Read more about this topic from Marvin Olasky in a web-extra column on what this Abramoff/Reed scandal is all about.

Ralph Reed didn't mention Jack Abramoff in his opening remarks to the Dawson County Republican Party in rural Dawsonville, Ga. But Guy Pichon had a tough question for the lobbyist and former head of the Christian Coalition: "Did you accept any gifts, commissions or other payments of any kind from Mr. Abramoff, and are you likely to be a party in the unfolding investigation?"

For workers at Kunhar Christian Hospital in the rugged hills of Manshera, Pakistan, limited medical supplies and treacherous road conditions aren't the only obstacles they've long faced. The openly Christian ministry situated in a heavily radical Muslim region has also faced persecution and aggressive opposition, particularly from leaders of a local mosque who have pressured the government to shut down the 16-bed facility.

When Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) took his seat behind the Senate Judiciary Committee's red-shrouded dais on the second day of confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Samuel Alito, he felt something strange beneath his feet. After giving a few firm kicks, the chagrined senator discovered that the foreign object was a press photographer.

When the Coushatta Indian Tribe of Louisiana wanted to squelch competition to its Grand Casino's $300-million-a-year enterprise in 2001, tribal leaders knew just where to turn: Jack Abramoff, a Washington lobbyist with a history of protecting powerhouse tribal casinos. When Mr. Abramoff wanted a shrewd way to protect his client's massive gaming interests, he turned to Ralph Reed-former executive director of the Christian Coalition and a consultant who had a history of rallying evangelicals against legalized gambling.

As experts debated the wisdom of rebuilding large swaths of the low-lying city of New Orleans, aid workers a half a world away toiled under grueling conditions to rebuild far larger swaths of Southeast Asia ravaged by a tsunami nine months earlier. When a 9.0-magnitude earthquake rumbled four miles beneath the Indian Ocean on Dec. 26, 2004, it produced a tidal wave of cataclysmic proportions, sweeping coastlines in 12 nations, killing more than 200,000 people, and displacing millions more.