The pope’s BFF * Hawaiian marriages * atheist megachurches: Monday’s religion news roundup

The pope has a new BFF. Hawaii is the newest state to approve gay marriage. Atheist churches are taking a foothold.

Indiana Gov. Mike Pence is expected to sign a bill that allows business owners to refuse same-sex wedding clients who want to buy goods such as this cake topper.

A typhoon has killed thousands in the Philippines, after which religious leaders like Pope Francis led prayers as relief agencies like World Vision are sending supplies.

Gay wedding

Gay wedding

Speaking of the pope, get out your tissues–again. Over the weekend, Pope Francis welcomed hundreds with disabilities in wheelchairs.


Even with all the publicity the pope has received, some conservative Catholics are feeling less welcome. Plus, there’s the pope’s new BFF: Boston Cardinal Séan O’Malley.

Hawaii is the latest state to approve gay marriage. Emboldened, gay marriage activists are eyeing all 50 states. Openly gay Episcopal bishop Gene Robinson is “astounded” by all the progress.

Two-thirds of Jews surveyed in a European Union study believe that anti-Semitism is “a problem” and three-quarters said they believed that anti-Jewish attitudes had risen in recent years.

The Vatican said that use of the new “.catholic” Internet domain will be limited to official organizations, and that individual Catholics or bloggers won’t be allowed to use it.

With all the buzz surrounding Billy Graham’s 95th birthday, is it time to give his brand a rest, the WSJ asks.

Conan O’Brien’s joke about the new Marvel superhero who is a Muslim woman didn’t go over so well with some people.

Gun violence in PG-13 movies has more than tripled since 1985, and has exceeded the amount in R-rated movies, a new analysis finds.


An atheist student leader is permitted at Northwest Christian University in Oregon, school leaders say.

Newly elected New York mayor Bill De Blasio says he’s not an atheist–he’s a none. Looks like he’s not planning to attend one of the atheist megachurches that are taking root in the U.S.

The Mormon church is poised to become the largest private landowner in Florida. In other LDS Church news, there’s a struggle within Mormon literary circles to break out of genre fiction.

The United Nations says a massive campaign to vaccinate children in the Middle East against polio has begun.

Buddhist men who stabbed a paralyzed 94-year-old Muslim woman is a stark symbol of the breadth of anti-Muslim feelings in a Buddhist-majority country.

When poet Joy Katz’s mother died eight years ago, she stopped reading poetry. Can poetry comfort the grieving, she asks in Poetry magazine.

Meanwhile, follow #USCCB13 for the U.S. Catholic bishops conference in Baltimore, where our own David Gibson will be this week or watch the livestream of public sessions.


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