Wednesday Religion News Roundup: Billy Graham scrubs Mormon “cult” reference; Nuns v. Tea Party; Dinesh D’Souza

Billy Graham scrubs Mormon "cult" reference from website. Nuns on the Bus meet demonstators. Dinesh D'Souza's under investigation.

“Binders full of women” became a trending topic on Twitter and Facebook at last night’s presidential debate in Hempstead, NY. Mitt Romney uttered the phrase when he said that as governor of Massachusetts he requested files of women who could serve in his Cabinet.

Joanna Brooks countered with “The Mormon Girl's Guide to Equal Opportunity in the Workplace.”

Not much in the way of religion at last night’s debate, save Romney’s passing reference to belief in God.


Whoever wins the presidency, one thing is clear. This election has elevated Mormonism to a respectful place in the pantheon of U.S. religions.

Case in point? The Billy Graham Evangelistic Association removed language labeling Mormonism a “cult” from its website. True, the removal came only after a gay rights group reported that the “cult” reference remained online after Graham all but endorsed Romney.

But still.

A coalition of evangelicals is calling on fellow Christians to support access to contraception, saying it does not conflict with evangelical opposition to abortion.

A group of demonstrators in Marietta, Ohio held up placards with slogans such as “Bums on the Bus” when meeting a delegation of Roman Catholic nuns. The protesters focused their fire on the abortion issue, accusing the sisters of not being sufficiently anti-abortion.

Ron Sider, founder and president of Evangelicals for Social Action, and former spokesman for the National Association of Evangelicals, announced he plans to retire in June 2013.

The Smithsonian Channel has delayed the release of a documentary on the “Jesus Wife” papyrus while it waits further testing on the fragment. Skepticism over the fragment has been mounting.

Dinesh D’Souza, the conservative scholar and president of The King’s College in New York City is under investigation after he took a woman who is not his wife to an event on Christian values. D'Souza filed for divorce from his wife, Dixie D'Souza, a few days after the conference.


Court-ordered mediation between the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and victims of sexual abuse has failed, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

LifeWay Christian Resources will not sell the Glorieta Conference Center in Glorieta, N.M. to Olivet University. Olivet had to show that its theology was compatible with Southern Baptist-owned LifeWay. Bob Smietana of The Tennessean reports the school’s founder, the Rev. David Jang, did not pass muster.

If this Roundup is chockfull of bad religion news, here’s another: There’s a new movie out about hell.

Stick with us. Tomorrow is another day.

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