KFC restaurant sign. Image courtesy of Radu Bercan via Shutterstock
Today’s roundup includes Muslims, Jews, Mormons and evangelical Christians. Still, it’s very Catholic heavy and the Catholic news is not good. This is not on purpose. It’s just what spun out of the news machine. Tomorrow, another group will have more than its share of terrible news and Pope Francis will do something utterly saintly and charming.
Just don’t eat the wet wipes
Colonel Sanders should leave Islamic law to the imams.
A UK Kentucky Fried Chicken experimenting with a halal chicken option decided that the wet wipes the chain offers to chicken-eating, greasy-fingered customers do not comport with Islamic law. The wet wipes contain alcohol. Ergo, they would be offensive to Muslims. Except observant Muslims are not offended by alcohol-soaked wet wipes. They just want to wipe their fingers. Ergo, the wet wipes are back.
Vatican puts Bishop Finn under investigation
The Vatican has sent a Canadian archbishop to Kansas City to investigate Bishop Robert Finn, the first Catholic prelate to be found criminally guilty of shielding a priest in the ongoing clergy sexual abuse crisis. The National Catholic Reporter spoke to several of the more than a dozen people interviewed by Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast. They said the archbishop wanted to know if the bishop was still fit to serve.
Father Jeykll and Mr. Hyde
The prosecution said the Pennsylvania priest took missionary trips to Honduras to have sex with children. The character witnesses described Rev. Joseph Maurizio Jr. as “priestly, faithful and committed to helping.” What’s a judge to do? Keep him in jail until trial. Said U.S. Magistrate Judge Keith Pesto: you can’t let “Jekyll go free and detain Mr. Hyde.”
Affair + British tabloid = Catholic bishop’s resignation
Bishop Kieran Conry of Arundel and Brighton said he feels relieved now that his affair with a woman is out in the open. He announced his resignation a day before the The Mail published an expose. Not sure he’s feeling so great about tendering his resignation to Pope Francis, though. Conry is also accused of a second affair – with a married mother of two.
The Guardian’s Andrew Brown suggests that L’Affaire Conry has exposed a British Catholic civil war much like the one fought in America. Civil war? I thought the Brits were not as prone to hyperbole as we Yanks.
James Foley photo removed from anti-Islam bus ads in NYC
Those anti-Islam bus ads sponsored by Pam Geller, Queen of Islamophobia, are still offensive to almost everyone who respects religious pluralism. But at least they don’t use beheaded journalist James Foley to make their point anymore. Geller’s group, the American Freedom Defense Initiative, removed the photo from the ads at the request of Foley family members, who said it would cause them “profound distress.”
The Supreme Court considers ruling on gay marriage
We had this summer’s ruling on Prop. 8 and DOMA, but the court Monday discussed taking on a potentially grander question: do gay couples have the right to marry, period? The state of the nation today: 19 states allow it. 31 don’t. And five of those 31 bans (Utah, Oklahoma, Virginia, Wisconsin and Indiana) are pending before the nation’s highest court. The justices could agree to consider any or all of those cases and could let us know what they’ll put on the docket as early as later this week. For more, here’s a concise rundown from Reuters.
Not invited
David Gibson explains why two Republicans considered among those most likely to win the Republican presidential nomination were not invited to one of the most important national showcases for conservative aspirants to the highest office. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush have just “not won the hearts of social conservatives.”
You heard it here first: it’s called the “Museum of the Bible”
Exterior rendering of the Museum of the Bible, located three blocks from the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. The eight-story, 430,000-square-foot museum is being designed by a team of consultants, including lead architect group Smith Group JJR. Photo courtesy of Smith Group JJR
*Eds: This photo is embargoed until Tuesday Sept. 30 at 6:00 am
That $800 million museum project just four blocks from the Capitol? It’s now got a name. Very simply: “Museum of The Bible.” Hobby Lobby billionaire Steve Green says he would rather be known for this collection of biblical artifacts, slated to open in 2017, than for the case on contraception he won at the Supreme Court this summer. Our own Cathy Lynn Grossman has the story.
Mormons heed women’s protests
Mormon feminists want for more for themselves in the church than to be called “blessed disciples of Christ.” But at the church’s 184th Semiannual General Conference, some subtle changes in language indicate that the men in charge are not deaf to calls for change.
Bonus Tracks
Myanmar’s plan to offer the beleaguered Rohingya Muslims citizenship comes with a big catch.
Roving Rabbis: NPR looks at the young rabbinical students roaming rural America to reconnect Jews to their faith.
The sister of the recent convert to Islam who beheaded his former co-worker says “Only God knows why what happened took place.”
– Lauren Markoe
The roundup is yours — free and spamless — each weekday, just for signing up below.
