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Quote of the Day. "I’m not a music critic. I cannot tell you where Bruce Springsteen falls in the pantheon of the American songbook, but I am from New Jersey. And I can tell you what I believe. I believe Bob Dylan and James Brown had a baby … that child is Bruce Springsteen. He is The Boss.” Jon Stewart of The Daily Show at the Kennedy Center Honorees ceremony.  (USA Today)

FAITH IN THE NEWS

Obama administration has religion on its side “President Obama’s administration is seen as more friendly toward religion than the Democratic Party as a whole, a new Pew poll has found.”

For them, climate change summit is God’s work “At a time when political leaders are struggling to pass environmental legislation in the USA and elsewhere, in large part because of the potential economic costs, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon says religious leaders ‘can have the largest, widest and deepest reach’ when it comes to influencing the outcome of the summit.”

Ambassador’s anti-human trafficking efforts guided by Vatican II call “Ambassador Luis CdeBaca, a New Mexico-born Catholic of Mexican descent, who runs the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons at the State Department, readily acknowledges that the council’s call to Catholics to engage the world guided his decision to become a civil rights lawyer and eventually to prosecute some of the country’s largest human trafficking cases.”

Patel Is First Muslim to Win Grawemeyer Award “Eboo Patel, founder and executive director of the community service group Interfaith Youth Core, has become the first Muslim to win the prestigious Grawemeyer Award in Religion from the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary and the University of Louisville.” 

L.A. Episcopal diocese’s selection of lesbian bishop draws sharp Anglican rebuke “The spiritual leader of the global Anglican Communion issued an unusually sharp and swift rebuke Sunday to church leaders in the U.S. over the election of a lesbian bishop in the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles.”

NEWS AT HOME

Health Care. Obama visits Capitol to rally support for health bill “President Obama made a rare Sunday visit to the Capitol to urge a fractious Democratic caucus to pull together to pass landmark health-care legislation.” Push for Deal on Public Health Plan “President Obama exhorted Senate Democrats on Sunday to put aside their differences and seize their moment in history by passing landmark health legislation. But senators said he did not mention sticky issues like abortion or a new government-run insurance plan.” Senate healthcare talks pick up pace “President Obama traveled to Capitol Hill on Sunday to rally Democrats on his signature healthcare initiative as the Senate moved closer to addressing two of the biggest land mines in the bill’s path: the terms of a new public insurance option and limits on federal abortion funding.”

Afghanistan Policy. US rejects Afghan exit criticism "Senior US government figures have rejected criticism of President Barack Obama’s plan to start withdrawing troops from Afghanistan in 2011.” No Firm Plans for a U.S. Exit in Afghanistan “The Obama administration sent a forceful public message Sunday that American military forces could remain in Afghanistan for a long time, seeking to blunt criticism that President Obama had sent the wrong signal in his war-strategy speech last week by projecting July 2011 as the start of a withdrawal.” McChrystal’s plan for Afghanistan war remains largely intact “When he finishes testifying on Capitol Hill this week, Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal, the top U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, will return to Kabul to implement a war strategy that is largely unchanged after a three-month-long White House review of the conflict.”

Consequences of War. Deployments Taking Toll on Military’s Children “After eight years of war, children with parents in the military are reporting signs of emotional wear and tear from long and repeated deployments, a new study shows.” Is U.S. prepared to care for more casualties from troop buildup? “As the Obama administration ramps up the war in Afghanistan, veterans advocates say the government must develop a better plan to handle the wounded when they come home.”

Immigrants. Second-generation Latinos struggle for a higher foothold “As a result of the arrival of more than 20 million mostly Mexican and Central American newcomers in a wave that swelled in the 1970s and soared during the 1990s, the offspring of Latino immigrants now account for one of every 10 children, both in the United States and the Washington region."

