Friday’s Religion News Roundup

Over at Politics Daily, David Gibson picks apart President Obama‘s remarks yesterday at the National Prayer Breafkast, calling it the “Christian version of his State of the Union address, a speech in which the president sought to underscore his belief in the civil religion of national greatness known as `American exceptionalism.'” Astronaut Mark Kelly, the […]

Over at Politics Daily, David Gibson picks apart President Obama‘s remarks yesterday at the National Prayer Breafkast, calling it the “Christian version of his State of the Union address, a speech in which the president sought to underscore his belief in the civil religion of national greatness known as `American exceptionalism.'”

Astronaut Mark Kelly, the husband of wounded Ariz. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, told the breakfast crowd that prayers for his wife are working.

Over in Egypt, Coptic Christians are no fans of Hosni Mubarak, but they’re also fearful of what life would be like in an Islamist state. Copts in the U.S. are quietly lobbying the Obama administration to do more to protect Christians in Muslim countries and are holding prayer vigils and fasts, according to WaPo.


The AP says the Muslim Brotherhood has Promised-Land glimpses of a legitimate political role in post-Mubarak Egypt, and the group also met with Jordan’s King Abdullah II for the first time in nearly a decade.

Sojourners founder Jim Wallis says the U.S., as the largest supplier of military aid to Egypt, is morally obligated to call for Mubarak’s ouster.

Down in Florida, a Catholic priest who was a prominent anti-abortion activist has stepped down after he broke his vow of chastity with a woman during an exorcism. The Rev. Thomas Euteneur once labeled Fox News’ Sean Hannity a “heretic”; Hannity called the priest “self righteous.”

Russell Moore, an up-and-comer at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, probes the death of denominationalism in the U.S. — and finds signs for hope. NPR says some 300 U.S. churches are celebratingPorn Sunday” this weekend.

Author Brian Kaylor lists the “Top 10 Over-the-Top Religious Quotes from Presidential Candidates” over at HuffPo. On Capitol Hill, House Republicans agreed to remove the term “forcible rape” from a bill that seeks to deny government funding of abortion.

The bankrupt Diocese of Wilmington (Del.) agreed to pay $77 million to settle 142 abuse claims. Scandal-scarred Bishop Eddie Long has another problem on his hands — an investment plan that went sour, and parishioners who are now having trouble making ends meet.


A report from Capitol Hill says multiple military officials missed important signs that could have prevented the 2009 shooting massacre at Fort Hood by Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan.

The Russian Orthodox Church gave the green light for its clergy to run for office “in cases where the church encounters hostility from other faiths and factions.”

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