Wednesday’s round up

In his speech on the Afghan War, President Obama called al-Qaida “a group of extremists who have distorted and defiled Islam, one of the world’s great religions, to justify the slaughter of innocents.” Catholics For Choice bought a full-page ad in the Washington Post to blast the bishops’ stand on health care reform. Washington D.C.’s […]

In his speech on the Afghan War, President Obama called al-Qaida “a group of extremists who have distorted and defiled Islam, one of the world’s great religions, to justify the slaughter of innocents.”

Catholics For Choice bought a full-page ad in the Washington Post to blast the bishops’ stand on health care reform.

Washington D.C.’s Council voted to legalize gay marriage, the first of two votes needed for the measure to become law. The Archdiocese of Washington continues to ask for legal compromise that would allow it to bid on city contracts while maintaining its traditional stance on homosexuality. In New York, Gov. Patterson said the way is clear for the state Senate to vote on gay marriage.


Files released Tuesday by the Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport (Conn.) show Cardinal Edward Egan skeptical over abuse claims and thinking the relatively small number of abusive priests “marvelous.” Victims of clergy sex abuse say its “immoral” for the Diocese of Wilmington to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy because of sexual abuse cases and then hire a P.R. firm.

The Episcopal Church lost 60,000 members in 2008, according to an internal report, and now has 2 million active baptized members. It has lost 200,000 members since 2004, when an openly gay man was invested as bishop of New Hampshire. An official said that conflicts within the denomination “have … distracted from the message of hope our clergy and lay leaders seek to share.”

Three yoga instructors have sued Virginia over the state’s plan to license yoga teacher-training programs and make them pay $2,500 up front and $500 every year.

An Indiana court said a divorced father doesn’t have to take his children to church. Jesus Christ was called for jury duty in Jefferson County, Alabama.

Swiss Catholic bishops are blasting the country’s new ban on minarets, but conservatives, invigorated by their surprising victory, now look forward to banning burqas and forced marriages.

China has sentenced five members of an unregistered Protestant church to two years in a labor camp.


Photo of Obama and McChrystal is by WH photog Pete Souza.

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