The word of the day is “betwixt,” from the high-church vows pronounced between Wills and Kate this morning at Westminster Abbey. Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams and his fly-away eyebrows presided over the pomp and circumstance, assisted by the Dean of Westminster and the Bishop of London (sermon here, and the prayer the happy couple composed for the big day).
And, if you’re wondering, here’s why Kate got a ring, but Wills did not.
The Christian Brothers order, which runs many a Catholic school in the U.S., has filed for bankruptcy over sexual abuse claims. Black Catholics in Chicago fear what will happen if the Rev. Michael Pfleger, the white pastor of the South Side’s St. Sabina Parish, quits the priesthood.
The Arkansas Supreme Court upheld the 2008 seizure of 16 children from the compound of disgraced evangelist Tony Alamo, saying the move was based on real fears over the children’s safety, not an attempt to impinge on their parents’ religious freedom rights.
Bible Belt Blogger Frank Lockwood dug up a sermon by the late David Wilkerson, the evangelical icon who died in a car crash Wednesday, in which he denounced the prosperity gospel as a “rotten seed that is being preached by covetous shepherds.”
The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom chided Egypt for the treatment of Coptic Christians before and after Hosni Mubarak’s fall from power.
A UCC seminary outside Boston and a Unitarian-Universalist school in Chicago have shelved plans to merge, saying their actually stronger apart than they would be together. The Salt Lake Tribune says the immigration debate is pitting Mormon conservatives against their own church.
Our own Cathleen Falsani asks whether Franklin Graham would ever accept POTUS‘ “born-again” birth certificate; Religion Dispatches says the birther fuss really boils down to the charge that POTUS is just another “undocumented worker.”
Minnesota could be the next state to vote on whether to ban same-sex marriage; an attempt to legalize gay marriage in Rhode Island has apparently withered on the vine.
Vatican expert John Allen asks whether Sunday’s beatification rites for JP2 are meant to elevate the man or his papacy. POTUS and FLOTUS told Oprah one of their highlights in the White House was the chance to introduce their kids to B16.
— Kevin Eckstrom
