by Matthew Hay Brown

Maryland's highest court has rejected a Pakastani man's attempt to invoke talaq, the Islamic divorce that enables a man to dissolve his marriage by telling his wife "I divorce thee" three times.

Farah Aleem already had filed for divorce in Montgomery County Circuit Court in 2003 when her husband went to the Pakstiani Embassy in Washington to invoke the talaq.

By doing so, World Bank economist Irfan Aleem argued, he ended the marriage and did not owe his wife a share of his assets, valued at $2 million.

The state Court of Appeals disagreed.

"If we were to affirm the use of talaq, controlled as it is by the husband, a wife, a resident of this state, would never be able to consummate a divorce action filed by her in which she seeks a division of marital property," the judges ruled.

The talaq, they wrote, "directly deprives the wife of the due process she is entitled to when she initiates divorce litigation."

Nick Madigan of The Baltimore Sun has the rest of the story, after the jump.

By Glenn Thrush

Barack Obama gobbled up a major Hillary Clinton superdelegate Thursday -- but he's suffering from a decline in the polls that coincides with the national tour conducted by his firebrand former pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Joe Andrew -- who endorsed Hillary Rodham Clinton last year -- defected to Obama Thursday, the 15th superdelegate to back him in the last week.

"We have two good candidates, but we have two people who've run their campaigns in two different ways," said Andrew, an Indiana superdelegate. "Barack Obama is serious about changing the process in politics. ... I'm inspired by someone who says, you know we don't have to play the game."

At the same time, a bevy of new polls seemed to show Obama is suffering from the "Wright Effect."

Clinton has widened her lead in Indiana, cut Obama's edge in North Carolina down to 7 points and lurched ahead in a major national poll, following a week of wall-to-wall coverage of controversial remarks by Obama's ex-pastor.

A Gallup national daily tracking poll showed Clinton jumping to a 49 to 45 lead over Obama, her biggest lead nationally since mid-March. Obama led Clinton by 10 points in the poll on the eve of the April 22 Pennsylvania primary.

A CNN/Opinion Research Corp. poll released Thursday showed Obama and Clinton in a statistical dead heat nationally, with Obama surrendering a 7-point lead in the last six weeks.

Tom Bevan, founder of Realclearpolitics.com, which tracks poll data, termed the shift a "rather dramatic tightening" of a Democratic presidential race many had considered finished prior to Clinton's Pennsylvania victory, Wright's resurfacing and Obama's belated denunciation of the pastor.

by Mark Silva and updated with NW statement

Now the Rev. Jeremiah Wright is facing some splashback of his own from the controversy generated on the campaign trail this year by his most controversial remarks from the pulpit of the Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago.

Northwestern University has withdrawn its offer of an honorary degree after the controversy over Wrights's most incendiary comments on race became a problem for Sen. Barack Obama, who finally disavowed his longtime pastor this week.

Wright, retiring from Trinity United Church of Christ on the South Side of Chicago, had been extended an invitation to receive an honorary degree at the university's commencement in June, according to a university statement.

"In light of the controversy around Dr. Wright and to ensure that the celebratory character of commencement not be affected, the university has withdrawn its invitation to Dr. Wright," Vice President of University Relations Alan Cubbage said in the statement.

See the university's full statement here:

by Mike Dorning, updated and revised, 4:11 pm ET

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C.--Engulfed in fresh controversy over new inflammatory remarks by his retiring pastor, Barack Obama made a public break Tuesday with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, denouncing the minister's latest comments as "outrageous, "appalling" and a contradiction of the senator's own life's work.

Obama, appearing visibly pained, did in a hastily called press conference what he had been reluctant to do since controversy initially erupted more than a month ago over Wright's sermons, repudiating not merely the words but the world view of a clergyman who had once been a close spiritual counselor and by Obama's account inspired him to embrace Christian faith

Obama was confronting distracting media coverage of Wright's fiery appearance Monday at the National Press Club, in which the minister reaffirmed his view that the U.S. government may have initiated the AIDS epidemic to wipe out racial minorities and praised Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan as one of the most important voices of the 20th and 21st centuries.

