A story in the New York Times sports section Sunday about the women’s golf phenom, Lorena Ochoa delved into the rarely-coincidental worlds of sports wagering and religion.

Despite it’s headline, “Keeping Faith, Ochoa Takes Magical Tour,” and a mention in the fifth paragraph that the 26-year-old Mexican golfer is Roman Catholic, the story was a sports piece - about a golf pro whom everyone seems to like.

However, reporter Karen Crouse hooks onto an interesting anecdote toward the end of the story.

After telling us that Ochoa gives herself incentives, which “always involves candy,” we learn that during a round in Mexico City last March:

…Ochoa told Brooker, who does not belong to any organized religion, that she was worried his daughters would be shut out of heaven. How many tournaments would she have to win, she asked, for him to have his children, Hadley, 3, and Madelaine, 2, baptized?

Brooker,…

In Tuesday’s Pennsylvania primary, Roman Catholics in the state sent a clear message to the two Democratic candidates. By more than a two to one margin, according to exit polls, Catholics chose Sen. Hillary Clinton over Sen. Barack Obama.

The 70 percent to 30 percent Catholic beat-down of Obama was even larger than the 63 percent to 36 percent trouncing the Illinois senator took from Ohio Catholics in that state’s primary last month.

What’s going on here?

It’s not like Clinton is picketing outside Planned Parenthood next to Catholic bishops. Abortion-rights group Naral Pro-Choice America gives both Clinton and Obama 100 percent ratings, a designation Clinton has maintained every year since 2002.

Non-Catholics saw things differently in Pennsylvania. Obama actually bettered Clinton among protestants and other in Pennsylvania, and among non-religious voters he nearly reversed the Catholic numbers - 64 percent to 36 percent.

Obama is expected to win the May 6 North…

I was raised in Hawaii, possibly the most secular and multicultural state in the union. My mother is a devout Catholic and my father a committed atheist. So when people talk about how to engage in inter-religious dialogue, I want to say, “Boy, you should have grown up in my house!” Every day was a kind of unspoken dialogue about how our beliefs shape our lives, with competing systems of belief claiming superiority in the where-the-rubber-hits-the-road category.

While it’s fairly obvious that, as an Episcopalian, my core beliefs are closer to my mother’s than my father’s, it has been part of growing up for me to see how much my values were influenced by my dad. His beliefs, which are based on a liberal political outlook and a passionate desire for social justice, had a direct impact on his actions. He took low-pay, low-status jobs as a Legal Aid lawyer because…