CNN says some (semi) high-profile evangelicals are under fire for their participation in tomorrow’s “Restore Honor” rally hosted by Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin in DC; some Christians are nervous about Beck’s Mormon faith, even though they worked with Mormons to outlaw gay marriage in California.
Conservatives are happy, though, that the FCC will appeal a federal judge’s ruling that struck down its policy against “fleeting expletives” on TV.
The NYT profiles the developer of the Park51 Islamic center and finds that he “has yet to secure financing, hire an architect, incorporate the nonprofit entity that will run the center, start its fund-raising, recruit its board members, or present formal feasibility studies and business plans to community meetings.”
WaPo looks into the widespread hostility directed at U.S. Muslims during the holy month of Ramadan. The Muslim cab driver who was stabbed by a drunken 21-year-old met with NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg as Hizzoner tries to calm tensions in Gotham. Muslim leaders say they’re concerned about growing “anti-Muslim hysteria.”
Conservatives — and not a lot of others — are pushing back against a proposed bill that wouldn’t let them hire and fire based on religion if they receive government grants. An “Episcopal” school that’s really conservative Anglican in Fort Worth, Texas, has denied admission to a 4-year-old because she has two mommies. The strippers are back outside an Ohio church whose members picketed the ladies’ strip club.
The U.S. ambassador to Malta, Doug Kmiec — a Catholic Republican who endorsed President Obama — is said to be in stable condition following a car wreck in California that killed an elderly nun and injured a priest. Speaking of stable condition, a new study says doctors with deep religious beliefs are more likely to take steps to keep you alive, while those who aren’t religious are more willing to pull the plug.
Pope Benedict XVI praised Mother Teresa on her 100th birthday as an “exemplary model of Christian virtue.” In New York last night, a few hundred outraged Catholics rallied outside the Empire State Building to vent their anger that building managers wouldn’t light the iconic spire in Mother T’s blue and white (it was red, white and blue to celebrate the anniversary of women’s suffrage).
The 33 trapped miners in Chile have asked for statues of saints and a crucifix to create a shrine in their underground encampment. Egyptian Muslims are steaming (almost literally) about consecutive powers failures at the height of Ramadan. A South African pastor angered his flock for saying “Jesus had HIV” (he was trying to take away the HIV stigma, he says). A Saudi cleric was told to stop issuing fatwas after a recent edict told Muslims to stay away from supermarkets with female cashiers.
