Thursday’s Religion News Roundup: Obama as Antichrist * Tutu’s Templeton * Sanford’s redemption

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Thirteen percent of Americans believe President Obama is the anti-Christ. Another 28 percent think the planet is secretly ruled by the New World Order, according to Public Policy Polling. It gets wackier. Check here.

This is not a conspiracy: Desmond Tutu, the former Anglican archbishop of Cape Town who rose to international fame as he helped lead the fight against apartheid in South Africa, was named the 2013 Templeton Prize winner.

A Jesus portrait that has hung in a southern Ohio school district since 1947 was taken down Wednesday because of concerns about the potential costs of a federal lawsuit against its display.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee said it would release thousands of pages of documents tied to sexual abuse lawsuits, including depositions with some former top officials. That would be New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who previously led the Milwaukee archdiocese.

That same Dolan who talked of how the church needs to do a better job welcoming gays may need to have a chat with Bishop William Murphy. The Rockville Centre bishop, whose diocese includes Long Island, gave the nod to boot a married gay parishioner from his church posts as religious education teacher, lector, altar server and visitation minister for shut-ins.

Forty years after Oregon became the first state in the nation to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, lawmakers are considering a bill that would regulate its production, processing and sale.

Joe Klein, over at Time, thinks decriminalizing marijuana may be the next big culture war.

Back to old culture wars: Liberty University, aka Falwell Central, has been silent recently about same-sex marriage. Kevin Roose, who wrote a book about his time at Liberty, says the university is changing and increasingly focused on ideological unity.

Herb Silverman says atheists can learn a lesson from the successful gay rights movement: Come out of the closet. “Attitudes toward gays changed rapidly when people learned that their friends, neighbors, and even family members were gay,” says the atheist activist.

Pope Francis stopped far short of calling for women’s ordination or giving women more decision-making power in the church, but he did say women play a “fundamental role” in the Catholic Church.

Not yet one month out, 84 percent of U.S. Catholics say they have a favorable impression of Pope Francis, including 43 percent who express a very favorable view, according to a new Pew Forum poll.

To North Carolina Republicans who want to establish an official state religion, RNS blogger and proud North Carolina resident Omid Safi has two choice words: Screw you.

Further south, Mark Sanford’s primary run-off victory brings him yet another step closer to professional redemption, says Brad Hirschfield.

Claims that America is persecuting Christians are an insult to the faithful languishing in other parts of the world where persecution actually exists—places like the Middle East, RNS blogger and evangelical Jonathan Merritt says.

Remember him? Roger Waters, frontman for the British rock group Pink Floyd, was due to speak at the 92Y on April 30. But the event— with tickets starting at $73 — raised hackles among some members of the Jewish community because of Waters’ bitter criticism of Israel. It was cancelled.

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Categories: Culture

Yonat Shimron

Yonat Shimron

Yonat Shimron is the development director and features editor at RNS. She was the religion reporter for The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C. from 1996 to 2011.
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6 Comments

  4. gilhcan

    Much more than 13% of so-called “Americans,” that is, people who presumably live in the United States of America–after all, there are three, different American continents–are illiterate. They don’t even know what “Antichrist” means. After all, look at the US Congress they have elected. Look at the local and state politicians they have hired to work against their welfare. Look at the religious ignorance that abounds everywhere in this country, especially in the South.

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    • Old Dude

      Before you zero in on “the South” our public school system is failing in all the major liberal states and U.S. Americans are becoming MORE illiterate than ever before. Before 1890 most Americans learned their three R’s in church school (and the church was the classroom) They had great incentive to read (the Bible) and the Bible was often the primer. Without such schools there would have been NO Abe Lincoln. From the Plymouth and Jamestown eras Americans taught their children literacy (and read the Bible). Literacy made them skilled in commerce, crafts, navigation (and governance).. it built a nation. The NOW generation doesn’t want schooling (they fail). They do not want faith in God. They don’t want “In God We Trust.” They don’t like their elders (and worship being young .. ask any plastic surgeon). They have limited values and limited morals. It is a matter of choice BUT .. you must live with the choices you make. (be careful what you wish for .. you just may get it)

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