Friday, July 30, 2010
Friday’s roundup
The faith-healing parents in Oregon who are in court for failing to provide medical care to their infant daughter have pleaded not guilty. An Orthodox priest in Eastern Europe is being investigated for allegedly drowning a baby boy as he baptised him.
Newt Gingrich is back at it: gave a speech Thursday where he said, "This is not a war on terrorism ... this is a struggle with radical Islamists." Novelest Anne Rice says she's giving Christianity the quits. Daniel Dennett's latest article blames seminaries for destroying the faith of future clergy.
The United Methodist Church's highest court plans to review it's 2005 decision that allows pastors to ban non-celibate gays and lesbians from membership. The scandal at Southern Baptist church in Tennessee, where a longtime church secretary was charged with embezzling $1.5 million, has now spread to her son, who's charged with skimming more than $400,000.
A South Carolina pastor and his wife were caught with child pornography on their computer. A Catholic priest in Wisconsin will plead not guilty to his case of possession of child pornography. Family members filed suit against the Diocese of Pittsburgh after an abuse victim allegedly committed suicide after the church stopped paying for counseling sessions.
The University of Illinois instructor who was
fired for alleged hate speech concerning the Catholic Church's stance
on homosexuality has been offered a position at the university. A new book answers the question: Why is Reinhold Neibuhr such a big deal? And physicists at the Large Hadron Collider in Geneva they might be closing in on the elusive Higgs Boson, a.k.a "the God Particle." Religion Dispatches argues why taxing the rich is the "Godly thing" to do.
What
do a Catholic priest, a Taoist master, and a Lakota holy man have
in common? They're all coming together in the South Dakota town of
Deadwood to help rebury uncovered 130-year-old remains. A fortune teller in Virginia claims county officials violated her religious rights by making her fill out typical fortune teller licensing requirements. And a Methodist Church in England stopped yoga classes because they were "spiritually confusing."
Thousands of Israelis held a "subdued" gay pride march in Jerusalem. Bangladesh's Constitution no longer holds language that requires
the government "to consolidate, preserve and strengthen fraternal relations
among Muslim countries based on solidarity." Muslim parents in Sweden are being fined for refusing to allow their daughters to attend compulsory swimming classes in school; the classes are mixed-gender.
Afghan villagers say NATO forces showed disrespect for the Quran. Speaking of disrespect, Malaysia fined the group of 12 Muslims who brandished severed cow heads in protesting the construction of a Hindu temple. In Baghdad, al-Qaida briefly planted its flag in the capitol and killed 23 members of Iraq's security forces across the country. The "What Happens If We Leave Afghanistan?" cover of Time magazine continues to raise eyebrows.
Posted by Kevin Eckstrom at 9:57 am
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