Thursday’s religion round-up

Lutherans, Catholics, and Methodists are meeting today in Chicago to celebrate that they agree on how Christians are saved. Muslim groups say the FBI’s newly revealed surveillance guidelines allows them to spy on Muslims, faith-based security firms are responding to a rash of violence in houses of worship, and swindler Bernie Madoff observed Yom Kippur […]

Lutherans, Catholics, and Methodists are meeting today in Chicago to celebrate that they agree on how Christians are saved. Muslim groups say the FBI’s newly revealed surveillance guidelines allows them to spy on Muslims, faith-based security firms are responding to a rash of violence in houses of worship, and swindler Bernie Madoff observed Yom Kippur in prison.

A long-serving Mennonite minister was fired because he’s pursuing a same-sex relationship, a small Pentecostal church in Louisville has ordained a sex offender as a minister, and a new study claims that spiritual women have more sex. Sorry fellas, the same doesn’t hold true for guys.

A federal judge in Arkansas says the free exercise clause doesn’t give Tony Alamo the right to beat his followers, Oregon officials are investigating another child death in the Followers of Christ Church, and Episcopalians can expect new rituals this fall because of swine flu. Meanwhile, congregations in Tennessee, Wisconsin, Maryland, and other states are reporting low attendance as people stay away for fear of contagion.


Twenty-one Tibetan activists who were protesting the 60th anniversary of communist rule in China were arrested by Indian police, and an Israeli court says Chinese pressure led Tel Aviv University to close an exhibit on Falun Gong last year.

Pope Benedict XVI met with Pakistan’s president and will visit Cyprus next June and the Vatican says African farmers should use genetically modified crops. A Canadian Catholic bishop was busted with child pornography on his computer, the electric company in Pakistan said more than 1,600 mosques haven’t paid their bills, and a former U.S. Army intelligence expert says Communist Poland infiltrated the Vatican and were involved in the plot to kill John Paul II.

Donate to Support Independent Journalism!

Donate Now!