Outside Baltimore, police say a homeless man shot two women inside an Episcopal church; sources in the Diocese of Maryland say one woman who died was the church secretary, and the other was the priest, who is near death. Police found the homeless man in nearby woods, apparently after taking his own life.
United Methodists meeting in Tampa voted to uphold their statement that gay relationships are “incompatible with Christian teaching,” and they're scheduled to take up the dilemma of same-sex blessings today as they wrap things up.
Maybe the Mayans were right all along: 15 percent of the world expects the world to end during their lifetime (22 percent in the U.S.), according to a new poll, and 10 percent expect it to come sometime in 2012. Did someone say cocktails?
Who's the atheists' new best friend on Capitol Hill? A Republican lobbyist who once made a cameo on “The Real Housewives of Washington DC.” And no, thankfully, it's not Michaele Salahi.
Shhhh … don't tell the Vatican: ABC's Modern Family (ya know, the show with 2 gay dads and their potty-mouthed adopted daughter) was honored by the group Catholics in Media Associates. And the pope wonders why his own flock doesn't follow his lead on gay marriage.
Philly Archbishop Charles Chaput is scheduled to announce the fates of some of the two dozen priests who were placed on leave after they were found to have active abuse allegations on file.
In North Carolina, a black pastor is caught between two worlds: civil rights group who oppose the state's upcoming ban on gay marriage, and black parishioners who oppose homosexuality.
A (Jewish) medical geneticist says Jews have a “distinctive genetic signature,” which means they are, in fact, a separate race.
Vaticanista John Allen says even some of B16's friends are getting a little nervous about his plans to bring the schismatic Lefebvrist movement back into the Catholic fold.
A small band of liberal Jews in Austria is petitioning the government for officially recognized status before a new law kicks in that will give the Orthodox large sway in dictating Jewish life in the Alps.
Kuwaiti lawmakers approved a bill that imposes the death penalty on any Muslim who insults “God, his prophets, messengers, Prophet Mohammad’s wives or the Quran” and refuses to repent. Lesser sentences are available to the truly contrite, and non-Muslims have separate sentencing rules.
Meanwhile, a Muslim man in Indonesia is facing 11 years in prison for writing “God does not exist” on his Facebook page.
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— Kevin Eckstrom
(Photo of Mitch and Cam courtesy ABC)