Wednesday’s Religion News Roundup

Muslims across the globe are celebrating Eid al-Fitr, the three-day feast that concludes Ramadan. For many, the Arab Spring adds new emotions to the holiday. In Yemen, Libya and Egypt – where they are dropping “Mubarak” from the customary salutation “Eid Mubarak” (a blessed Eid) – joy and optimism run high. In Syria and Pakistan, […]

Muslims across the globe are celebrating Eid al-Fitr, the three-day feast that concludes Ramadan. For many, the Arab Spring adds new emotions to the holiday.

In Yemen, Libya and Egypt – where they are dropping “Mubarak” from the customary salutation “Eid Mubarak” (a blessed Eid) – joy and optimism run high. In Syria and Pakistan, not so much.

A scuffle broke out at Playland, an amusement park in New York, when Muslims celebrating the end of Ramadan were told that women could not wear their head coverings on certain rides.


Nearly half of American Muslims fault their leaders for not speaking out against Islamic extremists, but the vast majority are far more satisfied than Americans overall with the way things are going in this country, according to a Pew study.

The AP pulls a different thread from the survey and reports that more than half say government anti-terrorism policies single them out for increased surveillance and monitoring. The other half are wrong, according to an AP investigation that found the CIA and NYPD maintained a list of “ancestries of interest” and dispatched undercover officers to monitor Muslim businesses and social groups.

President Obama will end the Sept. 11 anniversary weekend by speaking that Sunday evening at the National Cathedral.

A group of prominent American Muslims, including two congressmen, issued a letter urging Hamas to immediately release captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

GOP presidential candidate Michele Bachmann reportedly talked about her faith and support for Israel with a group of Orthodox Jewish leaders in New York. Bachmann’s run for the White House is putting the conservative Christian view of spousal submission in the spotlight, reports The Tennessean.

Two Tibetan monks were jailed for 13 and 10 years by a Chinese court for “intentional homicide” for helping a fellow monk set himself on fire, state media reported.


Some 300 Austrian priests are in open rebellion with the Catholic Church over women’s ordination and other liberalizing reforms.

Atheists in Ohio were blamed for a billboard that declares “There is no God,” until a pastor stepped forward to take the credit/blame. “It’s the kind of sign designed to make you think,” said pastor Frank Moore.

These kinds of mix ups wouldn’t happen if we followed a Florida pastor’s proposal to make a national registry of atheists, just as we have for convicted sex offenders and ex-felons. In his free time, Pastor Mike Stahl enjoys long walks on the beach and reading the Constitution.

Texas will permit long-term prisoners to earn a four-year degree in biblical studies from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.

Yr hmbl aggregator,

Daniel Burke

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