convention in Cleveland. We had had a brief chat at the time. Years before that, while stopping overnight in Cleveland on a cross-country drive, I stumbled across Ted anchoring an evening newscast. This week, the busy anchor responded with a rich e-mail, telling me how he read my blogs and that he also has a blog, Ted Henrys 5 On Your Side Blog (www.newsnet5.com/tedsblog/index.html). He told me that after 34 years of anchoring the news at 6 and 11 p.m. for the local ABC affiliate, he has begun to pursue stories of my passion, spirituality. For the past two years, he has reported special stories of a spiritual dimension — a story a week during the Friday 6 p.m. news. There have been three documentaries and even a 36-part series on a medical doctor who heals through prayer. Right now, I am interviewing an imam, rabbi, priest and evangelical minister about how you get to heaven, Ted wrote me. Their responses are all reflective and quite interesting.Ted and his wife Jody will leave in three weeks for India, their 10th trip to the subcontinent. We have been attracted to an 80-year-old teacher there in the south desert section of the country who draws tens of thousands of people daily from all parts of the world and from all parts of the intellectual, economic and cultural sectors. Ted said his hobby is to interview and videotape holy people for an hour at a time wherever I find them. There have been lots of saintly people and a few sinners from greater Cleveland to Bangalore to the Kingdom of Bhutan. He said the whole project has evolved mostly into the way I learn at the feet of other wise souls.I couldnt agree more with Ted than when he made this statement: Being a reporter for 40 years has taught me that almost anyone, anywhere, at anytime, will willingly answer almost any question I put to them. Over the years, he said, he has found that there is an enormous mother lode of rich stories to be mined by simply focusing questions on the human and spiritual condition.A recent story was on a movie actor who has glorified violence in all 30 of his martial arts films and believes he is a reincarnated lama, which makes him a god. Ted said what he goes after is never dull. The veteran anchorman, who has won four Emmys and many national and state awards, has traveled the world on special TV assignments, including six trips to Israel, being at the Berlin Wall when it was being torn down in 1989 and in Rome for the papal transition in 2005. He fired back numerous questions for me, mostly about my own more than four decades of journalism and my writing about religion and spirituality for about 16 years. Questions like how did I get into doing news writing in this specialty and how has all of your writings shaped your own still-to-be-written story of personal growth and understanding?I have often told people that across my 60 years, I have worked and served with many, many groups, but nothing compares to my Peace Corps gang as people of remarkable character, folks demonstrating real purpose in life and having drive and focus. They seemed to have a powerful sense of where they were headed. I suspect most of them today are extremely successful and have left their marks on their fields. They used to say, The Peace Corps: The Toughest Job Youll Ever Love. I have stories of many people I once knew who went on to greatness and distinction, and that is always heartening. And Ted Henry is a good example of a Peace Corps alumnus who had so much on the ball serving in Caazapa, Paraguay, that it followed that he would excel on his return to the States. For a seasoned TV newsman seeking something more, its back to India to ply his storytelling skills and change hearts. I owe him a long e-mail to catch up and to rebuild a Peace Corps bond and assure one another that, somehow, that experience so long ago may have fostered something special in each of us, a kind of catalyst to pursue greater things and, as Ted says, go to learn at the feet of wise souls.

