President Obama spoke at the National Prayer Breakfast this morning, ignoring the demonstrators outside who argue that sponsors/supporters of the annual event also support anti-gay laws in Uganda. Mark Silk says a Democrat in the White House tends to prompt a desire for more religion in public life (and less with a Republican POTUS).
A judge in Philly gave a set of faith-healing parents 10 years probation in the death of their 2-year-old son, and ordered them to seek continued medical care for their remaining children until they reach adulthood. An Ohio judge who wanted to compare the 10 Commandments with the tenets of humanism was told no by an appeals court.
Mitt Romney says he’s not sure if his Mormon faith will be a stumbling block (again) for voters if he runs in 2012. It may be a factor in Iowa, where WaPo says the state’s Tea Party activists take on a more religious flavor and in a potential “Mormon primary” with former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman. Mike Huckabee talked about Jesus — from the Garden of Gethsemane.
The Vatican is preparing guidelines for the care of HIV and AIDS, but it’s unclear how much the new statement will touch on the delicate question of using condoms to stem the spread of the disease.
As Cairo remains tense, Reuters says using Islamic-yet-secular Turkey as a model for Arab nations only goes so far. BU’s Stephen Prothero says Cairo 2011 is not Tehran 1979. The U.S. is taking a second look at Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood.
A Somali man was convicted of attempted terrorism for trying to kill the Danish cartoonist behind the Muhammad cartoons. A German state banned burqas for government workers.
Human Rights Watch is lobbying for the release of a Pakistani teenager who allegedly ran afoul of the country’s controversial blasphemy law; it’s still unclear exactly what the teen said or did because to repeat it is, apparently, blasphemous.
British officials are defending $3 million that was supposed to go to foreign aid but instead helped pay for B16‘s visit last September. Lawmakers in Kyrgyzstan are divided over whether a proposal to set aside time for Friday prayers and build a prayer hall in the nation’s capital runs afoul of the country’s Constitution.