NEWS AROUND THE WORLD

Climate Change. Act now on climate, summit urged “Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen has described the UN climate summit in Copenhagen as an ‘opportunity the world cannot afford to miss.’” Copenhagen climate talks will hinge on economics “When world leaders gather in Copenhagen today for negotiations on a new agreement to combat climate change, their success or failure will ride on economics, not environmental science.” Before Climate Meeting, a Revival of Skepticism “But as representatives of about 200 nations converge in Copenhagen on Monday to begin talks on a new international climate accord, they do so against a background of renewed attacks on the basic science of climate change.”

Afghanistan. U.S. bases in Afghanistan must hire more locals as contractors “New contract solicitations by the U.S. military for private guards at forward operating bases in Afghanistan require that at least half of those hired be Afghans who come from nearby towns or villages.” $10 million is smuggled out of Afghanistan daily, official says “An estimated $10 million a day is smuggled out of Afghanistan, most of it through Kabul’s international airport, rather than through secret routes over the mountains or across the desert, the country’s finance minister said Sunday.”

Iraq. Iraqis Reach a Deal on Long-Delayed Election Law “Lawmakers pulled Iraq back from the brink of a constitutional crisis on Sunday night, brokering a last-minute compromise that will allow for the first national elections since 2005.” U.S. leaves in Iraq equipment that it may need in Afghanistan “Even as the U.S. military scrambles to support a troop surge in Afghanistan, it is donating passenger vehicles, generators and other equipment worth tens of millions of dollars to the Iraqi government.”

Iran. Iran police ‘clash with protesters’ “Police have reportedly clashed with thousands of anti-government protesters in Tehran, as Iranians mark Student Day.” Mothers Arrested Before Opposition Rally in Iran “Iran tightened security ahead of a planned opposition rally on Monday and arrested more than 20 mothers who were mourning children killed in the unrest that has broken out since the disputed June 12 elections.”

Bolivia. Morales claims Bolivia poll win “President Evo Morales has claimed victory in Bolivia’s presidential election and appears set to serve a second five-year term.” Morales Headed for Re-election in Bolivia “President Evo Morales and legislative candidates from his political movement seemed headed to easy victories in nationwide elections on Sunday, opening the way for Mr. Morales to deepen his pro-indigenous policies in one of Latin America’s poorest countries.”

Somalia. Somalia seeks Afghan-style strategy “Somalia’s prime minister has called for an international peace plan like the new US  strategy for Afghanistan, saying it would be more effective and far cheaper than current efforts to combat the country’s problems of piracy and armed opposition.”

OPINION

Will the world finally wake up to the scale of the challenge? (Editorial, The Independent, London) “The Copenhagen conference is hugely important. Indeed, it is not far-fetched to say that it could mark a critical point in world history. In the words of Nicholas Stern, author of the 2006 report on climate change that Gordon Brown commissioned, Copenhagen may be the world’s most important summit since the Second World War.”

Obama’s war (Clarence Page, Chicago Tribune) “Generals are notorious for fighting each new war the way they should have fought the last one. President Barack Obama seems to have picked up that tendency as he ordered a troop surge in Afghanistan, a strategy he rejected in Iraq until it worked.”

The best holiday gift (E.J. Dionne Jr., Washington Post) Here’s the deal. If Obama gets to sign a health-care bill before he gives his State of the Union address, he starts 2010 with a historic victory to proclaim before the country and then can pivot quickly to the issue likely to dominate the midterm elections: jobs and how to create them.

An Affordable Truth (Paul Krugman, New York Times) “Maybe I’m naïve, but I’m feeling optimistic about the climate talks starting in Copenhagen on Monday. President Obama now plans to address the conference on its last day, which suggests that the White House expects real progress.”

Stem the flow of blood diamonds from Zimbabwe (Tiseke Kasambala, Human Rights Watch, Los Angeles Times) “As Americans flock to stores for holiday shopping, some plan to buy diamonds for loved ones. But that special gift could have a bloody past. If the diamonds are from Zimbabwe, the stones could have been mined under the control of Zimbabwe’s army, which Human Rights Watch found has killed more than 200 people, engaged in torture and used forced labor, including children, in the nation’s Marange diamond fields.”

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.