The Top Stories of the Year

Another year is gone, a year replete with controversies and scandals, discoveries and disappointments, proclamations and apologies. We can expect much of the same in 2009.

And so, it is time once again to consider the stories we have been reporting in the pages of Faith & Values and choose our Top 10. This is an unscientific sampling, of course. Call it faith-based. These picks consist of international, national and local stories about religion and culture. What follows are capsules to serve as reminders of a complex, joyful, trying, promising and occasionally frightening year — 2008 — which, after a mere 52 issues of Faith & Values, is retreating into history while we forge ahead, ever ahead, dragging our issues along with us.

And now — hopeful, fearful — we look forward. What will 2009 bring? How will we cope with the recession? What will faith communities strive to accomplish? Will conflicts continue or reach resolution? Will we better understand one another or rage against those who think differently? Communities, of course, are a sum of their parts. As Niccolo Machiavelli said, "God creates men, but they choose each other." And so we face 2009 with this question: Who will you choose?

Mellow musrooms

The monks of Mepkin Abbey, after going head to head with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, decided to quit the egg business and try growing a couple of fungi instead. Good fungi. Edible fungi. Gourmet fungi. A few downtown restaurants already are clamoring for more of the abbey's oyster mushrooms. Production slowly is ramping up. Piggly Wiggly will offer the woodsy treats on an exclusive basis. Soon, the monks will sell shiitake 'shrooms, too. Out with the hens, in with an especially Earth-friendly, nutritious alternative. It fits the mission of the monastery. And it's showing great promise. (At left is Abbot Father Stan Gumula.)

Catholic controversy

One settlement between the Catholic Diocese of Charleston and victims of sex abuse is made; another drags on, delayed by allegations and court hearings, prompting protests, including one in Charleston (at right). Attorneys have accused one another of wrongdoing while a group of victims is waiting to be paid. In April, the pope visited the U.S. and apologized repeatedly for the sins of the church. Many involved in the controversy were appreciative; many others decided to take a wait-and-see approach, hoping the pope would follow up with institutional changes and a policy of compassion.

Possessed by demons

In June, J. Doe's case against the Catholic Diocese of Charleston was made public. The unidentified man had undergone a sanctioned exorcism but worried that a videotape capturing the event could fall into the wrong hands. The lawsuit shed light on a practice that has been with us for millennia. More than two-thirds of Americans believe angels and demons are active in the world, according to a survey on religious beliefs and practices in the U.S. published by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. Nearly 70 percent are absolutely or fairly certain about life after death, the survey notes. About three-quarters believe in heaven; 59 percent believe in hell. Many Americans who believe in the supernatural also believe possession of the soul is a possibility, and that intervention is sometimes required. Which leads us to the next entry.

Religious, not rigid

More people believe in heaven than in hell. Most say there is more than one path to salvation. The majority of Americans apply practical experience and common sense more than religious teachings to determine right and wrong. And most say it is possible to have a personal relationship with God. These are some of the findings of a new report on religion in America published in June by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life. The results show that most Americans, while religious, are not dogmatic about their faith. Seven in 10 say many traditions can lead to eternal life. Nearly the same number, 68 percent, say there is more than one true way to interpret the teachings of one's religion. "This report illustrates, chapter and verse, the amazing diversity and dynamism both between and within religious traditions in America," said John Green, senior fellow at the Pew Forum.

Church and state

When the state of South Carolina decided to produce a Christian license plate in June, it was redictable that the move would provoke a legal response. Sure enough, Americans United for the Separation of Church and State filed a lawsuit, and in December a judge decided that an injunction against the plate was appropriate. On June 11, Gov. Mark Sanford signed into law a measure that allows for the display of the Ten Commandments and the Lord's Prayer in public buildings. That initiative, too, prompted concern among those who don't want government to promote a particular faith. Meanwhile, on the presidential campaign trail, the candidates where talking a lot about their religion. And President-Elect Barack Obama has promised to maintain, perhaps expand, the White House's faith-based programs, a policy that has come under fire for allegedly blurring the line between government and religion.

