Monday’s Religion News Roundup: Olympic firsts; Romney in Israel; LCWR meeting

A series of Olympic firsts for Muslim women. Mitt Romney goes to Israel. American nuns prepare to confront the Vatican. 

Everyone get their Olympics fix this weekend?

You may have noticed a series of Muslim Olympic firsts, including the first female athletes from Saudi Arabia, Brunei and Qatar. 

After his Olympian gaffe in London, Mitt Romney found a warmer audience in Israel. He visited the Western Wall, met with PM Netanyahu, raised $1 million bucks, took a hard line on Iran and said he'd move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem.  Palestinians did not like that suggestion. 


All of this was done, of course, with an eye on American Jewish voters. But will it have any effect

Mormon leaders preach that voting is a righteous obligation — and a new study suggests they practice what they preach. 

American nuns will assemble in St. Louis next week*, where the Leadership Conference of Women Religious will decide how to respond to the Vatican's crackdown on their group.

National Catholic Reporter's Tom Roberts talked to NPR this weekend about why Americans are losing confidence in their religious institutions

Egypt's new Muslim Brotherhood president has yet to publicly make a single Islamist move, the NYT reports.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations regained its tax-exempt status. 

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Scotland will legalize gay marriage by 2015. A senior spokesman for the Catholic Church in Scotland said scientific studies show a “link between same-sex practice and early death.”  


The chief spokesman for Chick-fil A died on Friday amid the furor sparked by his boss' opposition to same-sex marriage.

The artery-clogging chicken chain isn't the only American business to take a stand on gay marriage, USA Today reports. 

A Catholic priest suggested that James Holmes was demon-possessed when the suspected killer opened fired in a Colorado cinema. 

Planners of a Bible museum in Washington closed a $50 million deal on a building two blocks from the National Mall.

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Daniel Burke

* An earlier version had the nuns meeting this week. They meet Aug. 7-11.

Image courtesy of the Washington Post.

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