Was the California couple killed by Somali pirates on Tuesday motivated by a love of sailing, or missionaries fired by faith? No reason Jean and Scott Adam couldn’t be both, I guess, but it’s interesting to see how differently the AP and LA Times treat the deceased couple’s beliefs in these two stories.
The AP has written several other more faith-centric articles about the Adams, though.
Speaking of carrying the flame, the Dalai Lama’s extended family says they will complete the walk begun by Jigme Norbu, who was killed in Florida last week while marching for Tibet.
Shiites in the Middle East, a persecuted minority in some countries, are taking a very close look at what’s happening in Bahrain, Reuters reports. A Coptic Christian priest was killed in Egypt, triggering demonstrations by several thousand Christians, according to the AP.
The ACLU and CAIR are suing the FBI, saying the G-men violated the constitutional rights of Muslims when they infiltrated and surveilled a California mosque. An Oklahoma police department has reassigned a police captain who refused to instruct his officers to attend a Law Enforcement Appreciation Day sponsored by a local mosque. So, one mosque can’t keep the cops out; another can’t get them in.
A Catholic legal group is suing Dearborn, Mich., over the arrest of Christian missionaries at an Arab cultural festival.
A federal judge tossed out a lawsuit filed by Christians who said the new health care law’s requirement that all Americans have insurance violates their religious freedom.The Supreme Court passed on a chance to take another look at courthouse Ten Commandment displays.
Left-leaning religious groups are raising the specter of malnourished infants, cold homes, and disease-stricken communities in the ongoing battle over President Obama’s proposed 2012 budget. Other religious groups are lobbying to keep the charitable deduction rate at 35 percent. Obama wants to lower it to 28 percent in order to cut away at the national debt.
Oregon lawmakers are considering a bill that would remove special legal protection for parents who rely on faith healing rather than medicine when their children take ill.
The NYT profiles a Quaker who is one of the few graduates of the nation’s military academies to be granted conscientious objector status in recent years. One enlightened Navy commander likened the Quakers to Jim Jones’ doomsday cult. The LAT examines the tangled legacy of the city’s departing archbishop, Cardinal Roger Mahony.
A prominent seminary professor is calling for N.Y. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to be denied Communion because he’s shacking up with his girlfriend. A Catholic priest has apologized for celebrating a Mass in California with a Presbyterian minister. The Rev. Agustin Escobar has been suspended.
A charismatic Zen Buddhist leader stepped down as head of a Salt Lake City temple (the technical term is “disrobed” but that seems too cheeky in this context) after admitting to an affair with one of his disciples.
A former Planned Parenthood clinic director has converted to Catholicism and written a book about it. LifeWay Christians stores plans to drop the warning label on books regarded as inconsistent with evangelical theology.
