The big news this morning is obviously yesterday’s watershed federal court decision striking down California’s ban on gay marriage (LA Times photo, left). You can read all 138 pages of Judge Vaughn Walker‘s decision here. The react has been fairly predictable on all sides but a few stand out:
— the American Family Association wants Walker impeached because he’s reportedly gay;
— the Southern Baptists’ Richard Land says now’s the time for a federal constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage;
— Mormons (who spent megabucks to pass Prop 8 two years ago) urge “a spirit of civility and mutual respect” on all sides as the case winds its way up the federal court ladder;
— Southern Baptist Seminary head Al Mohler concedes the gay groups have “cultural momentum” on their side;
— Catholic bishops say their opposition to gay marriage is “neither irrational nor unlawful.”
— Family Research Council’s Tony Perkins is tired of homosexuals who “prefer not to enter into marriages as historically defined.”
Julia Roberts says she and her family are practicing Hindus, and wants to be reincarnated as “something quiet and supporting.”
Rabbi Arthur Waskow makes the Jewish case for the so-called Ground Zero mosque. Tea Party favorite Sharron Angle (trying to unseat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid) says the Democrats “want to make government our God.” The illegal immigrant charged with the drunk-driving death of a nun had been picked up and released twice by immigration officials, the AP reports.
A Maryland Chabad house has been closed indefinitely for violating a court order that outlined when it could hold services. Newt Gingrich, who’s already made his opposition to the Ground Zero mosque well known, criticized police in Dearborn, Mich., for arresting four Christian evangelizers at an Arab festival. The Baltimore woman convicted of starving her 1-year-old son to death while she belonged to a religious cult was praised by a judge for making progress in her treatment.
Victims’ advocates want disgraced former Boston Cardinal Bernard Law (remember him?) removed from his perch in Rome. A Greek Orthodox priest finds himself at home among the country’s rough-and-tumble soccer fans. Ultra-ultra-Orthodox rabbis in Israel are trying to convince ultra-Orthodox women not to wear Islamic-style full-body veils.
Early indications say Kenya‘s new constitution passed a vote yesterday (it was criticized by some for its provisions on abortion and Islamic law courts). A Pakistani court is considering a permanent ban on Facebook (that whole “Everybody Draw Muhammad Day” idea didn’t go over so well).
