The California gay-marriage case resumes today, the AP reports, with testimony from two Ivy league historians who will discuss the history of marriage in America and anti-gay discrimination. Gay rights leaders are already disappointed that the Supreme Court on Monday temporarily blocked the sitting judge’s decision to allow cameras in the courtroom until they make a final decision on Wednesday afternoon.
Prosecutors in Kansas are challenging a judge’s decision to allow confessed killer Scott Roeder to present a voluntary manslaughter defense in the death of Dr. George Tiller, a late-term abortion provider. An ultra-Orthodox rabbi in Albany, N.Y. admitted to “inappropriate physical contact” with two teenage boys.
The Biloxi (Miss.) diocese has become the latest to change Mass rituals, including Communion and the Passing of the Peace, during flu season. The AP found that microchurches are all the rage among Christians these days (Finally good news for mainline Protestants?). Gallup found that six out of 10 Mormons are politically conservative; also: Mormons have the highest self-reported church attendance, and are the religious group most likely to identify with the GOP. A Nevada judge found that a petition to enact a “personhood amendment” was too vague for people to understand its effects.
The Catholic bishops are making a push for immigration reform, but have yet to convince their choir, the San Bernardino Sun reports.
Yemen’s most influential Muslim cleric, whom the U.S. considers a terrorist, said the U.S. anti-terror strikes in Yemen could become a “foreign occupation.” (The cleric, Abdul-Majid al-Zindani, is top left.
Reuters finds that Pakistan is becoming more Islamist and anti-American. Seven Bahai’s, a persecuted minority in Iran, are on trial there for espionage. Islamists looted and burned a Protestant church in Algeria. Six people were killed in Afghanistan, where protesters accused international troops of desecrating the Quran. Britain said it will ban an Islamist group that wants to march through a town known for honoring British soldiers killed in Afghanistan.
Christian leaders in Malaysia refuse to stop using the word “Allah” for God, even after attacks on nine churches. A venerable British church has begun blessing Blackberries and other high-tech gadgets. “It’s the technology that is our daily working tool,” said the Rev. Canon David Parrott, “and it’s a technology that we should bless.”
