Monday’s roundup

Five members of the Supreme Court joined Vice President Biden for the annual Red Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington. Four of the court’s six Catholic justices attended the Mass (Sotomayor and Kennedy did not) and Breyer, who is Jewish, did. The sermon delivered by Vatican mucky muck Archbishop Joseph […]

Five members of the Supreme Court joined Vice President Biden for the annual Red Mass at the Cathedral of St. Matthew the Apostle in Washington. Four of the court’s six Catholic justices attended the Mass (Sotomayor and Kennedy did not) and Breyer, who is Jewish, did.

The sermon delivered by Vatican mucky muck Archbishop Joseph DiNoia didn’t set off any fireworks, apparently, but CNN notes that Ginsburg does not attend the Mass because the one time she went “the sermon was outrageously anti-abortion.”

The high court will hear two religion-related cases this term: the Westboro Baptist Church free-speech case, and another challenging an Arizona law that allows religous schools to receive state funds.


It must be October because politicians are besieging houses of worship – making their pitch at pulpits and pews around the state, according to the New York Times. One parishioner at a Baptist church in Brooklyn was none too pleased that gubernatorial candidate Andrew Cuomo spoke at the service. “It makes church longer,” she said as she walked out. “We should be eating lunch by now.”

The wife of an imam planning an Islamic community center and mosque near Ground Zero said that she and her husband have received death threats, which the police later confirmed. Conceptual sketches for Park51, as the project is called, show a futuristic building wrapped in a honeycomb of abstract shapes, with far more space dedicated to secular pursuits than religious worship, the AP reports (see pic at top left).

The Tennessean takes a long look at the battle over a planned mosque in Murfreesboro in which opponents say that Islam is a political system, not a religion, and thus not protected by the free exercise clause.

The Guvernator apparently vetoed the Civil Marriage Religious Freedom Act, a bill designed to protect clergy who refuse to solemnize gay marriage, because it had the word “civil” before marriage, and, as we all know, there is nothing civil about marriage. Bah-dum-chh!

Same-sex attraction can be overcome and any type of union other than marriage between a man and a woman is morally wrong, an LDS apostle told millions of Mormons on Sunday, according to the Salt Lake Tribune. Bishop Eddie Long said he won’t be pulled into a street fight over the gay sex allegations and vowed that his faith has been strengthened.

A federal judge is asking the Vatican to cooperate in serving the pope and two other top officials with court papers that stem from decades-old allegations of sexual abuse by a priest in Wisconsin, according to the AP. Pope Benedict XVI urged Sicilians to fight the mafia. The Vatican chastised Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi for telling blasphemous, anti-Semitic and sexist jokes. Not touching that one.


A coalition of progressive and civil rights groups marched by the thousands Saturday on the Lincoln Memorial and pledged to support Democrats. As RNS mentioned on Friday, the United Methodist Church backed out of the march because it became partisan.

WaPo looks at how U.S. officials began referring to Israel as a “Jewish state,” and why it matters in the Middle East peace process. CNN fired Rick Sanchez for implying that Jews run the media. If that’s the case, Rupert Murdoch is very late for his bris. (H/t: Harry Shearer.)

Dutch anti-Islam politician Geert Wilders appealed for freedom of expression, then expressed nothing during his trial for hate speech. Druidry has been formally accepted as a religion in Britain.

Slate looks at the history of chain letters and finds early culprits in Methodist missionaries, who sent out fundraising letters in 1888. West Bank officials are trying to make a sycamore tree where a tax collector reportedly climbed to get a better look at Jesus into a tourist destination. President Bush is reading a biography of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, according to his wife.

Delaware senatorial candidate Christine O’Donnell says she did not become a Hare Krishna because she likes meatballs. This dog says Grace before eating.

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