In the aftermath of Tuesdays historic election, I repeatedly think about the multitude of factors that brought about the dramatic political changes and it certainly affirms that we live in a republic with resiliency, tipping points and true limits.There has been a convergence of so many influences that are outside the controls of the establishment that would have us accept the prevailing mantra. There has been:n the proliferation of blogs, that allow just about anyone to become an analyst, pundit, investigator, whistle-blower; rant; and a kind of Internet stalker. Websites, blogs and chat rooms have allowed for spirited discussions and ways for people to trade insights and cross-pollinate in the field of politics. n Comedy Centrals Daily Show with John Stewart, with his relentless, keen and acerbic review of news events, centered on offbeat, fast interviews with newsmakers and footage of policymakers gaffes, imprecision and things they wished they had never said or should have said better. Culture-watchers have determined that the Daily Show is eagerly watched by the under-30 crowd, to the point that some say thats where I get my news. Hmmm.n Ditto for shows like Saturday Night Live and the sketches that showcased and parodied news of the week. Not to mention the nightly jabs by Jay Leno, David Letterman and others. n Bill Maher and his Real Time shows on HBO, with blistering, scalding commentaries, and panels that never let up on their rendering their observations on the ongoing body politic.n The growing sophistication of the three cable news networks CNN, MSNBC and Fox-News all of them with deep lineups of pundits and sources, constantly stirring the coals of the controversy du jour. n Progressive talk radio. Up until 2004 elections, there had not been whats being calling progressive talk radio. But Air America came on the scene just before the 2004 elections, and the networks line-up of talkers served as a sounding board for that segment of the population alienated by Republican victories that year. They became a force trying to counter the formidable conservative radio networks. n Corruption in Washington, massive mismanagement connected with Hurricane Katrina, and President Bushs seeming insensitivity to it all fostered revulsion and discontent.T n The "be afraid, be very afraid" cry to instill fear lost its credibility. There was a growing sense that freedom needs to be preserved and not sacrificed for safety and security.n n The war in Iraq, the leading issue, mobilized many heretofore apathetic young adults to empathize with those dying and maimed in the war of their generation.n n Cracks formed in the foundation of the Christian Right, which got little more than a couple U.S. Supreme Court justices to their liking, a resolute anti-stem-cell research position from Bush and a fight to keep the feeding tube in the late Terri Schiavo. There was a series of messy controversies, such as David Kuos Tempting Faith book that suggested a callous White House perception of evangelicals and the Congressman Mark Foley and Pastor Ted Haggard scandals that undermined trust in those political leaders who seemed to share their foursquare values. n n A seeming planet that didnt mince words about the drift of American politics and polices.The ballot box, for now, has regained respect as the best tool to revisit the American experiment and adjust direction. Many who are weary of the campaigns and ugly ads are already tuned out to the post-mortems and analysis that continue to go on. For me, its been some heady days since Tuesday, listening to the feedback from around the world and watching winners and losers try to account for what happened.

The post-mortem on Tuesdays national mid-term elections is one big blame-game for conservatives many of them evangelicals, convinced that Republicans betrayed true conservative values and paid the price at the polls.The historic sea change, I believe, had to do with an obvious set of forces: A message of President Bush that the Iraqi war was a mistake and a fiasco that needs fresh and effective approaches to bring finality; the endless litany of corruption; wanton spending on the war and its profiteering for corporate friends; Katrina failures; cynicism about fear-raising and validity of terror threats; lack of congressional oversight of the executive branch; and a pure fatigue from the 12-year episode of Republican rule. And certainly we see that a party that had billed itself as paragons of family values and ethics woefully failed to create a better and kinder society. And dont underestimate the human desire for change. American politics have a way of making corrections when things seem to go extreme. Give people credit for giving constituencies some time to try their experiments in public policy-making. Para-church organizations right and left were dissecting results from Tuesday and voicing new directions. The Institute on Religion and Democracy, which describes itself as an alliance of Christians reforming churches social witness in accord with biblical and historic witness, lauded voters in seven states Arizona not among them for protecting marriage in ballot measures. It chastised major denominations, however, for being silent in the campaign. Methodist leaders were blamed for silence even though the church officially supports laws in civil society that define marriage as one man and one woman. Bloody Tuesday Pro-Life Measures, Candidates Lose Big was the headline on a press release from Troy Newman, president of Operation Rescue. America has voted and the bloody results have placed the most vulnerable among us, the pre-born, in the crosshairs for continued extermination, he said. But he said he was hopeful that those who respect life will eventually regain control of our governmental institutions. The vote was described as only a speed bump in the road, and our cause is advancing. Rabbi Michael Lerner of the progressive Tikkun Community and magazine was ecstatic that the election outcome could boost what he calls the religious left. He said that for two decades, the religious right was able to convince Americans that the great ethical issues were about sexuality and abortion. In this election, voters in many states repudiated local initiatives sponsored by the right. His zinger was this, If pundits try to convince you that the ethical issues folks lost, tell them that Americans are growing more sophisticated about what IS an ethical issue. Things like the death tolls in Iraq where the defenseless and innocent die, fair wages and protecting the planets ecology. Just days before, the Democrats were characterized as wimpy politicians without backbones, plans or political killer instincts. Then with such convincingly national victories, the onus seems off. Lerner has optimism and hope that American can heal and transform the world still. He celebrates the great value of American democracy, with all its limitations, for giving an opportunity for that goodness in people to shine through all the deceptions and all the distortions. Hope if back in America.

