Friday’s Religion News Roundup: Judaism on Sandy. Islamophobia in Michigan. Catholic bishops for Romney.

Still reckoning with Sandy, a lower murder rate counts as good news. Not a new lottery: the Romney Mega Prayer. Ever want to know what an "intrinsic evil" is? You may be surprised.

It is All Souls Day, and the New York area is still reckoning with the destruction wrought by Sandy.

Insight from the quotable New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg: “Let me also point out, I don't think we've had a murder in two or three days. That's some good news.”

We'll take it.


Moshe Sokolow gives the Jewish view of hurricanes. And Rabbi Arthur Waskow says the biblical destruction spawned by Sandy is sending a clear message about climate change.

A different message: Anti-Islamic campaign ads are a last-ditch tactic in Michigan’s 11th congressional district race.

Liberal Mormons? Not an oxymoron, not unicorns.

Then there’s the Romney Mega Prayer by evangelicals (actual image, above). Patrol’s Jonathan Fitzgerald is on the case.

A number of Catholic bishops are making their own 11th hour appeals to voters, and Mitt Romney appears to be the intended beneficiary.

Ever wonder what Catholic conservatives are talking about when they cite “intrinsic evil” as an argument for voting a certain way? Theologian David Cloutier explains it all  – and doesn’t tell you how to vote.

Meanwhile, a leading Catholic theologian from Britain has been disinvited from a visiting fellowship at the University of San Diego, apparently because financial backers don’t like her stance on allowing civil marriage for gays.

“It's not about me; it's about some change in the culture of the Catholic Church that we should be very, very concerned about,” theologian Tina Beattie tells NCR.

And this: a U.S. District Court judge in Michigan says a Catholic-owned family business does not have to comply with the new federal contraception mandate, at least for now.


A Hawaii Democrat could be the first Hindu in Congress.

Is religious faith a requirement to play pro football?

A judge says a former computer specialist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory was not fired because he advocated his belief in intelligent design while at work.

The Force is with George Lucas: the creator of the “Star Wars” movies will donate much of the $4 billion (that’s with a “b”) from his expected Disney deal resuscitating the franchise.

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David Gibson

 

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