Everybody’s talking about it.
A large gathering filled with faithful devotees. Emotion spilleth over. A well-coiffed bigwig poised for greater things accepts the audience’s adulation and exhorts them to keep the faith, though the slings and arrows of outrageous atheism ping against their spiritual breastplates.
Jesus, and family values, will save this wretched nation, saith the One, the only … Justin Bieber.
What? You thought? Oh yeah, Texas Gov. Rick Perry held some kind of prayer rally, too. I bet more peoples watched the Teen Choice Awards, though.
Not to be outdone, Michele Bachmann announced an endorsement from 100 Christian pastors in Iowa.
Catholic hospitals are dismayed that President Obama’s health care law may force them to cover birth control free of charge to their employees.
The U.S. Army agreed to hold a “Rock Beyond Belief” concert for atheists at Fort Bragg.
The NYT reports that weekly Mass at the Church of Christ the King in Libya is a “rare sanctuary: a place to speak freely with residents.” Interesting that the reporter uses “sanctuary” to mean “a place my sources will actually talk to me.”
China is trying to raise the profile of its hand-picked Panchen Lama, despite opposition from Tibetans, who prefer the Panchen picked by the Dalai Lama in 1995 and who was subsequently placed under house arrest in China.
The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum is trying to find the people in extraordinary photos of survivors immediately after the Shoah.
Former Philippine Imelda Marcos joined Roman Catholic leaders in denouncing an art installation that combines religious symbols with phallic objects. Spaniards excited about Pope Benedict XVI’s upcoming World Youth Day visit have made special “celebratory” toilet paper.
Beards are ID badges in lots of religious communities, the NYT reports. (Lo, the slow news days of August.) Buddhist Geeks met in Los Angeles.
Yr hmbl aggregator,
Daniel Burke