A Muslim member of President Obama’s faith advisory council says she was misled into appearing on an anti-Semitic talk show, and the U.S. Army will make an exception to its rules and allow a Sikh doctor to serve without cutting his hair and removing his turban. The Catholic bishop of Rhode Island called for Rep. Patrick Kennedy to apologize after the congressman called Catholic bishops’ concerns about abortion in health care reform legislation a “red herring.”
A Florida judge has ordered that a teenage runaway who converted to Christianity be returned to her Muslim parents. A Wiccan sued for discrimination after her former manager said “I will be damned if I have a devil-worshipper on my team,” and Yale University students protested the campus appearance of a Dutch cartoonist who drew the Prophet Mohammad with a bomb in his turban. The polygamist FLDS trial starts today in Texas.
A Methodist congregation in Philly separated by racism 200 years ago reunited for Sunday services, a Catholic bishop said new translations of the Mass are “slavishly literal,” and police arrested a janitor in the brutal slaying of a Catholic priest in New Jersey.
The Diocese of South Carolina distanced itself from the Episcopal Church, six centrist bishops met with the Archbishop of Canterbury, and the Episcopal Church is suing the Church of South India over missing relief aid funds. The United Methodist Church’s high court will decide this week whether regional church groups can withhold donations from particular church programs and how to refer to homosexuality.
Under pressure from China, India called the Dalai Lama an “honored guest,” and a Tibetan exile group says China has executed four Tibetans for their role in last year’s riots. The Vatican is meeting with SSPX ultraconservatives and JPII’s bodyguard died. Conservative Anglicans are pushing for change in their church rather than converting to Catholicism and a treasure trove of rare coins collected by a former archbishop of Canterbury have been found in the bottom of a river.
Israeli police are clashing with Palestinians at the Temple Mount/Noble Sanctuary and the Jewish day of rest has become exhausting for Jews after rabbis said they can’t use “Sabbath” elevators. Malaysian women are upset about Muslims’ plans to open a polygamy club.