Pope Benedict XVI en route to Cyprus, said he was saddened by the murder of a Catholic bishop in Turkey, but that it was “not a political assassination” and that “we must not give responsibility to Turkey or the Turks.” Bishop Luigi Padovese was killed by his driver, who appears to be mentally ill, Turkish officials told the AP.
The Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church strongly pushed back against proposals from the Archbishop of Canterbury to sideline her church in the Anglican Communion.
A bill to extend the statute of limitations on lawsuits related to child sex crimes died in New York’s State Senate for the fourth time in four years. California and Delaware are the only states to have adopted such legislation. Not coincidentally, Catholic dioceses in those states later paid huge settlements with clergy sex abuse victims, and two dioceses went bankrupt. The Belgian Catholic Church is struggling to regain trust, as a commission investigates child abuse allegations.
The Justice Department says a Texas man plotted with Anwar Al-Awlaki, a Yemeni-American cleric tied to the Fort Hood shooting. And a Muslim store in the D.C. suburbs is getting heat for selling CDs of Awlaki’s sermons.
Civil rights groups are asking the Bureau of Prisons to loosen restrictions on units that house a disproportionate number of Muslim inmates. Michigan police are letting Muslim prisoners wear hijabs and other head coverings, and a Muslim woman will be allowed to wear her headscarf in her driver’s license photo. American Muslims are asking President Obama to make good on his promise to make it easier for them to give to charity, a religious duty.
Former Catholic University President David O’Connell was named the new bishop of Trenton, N.J.
The Armenian Church is suing California’s Getty Museum, demanding the return of seven pages ripped from a sacred Bible that dates to 1256.
A California appellate court invalidated an agreement between local officials and Jehovah’s Witnesses who refuse blood transfusions. A North Carolina man still has to pay child support, even though he joined a religious commune that prohibits members from earning income, a North Carolina court ruled.
A Utah court denied the establishment clause claim brought by Summum; last year, the Supreme Court rejected their freedom of expression claim after a local park refused to mount a statue dedicated to their Seven Aphorisms. Connecticut school officials will not challenge a judge’s ruling that barred them from holding graduation ceremonies in a church.
A million Brazilian evangelicals marched for Jesus (AP photo at top left). More than 100 Virginia religious leaders pressed the Senate to take up climate and energy legislation. Yet another committee in the United Methodist Church is calling for reconsideration of clergy job guarantees. Seminary costs are keeping good candidates from the pulpit, a UMC bishop says.
Comedy Central is getting more flack for its plans to broadcast “JC”. Lapsed Catholic and Daily Show correspondent Samantha Bee says she had a crush on Jesus. Fred Phelps’ daughter, she of the Westboro Baptist clan, has made a parody of Lady Gaga dedicated to — what else? — denouncing gays.
