Fifty-six national faith groups and dozens of regionall religious organizations have signed a letter to Congress asking them to “take heart and move meaningful health care reform forward.” The U.S. Catholic Bishops, who did not sign the document, put out their own strongly worded statement, declaring that the “health care debate, with all its political and ideological conflict, seems to have lost its central moral focus and policy priority.” The bishops said Congress should not “abandon this task,” but rather put aside divisions and get’er done.

The online dating site eHarmony has met a match with a $1.5 million settlement in a class-action lawsuit brought by gays and lesbians who said the service discriminated against them. The company also said it will make its Web site more “welcoming” to same-sex seekers.

Women’s groups are upset about Focus on the Family’s plans to air an anti-abortion ad during the Super Bowl featuring 2007 Heisman Trophy winner Tim Tebow. The United Church of Christ is crying foul because networks had refused to air their ads welcoming gays several years ago. The head of a conservative group testified at California’s gay marriage trial that the institution of marriage is so weak that same-sex nuptials could kill it.

A Catholic bishop in Ohio pleaded with his flock not to abandon church after an 80-year-old woman was killed during a robbery while she was leaving Mass. Six prominent Orthodox rabbis pleaded for special treatment for Sholom Rubashkin, the former manager of a kosher meatpacking plant who was convicted last year of bank fraud and other charges. Yoga classes in New York have turned into lusty feasts.

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori met with UN head Ban Ki-Moon in New York and discussed the crises in Haiti, Sudan, and the UN’s Millennium Development Goals. The Church of England will lose about $78 million in an NYC real estate investment that turned sour.

As the world marks Holocaust Remembrance Day, Israeli President Peres said Germans and other Europeans who participated in the Shoah should be tracked down and brought to justice. Pope Benedict XVI denounced the “horror” of the Holocaust. Pope John Paul II used to whip himself, according to a new book.

Muslim worshippers at two Malaysian mosques found severed heads of pigs, in another incident over the “Allah” controversy. Neither the Dalai Lama’s envoys nor China gave any ground in talks Tuesday.