Wednesday’s Religion News Roundup

Evangelist Franklin Graham is backtracking on his Obama-birther nonsense, saying “I’ve never made this an issue, never have.” Until he did. The White House, meanwhile, released Obama’s “long form” Hawaiian birth certificate (left). Former Speaker Newt Gingrich headlined this morning’s National Catholic Prayer Breakfast (look for Dan Burke’s report later today), and explains his conversion […]

Evangelist Franklin Graham is backtracking on his Obama-birther nonsense, saying “I’ve never made this an issue, never have.” Until he did. The White House, meanwhile, released Obama’s “long form” Hawaiian birth certificate (left).

Former Speaker Newt Gingrich headlined this morning’s National Catholic Prayer Breakfast (look for Dan Burke’s report later today), and explains his conversion to Catholicism in a piece for the National Catholic Register. Fellow Catholic Rick Santorum says he’s praying for his enemies.

The family of a Texas 8-year-old with cerebral palsy is crying “discrimination” after the boy was denied his First Communion because the priest said the boy had “the mental capacity of a 6-month old.” Ouch.


Atheists are pushing the Pentagon to name non-believing chaplains. A bus driver near Austin, Texas, will get $21,000 in a settlement after he was fired for refusing to ferry two women to a Planned Parenthood clinic.

Conservatives are complaining that POTUS gave Easter short shrift, but perhaps they didn’t see that fancy Easter prayer breakfast he held last week.

San Francisco voters could soon be asked whether to ban infant circumcision after supporters of a ban submitted signatures to City Hall.

Question for supporters of California’s Prop 8: If federal judge Vaughn Walker can’t rule on gay marriages because he’s gay, does that mean straight judges can’t rule on straight marriages, either? Just asking. Texas lawmakers, meanwhile, want to keep transgender people from walking down the aisle.

Sikh men wielding swords and cricket bats went after each other in a nasty turf battle at a Queens temple on Sunday. Video here.

An expert on Christian pop music credits Lady Gaga with reintroducing spirituality to mainstream audiences. Religion Dispatches’ Gary Laderman asks whether Quran-burning pastor Terry Jones represents the “Death Rattle of the White Male Protestant.”


As Capitol Hill Republicans aim to slash government spending, USA Today says a record one in five Americans depends on Uncle Sam’s safety net. Religious activists, meanwhile, are launching a “circle of protection” around the poor.

Ahead of JP2‘s beatification on Sunday, there are others besides the French nun allegedly cured of Parkinson’s who are giving JP2 credit for a miraculous cure, including an Illinois woman who says she was cured of eyelid spasms. Papal biographer George Weigel worries about putting JP2 on a pedestal.

A British tribunal told a Catholic agency it can’t deny adoptions to same-sex families. An outspoken retired Catholic bishop in Australia says he’s met too many abusive priests who think molesting boys didn’t violate their vows of celibacy because it didn’t involve a woman.

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