The Roman Catholic Church has an amazing need to figure everything out, like whether the souls of babies go to heaven if they die without a baptism. Its not something that many other faiths seem concerned with.The Catholic News Services recently reported that a Vatican advisory board met for five days in early October and worked out a statement regarding the churchs longtime position that the souls of non-baptized babies were assigned to limbo.While no on can be certain of the fate of unbaptized babies who died, Christians can and should trust that God will welcome those babies into heaven, said members of the International Theological Commission, according to the front page article in a recent issue of The Catholic Sun.St. Augustine, in the fifth century, is considered the first to say that the unbaptized could not get to heaven. For the next eight centuries, that was the teaching. Then came St. Thomas Aquinas who said each deceased baby not baptized went into limbo, or an eternal state of natural joy. Peter De Rosa, writing about the issue, noted, For the next 700 years, Rome taught that limbo is a kind of play center for babies without any adult supervision. It was far more densely populated than heaven or hell. Stories abound how the bodies of unbaptized babies could not be buried in church cemeteries, but were relegated to pauper cemeteries or in burial plots set aside for derelicts. Doctors and nurses attending women in childbirth were told to baptize a baby in the womb if it was likely to die before birth, using a syringe, De Rosa writes. A devout Catholic couple told me of their terror at the thought of their baby being run down by a car on the way to church for baptism. They’d never see him again in this life or the next.Protestants dont accept the concept of limbo, saying it is nothing that can explicitly be found in the BibleThe Vatican commission last month looked at why the idea of limbo entered common teaching, why it was never officially defined as Catholic doctrine and why hope for their salvation makes more sense, explained the Rev. Paul McPartlan, a commission member and professor at The Catholic University in Washington, D.C. He said no one can know for certain what happens to babies who perish without baptism, but we have good grounds to hope that God, in his mercy and love, looks after these children and brings them to salvation.That certainly makes sense and it begs the question, Why should this have ever been an issue? The 30 commissioners are fine-tuning their statement, then voting on it by mail, for formal release next year. They say the statement will take great pains to explain the Christian belief that baptism is necessary to guarantee salvation and urges parents to baptize their children to avoid such a quandary. McPartlan explained that his commission began to explore the issue because bishops and priests around the world had asked Pope Benedict XVI, while he was still Cardinal Ratzinger, for an updated Catholic statement in response to the distressing human situation of parents mourning the loss of a baby before baptism. That also includes fetuses from abortion.Realizing some people could misinterpret the statement as saying that baptism is unnecessary for infants because they are incapable of sinning, the document reaffirms church teaching about the reality of original sin, the article said. Catholics are taught that only Jesus and his mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary, were unborn unmarked by the stain of original sin. Everyone else comes smirched with sin. Ratzinger had first said in 1985 that focusing on hope made more sense theologically than upholding the idea of limbo where unbaptized babies would enjoy natural happiness for eternity, but would not be in heaven in the presence of God. Kudos to the church for seemingly changing its thinking on such a morbid issue where their obviously has been plenty of rigid insensitivity.Fascinating debate, but it really seems to be far-fetched theology, not to mention all the parents who have anguished over the centuries when their young offspring died too soon.

