Tuesday’s Religion News Roundup

Lots of reaction stories today following the death of Osama bin Laden at the hands of American commandos. A large number of religious leaders weighed in, saying, basically, that OBL was dangerous but it isn’t really kosher to cheer the death of a fellow man. To make that point on Facebook, lots of people posted […]

Lots of reaction stories today following the death of Osama bin Laden at the hands of American commandos.

A large number of religious leaders weighed in, saying, basically, that OBL was dangerous but it isn’t really kosher to cheer the death of a fellow man. To make that point on Facebook, lots of people posted a fake quote by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. Another quote, supposedly from Mark Twain, also got a lot of Twitter and Fbook play, and apparently isn’t real either.

President Obama will visit Ground Zero on Thursday, which he declared National Prayer Day last week.


Nobody seems more relieved at OBL’s death than American Muslims, who have lived with a Scarlet O around their neck since 9/11. Support for the al-Qaeda leader was dropping among Muslims worldwide, CNN reports. Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood, though, condemned the killing as an “assassination.”

In surely the oddest public reaction, Peru’s president called OBL’s death Pope John Paul II’s first post-beatification “miracle.”

Republican Rep. Michelle Bachmann hopes OBL’s demise marks “the beginning of the end of Sharia-compliant terrorism.” Former counter-terrorism adviser Richard Clarke says dropping bin Laden into the deep blue sea does not end the terrorist threat.

Speaking of sea burial, turns out it’s not so compliant with Islamic law. But it was the best the U.S. could do under the circumstances, said Obama’s homeland security and counter-terrorism adviser.

In non-OBL news, the Supreme Court rejected a Catholic League suit that cried foul over a San Francisco supervisors’ resolution that criticized the Vatican for opposing adoptions by same-sex couples.

The Australian bishop forced to resign after a dispute with the Vatican accused the Catholic Church of “creeping authoritarianism.” Some Catholics are upset that Pope Benedict XVI shook hands with Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe at JP2s beatification.


Jewish organizations are concerned that proposed anti-Shariah laws will also prevent courts from considering Jewish jurisprudence, according to JTA.

Paradoxically, cancer patients who consider their lives to be “in God’s hands” spend a lot of money to forestall death, according to a new study.

Marketers of a new movie about the founder of Opus Dei that opens on Friday are mobilizing Catholics to sell 50,000 tickets.

A former Texas state employee says she was fired for threatening her boss and co-workers with a voodoo curse. A 62-year-old transgender Indian is saving money to marry to a Hindu god.

Yr hmbl aggregator,

Daniel Burke

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