Israel turns 60

For one people a glorious culmination, for another a disaster. That spring day 60 years ago was for Israelis like a bittersweet college commencement: an occasion to be celebrated (the formation of a state), and the beginning of decades of conflict. The Arabs of Palestine have a word for 1948: "al-Nakba," the catastrophe. That's the year Zionists and Arabs went to war and the Jewish state was born. "Besides the emergence of the state of Israel, the other major result of the 1948 war was the destruction of Palestinian society and the birth of the refugee problem," writes Israeli historian Benny Morris in his book "Righteous Victims." And the conflict has raged ever since. Late last month, Israel launched its latest offensive in Gaza, targeting Hamas installations and leaders. Hundreds of Palestinians have been killed and the international community has broadly condemned the violence. Israeli officials said the offensive was meant "to change the realities on the ground" and stop Palestinian rocket attacks.

Poverty

Unemployment in South Carolina reached 8.4 percent in November, and some economists are predicting it could rise to 14 or 15 percent next year. And those are just the official numbers; they don't include thousands of people who have stopped looking for work. Meanwhile, the economic downturn has resulted in severe budget shortfalls at the state and local levels. The irony of these hard times is that as more people need help, there is less help to give. Whether the economic climate is good or bad, the chronically poor struggle nonetheless. Sixteen percent of South Carolina's population is at or under the federal poverty level (compared with 12 percent nationally). If there is a silver lining, it is the generosity of the state's residents who keep volunteering at food pantries and donating their hard-earned money to help others.

Modern slavery

Today, 200 years after the abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, 27 million people are enslaved throughout the world. They are the products of the sex trade, workers in sweatshops, domestic servants trapped and threatened and indentured fruit pickers. Bonded slavery is prevalent everywhere, including the U.S. and especially in South Asia. Human Rights Watch estimates that as many as 15 million children are held captive in India alone. As of 1999, about 20 million people have been enslaved, according to the United Nations Working Group on Contemporary Forms of Slavery. More people were enslaved in 2004 than all those who were taken from Africa during the four centuries of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, according to scholar Kevin Bales. Several organizations, such as the International Justice Mission and the Not For Sale Campaign, are working to end the practice, and members of the Charleston community got an earful last year when modern-day abolitionists visited to promote their cause.

Franklin Graham

Former bad boy Franklin Graham wowed an evangelical crowd at the North Charleston Coliseum with three days of high-energy, entertainment-laden Christian pomp. The Franklin Graham Festival was a year in the making and involved hundreds of local congregations. Graham, who tends to voice his political views, had praise for Sen. John McCain and criticism for militant Muslims, once calling Islam a "very evil and wicked religion." He assembled in Chicago with other faith leaders for a June meeting with then-candidate Barack Obama and demanded to know if Obama thought Jesus Christ was the only true way to heaven, according to news reports. Graham also wanted to know about Obama's alleged Muslim ties. On Dec. 17, the

Obama transition team announced that the evangelical leader of Saddleback Church in California, Rick Warren, would give the invocation at the Presidential Inauguration on Jan. 20, a choice that spurred its own controversy over conflicting views on gay unions and inclusivity.

New Baptist Covenant

Former President Jimmy Carter, with other organizers, succeeded in assembling a star-studded cast of speakers who delivered eloquent and emotion-laden sermons, testimonies, greetings and benedictions at the New Baptist Covenant meetings in Atlanta. God was praised loudly and with purpose. The reasons for the Jan. 30-Feb. 2 gathering were threefold: To worship in fellowship, promote Baptist unity, and focus on what many consider the obligations of Christians to advance

the cause of social justice by doing the "radical" work of Christ: feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and healing the sick. To do so effectively, Carter said, certain chasms must be bridged. "The biggest single impediment to expanding God's kingdom through faith in Jesus Christ is the divisions that have evolved among Christians, all of whom share a common faith but who became not only separated but even antagonistic toward one another because of the interpretation of particular verses in Scripture," Carter said.