"When I say I find these comments appalling, I mean it. It contradicts everything I am about and who I am," Obama said, adding that Wright's comments "end up giving comfort to those who prey on hate."

In earlier comments on Wright, Obama appeared to be walking a careful line, criticizing Wright's most inflammatory rhetoric but refusing to dissociate himself with a man who had been so close with his family.

But after Wright's defiant performance Monday, in which he mocked his questioners and accused critics of attacking the black church in America, Obama was left with little choice but to denounce Wright more forcefully and make it clear his relationship with the minister had fundamentally changed, or risk having his campaign engulfed by the controversy.

Obama said Tuesday he was incensed that Wright had dismissed his earlier criticism as the actions of a typical politician. "What particularly angered me was his suggestion that my previous denunciation was somehow political posturing," he said, calling it "a show of disrespect for me."

Rev. Jeremiah Wright. (Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images)

by Frank James

Some of the most worrisome words for Sen. Barack Obama uttered by Rev. Jeremiah Wright yesterday at the National Press Club, should be those that indicated that the presidential candidate's voluble former pastor is washing his hands, Pontius Pilate-like, of any responsibility for what becomes of Obama's electoral chances.

Here's the passage that should be among the most horrifying for the Obama campaign:

MODERATOR (reading question): Do you think it is God's will that Senator Obama be president?

In my tradition, however, what everybody has been saying to me as it pertains to the candidacy is, what God has for you is for you. If God intends for Mr. Obama to be the president, then no white racist, no political pundit, no speech, nothing can get in the way, for God will do what God wants to do.

Wright could've easily added loose-cannon preacher to the list.

If Wright truly believes this, and there's no reason to think otherwise, then it means we can expect the South Side Chicago preacher won't be mincing words in the next weeks or months to help his one-time congregant. Far from it.

by Christi Parsons and Frank James

Rev. Jeremiah Wright did two things at the National Press Club this morning.

The man who for decades was Sen. Barack Obama's pastor first offered a learned lecture on the black experience in America and on the African-American faith tradition, an attempt to put into context the controversial sermon snippets that have been airing in recent weeks.

Then, following his speech, the recently retired senior pastor of Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago engaged in a question-and-answer period in which he mocked some of the queries, at times browbeat the moderator and generated a string of new sound bites that immediately began making their way into the political realm. (Here's a transcript of his remarks.)

Wright's contempt for the media and his other critics at times seemed downright palpable. His edgy, defiant performance today, which at times verged on arrogance and swaggering, is bound to raise more questions in the minds of many voters who will wonder more about Obama's long association with the preacher.

Wright said he wasn't political and seemed determined to prove it by demonstrating a demeanor likely will put off many voters, particularly, but not only, the white working class Americans Obama must attract in greater numbers than he's been able to if he is to have any chance of winning the presidency should he become the Democratic nominee.

Reminded that some critics have said his sermons are "unpatriotic," Wright told the audience that he is a former service member. He served six years in the Marine Corps and Navy.

"Does that make me patriotic?" he asked. "How many years did Cheney serve?"

Wright objected to criticisms of his relationship with Minister Louis Farrakhan.

by Mark Silva

The Rev. Jeremiah Wright is not running for public office - as he said Sunday in Detroit - but rather "running for Jesus.'' But the best-known student of his Trinity United Church of Christ in Chicago is running for the highest office in the land. And today, the retiring and controversial pastor and mentor of Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois will speak out in Washington.

Wright appeared last night at the annual Fight for Freedom Dinner of the NAACP in Detroit, where he told his audience that, "If I were in a Christian church, I would say we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.... If I were pushing one particular candidate I would say, 'Yes, we can.'.... But since this is a non-partisan gathering and since this is neither a mosque, a synagogue or a sanctuary, just let me say 'We can do it. ... We can make a change if we try.'''

That one particular candidate whose motto Wright borrowed last night has spent a lot of time explaining why he disavows the most notorious words about racial prejudice and political power of the pastor whom he has known and followed for two decades but does not "disown'' the man. A fuller picture of that man has emerged in recent days, with his interview by Bill Moyers of the Public Broadcasting Service and with Wright's speech in Detroit over the weekend, and it will play out on a public stage today at the National Press Club in Washington.

