Thursday’s Religion News Roundup: Obama as Antichrist * Tutu’s Templeton * Sanford’s redemption

Thirteen percent of Americans believe President Obama is the anti-Christ. Desmond Tutu wins the 2013 Templeton Prize. A Jesus portrait in an Ohio school is taken down.

A demonic figure with horns, courtesy Shutterstock.
A figure of a demon with horns

A demonic figure with horns, courtesy Shutterstock.

Thirteen percent of Americans believe President Obama is the anti-Christ. Another 28 percent think the planet is secretly ruled by the New World Order, according to Public Policy Polling. It gets wackier. Check here.

This is not a conspiracy: Desmond Tutu, the former Anglican archbishop of Cape Town who rose to international fame as he helped lead the fight against apartheid in South Africa, was named the 2013 Templeton Prize winner.


A Jesus portrait that has hung in a southern Ohio school district since 1947 was taken down Wednesday because of concerns about the potential costs of a federal lawsuit against its display.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Milwaukee said it would release thousands of pages of documents tied to sexual abuse lawsuits, including depositions with some former top officials. That would be New York Cardinal Timothy Dolan, who previously led the Milwaukee archdiocese.

That same Dolan who talked of how the church needs to do a better job welcoming gays may need to have a chat with Bishop William Murphy. The Rockville Centre bishop, whose diocese includes Long Island, gave the nod to boot a married gay parishioner from his church posts as religious education teacher, lector, altar server and visitation minister for shut-ins.

Forty years after Oregon became the first state in the nation to decriminalize possession of small amounts of marijuana, lawmakers are considering a bill that would regulate its production, processing and sale.

Joe Klein, over at Time, thinks decriminalizing marijuana may be the next big culture war.

Back to old culture wars: Liberty University, aka Falwell Central, has been silent recently about same-sex marriage. Kevin Roose, who wrote a book about his time at Liberty, says the university is changing and increasingly focused on ideological unity.

Herb Silverman says atheists can learn a lesson from the successful gay rights movement: Come out of the closet. “Attitudes toward gays changed rapidly when people learned that their friends, neighbors, and even family members were gay,” says the atheist activist.


Pope Francis stopped far short of calling for women’s ordination or giving women more decision-making power in the church, but he did say women play a “fundamental role” in the Catholic Church.

Not yet one month out, 84 percent of U.S. Catholics say they have a favorable impression of Pope Francis, including 43 percent who express a very favorable view, according to a new Pew Forum poll.

To North Carolina Republicans who want to establish an official state religion, RNS blogger and proud North Carolina resident Omid Safi has two choice words: Screw you.

Further south, Mark Sanford’s primary run-off victory brings him yet another step closer to professional redemption, says Brad Hirschfield.

Claims that America is persecuting Christians are an insult to the faithful languishing in other parts of the world where persecution actually exists—places like the Middle East, RNS blogger and evangelical Jonathan Merritt says.

Remember him? Roger Waters, frontman for the British rock group Pink Floyd, was due to speak at the 92Y on April 30. But the event— with tickets starting at $73 — raised hackles among some members of the Jewish community because of Waters’ bitter criticism of Israel. It was cancelled.


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