Inked Jesus * Endless Hora * Spoiled Milk : Friday’s Roundup

(RNS) Jesus apparently had a lot of ink, but you won't see any of it in one Texas school district. Family values in Pakistan, the pope's hand-written prayer and why bacon smells so freakin' good --- all that and more in today's Roundup.

This Jew was cool with getting inked, apparently

Screen Shot 2014-05-30 at 8.23.33 AMA federal court has sided with a Texas school district against the “Jesus Tattoo” Christian ministry. The school district refused to run the group’s ad (it’s not clear where), and Jesus Tattoo filed suit, claiming religious discrimination. The school district said it had nothing to do with religion and everything to do with the school’s policy against uncovered tattoos.

Switching Channels

New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, the suddenly muted used-to-be-most-powerful-American bishop, has switched from railing against gay marriage to extolling the virtues of capitalism, says Religion Dispatches’ Patricia Miller: “The answer to the problems of capitalism, Dolan says, ‘is not to reject economic liberty in favor of government control,’ which he associates with ‘coercive systems of socialism and collectivism…'” she writes.

Meanwhile, across the pond …

File this under: Intriguing. England’s Catholic bishops, who fought hard to stop same-sex marriage from becoming the law of the land, now say gay civil partnerships shouldn’t automatically be converted into marriages. The choice of whether to be married should be up to those couples, not the state, the bishops say.


Don’t say we didn’t warn you …

The New Republic is out with photos from a botched 2006 execution by lethal injection in (where else?) Florida. The photos are not for the squeamish. “The execution team member… either unknowingly or wantonly, pushed the catheters through both veins and into subcutaneous soft tissuean error that is known in medicine as ‘infiltration.’ As a result, the drugs flowed between layers of soft tissue in Diaz’s arms rather than into his bloodstream.”

The horror of the endless Hora

Ah yes, the sad sad life of a Boston Bar Mitzvah DJ or, “motivator,” as they’re called in the industry.

‘A stain on the soul of our nation’472004-01-main-278x433

Catholic bishops are trying (again) to revive immigration reform in the GOP-controlled House. Good luck with that.

Return to Sender

The American Family Association is urging followers not to accept mail that bears the stamp of gay rights pioneer Harvey Milk. “This is not diversity; this is perversity,” they say.

The wounds of war

Interesting story out of California, and we’re still not sure if it’s a religion story or not, but at any rate: After a troubled Gulf War veteran was shot and killed by police, the Sikh community he grew up in is divided on how to respond.

Did someone say bacon?

OK, perhaps the Jews and Muslims among us might not find this appealing, but for everyone else: Here’s why cooking bacon smells so freakin’ good.


Extreme measures

One group that doesn’t want aggressive end-of-life treatment: Doctors, the same folks who are often called on to pursue those same measures for others.

Family values

This is just lovely. The Pakistani husband whose pregnant wife was stoned to death freely admits that he had murdered his first wife so that he could marry Farzana Parveen, who was bludgeoned for marrying someone other than her cousin.

Boko what?

Having trouble keeping track of the militant Islamic groups proliferating across Africa? Here’s a handy guide.

A note for the boss

Curious about the note Pope Francis left in Jerusalem’s Western Wall last weekend? It was a signed copy of the Lord’s Prayer. Extra points if you can guess the language.

It’s gettin’ hot in here

And speaking of il Papa, Massachusetts Sen. Ed Markey recently got two minutes of face time with the pope, and told him he’s one of the few people on the planet who has the “moral authority” to help jumpstart a move to counteract climate change.

It’s gettin’ hot up there, too

Canadian PM Stephen Harper is facing a defamation lawsuit from a group of Muslims after his spokesman referred to the a group as having “documented ties to a terrorist organization such as Hamas.”


And with that, it’s off to the weekend and my goddaughter’s high school graduation. Make sure we have your email address below so we can continue sending you the Roundup every day, for free!

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