An Episcopal parish in Baltimore is taking up the pope’s offer to cross the Tiber and become Catholics; looks like Catholic and Episcopal negotiators will wrestle over who can claim the property.
The Chicago Sun-Times says the furor over the “Ground Zero mosque” and the aborted Quran BBQ in Florida is prompting American Muslims to vote in large numbers during next week’s elections.
Delaware’s Christine O’Donnell sees God at work in her bid for a Delaware Senate seat: “I believe that prayer plays a direct role in this campaign,” she said. “I always ask people: ‘Please pray for the campaign. Please pray for our staff. Please pray, specifically, that the eyes of the voters be opened.'”
Actor/director Rob Reiner fears the Tea Party is looking for a Hitler: “My fear is that the Tea Party gets a charismatic leader. Because all they’re selling is fear and anger. And that’s all Hitler sold.” The ADL calls the comparison “offensive.” New Jersey lawmakers hope to pass the country’s toughest anti-bullying law after the suicide of a gay Rutgers University student.
Interesting story from Baptist circles: a former parishioner/blogger with an axe to grind won a $50,000 settlement against First Baptist of Jacksonville (Fla.) after a sheriff’s deputy who attends the church got a subpoena to unmask the blogger’s identity. The sheriff’s department will also have to revisit its conflict-of-interest policy for employees.
CNN asks whether meditation can help change your brain (some days I wish I had a newer model myself). NPR CEO Vivian Schiller is standing by her decision to sack news analyst Juan Williams for saying he’s uncomfortable around Muslims on airplanes, but says she handled it all wrong.
Scottish Cardinal Keith O’Brien wants an investigation into whether Libyan Abdelbaset al-Megrahi (released last year to much international agita) was wrongfully convicted for the 1988 PanAm 103 bombing over Lockerbie.
Hundreds of gay couples plan to greet B16 in Barcelona next month with a massive kiss-in, and Catholics in Switzerland are handing out condoms. Chicago’s Cardinal Francis George has been tapped by B16 to help oversee management of the Vatican.
Jews are none too happy after an Eastern Rite Catholic bishop from Massachusetts said Jews have no “exclusive right” to a home in Israel. Over in Bethlehem, Palestinian officials announced a major rehab of the Church of the Nativity, and Mormons broke ground on Italy’s first temple, in the Vatican’s back yard (pic at top left).
Afghan officials closed 17 Internet cafes in Kabul after customers ordered up a side of porn with their coffee. WaPo examines the rise of the anti-Muslim extreme right in decidedly secular Sweden.
