Friday’s Religion News Roundup

Conservative firebrand Bishop Harry Jackson said the best way to tell POTUS apart from Herman Cain is to look at their respective churches (even though Obama surrendered his membership at Chicago’s Trinity UCC). The Anti-Defamation League says anti-Semitism has inched up slightly since its last survey in 2009. The Forward is out with its list […]

Conservative firebrand Bishop Harry Jackson said the best way to tell POTUS apart from Herman Cain is to look at their respective churches (even though Obama surrendered his membership at Chicago’s Trinity UCC).

The Anti-Defamation League says anti-Semitism has inched up slightly since its last survey in 2009. The Forward is out with its list of the 50 most influential Jews; leading the list is wounded Ariz. Rep. Gabby Giffords and, curiously, POTUS (someone ought to tell Harry Jackson).

Even some anti-abortion activists say the abortion-is-the-Holocaust analogy is often a bad one. Mississippi religious leaders are split on a referendum that would say life begins at conception; Baptists are for it, mainliners are nervous and, curiously, Catholic bishops are sitting this one out.


Episcopal gay-rights activist Susan Russell thanked Kim Kardashian for a “gift that keeps on giving” in showing the world that the real threat to matrimony comes from 72-day marriages, not the gays. Speaking of, 133 House Democrats signed a legal brief in a challenge to the Defense of Marriage Act.

From the Dept. of Schismatics Who Love a Schism, there’s tension brewing between African Anglican primates and their spiritual offspring in the Anglican Church of North America over who gets to call the shots here in the U.S. of A.

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney took some heat for saying the idea that “God helps those who help themselves” comes from the Bible; turns out 3 out of 4 of you probably think the same thing.

Bishop Howard Hubbard of Albany, one of the last semi-progressive U.S. bishops who calls it like he sees it, offers a frank assessment of the shortcomings of the Catholic Church in the U.S.

Speaking of problems in the Catholic Church, Ireland will close its embassy to the Vatican, and Irish Cardinal Sean Brady is not amused.

Happy birthday wishes to scandal-scarred former Boston Cardinal Bernard Law, who turns 80 today and thus loses his vote in any future conclave — somewhere, abuse victims let out a sigh of relief. The Vatican’s chief abuse prosecutor says parents have a duty to report suspected abuse to the “authorities” (read into that what you will).


A Polish priest who was on-board that plane that landed on its belly in Warsaw says he was clinging to a relic of the late JP2 and offered absolution for the souls of the 231 passengers.

CNN looks at the impact of the Arab Spring on this year’s Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca. And yes, there’s an app for that.

— Kevin Eckstrom

Donate to Support Independent Journalism!

Donate Now!