Religious Organizations

When a foot-long chunk of water-damaged plaster fell from the domed sanctuary ceiling at Wilshire Boulevard Temple last year, shattering in front of the pulpit below, the room was quickly cordoned off. Had the incident last October occurred during Saturday Shabbat services instead of three days earlier, the story might have been different. "Fortunately, it happened when the sanctuary was empty," Rabbi Steven Leder said. The historic synagogue already had launched a major building program that included the restoration of the 1929 edifice with its distinctive sanctuary and Moorish dome.

One group started walking on Oct. 18 from Cal State Long Beach. The other set out a week earlier from Westminster College in Fulton, Mo. Although the Southern Californians were 1,700 miles from this small Missouri town made famous as the site of Sir Winston Churchill's "Iron Curtain" speech in 1946, the two groups had the same goal: to fight hunger in the U.S. and around the world. This is the 40th anniversary of Crop Hunger Walk, a national interfaith program sponsored by Church World Service and viewed by many as the granddaddy of charity walks.

It seemed like a firm campaign promise. Barack Obama pledged to continue President Bush's faith-based office in the White House, but with a key change: Groups receiving federal money would no longer be allowed to discriminate in hiring on the basis of religion. On Thursday, however, as President Obama disclosed the details of his faith-based program, he left the controversial Bush policy in place.