But try as he might, Wright will have a hard time managing the role that his own words are playing in the presidential campaign of 2008 since the most fiery of those words - "God damn America'' - were seized like wild stallions and penned in the circular loop of the 24-hour network news sound-bites.

In North Carolina, the Republican Party is ready to air a television advertisement this week featuring a video clip of those words - playing them against two Democrats running for governor who in turn have endorsed Obama and in turn questioning those candidates' judgment - but of course slamming Obama at the same time in a state where he holds an apparent advantage over Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the May 6 primary.

"I'm not here for political reasons," Wright told his audience in Detroit. "I am not a politician. I know that fact will surprise many of you because many of the corporate-owned media have made it seem like I have announced I am running for the Oval Office. I am not running for the Oval Office. I've been running for Jesus a long, long, long time, and I'm not tired yet."

(AP Photo/PBS, Robin Holland, HO)

by Manya A. Brachear

In a rare interview, Rev. Jeremiah A. Wright Jr. said media organizations that circulated controversial sound bites of his sermons on the Internet wanted to paint him as "un-American" or "some sort of fanatic" in order to bring down Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama.

"I think they wanted to communicate that I am unpatriotic, that I am un-American, that I am filled with hate speech, that I have a cult at Trinity United Church of Christ," Wright told journalist Bill Moyers in the first interview he has granted since comments critical of U.S. policies surfaced on television and the Internet.

" 'And by the way, guess who goes to his church, hint, hint, hint?' That's what they wanted to communicate. They know nothing about the church."

Wright, who for four decades built his reputation on straight talk and imperviousness to politicians, has been atypically quiet in recent weeks--canceling four appearances, declining all interview requests and bowing out of a news conference with other clergy.

The fiery pastor preached his final sermon at Trinity in February and officially retires next month. This Sunday, Wright will deliver a sermon at a Dallas church and later speak to the Detroit branch of the NAACP.

Moyers is a member of Wright's denomination, the United Church of Christ. Excerpts from the interview, conducted this week and airing in the Chicago area at 9:30 p.m. Friday on WTTW-Ch. 11, were released today.

See the rest of the report from the Tribune:

by Matthew Hay Brown

Making his first papal visit to the United States in the midst of a presidential election, Pope Benedict XVI had stepped lightly around the issues that ignite partisan debate here - immigration and the war in Iraq among them - even as he urged Catholics to exercise their faith in the public square.

But not so today, when he proclaimed the "inalienable dignity and rights" of "the most defenseless of all human beings, the unborn child in the mother's womb."

The line from Benedict's homily drew cheers from the crowd of 57,000 who packed Yankee Stadium for the third and final mass of the pontiff's visit. In its forthrightness, as compared to the language in which he couched his references to other issues, it had the effect of elevating opposition to abortion above other Catholic positions subject to American political action.

At the United Nations, Benedict's call for "a deeper search for ways of pre-empting and managing conflicts by exploring every possible diplomatic avenue" might have been a veiled criticism of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

A joint statement released by the Holy See and the White House about discussions between Benedict and President Bush on immigration and the conduct of the war on terror seemed intentionally vague.

On abortion, however, the pontiff was unequivocal, praising the Catholic Church in America for its "prophetic witness in the defense of life."

by Matthew Hay Brown

You like the pope? Then you'll love the Democrats.

At least that's what Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean appeared to suggest today, in his party's weekly radio address. The former Vermont governor opened his address this morning with a welcome to Benedict XVI, making his first visit to the United States as pope.

"His visit reminds us of the Catholic values of social justice, working for the common good, and caring for those most in need," Dean says. "These are also the values of the Democratic Party."

In fact, when described more broadly, the pope's values don't line up easily with either of America's major parties. Like most Republicans, he opposes abortion and embryonic stem-cell research; like most Democrats, he's against the war in Iraq and the death penalty.

Those issues make up what Bendict's predecessor, Pope John Paul II, was talking about when he coined "The Culture of Life." President Bush has used the phrase in a narrower sense, focused on abortion and embryos.

