People are poring over Norwegian nationalist Anders Behring Breivik’s 1,500-page manifesto, trying to uncover what might have led the self-described Christian “crusader” to scores of people on Friday. He pleaded not guilty on Monday, though he has confessed.
Breivik calls himself a “‘Justiciar Knight Commander” for a modern-day Knights Templar, whose primary function would be to “act as a pan-European Crusader Movement for the banishment of Islam from Europe.”
The NYT says the attacks focus attention on right-wing extremists across Europe, where opposition to Muslim immigrants, globalization, the European Union and multiculturalism has ignited tensions.
The attacks also focus attention on American right-wingers. Breivik’s manifesto is rife with references to the writings of anti-Islam activists, and some suggest that their portrayal of Muslims fostered the crimes in Norway.
One such blogger, Pam Geller of Atlas Shrugs, pointed the finger back at Muslims. “If anyone incited him to violence, it was Islamic supremacists,” she wrote.
American Muslims are upset that activists like Geller initially blamed them for the attack on Friday, before Breivik was arrested, the LA Times reports.
Pope Benedict XVI called on people to renounce hatred in the face of the “deep sorrow”over the attacks.
Belgium’s burqa ban took effect on Saturday. Two Muslim women who wear veils are filing suit to challenge the new law as an infringement of their religious freedom.
The Vatican recalled its ambassador to Ireland following government accusations that the Vatican discouraged efforts to report cases of sex abuse to the police.
China says the Vatican’s anger over recent ordinations of Chinese bishops without papal approval is “extremely unreasonable and rude.”
President Obama kinda sorta answered a question about his administration’s stance on religion-based hiring by faith-based groups that receive federal grants.
Catholic hospitals in Australia apologized for forcing unmarried mothers to give up babies for adoption decades ago. The U.S. Catholic bishops don’t want the government to require health insurance companies to cover contraception.
More trouble for the Philly Archdiocese: its top financial officer has been fired while authorities investigate how hundreds of thousands of dollars in church funds went missing.
WaPo has a long feature on the Mexican roots of Mitt Romney’s Mormon family, who fled to the Chihuahua desert in 1885 seeking refuge from U.S. anti-polygamy laws.
Willow Creek Community Church, a trend-setting megachurch in suburban Chicago, has quietly ended its partnership with Exodus International, an “ex-gay” organization.
It’s not uncommon for Jewish communities to use coercive tactics to pressure husbands into granting their wives a “get,” or religious divorce, the AP reports.
An Alaska newspaper apologized to readers after it published a column by a Wasilla pastor who wrote that, according to the Bible, a man can never be accused of spousal rape.
The cross-shaped steel beam found amid the wreckage of 9/11 has become a religious relic and will be housed in a memorial museum.
“I saw Calvary in the midst of all the wreckage, the disaster,” said Frank Silecchia, the construction worker who stumbled upon the beam. “It was a sign … that God didn’t desert us.”
Yr hmbl aggregator,
Daniel Burke
