Friday’s Religion News Roundup: Obama’s sermon; Eddie Long’s divorce; Saudi virgin

POTUS got a little preachy at last night’s lighting of the National Christmas Tree near the White House: “Christ’s birth made the angels rejoice and attracted shepherds and kings from afar. He was a manifestation of God’s love for us.” Full text here. More troubles for Atlanta megachurch pastor Bishop Eddie Long: His wife has […]

POTUS got a little preachy at last night’s lighting of the National Christmas Tree near the White House: “Christ’s birth made the angels rejoice and attracted shepherds and kings from afar. He was a manifestation of God’s love for us.” Full text here.

More troubles for Atlanta megachurch pastor Bishop Eddie Long: His wife has filed for divorce.

A federal judge says a police officer in Tulsa can continue with his case over not wanting to attend an event at a mosque, but not on free speech grounds.


POTUS joined Bono, Kay Warren and other luminaries in D.C. yesterday to call for an “AIDS-free generation” by 2015. Gay rights groups are boycotting the Salvation Army’s iconic Red Kettle campaign.

The good folks over at the Pew Forum are defending the methodology that led them to conclude that the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is the second-largest religious lobby in Washington, even as the bishops heavily dispute that conclusion.

NPR finds that many Catholic institutions already offer contraceptive coverage to employees, even as Catholic leaders kick and scream over the White House’s proposal that they be required to do so.

The bishops’ fight with the White House took center stage at a House hearing yesterday; the bishops’ defenders say they were denied a federal grant because they won’t offer referrals for abortion or family planning, but others say the grant went to another group that can simply do a better job.

America mag makes a pilgrimage to the “Cathedral of Steve Jobs” along Fifth Avenue.

Those crazy kids from the “Book of Mormon” earned a Grammy nomination for best soundtrack (they already took home a slew of Tonys).

National Geographic ends 2011 with a look at the 400th anniversary of the KJV; NatGeo’s always-good photos are here.


And some early Christmas cheer: Reuters says that whole world-is-going-to-end-in-2012-because-the-Mayans-said-so thing is probably much ado about nothing.

One unexpected fall-out from the Catholic Church’s sex abuse scandal: it’s harder to find men willing to serve as bishops, according to the Quebec cardinal who’s now in charge of distributing pointy hats at around the world.

Catholics in Belgium are petitioning their bishops to allow lay-led worship services because of the priest shortage; that’s probably going to go as well as it did over in Austria.

Up north, the (Presbyterian) Church of Scotland said it can’t sign on to a proposal to allow same-sex marriage.

Saudi religious leaders, meanwhile, are worried that lifting the ban on women drivers would lead to “no more virgins.”

And on that note, happy weekend, y’all.

— Kevin Eckstrom

Donate to Support Independent Journalism!

Donate Now!