As the Senate continues to fiddle with the health-care bill (stripping a lot from the House version) the U.S. bishops are continuing to urge senators to explicitly ban federal subsidies from covering abortion and, separately, support the Menendez Amendment, which would allow states to lift the five-year waiting period for legal immigrants to become eligible for Medicaid.

The D.C. city council voted to legalize gay marriage, despite objections from many black clergy and the Archdiocese of Washington, which has said it will end social service contracts with the city rather than extend employee benefits to same-sex couples, as the law would require. Mayor Fenty is expected to sign the legislation by the end of the week, but Congress gets 30 days to review it. The Episcopal Bishop of Washington, who already allows clergy to bless same-sex couples, said he will study whether to allow them to officiate at weddings.

Oral Roberts, who brought faith-healing and the prosperity gospel to the mainstream, died Tuesday at age 91.

New York City atheists are suing the Diocese of Brooklyn and Bishop DiMarzio over robo-calls he made on behalf of a city council candidate.

President Obama will give federal employees a half-day on Christmas Eve.

The man who shot up a Jewish center in Seattle, killing one and wounding five, has been convicted of aggravated first-degree murder and seven other counts.

Rifqa Barry’s parents want officials to screen Christmas cards sent to her, after “hate filled” Web sites encouraged people to send her season’s greetings. A grassroots group in Cleveland is urging parishioners to withhold donations to protest parish closings. A Massachusetts school denied claims that a boy was for drawing a crucifix, and a Latino group is using the Holy Family to encourage participation in the census. (see poster illustration at upper left.)

Christian retailers are having fun (and making money, of course) parodying popular brands like iPods.

As world leaders prepare to wrap up their little brainstorm in Copenhagen, a number of religious leaders, including Archbishop Rowan Williams, Desmond Tutu, and Pope Benedict XVI are pressing for urgent action. An Egyptian court has reversed a ban on the niqab at one of Islam’s premier schools.