Wednesday’s Religion News Roundup

Hanukkah begins tonight, so happy holiday to our Jewish friends. NPR says Hanukkah is not such a big deal outside the U.S., where two Reform rabbis decided to make it a little more Christmas-like in the late 19th century. English author Howard Jacobson says Hanukkah is fun, but is a little dubious about the historical […]

Hanukkah begins tonight, so happy holiday to our Jewish friends. NPR says Hanukkah is not such a big deal outside the U.S., where two Reform rabbis decided to make it a little more Christmas-like in the late 19th century. English author Howard Jacobson says Hanukkah is fun, but is a little dubious about the historical events the holiday commemorates.

The arrest of the Somali-American man in the Oregon bomb plot strains the fraught relationship between American Muslims and law enforcement officials, says the NYT. Oregonians stood in the pouring rain on Tuesday to hold a candlelight vigil outside the mosque apparently torched in response to the arrest (see pic at top left).


The Pentagon’s report on allowing gays and lesbians to serve openly in the military took religious views into account, but said soldiers who oppose homosexuality should learn to “respect and serve with others who hold different views and beliefs.”

The Oklahoma state lawmaker who wrote the state’s anti-Shariah referendum lashed out against the federal judge who issued an injunction that blocked it and the Oklahoma State Election Board voted to appeal the ruling. A federal judge in Virginia dismissed the late Rev. Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University’s lawsuit challenging the new health care law.

The decline in Catholic school attendance is keeping the Archbishop of New Orleans up at night.

The Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery quickly removed a video yesterday that depicted ants crawling on a crucifix after complaints from a Catholic group. The Palestinian government has removed a report claiming that Jerusalem’s Western Wall isn’t a Jewish holy site after furious criticism from Israel and the U.S.

A prominent televangelist told all the folks in TV Land that some people have threatened to tattle about his extramarital affair unless he gives them $7.5 million. “They are trying to take our pain and turn it to their gain,” said the Rev. Marcus Lamb.

The Ohio teacher who burned a cross on the arm of a student will pay nearly $500,000 to settle the matter. A Michigan city will not file charges against a man who got drunk and burned a Quran. The Russian Orthodox Church refuses to welcome Leo Tolstoy back into the fold, even though he’s been dead for 100 years.

A prominent proponent of Uganda’s anti-gay bill has resigned from a board at Oral Roberts University. The Buffalo Bills receiver who blamed God after dropping a game-winning touchdown pass now tweets “I Simply Cried Out And Asked Why?” Have you hands like God, Mr. Stevie Johnson, and can your tweets thunder like His?


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