Mark your calendars folks, SCOTUS said it will hear an appeal this fall from the father of a Marine killed in Iraq to reinstate a $5 million verdict against Westboro Baptist Church, which picketed the funeral with signs like “Thank God for dead soldiers.” I can almost see the media circus now, as you can bet that Fred Phelps and his brood will be in out in force when the court hears oral arguments. In an unrelated story, WaPo wonders if President Obama must replace Stevens, when the time comes, with a fellow Protestant, or whether a justice’s religion even matters anymore.
Obama marked the 45th anniversary of Bloody Sunday on March 7 by praising “these heroes” who endured the beatings of Alabama state troopers as they marched for civil rights. Georgia Congressman John Lewis (AP pic at top left) and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, ex-wife of former South African President Nelson Mandela, where among those in Selma to honor the occasion. By the way, is that kid in front of Lewis playing a video game?
The New York Times tracked down a few former Scientologists, who said members “were repeatedly beaten by the church’s chairman, David Miscavige, often during planning meetings; pressured to have abortions; forced to work without sleep on little pay; and held incommunicado if they wanted to leave.” The church says the defectors are lying.
A Detroit man has been accused of trading on the Winans’ good name among black churches to allegedly swindle folks out of $11 million. Virginia’s attorney general says state colleges don’t have the power to ban anti-gay discrimination.
An American member of Al-Qaida was arrested in Pakistan, but officials don’t think its the group’s American-born spokesman, who called for American Muslims to attack transportation systems on Sunday, and was profiled in the New Yorker this week.
Orthodox Jews in the Northeast can’t see their eruvs for all the snow this winter. A Jewish medical supplies salesman from Long Island has become a papal knight and is defending the reputation of Pope Pius XII against charges that he didn’t do enough to stop the Holocaust.
Sec. of State Clinton said the Iraq vote on Sunday was a “rebuke to the violent extremists,” who have marred previous elections. Still, more than 30 people died.
The dominoes on the Catholic sex abuse scandal in Europe continue to fall: Pope Benedict XVI’s brother said he is willing testify, but knows nothing about abuse in the choir he once led; A leading Catholic bishop in the Netherlands has called for an independent investigation after 200 allegations of abuse surfaced last week.
China says the missing Panchen Lama, the No. 2 spiritual figure in Tibetan Buddhism, is in Tibet. He had been missing since 1995. Heavily armed troops are the new normal in Tibet, says the AP. More than 200 people died in clashes between Muslims and Christians in Nigeria, less than two months after 300 were killed in similiar violence. An Irish bishop said he was embarrassed to kiss the pope’s ring, calling it “out of touch with modern thinking.”