Benedict has been careful, visiting Washington and New York during this political season, to avoid even appearing to weigh in on the 2008 election - beyond saying that religious believers should be allowed the freedom to express their faith in public life.

Dean spent the rest of his address on John McCain and the economy. The complete address follows.

by Matthew Hay Brown

The challenges of security, development and the environment require international cooperation -- but the "decisions of a few' have thrown international consensus into crisis, Pope Benedict XVI told the U.N. General Assembly.

An outspoken critic of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, the pontiff didn't name names. And he might not have been referring to any conflict in particular. Still, he echoed a familiar criticism of the Bush administration when he called for "a deeper search for ways of pre-empting and managing conflicts by exploring every possible diplomatic avenue, and giving attention and encouragement to even the faintest sign of dialogue or desire for reconciliation."

Speaking in French and English, Benedict called it the "primary duty" of every state "to protect its own population from grave and sustained violations of human rights, as well as from the consequences of humanitarian crises, whether natural or man-made." Where a state cannot guarantee such protection, he said, "the international community must intervene."

Benedict devoted his address to human rights, including the right to religion, which he said must extend beyond freedom to worship to include thew right of the religious to engage in public life.

"It is inconceivable that believers should have to suppress a part of themselves - their faith - in order to be active citizens," he said. "It should never be necessary to deny God in order to enjoy one's rights."

The complete address follows.

(Papal Mass at Nationals Park celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI/ Photo by Algerina Perna (Baltimore Examiner and Washington Examiner)

by Matthew Hay Brown

When the first U.S. visit of Pope Benedict XVI was announced, Catholics wondered aloud whether he would address the sex abuse scandal that erupted here in 2002.

It turns out the pontiff has much to say on the subject. First, there was the shame expressed to reporters aboard Shepherd One before his flight landed Tuesday at Andrews Air Force Base. Then came his address Wednesday to the nation's bishops - the group that has taken much of the criticism for the scandal.

Today, he raised the issue again during his homily at Nationals Park:

"I acknowledge the pain which the church in America has experienced as a result of the sexual abuse of minors," Benedict told the 45,000 who turned out for his first Mass. "No words of mine could describe the pain and harm inflicted by such abuse. It is important that those who have suffered be given loving pastoral attention. Nor can I adequately describe the damage that has occurred within the community of the Church. ...

"Today I encourage each of you to do what you can to foster healing and reconciliation, and to assist those who have been hurt," he said. "Also, I ask you to love your priests, and to affirm them in the excellent work that they do."

In a wide-ranging homily that amounted to his most expansive message to America yet, the pontiff also referred to "the injustices endured by the native American peoples and by those brought here forcibly from Africa as slaves."

by Matthew Hay Brown

Given the red carpet that official Washington is rolling out today for Pope Benedict XVI, it’s bracing to remember that it was less than 25 years ago that the United States established diplomatic relations with the Holy See.

In an op-ed piece in yesterday’s Los Angeles Times, the Italian journalist Massimo Franco leads a tour through two centuries of mutual distrust between the Washington and the Vatican: “Among Americans, Catholicism was perceived as a religion fine for Irish, Italian, French and Polish immigrants, but not for real Yankees. Or worse, it was seen as a religion of the poor. The Vatican also failed to grasp how widely the pope was viewed as a conspiratorial figure, menacing American freedom and independence.”

That wariness, finally overcome in the alliance forged by President Ronald Reagan and Pope John Paul II against communism, now appears to be forgotten. Benedict may be a leading critic of the war in Iraq; he is also the first pope to make a state visit to the United States. (Pope John Paul II made an unofficial visit to the White House in 1979.)

President Bush – with whom the pope agrees on abortion and embryonic stem cell research, but disagrees on the death penalty – is taking the unusual step of meeting his plane at Andrews Air Force Base this afternoon, before hosting him at the White House tomorrow.

The congressional leadership also is welcoming the pontiff.

by Frank James

Sen. Barack Obama's church, Trinity United Church of Christ, is fed up and not going to take it anymore. "It" would be the media intrusions that have come with the controversy over the by- now infamous comments of its retired senior pastor, Rev. Jeremiah Wright.

