Margaret Hamilton in “The Wizard of Oz,” via Wikipedia.

Will Rick Warren speak out about gun control? And what would he say? The popular pastor tweeted that his son, Matthew, killed himself with an unregistered gun bought over the Internet. Warren forgives whoever sold Matthew the weapon.

Other clergy are sending another message: Standing in front of 3,300 grave markers — representing the number of people who have died in gun violence since December’s massacre in Newtown, Conn. — more than 25 ministers, rabbis and other religious leaders pushed for a strong gun control bill.

And some clergy in Newtown are already expressing displeasure that the bill working its way through Congress is being watered down.

Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul is not backing away from his Christian faith or his libertarian views: he tells CBN’s David Brody that Washington is a “den of decadence” but adds that government doesn’t necessarily need to be regulating or promoting morality – not even “traditional marriage.”

Government is involved in immigration policy, and the reform issue is becoming personal for many evangelicals, as Adelle Banks reports.

In other Beltway news, President Obama awarded the Medal of Honor to a Catholic army chaplain who died during the Korean War in a POW camp.

Dispatches from the front lines of today’s Culture Wars: The gay man booted from his posts at a Long Island parish delivered 18,000 signatures on a petition to the diocese.

Don’t hold your breath for a resolution.

Then again, another leading cardinal, Christophe Schoenborn of Vienna, has said he’d be okay with civil unions: “We should be clear about terms and respect the needs of people living in a partnership together. They deserve respect.”

And while Detroit’s archbishop is sort of saying gay marriage supporters shouldn’t receive communion, one of his former assistant bishops has a different take: “Don’t stop going to communion. You’re okay,” says retired auxiliary Bishop Thomas Gumbleton.

Another oddity: President Obama is getting heat from Catholics for Choice for not expanding abortion coverage in his federal budget proposal: “The administration’s piecemeal approach to reproductive rights undermines the very concept of abortion as a legal right for all women,” said Jon O’Brien, president of CFC.

Maybe the CFC folks would like this? A portrait of Benedict XVI made out of condoms. Yes, really. CNN reports…Unfortunately for the artist, B16 is no longer pope, and this idea might have been original in, like, 1987…

Delaware may consider legalizing gay marriage, and Montana is on the slippery slope as its legislature moves to decriminalize gay sex.

What’s next – singer Gloria Estefan speaking as an expert on religious freedom at the Vatican?! Well, yes, actually…

Christian rapper Shai Linne calls out 12 prosperity gospel preachers as “false teachers”:

“Don’t be deceived by this funny biz, if you come to Jesus for money, then he’s not your God, money is! Jesus is not a means to an end, the Gospel is He came to redeem us from sin, and that is the message forever I yell! If you’re living your best life now you’re heading for hell!”

(I only rapped that in my head, so you don’t have to mute the volume.)

Voodoo is alive and well and this Reuters photo gallery has the pictures to prove it.

And France’s top rabbi has bowed to what seemed to me to be the inevitable: he has stepped aside after confessing to plagiarism and inflating his academic credentials. There’s at least a couple of commandments on that, I think.

Interesting: The Satmar Hasidim in New York have been accused of having a fortress mentality, and now they want to buy a real fortress.

The Dish points to a discussion about the role of religion in the Coen brothers films:

“Their suggestion of the possibility of grace is not so much a sermon proclamation as a desperate hope,” says Jeffrey Overstreet. “And it wouldn’t move us so deeply if the anticipation of grace weren’t built into us somehow. It moves us because, on some level, we know it’s true.”

Should Wiccans be pleased? Or peeved? “Ding Dong the Witch Is Dead” is zipping up the British charts in the wake of Margaret Thatcher’s death. Nice.

Maybe they are texting too much. A new study suggests that young adults who send text messages more than 100 times a day tend to be more interested in wealth and image than leading an ethical life. This father is not shocked, but is worried.

Baptists are worried about proposed FCC changes to the current broadcast indecency policies that would permit “isolated expletives” and isolated “non-sexual nudity” on broadcast TV.

You won’t get any of that sort of thing here – darn it – but you will get all the religion news that’s fit to print. Sign up below, and have a good weekend.

David Gibson