The suspect in the Time Square bomb scare was radicalized slowly over several years, and authorities are looking for links between the Pakistani American and a mosque linked to militants in Pakistan.
A senior Islamic cleric in Iran boasted that his country has entered the “nuclear club” and warned potential enemies that Iran could “endanger your entire world.”
Two Muslim organizations have plans to open a mosque near 9/11’s ground zero in NYC.
Franklin Graham gave no ground in his criticism of Islam yesterday, as he prayed in front of the Pentagon after being disinvited from its National Prayer Day event.
Pope Benedict XVI accepted the resignations of two Irish bishops. Both had reached 75, the retirement age, but the NYT ties the resignation to Ireland’s clergy sex abuse crisis. Speaking of the scandal, the NYT also reports that Cardinal William Levada, who runs the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the powerful Vatican office once headed by Benedict, failed to notify parishioners and the police of allegations against priests while he was an archbishop in America.
The new bishop of Springfield (Ill.) explained his 2007 remarks about the devil driving the sex abuse scandal. A victims’ support group says a Wisconsin legislator voted against a bill that would have made it easier for victims of clergy sex abuse to file lawsuits because he was afraid the Catholic Church would deny him Communion. The lawmaker denied the charge. A North Carolina diocese settled an abuse case with a former altar boy, agreeing to pay the victim $1 million.
The Catholic cardinal in charge of dialogue with Christians and other faiths says talking to the schismatic Society of Saint Pius X “is not easy.” The pope will have 30 new Swiss guards.
Priests, rabbis, imams and Protestant ministers dedicated a new school for military chaplains in South Carolina. There’s a 2-in-3 chance that the next president of the Southern Baptist Convention will be from Alabama. Yoga devotees in Washington are fighting to stop a “Yoga tax.”
The Greek Orthodox Church says its ready to provide supplies and counseling to people upset by Greece’s financial crisis. The Dalai Lama said dialogue with China has failed so far, but talks must continue. Nigeria’s new president, Goodluck Jonathan, may be unfortunate for Muslim-Christian relations. Jesus Christ was hit by a car in Massachusetts. Christ suffered only minor injuries, thank God.
