Top religion news of the day, of course: The fifth coming of the iPhone, a.k.a. the Jesus Phone.
That’s idolatry to some, but a fact of nature to some neuroscientists. The rest of us just want fewer dropped calls.
Today is also the feast of St. Francis of Assisi, who is, alas, know more for being nice to animals than he is for being a pioneer in Christian-Muslim dialogue, among other things.
Indeed, at Sojourners, Shaine Claiborne wonders whether St. Francis would be standing with the Wall Street protesters. Those protests, by the way, are spreading well beyond Wall Street.
Just across a lovely Umbrian valley from Assisi, in the hilltop city of Perugia, Amanda Knox is tasting freedom for the first time in four years, as the American’s controversial conviction in a lurid murder case was overturned. Knox, who attended a Jesuit prep school in Seattle, is set to return to the United States, and some are also heralding her apparent return to the Catholic faith while in prison, where she was visited by a priest-confessor and nuns.
On the other hand, Knox played guitar at Mass in prison last Saturday, which will discomfit liturgical purists.
Religious groups are finding a rare unity in the cause of self-preservation: they want the Supreme Court to uphold the “ministerial exception” that prevents most employees from suing houses of worship for job discrimination.
The justices will hear that landmark case tomorrow, but it won’t hear another hiring case, against the Christian aid agency World Vision, which is a break for faith-based groups.
The Schuller family of Crystal Cathedral fame is being accused of living high on donations while the landmark church was sliding into bankruptcy.
Some say altruism is overrated anyway, even pathological. You can keep that idea, thanks.
Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels said his controversial call for Republicans to have a “truce” on hot-button social issues so they can focus on the economy was misunderstood, but has also become a de facto reality in the current campaign. Score one for Daniels, who seems to be the only GOP leader who isn’t getting drafted these days. (Chris Christie won’t be running, apparently, disappointing many Tea Partiers.)
The JTA explains how the GOP became more pro-Israel than many American Jews. Chief reason: the growth of the evangelical movement as a cornerstone of the Republican Party.
“Israel is not just for Jews anymore,” said Noam Neusner, a former domestic policy adviser to President George W. Bush, and now a communications consultant to Christians United For Israel.
Radical Jews in northern Israel are believed to be behind the arson attack on a mosque in an Arab village, and are suspected in a series of similar attacks of late that are increasing tensions in Israel.
The Dalai Lama has canceled a trip to South Africa to honor Desmond Tutu after it became clear that Pretoria would not issue a visa to the exiled Tibetan Buddhist leader, whose presence would have offended China, South Africa’s largest trading partner.
Tutu said the maneuver is reminiscent of the apartheid days that he is being honored for helping to end. A foreign ministry spokesman wasn’t very diplomatic in response: “South Africa has not said ‘no’,” the spokesman said. “The man has decided to cancel the trip.”
Bishop Eddie Long of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church says he should get a refund from the three men who accused Long of sexual abuse because they violated the terms of the $1.5 million settlement agreement when they spoke about their ordeal.
Hank Williams, Jr., said his comparison of Hitler and Obama was intended as the opposite of what he said, but ESPN still yanked Williams’ song, “All My Rowdy Friends,” from their Monday Night Football broadcast.
In the Dept. of Milestones, Anne Rice, the novelist who turned from vampires to Jesus, and left Christianity for Christ last year, turns 70 today. Susan Sarandon, who played death row nun Sister Helen Prejean in the film “Dead Man Walking,” is 65. Sister Helen is 72, but has enough Louisiana wit and fire in the belly that Sarandon better stay ready for a sequel.
Rutherford B. Hayes (you think we have no good presidential candidates today?) was born on this day in 1822. Damon Runyon, patron saint of many a New York writer, was born in 1880. In 1931, “Dick Tracy” made his debut in the comic strips and in 1951, and in 1970, the inimitable Janis Joplin was found dead in her Hollywood hotel room at 27. “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.”
— David Gibson
