Wednesday’s roundup

Disgraced former megachurch pastor Ted Haggard has called a news conference this morning to announce the next steps in his career, but no one seems to know exactly what’s up. Stay tuned. Every state (plus D.C.) except Maine and Virginia has joined an friend-of-the-court brief to the Supreme Court, arguing that Fred Phelps and his […]

Disgraced former megachurch pastor Ted Haggard has called a news conference this morning to announce the next steps in his career, but no one seems to know exactly what’s up. Stay tuned.

Every state (plus D.C.) except Maine and Virginia has joined an friend-of-the-court brief to the Supreme Court, arguing that Fred Phelps and his coterie of “Thank God for Dead Soldiers” protesters shouldn’t be protected by the First Amendment. The Washington Times says “simmering anger” over Obama policies on gay rights, Israel and health care may send the religious right flocking to the polls this fall.

Speaking of the Washington Times, longtime religion reporter Julia Duin was sacked yesterday after, apparently, speaking out publicly about the paper as a “rudderless ship.”


Lawyers in Florida are still wrangling over whether school employees who promised not to pray at public events are bound by the agreement they signed. In New York, a judge said a 13-year-old boy can go back to school with his rosary outside his shirt starting today.

Politics Daily says the new face of the lay Catholic reform movement is none other than singer Sinead O’Connor (above, left). Only one in eight Catholics is considering severing ties with the Catholic Church over the abuse scandal, according to a new 60 Minutes/Vanity Fair poll. A Lutheran pastor in Minnesota won $100,000 on “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” and plans to give 10% to charity; no word on what he’ll do with the other 90%.

There’s a new option called “bio-cremation” which, according to the Sacramento Bee, involves dissolving “human remains through a combination of water pressure, heat and alkalinity, a process named alkaline hydrolysis but referred to as bio-cremation. The option is touted as an environmentally friendly way to decompose bodies in hours without air pollution or greenhouse gas emissions.”

Israel is taking a defiant tone over its role in the deadly raid on a Palestinian flotilla early Monday morning; don’t be waiting for any apologies. The situation also puts President Obama in an awkward spot, especially at the one-year mark since he promised a “new beginning” with the Muslim world. In neighboring Egypt, Coptic Church officials say they will never recognize second marriages, despite a civil court order to do so.

Donate to Support Independent Journalism!

Donate Now!