The growing sex abuse scandal in Germany’s Catholic Church is heating up — again — now that the Regensburg diocese says it will name an outside investigator to probe charges of physical and sexual abuse swirling around a famed boys choir that the pope’s own brother directed for 30 years.
In Sweden, at least three newspapers on Wednesday published cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad with the body of a dog after a plot was uncovered by Muslim extremists — including an American woman known as “Jihad Jane” — to kill the artist. Six Pakistani workers for the U.S.-based Christian aid group World Vision were killed Wednesday when gunmen stormed their office. Back here at home, some U.S. Muslims worry about participating in the first post-9/11 census, concerned about how the data could be used.
Hungary has a new law that imposes a three-year prison sentence for Holocaust denial and the Dalai Lama used the anniversary of a Tibet uprising to accuse China of trying to “annihilate” Buddhism from Tibet.
VP Joe Biden is dialing up the pressure on Israel over plans to expand settlements inside Palestinian territories, saying Palestinians deserve a “viable” state with contiguous borders. Next door in Egypt, Muslims are mourning the death of Sheik Mohammed Sayed Tantawi, who headed the influential Al-Azhar seminary in Cairo, the intellectual heart of much of Sunni Islam.
A Colorado judge has told a man that his First Amendment rights to religion do not extend to his right to smoke pot. Liberty University students still don’t buy into creation during their annual visit to the Smithsonian’s Natural History Museum, which will open a new mega-exhibit on “human origins” as part of it’s 100th birthday. And Florida GOP lawmakers want to offer tax credits to films and TV shows — except those that promote “nontraditional” (i.e., gay) values.
In Wisconsin, an Amish farmer has won his battle with state regulators over his refusal to install tracking devices on his animals. The farmer, Emanuel Miller, Jr., worried the program referenced the “mark of the beast” found in the Bible. WaPo follows cooks who put together large-scale church dinners for Lent and serve up something to feed both body and soul.
And if you happen to be driving through St. Louis this Friday, stop by Compton Heights Christian Church where parishioners gather with coffee to wish everyone a Happy Friday. Now that’s a holy day of obligation I can agree with.
