President Obama signed an executive order that he says will improve the constitutional footing of the controversial White House faith-based office.

Church-state watchdogs, though, are disappointed that the order allows public money to go directly to houses of worship, and does not address the “800-pound gorilla”: whether faith-based groups can get public money without following anti-discrimination hiring laws.

A new polls shows another faith-based “dilemma” for Obama: only 40 percent of Americans say the president’s religious beliefs are similar to their own. OTOH, how many Americans would hitch their spiritual star to *any* prez, pol, or prelate? We contain multitudes, no?

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton released her department’s annual report on international religious freedom, and declared the administration’s opposition to blasphemy laws in Islamic nations. Also in Washington, Congress grilled the Rev. Suzan Johnson Cook, who was nominated as ambassador-at-large for international religious freedom, on her lack of foreign policy experience.

Iraq’s Syriac Catholic community is staying away from the cathedral where gunmen killed at least 58 people last month. Cardinals from near and far are flocking to Rome for a special session on some of the most vexing issues facing the church, including the sexual abuse of children and the persecution of Christians in Muslim countries.

Pope Benedict XVI will meet with the Archbishop of Canterbury on Thursday, following the Catholic conversion of five Anglican bishops. Belgian Catholics are celebrating Mass – without priests, thankyouverymuch.

Muslim pilgrims completed final hajj rituals (including stoning the devil) in the rain in Mecca. The typically strict Saudi religious police ease up during the hajj, Reuters reports. A Tennessee judge refused to issue a temporary restraining order to stop construction of an Islamic Center in Murfreesboro.

A federal court shot down an appeal by the Christian Legal Society to force a California law school to formally recognize it. A federal bankruptcy official is questioning the salaries of Crystal Cathedral employees, including a $132,000 housing allowance.

A prominent Chicago businessman bilked hundreds of Muslims out of $30 million in a Ponzi scheme, federal prosecutors say. Are religious people more susceptible to these schemes, or are scammers just good at manipulating strong social networks? This is the second or third Ponzi this year that prosecutors say targeted believers.

Speaking of social networks, Facebook leads to adultery, says a New Jersey pastor, and is best left alone.Then again, a new Pew study suggests that marriage may be obsolete anyway, so what the heck, log on, tune in, and turn out.

Finally, Virginia is moving Rastafarian inmates who refuse to cut their hair for religious reasons out of solitary confinement and moving them to a prison where they can live together. Pass the Dutchie, man.