The church's new lead pastor, Otis Moss III, held a press conference yesterday to make two points. He called for a national conversation about race. And he wanted to read the riot act to some reporters who have gone overboard in the opinion of church members and others, in their pursuit of interviews with Trinity members.

The call for a racial dialogue gave the press conference a more elevated gloss than if it had been merely held for the purpose of telling reporters to cease and desist from bothering church members.

But one got the sense from watching the press conference that the main purpose was to tell the media to back off.

The church is clearly feeling besieged and not just by the media. There have been death threats and other warnings of violence.

But overzealous reporters have been a very real and present annoyance. According to Moss, journalists have tried to conduct interviews during church services. They have accosted members as they've headed into the church.

Some journalists have even actually gone as far as calling church members whose names they found on the sick and shut-in list that appeared in the church bulletin, a list which included the names of people dying in hospices. (Chicago Tribune religion writer Manya Brachear had this very good story about Trinity's sense of having been invaded.)

by Frank James

Looking at the reaction of a MediaCurves focus group of 709 viewers to Sen. Barack Obama's race speech in which he took on the issue of his controversial pastor, Rev. Jeremiah C. Wright, it's once again interesting to see the racial divide in how the speech was received. It's the same racial split Obama so deftly described in his speech.

Blacks who took part of the survey had higher levels of agreement with Obama than non-blacks. And Democrats had more favorable impressions of the snippets of the speech they were shown than independents and Republicans.

Watch for the reaction to Obama when he asserts that he never heard his pastor say anything derogatory about specific ethnic groups. Non-black respondents weren't necessarily buying that while blacks did.

That could indicate a real problem for Obama going forward if a lot of voters believe he's being less than candid.

But even Republicans came back to Obama when he said Wright's mistake was that he was blind to the progress that had made on race issues, advances that explained the reality that one of Wright's own members was, indisputably, a serious contender for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, in large part because he had forged a multiracial coalition.

by Frank James

11:57 am: More random thoughts on The Speech. Obama is definitely cool, considering the pressure he was under today. He appeared fairly serene even though most commentators were saying the stakes were no less than the his campaign's continued viability. Does he have sweat glands?

Wouldn't it be great to hear Wright give a sermon in response to the Obama's speech? Would he accept Obama's criticisms that his views are a way over-the-top reaction to real and perceived racism? Or would Wright call Obama a sell-out, a "negro", one of the pastor's preferred terms for blacks who aren't sufficiently black enough to suit him?

Of course, we probably won't be seeing much of Wright for the foreseeable future.

Despite today's speech, Obama is going to have to continue to answer questions about Wright and his membership at Trinity United Church of Christ. He appeared to try to set himself up at the end of today's speech to be able to say "I want to talk about the Big Issues" like the Iraq War and the economy.

But that's not going to fly. He spoke honestly about the issue of race today in a way that is rare for presidential candidates. If he wants voters to believe that he meant what he said, he's going to have to continue to speak honestly about it.

This presents a problem for the Obama campaign. He has run a campaign to date that has meant to transcend the race issue. He has not wanted to be seen as an African American candidate.

But now he is squarely in the middle of the race issue. It was bound to happen. He can't avoid it at this point. So he's going to have to deal with it from here on forward. But as he showed today, talking about race doesn't mean you can't talk about the other big issues.

The legend for the video clip is:

Purple: African Americans
Green: Independents
Blue: Democrats
Red: Republicans

by Frank James

If you want to see a vivid visual portrayal of the perceptual split between blacks and whites, take a look at this focus group of 799 people who were shown video snippets of sermons by Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Sen. Barack Obama's pastor.

The reaction of blacks and whites, who looked at the video and showed their agreement or disagreement with Wright by moving their computer mice, diverged from the start and never converged.

Of the survey participants, 48 identified themselves as black while 654 said they were white. There were 65 who said they were Hispanic, 65 who claimed to be Asian and 10 who said they were Native American. (HCD Research Inc., which did the survey, said some participants chose more than one category.)

Using its MediaCurves technology, HCD also got viewers' reactions to Obama's response to questions about his membership at Trinity Church of Christ during a Fox News interview with Major Garrett.