(1) The Olympics:The Wall Street Journal reports on China and religious repression:

Religious repression rears its ugly head again:

President Bush attended church in Beijing on Sunday, worshipping with Chinese Christians and singing “Amazing Grace.”

But what happened outside the church says more about the state of religion in China.

Earlier that morning, Hua Huiqi, the pastor of an illegal underground Christian church, was detained by police as he was biking to the service that Mr. Bush was to attend. His whereabouts are still unknown. Mr. Hua’s brother, who was briefly detained, said Mr. Hua only wanted to worship at the church where he was baptized.

China’s constitution allows freedom of religion, but in practice religion is tolerated only insofar as it is controlled by the state.

The only legal churches are those run by the State Administration of Religious Affairs.

Those who choose to attend “house” churches — roughly half of China’s Christians — face harassment or detention. That reality contrasts with the better face Beijing has put on its religious tolerance at the Olympics, where athletes have been provided with everything they might need to practice their faith…..

Canada’s Fr. Raymond J. De Souza takes a less than sanguine view of the olympics:

…..”Olympism is a philosophy of life, exalting and combining in a balanced whole the qualities of body, will and mind,” states the first “fundamental principle of Olympism” in the Olympic Charter.

I am not sure what that means, if anything, but most philosophies of life do not come with exclusive sponsorship agreements or mandatory drug-testing.

The International Olympic Committee, perhaps one of the most mercenary organizations around, spins great gaseous clouds of this self-celebratory stuff, hoping to hide the grubby little wizard behind the curtain…..

And Anne Applebaum reminds us of when China starved:

…..for a deeper understanding of how far China has come — and of how odd its transformation continues to be — switch off the Olympics.

Instead, spend a few minutes contemplating the existence of a new book: the first proper history of China’s Great Famine, a catastrophe partly engineered by the Chinese Communist Party and its first leader, Mao Zedong.
“I call this book Tombstone,” the author, Yang Jisheng, writes in the opening paragraph.

“It is a tombstone for my father who died of hunger in 1959, for the 36 million Chinese who also died of hunger, for the system that caused their death, and perhaps for myself for writing this book.”

(2) The BBC reports on a recent study of working mothers and conflicted public opinion:

Growing numbers of people are concerned about the impact of working mothers on family life, a survey by Cambridge University suggests…..

(3) Meanwhile, homeschooling is in the news, big time. A California appeals court has reversed its own decision to ban homeschooling.

LOS ANGELES, August 11, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A California appeals court has made an about face on its previous decision to ban homeschooling, and now says that parents in the state have a legitimate right to educate their own children.
However the court insisted that the right to homeschool can be abridged in cases where the courts suspect child abuse.
The California Court of Appeal for the Second Appellate District ruled Friday that “California statutes permit home schooling as a species of private school education,” effectively vacating its February 28 ruling that shocked homeschooling families in that state and across the nation…..

So California homeschooling families can breathe a bit easier, but German homeschoolers, however, are in a great deal of trouble:

CBNNews.com - NUREMBURG, Germany - It certainly looks as if the German government has declared open season on Germany’s tiny home-schooling community.

CBN News was first to bring the story of Melissa Busekros to American television last year. The home-schooled teenager was snatched from her family by police in a SWAT style raid and put in a psychiatric ward. After an international uproar, Melissa was returned to her family.

But other home-schooling families face even worse persecution. More and more parents are being sent to prison. Heavy fines are leaving home-schooling families destitute. And more and more children have been taken into state custody.

It’s been 70 years since compulsory education was made law by Adolf Hitler’s government. And in what is eerily reminiscent of the 1930s, more and more home-schooling families have been forced to flee Germany or risk losing their children.

Klaus and Kathryn Landahl fled to England after they were tipped off that authorities were going to take custody of their kids.

The Gorber family, who reside in southern Germany, have had six of their children taken from them by the state.

And Juergen and Rosemarie Dudek each face 3-month jail terms, and are economically ruined from heavy fines.

These are just a few of the cases. But there are only about 400 home-schooling families left in Germany now…..

(4) Boston’s Cardinal O’Malley reflects after five tumultuous years:

…..Five years after he was installed as the Roman Catholic archbishop of Boston, O’Malley remains in many ways the most unusual of public figures - the prince who dresses as the pauper, the leading man who hates the spotlight, the shy man prone to bouts of silence who has, in his own inexorable way, tackled one crushing problem after another, delivering the archdiocese from something close to free-fall to something akin to stability…..

(5) Ryan Patrico over at FIRST THINGS posts a blog on a new book, Faith at the Edge: A New Generation of Catholic Writers reflects on Life, Love, Sex and Other Mysteries:

…..At first, the essays might strike the reader as intentionally provocative or extreme. The collection, for example, never shies away from seemingly controversial topics: a story of a woman struggling to confess to her socialite friends that she’s a virgin, a reflection on the spiritual benefits of corporal mortification (in this case a daily ice-cold shower), the description of a young couple’s trials and tribulations with Natural Family Planning, or the autobiography of a woman grappling with her same-sex attraction.

All of these stories are written in a way that is brutally honest and sincere, but titillation or shock value doesn’t seem to be the point. Instead, these are candid reflections on faith in practice, and this is where the real value of the book is found…..

(6) Speaking of natural family planning, more Protestants are getting interested.Take note of the mention of Albert Mohler, president of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary:

August 11, 2008, (LifeSiteNews.com) - After decades of division over issues surrounding fertility and the moral issues inherent to procreation, many protestants are now turning away from the contraceptive culture and towards Natural Family Planning (NFP), a completely natural method, that allows couples to “space” children without the use of artificial contraceptives.

NFP, which is based upon a thorough knowledge of the woman’s fertility cycle, is also said to be equally effective for attaining pregnancy as it is for avoiding it.

In an August 10th article in the Austin Statesmen entitled, “Some Protestants Find Spiritual Appeal in Natural Family Planning: Taking a page from Catholic doctrine, Protestants are avoiding artificial contraception for religious reasons,” several protestant couples are questioned on their choice to wade into what have traditionally been considered Catholic waters.

Katie Fox, 31, says that though her mother specifically left the Church for its failure to condone contraceptives, it is precisely this moral stance that she has come to share with the Catholic faith…..

(7) And speaking of the mystery of sex, a new pamphlet is out just in time for the off-to-college crowd:

In her pamphlet “Sense and Sexuality: The College Girl’s Guide to Real Protection in a Hooked-up World,” to be released later this month, Miriam Grossman, M.D., uses her medical training and 10 years’ experience as a staff psychiatrist at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) to expose the physical and mental dangers of the uninhibited sexual climate that dominates the modern college campus…..