L’Shana Tova, Jewish friends. May year 5,771 be a good one. Remember not to write 5,770 on your checks anymore.
Tens of thousands of Hasidic Jews from around the world gathered in Ukraine to mark the New Year, an apparent record in the former Soviet satellite, according to the AP. Closer to home, rabbis are weighing whether to talk about the Park51 controversy as they prepare sermons for the High Holy Days, the NYT reports.
President Obama called on the Florida pastor who plans to burn Qurans on 9/11 to “listen to those better angels,” which includes almost everyone in the world not named Terry Jones at this point.
Obama called the proposed burning “a recruitment bonanza for Al Qaida.” Meanwhile, evangelical leaders like Franklin Graham are trying to reach Jones by phone to dissuade him from performing his “stunt” as Obama called it. Muslim leaders around the world say the Quran burning would undoubtedly lead to violence.
The AP’s redoubtable Rachel Zoll profiles Jones and his 50-member church, placing him around the fringes of Pentecostalism. Jones’ former church in Germany kicked him out and said good riddance in 2008. Gainesville officials, already taxed by a college football game that’s expected to draw 100,000 fans and even more tailgaters on Saturday, called Jones “an embarrassment to our community.”
The backers of the Islamic community center near Ground Zero are divided about the project’s future, with one investor ready to cash out, the AP reports. Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the Sufi leader behind Park51, told CNN that if he knew the “pain” the project would cause “I wouldn’t have done it.”
While a lot of the anti-Muslim sentiment seems fueled by fears of “creeping shariah” law, U.S. courts have a long history of incorporating religious laws into our legal system, NPR reports.
Authorities in Upstate New York say they are treating the spray painting of a racial slur on a mosque as a hate crime. The AP notes that a new Islamic college has opened its doors in California. The RNS story on Zaytuna College from last month is here.
A church-state separation group highlights several upcoming events hosted by conservative evangelicals that just happen to fall near the mid-term elections.
California’s Supreme Court said the Governator does not have to defend Prop 8 in court. Obama asked a federal appeals court to lift an injunction that blocks federal funding of embryonic stem cell research. Lawyers for alleged sex abuse victims want to question top Vatican cardinals.
Venezuela’s Chavez said he will meet with Jewish leaders over anti-Semitism in state media. Germany’s Merkel gave an award to the Danish cartoonist who caricatured the Prophet Muhammad.
Pope Benedict XVI thanked Brits for the “vast amount of work” they’ve put into his upcoming visit Sept. 16-19. South Korea has indicted a Christian activist who made an unapproved visit to North Korea. China’s vilification of the Dalai Lama has had little visible effect in Tibet, WaPo reports. The Tibetan Buddhist leader donated $50,000 to the University of Wisconsin to support scientific research into kindness and compassion.
Four women in California became the first nuns ordained in the Thai Therevada tradition. A Muslim stonemason who spent four decades restoring a cathedral in France has been honored with a gargoyle peering out from the facade (see pic at top left).
