WednesdayâÂ?Â?s Religion News Roundup

Aftershocks in the wake of Tuesday’s East Coast temblor (a word Atlantic seaboard scribes would never miss a chance to use) tend toward the biblical rather than the geological: Ricky Twyman, founder of the Pray Without Ceasing Political Party, plans an “emergency vigil of hope” outside the White House on Wednesday at the very time […]

Aftershocks in the wake of Tuesday’s East Coast temblor (a word Atlantic seaboard scribes would never miss a chance to use) tend toward the biblical rather than the geological:

Ricky Twyman, founder of the Pray Without Ceasing Political Party, plans an “emergency vigil of hope” outside the White House on Wednesday at the very time the earthquake hit, 1:51 pm. He is demanding that President Obama and congressional leaders return from their “plush” vacations to pass a “jobs bill” or, he warns, “we need another earthquake in Congress and the White House.”

Supporters of the National Cathedral of Washington, which suffered “significant damage” in the quake, might support Twyman’s agenda but prefer that he hold off on invoking any earth-shaking until the church is stabilized. (Photos of damage here.)


Jonathan Turley, tongue in cheek (sort of), notes that the quake’s epicenter was in the Virginia district of House GOP Majority Leader Eric Cantor, who irked seismologists by trying to cut funding for the United States Geological Service (USGS). “My greatest concern is that Cantor also defended cuts in the National Weather Service and NOAA – and there is a hurricane approaching Washington.”

Speaking of cuts, local jurisdictions in California won’t be able to ban circumcisions if a bill passed unanimously by a California Senate committee on Tuesday is approved. The measure stems from a divisive ballot measure in San Francisco that would have barred the practice for most boys under age 18.

Parents in a Catholic parish in Sacramento, meanwhile, would be happy enough if their priest showed up sober to baptize theirs kids. Is there a law for that?

What do the Oracle of Omaha and the Vicar of Christ have in common? According to a Hoover Institution writer, billionaire capitalist Warren Buffett (that’s him in the cardinalatial red) and Catholic leader Pope Benedict XVI (always wears white) “are both dead wrong on economic policy” because they both favor making the wealthy shoulder more of society’s economic burdens. Or, as the pontiff put it on his way to World Youth Day in Spain last week, “The economy cannot be measured by the maximum profit but by the common good.” Red flag, meet bull. Olé!

Speaking of strange bedfellows, Libyan rebels are asking Israel for help in ending Muammar Gadhafi’s regime, which seems to be on life support. And Ponzi scheme perpetrator Bernard Madoff and Ponzi scheme victim Elie Wiesel meet, fictionally, in a new play, “Imagining Madoff.”

The so-called “God particle” may be a myth, say scientists who have been searching for the elusive Higgs boson particle that was once believed to have played a key role in the creation of the universe.No word on what this may mean for God.


Rick Santorum’s conservative Catholic backers seem to be abandoning his long-shot Republican presidential bid faster than primary voters, except that he never really gained enough support to lose. “He’s losing to Rudy Giuliani and Newt Gingrich, of all people, neither of whom has a snowball’s chance (for which we should all be grateful),” writes Jody Bottum. “A sad thing for me, at least, because I could have supported him. But it’s time for Rick Santorum to fold his tent and go home.”

So much for the Catholics. How are the evangelicals faring? Michelle Bachmann was thought to be the Queen of the Hill just a few days ago, but now Bachmann is considered “obsolete.” Ouch. Thank the newest evangelical king, Rick Perry. There goes the appealing Saul-David biblical analogy.

Finally, the first rule of comedy is that everything is potential material, so late-night funnyman David Letterman didn’t miss a step and joked about a jihadist threat against himbecause he made light of the killing of Osama bin Laden. “Tonight, you people are…more than an audience,” Letterman said in his monologue. “You’re more like a human shield.” He also unveiled a “Who hates Dave” list.

No offense taken.

— David Gibson

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