No matter where you sit theologically, youve got to feel bad for the American evangelical Christian community in how many times, it seems, their people who hold high stature fall as humans. The Ted Haggard scandal still too amorphous and unfolding today to know where it will lead is just the latest bombshell. Critics say it is karma, that self-righteous and self-appointed moralists get what they have coming to themselves. And there are those who insist the most high-and-mighty talk with such bravado and righteousness to repress their pitiful and private sinfulness — i.e. Jim Bakker, Jimmy Swaggart, J. Edgar Hoover, Aimee Semple McPherson and Congressman Mark Foley. Surely we have had evidence to show that self-hating, closeted gays can be highly anti-gay in their public work and activity as a suppression-of-guilt mechanism.Wed be wise to be realists and believe no group faith, government, entertainment, media, education, sports, etc. is immune from having flawed people who get headlines because they have achieved a place of respect only to have their dark sides exposed.. No matter how high people may rise in their fields, we should not assume that they passed some good test and that they cant and wont shock us. A tip-off is often how vociferous some people can be in condemning others. It may be a hint that they are utter hypocrites.Shame on Haggard, president of the National Association of Evangelicals and head of a 14,000-member megachurch in Colorado Springs, Colo., for such duplicity to speak out against gay marriage, then have some kind of a covert relationship with a gay escort who provided him with methamphetamines. In my more than 40 years of being part of media, I have seen detestable people who have climbed over others to get higher in management and/or move on to other realms. In my deepest cynicism, I say that many people only get to the top because they have been ruthless, insensitive and so driving that it doesnt matter whom they trample to get there. Seemingly, in some fields like politics, survival to reach leadership is only achieved by deposing others.There is a fundamental mistake in thinking that those who make religious work their profession are necessarily going to be sinless saints. Just as we find a common pattern that those who go into psychiatry, more often than not, having deep psychiatric and behavioral problems or needs, so it may follow that those who take on ministry to shape how others live and act may have the most need for it themselves and cannot control urges to reach people in weird ways. Take philandering pastors. Given their work of intimate discussion, counseling from a highly respected position of power, it may not be so strange that they can fall shamelessly in love with parishioners who need hugs and shoulders to cry on.As I watch the Haggard story unfold and as more information comes out, it conjures how scandals unravel first the denial, then admission to pieces of wrongdoing, then its explodes into full, seamy revelation. We saw so much of that in the interminable Catholic child pedophile scandals — cover-ups for years before the Catholic Church faced up to it. Like it or not, we expect more from clergy because they are supposed to be grounded in religious ethics and the discipline that comes with it. Evangelicals are more vulnerable to the shame of scandal, I suspect, because they make family values a bigger deal and set themselves up for a farther fall. And it seems that other faiths better understand the human condition and have a healthier and more balanced understanding of sex and sexual diversity, all of it part of Gods creation, like it or not.

I used to regularly wear a coat and tie to work, and I did the same for church on Sundays. It felt good. It seemed appropriate for my professional work and my public presentation as a journalist. And dressing up for church was a no-brainer. Now its mostly just the tie during cooler months in both venues work and church. But I generally now stick to a mere dress shirt and slacks on Sunday, keeping in step with the vast majority of the church crowd. Ive never felt suffocated by a tie, but I recognize how out of place it can make me look especially here in Arizona where things get informal. Often I am the only one in the Tribune newsroom wearing a tie, but I am heartened to see one new young business reporter wearing a tie regularly. From time to time, the Catholic Sun carries letters to the editor about what is appropriate or verboten church dress, things like exposed straps, bare arms, shorts, sandals and athletic shoes. Certainly tank tops are a turnoff. Of course, what people choose to wear to worship runs the gamut and only some congregations, through peer pressure and other forces, police standards.The late syndicated religious columnist George Plagenz once offered this: Indeed, it seems most of us have forgotten that there was once such a thing as Sunday best, where people saved their best clothes to wear on Sunday. These days, many clergymen encourage informality. What startled us in the 1970s is now taken for granted. Certainly the coatless-tieless look for men, accepted only at summer church services, today appears year-round–and seems to be here to stay. But a new question about appropriate church dress is being raised. Is it worshipful? Do the clothes you wear help you to worship better? Do they distract others from worshiping?Excellent questions. People I enormously admire disappoint me at times by their casual dress work and church. I stop short here at suggesting their work suffers or the sanctuary is sullied by jogging shorts and collarless shirts not tucked in. Many cutting-edge, trendy churches have pastors in casual clothing — no robes or stoles or even ties. They say they can better reach folks who don’t like pretense, stuffiness and formality.I have long vacillated on the value of dress codes. On one side is the issue of individuality and the freedom from imposed conformity. On the other is the merit in negating the fashion race and competition. Private schools long ago, of course, established precise dress codes that not only evened the field for poor and rich kids but stymied any chances that some kids would wear revealing clothing.In some church settings, we tend to cut a lot of slack for kids. Often young people who have roles in church services such as greeting, ushering or candle-lighting come wearing shorts, sandals, T-shirts and gym shoes. Nothing is customarily said probably because there are no spelled-out standards, and their parents will say that are just thankful they were able to get their offspring to do it never mind what they chose to wear. But here’s a salute those who successfuly impart to children and teens that dressing up for worship services enhances that experience and underscores how special it is — that it has to do with reverence and a higher sense of respect for what takes place in the worship space.