Wednesday’s Religion News Roundup: Mormon Boot Camp * Ramadan Smartphone * Mohel Union?

Some Muslims are using smartphones in their Ramadan observances. A look inside a Mormon missionary boot camp. And will European mohels form a union?

Some Muslims are using smartphones in their observance of Ramadan.
Some Muslims are using smartphones in their observance of Ramadan.

Some Muslims are using smartphones in their observance of Ramadan.

David Agren is in Rio with the latest on how Pope Francis will spend his first papal trip abroad. Tuesday was a rest up day for the action to come. And the AP catches up with Uncle Frank on his way to his first public mass in Brazil.

His trip, CNN report, has now been upgraded to the highest level of security following the mess up Monday when his car veered off the planned route.


Peggy Fletcher Stacks gives us an up-close look at the elite Mormon Missionary Training Center, a 35-acre campus that teaches language and missionary skills to armies of young people who will then go out and try to convert the world. Enrollment at the Provo campus has surged since the church’s recent decision to lower the age at which young Mormons can become missionaries.

Our own Adelle Banks writes about an online petition signed by more than 1,200 people decrying the “silence” and “inattention” of evangelical leaders to sexual abuse in their churches. The statement was prompted by recent child abuse allegations against Sovereign Grace Ministries, an umbrella group of 80 Reformed evangelical churches based in Louisville, Ky.

The same-sex marriage roundup within the roundup: The California Supreme Court has rejected a call to block gay marriages, a federal judge in Cincinnati has ruled that the state should recognize the out-of-state marriages of same-sex couples, officials in Pennsylvania’s third largest county agree to issue same-sex marriage licenses despite a state law banning gay marriage, and New York says it will refund gay couples forced to pay estate taxes.

NPR explains how Muslims can observe Ramadan on their smartphones.

A non-Muslim Chinese couple in mostly-Muslim Malaysia face jail time for posting a photo online of themselves eating pork. The photo includes a caption greeting Muslims on Ramadan. They have been charged under the Sedition Act.

Israel will elect its chief rabbis today, The Forward reports. There are 150 electors who will vote for two rabbis: one Sephardic and one Ashkenazi.

Because everyone needs to get organized, a European rabbi is trying to create a union for mohels – or ritual circumcisers.

A Chabad Yeshiva teacher gets three years in prison in an Australian sex abuse case.


Tom Ehrich, the writer and Episcopal priest, looks behind the tragedy in Motor City.

– Lauren Markoe

I’ve never been a missionary, but I really want to convert you to the roundup, each weekday, free in your inbox. No spam attached. Sign up below.

Donate to Support Independent Journalism!

Donate Now!