The State Department released its annual report on international religious freedom and strongly condemned efforts by Muslim countries to bar defamation of religion. A new study says two-thirds of U.S. congregations have increased or continued donating at the same level, despite the economic recession. Three California Presbyterian churches are breaking with the PCUSA. America’s Orthodox Christians, estranged for centuries along ethnic lines, may be moving towards unification.
An Ohio federal court has temporarily barred the government from designating a Muslim charity a “specially designated global terrorist group,” and high school football fans in Georgia are “living their faith out loud” after the school district told cheerleaders to stop using Bible verses on banners. A new calendar called “Hot Mormon Muffins,” serves up a saucy take on Mormon family values. Calvin College says it’d like to study its ban on gay advocacy a little more.
The parents of a Minnesota teen who tried to refuse chemotherapy on religious grounds have asked a judge to back off, and the United Methodist Church has a Web site dealing with sexual misconduct. An Oscar-winning Hollywood director has split from Scientology offer its alleged “gay-bashing.”
A Paris court fined the Church of Scientology about $900,000 for fraud, but didn’t ban the group.
Last and certainly least, the Christmas (lawsuit) season has officially begun, as a Michigan man sued for the right to maintain a Nativity Scene on public space.
Ho. Ho. Ho.