Tuesday’s Religion News Roundup: Romney as Moroni? Church as punishment? Rubio as creationist?

Some California editors make Romney an angel. The judge who sentenced a teen to church services defends himself. And Marco Rubio gets a pointed question on creationism and  . . . err . . .  ummm . . . well . . . 

The Orange County Weekly is taking heat for a cover cartoon its editors thought hilarious and obvious: Mitt Romney as Angel Moroni. Many Mormons are not amused.

The 113th Congress will count a Hindu, three Buddhists and a “none” among its increasingly more diverse and less Protestant membership, our own David Gibson reports.

The Hindu member, Tulsi Gabbard, will be sworn in using the Bhagavad Gita, the sacred Hindu text.


Ralph Reed warned Republicans against arranging themselves into a post Election Day circular firing squad, but some conservative Christians aren't shy about blaming GOP moderates.

Meanwhile, Sen. Marco Rubio, (R-Fla.), who many in the GOP see as the man to bridge the party's moderate-conservative divide, equivocated on a pointed creationism question.

A district judge in Oklahoma who sentenced a 17-year-old boy to 10 years of church attendance is standing by his decision.

That may not be constitutional, but the kid could at least be forced to read the Religion News Roundup for 10 years. You can too! Sign up below.

The Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers says the Vatican has dismissed Rev. Roy Bourgeois from the order. The peace activist was well known for his support of women's ordination.

Cardinal Dolan is worried about the “dictatorship of the self.”

Denied. A federal judge says no to those churches who sued Santa Monica to open a public space for private displays, including life-sized Nativity scenes.


An atheist group at the University of Wisconsin-Madison is expecting nearly $70,000 in student fees, believed to be the largest grant ever awarded to a secular student group. 

After two years of turmoil, the mosque in Murfreesboro celebrates its opening. 

Abortion rights rallies are proliferating around the world to protest the death of an Indian woman in Ireland, who died after she was denied an abortion.

Kenyan church leaders are protesting proposed laws that would allow cohabitating couples to register as married.

A Pakistani court has dropped the controversial blasphemy case against a Christian girl accused of defiling holy Muslim writings as evidence mounts that she was framed.

The city of Rome has unveiled a redesigned statue of Pope John Paul II. The first version was often compared to the likeness of Benito Mussolini.

Pope Benedict XVI's brand new book, published today, confirms the virgin birth as an “unequivocal truth of faith.”


– Lauren Markoe

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