Monday’s Religion News Roundup

As Japan tries to plug its leaking nuclear reactor, some Japanese have a different dilemma. The death toll from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami – tallied at 10,800 and climbing – exceeds the capacity of crematoriums in the hard-hit coastal regions, where burials are substituting for Buddhist-rooted cremation rituals. Moving from one crisis to […]

As Japan tries to plug its leaking nuclear reactor, some Japanese have a different dilemma. The death toll from the March 11 earthquake and tsunami – tallied at 10,800 and climbing – exceeds the capacity of crematoriums in the hard-hit coastal regions, where burials are substituting for Buddhist-rooted cremation rituals.

Moving from one crisis to another, the U.S. Catholic Bishops issued a reminder of Just War criteria as the Libyan bombing campaign continues. The bishops did not say whether the anti-Ghaddaffi strikes meet the criteria.

Pope Benedict XVI called for all sides to suspend the use of arms and pursue peaceful dialogue.


The U.S. Army has started training chaplains on the repeal of the ban on openly gay military members, saying those who are unable to follow the forthcoming policy can seek a voluntary departure.

The U.S. Catholic Bishops urged the Department of Housing and Urban Development not to add sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of protected categories for which discrimination in HUD programs is prohibited.

In one of the biggest sex-abuse settlements to date, the Jesuits’ Pacific Northwest chapter has agreed to pay $166 million to settle more than 500 child sexual abuse claims against priests in five states.

The judge overseeing the Philadelphia sex abuse case granted the prosecution’s request to skip a preliminary hearing, and engaged in a shouting match with defense lawyers. “Well, snapdoodle!” Judge Renee Cardwell Hughes said during one exchange – a cri de coeur if I’ve ever heard one.

The Philadelphia case has the U.S. bishops scrambling to defend the credibility of their sex abuse safeguards, reports the NYT. Philly mothers are asking fellow Catholics to mail Cardinal Justin Rigali pictures of their children and pressure the archdiocese to solicit lay voices to clean up the sex abuse mess. The head of Maine’s Catholic diocese has set aside Tuesday as a day of penance and prayer to help heal the wounds of clergy sexual abuse.

Dozens of Muslims are complaining about inappropriate questions and treatment at border checkpoints in Michigan, according to the Detroit News. CNN traveled to the heart of Muslim America, Dearborn, Mich., and found a community growing more defensive as their faith becomes a political football.


Former prez Jimmy Carter is scheduled to meet with Jewish leaders shortly after arriving in Cuba Monday.

Rob Bell’s book about hell is stirring the pot in Christian churches nationwide, the AP reports.

Pope Benedict addressed the Vatican-atheist dialogue in France by video, urging participants to “tear down the barriers of fear of the other.”

Speaking of atheists, Woody Allen, who once said that if God exists then He’s an “underachiever,” played a concert to raise money for a Catholic hospital in Italy. Christopher Hitchens, another atheist, is trying a cancer treatment devised by his friend, Dr. Francis Collins, a geneticist and ardent evangelical.

“He agrees that his medical experience does not include anything that could be described as a miracle cure,” Hitchens told The Telegraph.

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