All eyes this morning are on the Supreme Court, where Pastor Fred “God Hates Fags” Phelps defended his rights to trot out his obnoxious signage at military funerals. BU’s Stephen Prothero, who once declined to testify on Phelps’ behalf, now thinks he should win (and most people say he probably will). The AP says Phelps’ daughter and lawyer is a “study in contradictions.”

Southern Baptist Seminary head Al Mohler says a recent string of gay teenage suicides needs to prompt a bit of soul-searching among evangelicals. NPR looks at questions about homosexuality in the black church raised by the Eddie Long scandal down in Hotlanta.

There’s a minor kerfuffle in New Jersey after a leading Jewish newspaper printed a gay engagement announcement — and then said they wouldn’t publish any more after Orthodox rabbis complained.

Across the river in Philadelphia, a cease-fire has been called in the war over church bells; city officials are expected to pass a bill tomorrow that exempts churches and schools from city noise ordinances.

A Catholic priest in Minnesota is taking on the state’s bishops over a DVD sent to 400,000 Catholics in the state; the real threat to marriage is not gays (as claimed in the DVD), the pastor said, but poverty. Minneapolis-St. Paul Archbishop John Nienstedt denied Communion to a gay rights group.

Jesus has appeared on a Cheeto, a grilled cheese sandwich, window panes and now, apparently, an MRI.

Dutch Islamophobe Geert Wilders‘ anti-Islam film was shown in court today as the politician’s hate trial resumed. Two Christian men who were on trial in Algeria for eating during the Ramadan fast were acquitted.

From the category of Idiots Doing Dumb Things With Sacred Texts:

— A French man who set a Quran on fire and, in an act of selfless bravery, urinated on it to extinguish the flames is facing charges of inciting religious hatred.

— Jewish settlers in the West Bank delivered a pile of Qurans to replace the ones lost in an attack by militant Jewish settlers.

— Muslims in southern Malawi burned copies of the Bible distributed by the Gideons.

And finally this, because it’s never too early to start your Christmas shopping: Catholics in Germany, the nation that gave us the original Father Christmas, are launching “Santa Clause-free zones” in a bid to replace Kris Kringle with the original gift-giver, St. Nicholas. Oh Santa, we hardly knew ye …