A 21-year-old recent convert to Islam tried to blow up a military recruiting station in a Baltimore suburb on Wednesday, but was caught by the FBI in a sting operation remarkably similar to one that snared a 19-year-old Muslim in Oregon last month.
Two things about this case that make it particularly interesting to counter-terrorism officials, NPR reports. First, Antonio Martinez appears to have been radicalized in the U.S. Secondly, Latinos like Martinez who convert to radical Islam have been connected to terrorism cases with increasing frequency, officials say.
India says a home-grown Islamist group with ties to Pakistani militants was behind a bomb attack in one of its holiest cities, Varanasi, Reuters reports.
The Roman Catholic Church has approved as “worthy of belief” reports that the Virgin Mary appeared three times to a Belgian-born nun in Wisconsin in 1859. It’s the first church-approved Marian apparition in the U.S.
Legislators in at least seven states – including Arizona, Florida, Louisiana, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee and Utah – have proposed laws similar to Oklahoma’s Shariah ban, according to USA Today. Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf says he hopes to use the angry debate over his plans to build an Islamic community center near Ground Zero to found a global movement celebrating pluralism.
NPR catches up with conservative military chaplains worried about the potential repeal of Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell. An Orthodox Jewish rabbi is suing the U.S. Army over its refusal to let him serve as a chaplain because he wears a beard, according to WaPo.
Students at Belmont University protested the departure of a soccer coach who left the school after announcing that she is expecting a child with her same-sex partner. Anti-Semitic vandalism has marred Hanukkah celebrations near Indiana University.
Diplomatic cables unsecreted by WikiLeaks disclose that Saudi King Abdullah thinks his kingdom’s religious police are ignorant and treat people like donkeys, Reuters reports. Another cable says the “underground nightlife” in Saudi Arabia is “thriving and throbbing.” “The full range of worldly temptations and vices are available – alcohol, drugs, sex – but all behind closed doors,” the American diplomat writes.
China has created a “Confucius Peace Prize,” to protest the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to a Chinese dissident. The country’s government-backed Catholic church elected new leaders on Thursday, including a prelate unrecognized by the Vatican, a move likely to increase tensions with Rome, according to the AP.
A Philadelphia social worker says the father of a dead toddler blamed the devil for the boy’s death after he and his wife prayed rather than seek medical treatment. Polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs can’t find a lawyer in Texas. The Archdiocese of Boston has created an iPhone app that finds the nearest Catholic church.
A Louisiana education board voted to approve biology textbooks that teach about evolution and rejected attempts to add references to creationism or intelligent design. Oregon announced a new policy allowing schools to ban teachers from wearing religious dress if the teacher intends to proselytize students. British actress Helen Mirren blasted Hollywood for worshipping “at the altar of the 18 to 25-year-old male and his penis.” That’s Helen at top left with a eunuch named Oscar.
