It's Black History Month and there's plenty about African Americans in religious life. A few favorites:

Check out this story by Adelle Banks of Religion News Service about the roles of pastor's wives in black churches.

Pastor June Robinson wears several hats -- and not the big fancy ones you might expect for a pastor's wife...

As you may already be tired of hearing, the faith magnifying glass is scrutinizing the presidential hopefuls. After lots of speculation about Mitt Romney, and Newsweek's article on Hillary Clinton, it's Obama's turn. The AP story has him talking about his Muslim-exposed childhood, his United Church of Christ church, and most alarmingly, about quitting smoking:

At the house party in Iowa Falls, Obama said, "I'm going to have to be run through the paces, people are going to have to lift up the hood, kick the tires and be clear that I have a grasp of the issues that are of utmost importance in people's lives."

In that vein, Obama said he has quit his cigarette habit and now chews nonprescription Nicorette gum all day.

Better now than when he's in office with his twitchy finger on the button, I guess. We're gonna see what the man's really made of.

Missing? Any news about Louis Farrakhan, who was recently released from five weeks in the hospital following surgery. I'm guessing that the big outlets are polishing off his obituary packages though there hasn't been any dire news yet (Farrakhan is scheduled to speak at the Nation of Islam's "Saviour's Day" events at the end of the month). Speaking of which, I haven't seen many Nation of Islam stories AT ALL in the recent obsession with world Islam. Anyone?

And a plug: for great stories on faith and black history month, check out my friend Joe Orso, who writes about religion for a local paper in Wisconsin. Joe is one of those committed religion journalists who puts his heart and soul in the pews, across denominations and traditions. His Ramadan blog from last fall followed him as he fasted with a small Muslim community in the midwest. Beautiful stuff - go, Joe.