Hate crimes targeting people because of their religion were at their highest since 2001, according to a new report based on FBI data. President Obama will name Hannah Rosenthal as the State Depart.’s special anti-Semitism envoy.
The Texas mosque attended by accused killer Maj. Nidal M. Hasan has become the center of a media and FBI swarm. Federal authorities unsealed terrorism-related charges against eight Somali-American men.
A Pennsylvania Catholic Congressman defended fellow lawmaker Patrick Kennedy, D-R.I., saying “We don’t legislate at the orders of the Vatican.” Kennedy has angered the Bishop of Providence for supporting abortion rights and questioning the bishops’ involvement in health-care reform legislation. The Massachusetts Catholic Democrats vying for Kennedy’s father’s Senate seat say they disagree with the church on abortion and won’t let church leaders dictate their policy decisions.
Southern Baptist Convention President Johnny Hunt has prostate cancer. Billy Graham’s spokesman said the famed evangelist recently shared Scripture verses with Obama (Proverbs 3: 5-6). Another Southern Baptist minister said he’s stopped praying for Obama’s death … so the president can live long enough to be tried for treason.
A Jewish group wants Fla. Gov. Crist to reschedule the date of a special congressional election because it falls on the last day of Passover. A honcho in the Disciples of Christ is calling on church-members to support Texas Christian University’s undefeated football team. Go Horned Frogs!
Hindus in Nepal are preparing to slaughter 200,000 animals for a religious ritual. An Indian government panel implicated dozens of Hindu leaders, including a former prime minister, with sparking a deadly riot in 1992 by demolishing a mosque. Iran has shut down the country’s largest paper because it printed a travel ad picturing a Baha’i temple.
Germany has restored the 1936 high-jump record of a New York City woman who had been stripped of the mark because she is Jewish.
Photo is of the woman, Gretel Bergmann-Lambert.
