As almost everyone notes, Westboro Baptist Church had its day in the Supreme Court on Wednesday in the one of the most closely watched free-speech cases since Bong Hits 4 Jesus.
Church-member and lawyer Margie Phelps told the Supreme Court “this little church” has the right to throw its apocalyptic and anti-gay rallies near soldiers’ funerals; an attorney for the slain Marine’s father says the church targeted the father with hate speech and intentionally inflicted emotional distress.
There was a scene outside the Supreme Court as well: lots of people arguing with the two dozen Westboro protesters, though it wasn’t as contentious as you might imagine.
Down the street at the National Archives, the Nuremberg Laws, which took away the citizenship of German Jews, went on display.
The way Americans picture God (authoratative? benevolent? critical? distant?) reveals attitudes on everything from economics to morality to science and natural disasters, according to a new book by Baylor University sociologists.
Two Pew polls show a rising acceptance of gay marriage in the U.S., with 42 percent okay with it. For the first time in its surveys, Pew says, a plurality of white mainline Protestants and white Catholics favor allowing gays and lesbians to marry legally.
Exodus International, the Christian group that aims to “cure” gays and lesbians, says it will stop sponsoring an annual event that encourages students to fight “the promotion of homosexual behavior” because it has become too divisive. “All the recent attention to bullying helped us realize that we need to equip kids to live out biblical tolerance and grace while treating their neighbors as they would like to be treated, whether they agree with them or not,” said Exodus Prez Alan Chambers.
Southern Baptist leader Al Mohler says downward-facing dog is not right with God. President Obama called Archbishop Desmond Tutu a “moral titan,” as the 79-year-old South African heads, once again, into retirement.
Iranian Prez Ahmadinejad wrote a Thank You note to Pope Benedict XVI for condemning an American pastor’s plans to burn a Quran last month. The priest who spent 25 years lobbying the Vatican to canonize an Australian nun says that contrary to media reports Mother Mary MacKillop was not excommunicated for reporting a pedophile priest. An Italian was appointed to head the Vatican office in charge of clergy.
Eastern Orthodox parishes in the U.S. have grown by 16 percent in the last decade, in part because immigrant groups are getting settled here, according to a new study.
More churches and religious groups are conducting regular background checks to prevent the abuse of children, according to the AP.
The ACLU filed suit against a North Carolina school that won’t let a 14-year-old student wear a nose ring, which she says is part of her religious practice. The girl and her mother belong to the Church of Body Modification, which says tattoos and piercings pave the road to transcendence. And here I thought the Church of Body Modification was in Hollywood. Over in South Carolina, the busy ACLU also sued a jail that bars inmates from reading anything other than the Bible.
A Montana woman is accused of taking a crowbar to a museum piece that some say depicts Jesus in a sex act. (You can just see the offending depiction in this pic.) A computer virus aimed at keeping nuclear weapons from Iran may contain a fleeting reference to the Book of Esther, according to the NYT.
