Religious Influence Plays Out...Internationally, Politically, Domestically

If anyone ever doubted the impact of infusing religion with politics and foreign policy, look no farther than today's hottest blog topics.

The Middle East, exploding
The New York Times' article about increasing support among the Arab world for Hezbollah is the day's most-cited news story, while some of today's most-cited blog commentaries discuss the weekend shooting of employees at a Jewish Federation office in downtown Seattle. Conservative blogger Michelle Malkin calls it "Muslim revenge." Asks on MySpace blogger, "What is this world coming to?" And this commentary, no doubt on lots of other people's minds: "I can't imagine what it would be like to live in Israel, Palestine, or Iraq and have to live in constant fear every moment of every day. What will it take to end this needless violence? I wish the world would figure it out, but something tells me it will be present for many years to come."

Breaking religious ranks
Religion plays out in another big way in today's most-cited link, also to a New York Times piece about a Christian evangelical pastor in Minnesota who's taking a stand against the politicization of religious thought. It's already drawing plenty of analysis.

Mel Gibson's mouth...
Also getting some ink is Mel Gibson's mouth, in those hours after it was arrested over the weekend for suspicious of drunken driving in Malibu. The alleged anti-Semitic references have elicited blog commentaries such as "So much for Saint Mel" and "Passion of the Drunk."

Women who blog
Fervor of another kind was obviously event at the weekend event known as Blogher (today's No. 7 most-cited link)....a convention organized for women bloggers, where topics involved building audiences and income and blogging in spirit (for those who didn't attend).