Monday’s roundup

Veteran journalist Helen Thomas (left) has apologized for saying Jews should “go home,” and by that she meant Germany and Poland — ‘cuz we all know how well that worked out for the Jews last time. Critics now want her White House press credentials revoked, or at least give her front-row seat to someone else; […]

Veteran journalist Helen Thomas (left) has apologized for saying Jews should “go home,” and by that she meant Germany and Poland — ‘cuz we all know how well that worked out for the Jews last time. Critics now want her White House press credentials revoked, or at least give her front-row seat to someone else; she withdrew as the graduation speaker for a high school in suburban DC.[UPDATE: Hearst News Service announced Thomas’ retirement Monday afternoon.]

In California, school officials have put an end to a game called “Beat the Jew.”

Two New Jersey men were arrested at JFK trying to board a flight to Egypt on their way to Somalia to train with a group linked to Al-Qaida; the NYT says the movement is recruiting men to fight in a civil war, not necessarily to wage jihad against the West.


The AP says supporters of Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary president Ergun Caner might want to speak up before his critics have the last word on his disputed Muslim past.

Remember the case of the divorced parents in Chicago who landed in court over whether the father could bring their daughter to church (the mom’s Jewish)? Well, WaPo holds them up as an example why interfaith marriages have trouble making it work. A police department in suburban Detroit will no longer require suspected criminals to remove their religious garb for mug shots.

The group Physicians for Human Rights says doctors and psychologists who monitored waterboarding and other torture techniques for the CIA violated their ethical standards when detainees became research subjects; the National Religious Campaign Against Torture is understandably livid.

The AP says clergy are woefully under-prepared for financial security in retirement: “Clergy are so focused on the hereafter, but we should know more about planning for life after work,” says retired Methodist minister Bert White. South Carolina’s gubernatorial wannabe Nikki Haley is downplaying her Sikh roots, and up-playing her Christian faith, after critics attacked her as a front for Sikh terrorists.

Florida Gov. Charlie Crist has signed a bill that says school districts cannot enter agreements that restrict the First Amendment rights of teachers unless the teachers sign a waiver; it all stems a dispute in northern Florida when teachers inked a deal with the ACLU not to pray in public settings, and then tried to take it back. Former evangelical leader Ted Haggard launched his new church yesterday (we’ll have more on that later).

Portugal hosted its first legal same-sex wedding Monday when two 30-something divorced women tied the knot. An Egyptian judge says it’s time to start enforcing a law that strips Egyptian men of their citizenship if they marry Israeli women. Bangladesh has lifted its week-long ban on Facebook over those Muhammad cartoons that many Muslims find offensive. The LAT finds a bunch of online shopping sites that are catering to fashion-conscious Muslim women who want to stay modest.


A poll of Brits finds that at least half associate Islam with violence, and two-thirds link it with the repression of women — that might be what prompted a new ad campaign that features a veiled woman with the words, “I believe in women’s rights. So did Muhammad.” The British diplomat who suggested, tongue-in-cheek, that the pope launch his own brand of condoms during his upcoming U.K. visit has been put on a very tight leash and five years probation. The Church of England has agreed to allow divorced men (so far no women) to become bishops.

Pope Benedict XVI, wrapping up a three-day trip to Cyprus, says the world is ignoring the plight of the Middle East’s dwindling Christian population. Catholic officials in Poland beatified Jerzy Popieluszko, a charismatic priest who was killed in 1984 for supporting the anti-communist Solidarity movement.

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