The latest news on Food Stamps, Foreclosures, Trial for Alleged Bombing Attempt, Nuclear Weapons, Yemen, Iran, Afghanistan, and Iraq

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Quote of the Day. "I'm trying to teach the kids that you don't need to have expensive toys to have fun. You can make it fun, from anything." Igor Montoya, Miami, on the growing trend to buy less and spend more time with family and friends, gardening, cooking, reading and other hobbies, along with volunteering for civic and religious activities. (New York Times)

FAITH IN THE NEWS

A religious response to the financial crisis: We need a values recovery (Jim Wallis, Washington Post) "One cold morning the week before Christmas, I found myself huddled with a group of homeowners and religious leaders on Pennsylvania Avenue, in the shadow of the White House and the Treasury building. The homeowners, who had all worked hard to buy their first homes, and most of whom had put enough money down to qualify for fixed-rate mortgages only to be persuaded into more exotic mortgages, were facing imminent foreclosure. We had come to stand with them."

Moderate Muslims? We're everywhere (Eboo Patel, USA Today) "I, like most Muslims I know, believe in my bones that terrorism is antithetical to Islam, as it is to any religion, or any feeling that can be described as even remotely human. And I, like most Muslims I know, take every chance I get to denounce terrorism, to decouple it from my religion, to define Islam the way classical Muslim scholars did: as a faith, above all, of mercy and monotheism."

U.S. Evangelicals' Role Seen in Uganda Anti-Gay Push "Last March, three American evangelical Christians, whose teachings about 'curing' homosexuals have been widely discredited in the United States, arrived here in Uganda's capital to give a series of talks."

Churches ministering to job seekers "For LaTonya Poindexter, 2009 was a year of low moments. She lost her job. Without income, she had to leave her apartment and move into a homeless shelter with her three children. 2010 looks better. Poindexter's church, Vineyard Church of Columbus, gave her a part-time job in its cafe. The Salvation Army helped her find an apartment and Christmas gifts for her children."

NEWS AT HOME

Food Stamps. Living on Nothing but Food Stamps "About six million Americans receiving food stamps report they have no other income, according to an analysis of state data collected by The New York Times. In declarations that states verify and the federal government audits, they described themselves as unemployed and receiving no cash aid -- no welfare, no unemployment insurance, and no pensions, child support or disability pay."

Children's Health Insurance. Program for Children Has Uncertain Future "As Democratic Congressional leaders work to merge the House and Senate versions of major health-care legislation, a big question is what they will do about the Children's Health Insurance Program, which now provides coverage to more than nine million children and pregnant women and is expected to cover more than 14 million by 2013."

Foreclosures. Mortgage foreclosures still swamping federal efforts to help "Banks and other lenders are still foreclosing on Americans' homes at a rate that's outpacing the Obama administration's main effort to stem the crisis. The Treasury Department's Home Affordable Modification Program has started the mortgage modification process for almost 760,000 homeowners, less than 5 percent of those workouts have become permanent."

Economic Crisis. Lax Oversight Caused Crisis, Bernanke Says "Regulatory failure, not low interest rates, was responsible for the housing bubble and subsequent financial crisis of the last decade, Ben S. Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, said in a speech on Sunday."

Trial for Alleged Bombing Attempt. Obama aide defends trial for suspect in Christmas Day attempt to bomb plane "President Obama's chief counterterrorism adviser on Sunday defended the administration's decision to try in federal court the man charged with attempting to bomb an airliner on Christmas Day and indicated that he would be offered a plea agreement to persuade him to reveal what he knows about al-Qaeda operations in Yemen."

Nuclear Weapons. Obama's nuclear-free vision mired in debate President Obama's ambitious plan to begin phasing out nuclear weapons has run up against powerful resistance from officials in the Pentagon and other U.S. agencies, posing a threat to one of his most important foreign policy initiatives.

NEWS AROUND THE WORLD

Yemen. Threats Led to Embassy Closings in Yemen, Officials Say "The United States and Britain decided to close their embassies in the capital of Yemen because of continuing threats from Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, the terrorist group linked to the attempt to bring down an international flight into Detroit on Christmas." Yemen dismisses Al Qaeda threat as 'exaggerated' "Yemeni officials on Sunday dismissed the threat posed by Al Qaeda in their country as 'exaggerated' and downplayed the possibility of cooperating closely with the United States in fighting Islamic militants." Yemen rules out US intervention "Yemen's foreign minister has ruled out direct US military intervention to tackle the al-Qaeda group operating in his country." 'Orchard of Yemeni fighters' grows from poverty "They said that a military approach to tackling the crisis would only exacerbate the problem, radicalising tribes who were already sympathetic to the Islamists while failing to address key civil grievances such as massive underdevelopment, poverty and unequal distribution of key resources, in particular oil."

Iran. Iran 'working on nuclear weapon design' "The US believes the official intelligence assessment of Iran's nuclear programme is wrong and Tehran is working on the design of a nuclear weapon, it was reported today."

Afghanistan. Karzai suffers cabinet vote setback "The Afghan parliament has rejected two-thirds of the ministers nominated by the country's president." UN warning after Karzai cabinet is rejected "The head of the United Nations in Kabul warned that the country risked floundering 'without a functioning government,' after only seven of the President's twenty-four ministerial candidates were approved in a secret ballot on Saturday."

Iraq. No US combat deaths in Iraq in December "December was the first month in which no US troops were killed in combat in Iraq since the US-led invasion in 2003." Iraq civilian deaths 'down in 2009' "Violence against civilians in Iraq dropped dramatically in 2009, with the lowest death toll since the 2003 US-led invasion, a monitoring group says."

Sojourners' Daily Digest is a compilation of the top news related to our commitments of life and peace, economic and racial justice, and care of creation, with a special focus on news of the engagement of faith in public life.