As Haitians continue to struggle free from the earthquake’s destruction, people are turning to God for an explanation of the disaster, and religious differences among the Catholics, Protestants, and followers of Voodoo are breaking down, according to the Washington Post. One quibble about that article: the writer says Haiti is made up of “devout Christians — Catholics, Protestants, Methodists, evangelicals …” The latter two fall under the Protestant umbrella, no?
In other Haiti news, someone is selling the soul of Pat Robertson on eBay in the form of a Voodoo doll (picture is at left).
President Obama served hot lunches to the needy in Washington on Monday to mark MLK day. In Montgomery, Ala., about 5,000 gathered for a rally where King led protesters in 1965. Cornel West warned congregants at King’s church in Atlanta not to “sanitize” his legacy.
The AP reports that the judge presiding over the gay marriage case in California had his appointment held up for two years in the late 1980s by gay rights activists. The Kansas judge overseeing the Scott Roeder case has come under scrutiny as well for his Roman Catholic faith and ties to an anti-abortion group. A New York appeals court reversed the trial court and found that the PCUSA should keep the property of a breakaway congregation.
Shiite leaders are pushing community members to fully embrace American citizenship, the AP finds. The Catholic Diocese of Des Moines fired a transgender housekeeper, prompting the Des Moines Register to take a long look at church doctrine and transgenderism. A Michigan company has added coded reference to the New Testament (e.g.: 2COR4:6) at the end of the serial numbers on the rifle sights it provides to the U.S. military, according to ABC News.
Pope Benedict XVI acknowledged tensions between Christians and Jews as he visited Rome’s Great Synagogue, and said the end of Nazism was a good thing. The Turkish gunman who shot Pope John Paul II was released from prison on Monday and will now be assessed for fitness for military service.
Violent clashes between Christians and Muslims have erupted again in central Nigeria. Throngs of Orthodox Christians gathered on the banks of the River Jordan to mark the Epiphany. Mauritanian Muslim leaders banned female genital mutilation.
A Christian airline check-in clerk argued before London’s high court that British Airways should let her wear a crucifix to work. A Vietnamese businessman wants to build a 20-ton jade statue of the Buddha.
