Word: faithful
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Southern evangelical preachers aren't prepared when they meet Burns Strider. They hear "director of faith-based operations for Hillary Clinton" and expect a pinch-nosed Yankee, probably of the Unitarian variety, who looks for Job in the New Testament. Then in walks Strider, 41, a former Southern Baptist missionary who calls everyone brother or sister and can tell you exactly when he decided to "give my heart to Jesus." His latest mission: spreading the good news about Clinton to religious audiences...
...that he'll need more than a Southern drawl and an easy laugh. In a May 2007 Time poll, voters found Clinton the least religious candidate. The lifelong Methodist and former Sunday-school teacher faces the challenge of convincing Americans her faith is genuine. That's in part why she's given Strider a senior role, unusual for a Democratic campaign. "I'm not stuck in some corner, just to be pulled out when someone named Reverend calls," he says, in a pointed reference to John Kerry's 2004 campaign. "Religion is fully integrated, from the candidate on down...
...Capitol Hill veteran's outreach isn't about giving Clinton a set of faith-based phrases she can plug into speeches. Strider focuses on connecting with those religious voters--like theologically conservative Roman Catholics and Evangelicals--who have long been ignored by Democrats. He may not win them over, but he can ease their suspicions enough to get a hearing. "If you can round the edges," Strider says, "you don't get as many splinters...
...have a sense that the junta's victory may yet prove Pyrrhic. The brutal crackdown has shattered the relationship between the generals and the monks. The regime spent years building new pagodas and donating alms to cultivate its image as protector of the faith. It can hardly claim that role now. The assault on a revered institution may yet cause divisions in the army's ranks. "Soldiers are humans," says a Burmese analyst with close ties to the military. "They have families. They have monks among their relatives." Already stories are being told of monks damning to hell the soldiers...
...more blatant display of religious prejudice, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) refused to engrave a symbol of Sgt. and Mrs. Stewart’s religious faith on his tombstone, prompting Mrs. Stewart to file suit against the VA. Under threat of a looming court date, the VA finally relented last April and approved the Wiccan Pentacle as an official “emblem of belief.” Sadly, this victory came far too late, after almost a decade of petitioning by the next of kin of fallen Wiccan soldiers...