POTUS and FLOTUS marked the second night on Hanukkah last evening by lighting a menorah that had been rescued from the muck of a New Orleans synagogue damaged by Hurricane Katrina; POTUS’ full remarks here (AP photo, left).

A University of Michigan researcher has found Americans exaggerate (that’s a nice way of putting it) how often they attend church. Nurses and members of the military continue to top Gallup’s honesty and ethics survey; clergy remain constant in the middle, and we ink-stained wretches can take some comfort that Americans think we’re more honest than car salesmen, members of Congress and lobbyists. Harlem Rep. Charlie Rangel was censured by the House Thursday in a 333-79 vote.

WaPo examines the fine line between art and blasphemy after the Smithsonian yanked the ants-on-a-crucifix artwork; USA Today’s Cathy Lynn Grossman dissects it all here, and you can see the video at the center of the dispute here, via the LA Times.

A federal appeals court upheld the conviction of disgraced evangelist Tony Alamo, saying the sentencing judge’s comments that “”Mr. Alamo, one day you will face a higher and greater judge than me” were not inappropriate. 9th Circuit Judge Stephen Reinhardt rejected a request that he recuse himself from hearing California’s Prop 8 gay marriage case because his wife works for the ACLU.

Politico says at least $140 million in stimulus funds has found its way to faith-based agencies, despite the bill being a top target of conservative anger about federal overreach.

The Catholic bishop of Springfield, Ill., is none too pleased that Gov. Pat Quinn, a Catholic, used his faith to justify his support of a new civil unions bill. WaPo says there’s something missing eight years after the Catholic sex abuse scandal erupted: all those accused priests. Over in the U.K., a Catholic M.P. is trying to figure out — much like the Democrats here at home — how the Labour Party lost its way on religion.

The Mississippi-based American Family Association has compiled its annual list of naughty and nice retailers when it comes to saying “Christmas,” with Macy’s and Amazon on top, Starbucks somewhere in the middle and Barnes and Noble and The Gap getting a lump of coal in their stockings. A Filipino Catholic bishop accuses Santa Claus of stealing Christmas.

Speaking of stealing, thieves are using images from Google Earth to target the lead roofs of British churches to sell for big bucks on the black market.

Everyone remember Father Alberto Cutie, the photogenic Catholic priest caught canoodling with his girlfriend on a Florida beach? He and his (now) wife welcomed a daughter into the world on Tuesday. “There is great joy in being a Father, who is also a ‘father.’ We are truly blessed!” he said.

Up in Brooklyn, there’s a brewing clash between religious and civil law after a man got a Jewish divorce and a Jewish second marriage before he got a civil divorce for the first one. Out at Indiana University, they’re trying to figure out who’s throwing rocks at Jewish targets.

One of the disputed mosque construction projects, in Temecula, Calif., won approval after a heated hearing. Twenty-four people, including 22 Iranian Shiite pilgrims, were killed this morning when two buses collided head-on south of Baghdad.

A top Vatican cardinal says Pakistan’s president is leaning toward abolishing that country’s blasphemy laws, while a hard-line cleric has put a bounty on the head of a Christian woman sentenced to death for insulting Islam.