A New York City panel declined to give a building near ground zero landmark status, clearing a hurdle for the Muslims who want to convert it into a mosque and community center. Pat Robertson’s American Center for Law and Justice says it will appeal the panel’s unanimous decision.
Bill McGurn, a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush, and now a WSJ columnist, says the Cardoba House’s backers can learn a lesson from Pope John Paul II, who asked Carmelite nuns to move from their convent near the Auschwitz concentration camp.
Prison officials can bar employees from wearing religious headscarves out of safety concerns, a federal appeals court in Philadelphia ruled on Monday. In a related case, the U.S. 3rd Circuit ruled last year that Philly police can tell female cops not to wear headscarves. Canadian officials want an investigation after media reports picked up on a YouTube video showing two veiled women boarding a plane in Montreal without being asked to show their faces.
A heated church-state debate is playing out on highway billboards in North Carolina, the LA Times reports. Focus on the Family laid off 110 workers on Friday, and has cut its workforce by nearly half since 2002, according to the Colorado Springs Gazette. A Lutheran pastor who opposes allowing homosexuals to lead congregations is back in the pulpit after his struggles with same-sex attraction were uncovered by an alternative newspaper.
Jews are outraged that Romania’s central bank issued a special coin commemorating a prime minister who stripped Jews of their citizenship before World War II. Philadelphia’s mayor announced that Mormons are building a $70-million temple in the city. Joseph Smith’s Bible is going on sale for $1.5 million.
Science fiction writer Ray Bradbury says he’s a Zen Buddhist who believes his talent is “God-given.” Vampire novelist Ann Rice says Catholic bishops’ advocacy against same-sex marriage was the final straw in tenuous membership in the church. Chile’s leading archbishop called gay unions an “aberration.” A Texas priest said “Homosexual acts lead to the damnation of souls.”
Reuters catches on to the religious iPhonemenon. The proportion Spaniards who call themselves Roman Catholic fell from 80 to 73 percent, more than half said they almost never attend Mass. Poptart Katy Perry says speaking in tongues was as normal in her Christian household as asking for the salt. That’s Perry using her tongue to different effect at top left.
