Friday’s roundup

Ousted CNN anchor Rick Sanchez says he’s sorry and that he “screwed up” for saying Jews control the media, and for labeling Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart a “bigot.” Outgoing Sen. Arlen Specter and California Rep. Brad Sherman want to amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include protections for religious students (along with existing […]

Ousted CNN anchor Rick Sanchez says he’s sorry and that he “screwed up” for saying Jews control the media, and for labeling Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart a “bigot.”

Outgoing Sen. Arlen Specter and California Rep. Brad Sherman want to amend the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to include protections for religious students (along with existing protections for “race, color or national origin.”)

Embattled fundamentalist Mormons asked a federal judge for a restraining order to keep the feds from selling off parts of their land.


The sour economy is forcing A-list Christian music stars to share the same stage (and they’re still not selling out arenas).

The pastor of the nation’s oldest Catholic church (in lower Manhattan) sees parallels between the suspicions that greeted his spiritual forbears and the fight to build an Islamic center near Ground Zero.

New data from Pew show increasing numbers of Americans (but still short of a majority) support same-sex marriage. Gay-rights supporters staged a silent protest outside Mormon HQ in Salt Lake City in continuing unrest over a church official’s remarks that homosexuality can be changed and is “not natural.”

Speaking of Mormons, Tea Party favorite Sharron Angle‘s former pastor says her opponent, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, has spent his career doing the bidding of the LDS Church, which he labeled a “cult.” Angle also says Muslims are hell-bent on imposing shariah law in the U.S.

Exodus International may have pulled its sponsorship of the anti-homosexuality “Day of Truth” in public schools, but Family Research Council President Tony Perkins signaled he’s more than happy to take up the banner. Gay groups (led by Savage Love columnist Dan Savage) have launched an online “It Gets Better” video campaign to try to stem a recent rash of gay teen suicides.

China’s none too happy that political dissident Liu Xiaobo won the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize today; Beijing calls him a “criminal.” A Swedish cartoonist who was tackled last May during a lecture on free speech was finally able to finish his talk in Uppsala. Israel is getting close to requiring all new citizens to swear allegiance to Israel as a “Jewish state.”


And now it’s official: no burqas in French public spaces, now that the burqa ban has been deemed constitutional and can take effect. French President Nicolas Sarkozy met with B16 today, but no public indication that Sarko got slapped for the recent deportations of Gypsies that raised Vatican ire.

B16 told Catholic media to help “contemporary man orient himself to Christ,” and the Vatican will be orienting its eyes toward the Middle East during a special Synod that kicks off on Sunday. The Vatican‘s new head of worldwide clergy says priests should not be viewed as “employees of God” but rather “other Christs.”

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