Thursday’s Religion News Roundup: LCWR meets; Obama’s ‘war on religion’; Ultra-Orthodox glasses

Americans nuns ponder their future in St. Louis. Obama is the first Boy Scout but doesn't like their policy on gays. Ultra-Orthodox Jews wear women-blurring glasses. 

In Missouri, hundreds of Americans nuns in St. Louis began to ponder and plan their future vis a vis the Vatican.

Also from the Show Me State: a look at the “right to pray” amendment, which passed by a wide margin. 

A new ad from the Romney campaign invokes Pope John Paul II and Lech Walesa to denounce President Obama's “war on religion.”


Rachel Zoll wonders if Mitt Romney will ask anyone from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to offer a blessing at the upcoming GOP Convention. 

The White House says Obama, the Boy Scouts' honorary president, opposes its ban on gays. 

And Salon.com says Mitt Romney is chatting it up with new Family Research Council exec and former Army operative Jerry Boykin.

A federal judge in Hawaii rules against a lesbian couple that wants a marriage, not a civil union.

Rev. Alejandro Solalinde – the guy who stands up to the drug lords – says the Mexican Roman Catholic church hierarchy wants him to dial it back.

USA Today looks at the lives of the Sikhs killed at their temple last week.


The FBI says the Sikh temple gunman actually killed himself, contrary to prior reports.

Sell! The Church of England has sold its $3 million worth of shares in Rupert Murdoch's News Corp due to concerns about the company's ethics.

A Canadian man is suing his local government to stop the recitation of the Lord's Prayer before council meetings.

An Amish-Mennonite pastor is defending himself in an international kidnapping case that involves same-sex marriage. 

A new survey from the people at Pew shows the diverse religious beliefs of Muslims worldwide.

An Israeli scholar completes the first major overhaul of the Hebrew Bible in 500 years. 

Thousands of Orthodox Jews and others bought mistakenly discounted fares to Tel Aviv on Israeli airline El Al thanks to a subcontractor’s mistake. Will El Al honor them?


Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men are wearing special glasses that blur their vision so they don't have to see immodestly dressed women. A reader on our Facebook page wonders if they offer an effective polarization to beer goggles.

– Lauren Markoe

Blurry image courtesy of Shutterstock.

Want to receive the roundup free to your inbox five days a week? Sign up below. 

Donate to Support Independent Journalism!

Donate Now!