One more rite of passage the economy is impacting: Latinos are downsizing their daughters’
15th birthday bashes, also known as quinceañeras.

Facing the global economic crisis, Prime Minister Gordon Brown calls on religious leaders to help develop a “shared moral sense” to govern markets and the economy.  He spoke of the need to conquer fear with faith.
In a speech at St Paul’s Cathedral, the Prime Minister drew on religious doctrine in a highly-personal address which warned [...]

New survey shows Americans turning to churches big and small for financial in addition to spiritual support.
The survey, by LifeWay Research, a Christian polling firm based in Nashville, finds that 40% of pastors say they have church members out of work, and 37% say their church has increased spending to help the needy. (The survey [...]

Jay Michaelson surveys the Bible’s prohibitions against usury and call’s today’s financial regulation “nothing more than an update of the ancient prohibitions on usury, or the unfair charging of interest.”
Today’s derivatives market, for example, is precisely about “making money from money” — but taken to new and ludicrous extremes. The credit default swaps which were largely [...]

Former Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee this weekend introduces a fundraising network to help churches during these lean times. The Christian Values Network is being touted as a vehicle to help generate funds for churches and faith-based charities.
Christian Values Network is a free service that allows members to shop online at nearly 900 popular internet retailers who in [...]

Ynet reviews the financial situation of the Jewish community in Iran
Like other minorities in Iran, the Jewish also suffer from discrimination, which is particularly noticeable in the economic area. The Iranian regime does not allow foreign elements free access to the Jewish community, making its economic situation difficult to analyze based on proven figures.
Ynet reports [...]

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach spoke with BiblEconomy about the roots of the financial crisis and how we transcend it.
“The collapse of our economy was caused not by an economic crisis but a spiritual crisis called greed, where you become voracious and insatiable. I believe that the Jewish community, and the Jewish religion has unique values that need [...]

JTA reports, “Young David, King Saul, Goliath and their friends are meeting again in a new television series.”
“Kings,” which will bring the biblical drama into a contemporary setting with a dash of sci-fi, opens with a two-hour premiere on the NBC network at 8 p.m. Sunday. Subsequent weekly programs will start March 22.
Series creator and executive [...]

Survey finds more Americans have no religion.
Fifteen percent of respondents said they had no religion, an increase from 14.2 percent in 2001 and 8.2 percent in 1990, according to the American Religious Identification Survey.

The Dallas Morning News’ Religion Blog convened a “Texas Panel” to ruminate over faith and the famous CNBC Rick Santelli monologue. Deal Hudson, director of InsideCatholic.com made this observation:
There is no obligation whatsoever for the government to “bail out” banks, investment firms, or individual homeowners who can’t pay their mortgages. The reason the government has started [...]