Wednesday’s Religion News Roundup: Fred Luter’s election; Marco Rubio’s faith; mixed-orientation Mormon marriages

The Rev. Fred Luter was elected the first black president of the Southern Baptist Convention. Sen. Marco Rubio explains why he's not Mormon anymore. Some Mormons practice "mixed-orientation" marriages. 

Pointing heavenward and wiping away tears, the Rev. Fred Luter was elected the first black president of the predominantly white Southern Baptist Convention on Tuesday.

In a sermon before his election, Luter said: 

“Only the Word of God can change the heart of a racist; only the Word of God can change the desire of a child molester. The Word of God can change a lifestyle of a homosexual. The Word of God is the only hope for America today.”

Sure, he sounds like a Southern Baptist, but is the term “black evangelical” a contradiction in terms? asks the NYT. 


CT sits down down with Sen. Marco Rubio and finds that his religious background is as varied as the reports surrounding Romney's choice for VP. For the record, Rubio says he's a Roman Catholic.

A Saudi man has been beheaded on charges of sorcery and witchcraft, the Beeb reports. 

Two car bombings in Baghdad killed more than 30 at the end of a weeklong Shiite celebration.

A California man faces felony charges of assault and elder abuse for beating a Jesuit priest whom he accuses of sexually abusing him.

As the Brits debate proposals to legalize same-sex marriage, the Mormon Church's has issued a letter to be read in all congregations there, confirming the “need to protect and promote marriage, as the union of one man and one woman as husband and wife.”

The SLT's Peggy Fletcher reports on Mormons who practice “mixed-orientation marriages,” in which one spouse is gay and one straight.  

A Christian foster care organization will take charge of $2 million in assets from the charity run by former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, who is on trial for multiple counts of child sexual abuse.


Irish eyes aren't smiling about a scathing review of a Catholic seminary in the Emerald Isle conducted by Cardinal Timothy Dolan. 

A retired Episcopal bishop and a Harlem priest were convicted of trespassing on Episcopal Church property during last year's OWS protests

Boring but important: The Internets will soon have new domain names like .Catholic and .Mormon in addition to “.com” and “.org.” The Vatican, Mormon Church and evangelicals are angling to control the new domains

Hebrew National boasts of “answering to a higher authority,” but lawyers are planning to take the kosher meat producer to an earthly court, the Forward reports. 

Yr hmbl aggrgtr, 

Daniel Burke

 

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