Tuesday’s Religion News Roundup: NC Prayers, Moon’s heirs, pot in the churchyard

Here's the prayer lineup for the DNC. The Rev. Sun Myung Moon's heirs have a history of squabbling over his money. And how did the marijuana get into the churchyard? 

One convention down, one to go. The Democrats open their national meeting in Charlotte today. Lots of politics, lots of praying in the Queen City. Here's the prayer leaders' lineup for invocations and benedictions during the next three days.

The evangelical community is well represented. There's also a Conservative rabbi, a Greek Orthodox bishop, and an AME bishop. Cardinal Timothy Dolan will close out the whole affair, as he did at the RNC last week.

At the convention, DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz joins a panel of Jewish Democrats who say the Jewish vote is safely in Obama's camp, despite what GOP Jews say.


Meanwhile, a group of black ministers is trying to get out the vote for Obama, contrasting his religious beliefs to Romney's.

But how much does a candidate's religious affiliation matter anymore anyway? asks USA Today.

And delegates, if you've got some extra time on your hands, RNS presents its religion tour of Charlotte.

More than 200,000 paid their respects to Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini at Milan’s Cathedral on over the weekend. The strong liberal voice in the Roman Catholic Church said it was “200 years behind the times.”

If the past is prelude, the heirs of  Rev. Sun Myung Moon are going to be squabbling over his considerable fortune.

Leaders at the Beloved Disciples Church in Grove City, Pa., were surprised to find two marijuana plants growing on their property. A neighbor of the church has been charged with what amounts to illegal gardening. 

A former altar boy will return to Philadelphia to testify in a second priest abuse trial that was supposed to begin today, but which has been postponed due to a family emergency. The first trial ended in a conviction for Monsignor William Lynn for failing to protect the boy, who is now 24.


Tennessee Republican politicians who aren't sufficiently anti-Shariah for the hardcore wing of the party are on the defensive, reports NPR.

No good deed goes unpunished? Georgia's Interdenominational Theological Center is paying more than it expected in its attempt to help historic Morris Brown College.

One of Pakistan’s senior Islamic leaders is promising protection for the Christian girl who was originally accused of burning holy Muslim writings and is now thought to have been framed for blasphemy by the local mullah. The accuser has now been arrested.

Four British Christians – two of them who said they were not allowed to wear crosses at work – are urging Europe's top court to rule that they were discriminated against because of their religion.

Under pressure from Jewish activists worldwide and local officials, the owner of a men's clothing store in India has changed the name of the store from “Hitler.” He said he picked the name because he researched the Internet and learned that Hitler was a “strict” person.

– Lauren Markoe

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