The Washington Post reports that the CIA pushed to have Tamerlan Tsarnaev, the elder Boston Marathon bombing suspect, placed on a U.S. counterterrorism watch list more than a year before the attacks.
People in Watertown, Mass., a heavily Armenian community, are casting doubt on claims by relatives that Tsarnaev was influenced by an Armenian convert to Islam named Misha. Most Armenians are Christians.
The 14 people who lost limbs in the Boston Marathon bombing will likely struggle with spiritual questions about the nature of life and their role in it, says an RNS contributor.
Two guest columnists writing in The New York Times say U.S. mosques are not breeding grounds for young Muslim radicals, as Rep. Peter King suggested. Quite the opposite: They are mediating institutions committed to cooperation and activism.
Our own David Gibson says Pope Francis is sending an important signal about his priorities by clearing the way for the long-stalled canonization of martyred Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero.
The Rhode Island Senate approved a bill to allow same-sex couples to marry. The heavily Roman Catholic state is poised to be the 10th to permit gay marriage.
A new poll from PRRI and RNS shows 45 percent of Americans favor making marijuana legal, while 49 percent are opposed. The religious divisions on this one are stark: While evangelical Christians, mainline Protestants and Roman Catholics are divided on the issue; the unaffiliated (aka “nones”) have pretty much made up their minds. They’re for it.
A federal grand jury indicted a Catholic priest in St. Louis on child pornography charges.
Our own Adelle Banks reports that black clergy have launched a new coalition to fight gun violence.
France is beset by violent protests after its lower house of parliament to legalize gay marriage.
In Scotland, the first Sikh temple will open in Glasgow this weekend.
A 12th century minaret in Aleppo, Syria, was destroyed as rebels and government troops fought pitched battles.
You thought feminism was old news? Au contraire:
Seattle megachurch pastor Mark Driscoll told women that God wanted them to submit to their husbands and that they shouldn’t be a “nag,” likening them to Chinese water torture. (Yes, this is the same Driscoll who earlier this year tweeted that President Barack Obama did not know God or believe in the Bible.)
RE: chauvinism, Jamie Manson at National Catholic Reporter suggests Pope Francis is one.
By contrast, the Dalai Lama says he would be pleased if a woman were to succeed him.
And finally: A victory for women in Israel. A judge ruled that there was no justification for the detention of five women who tried to pray at the Western Wall, and that the police’s request for restraining orders to keep them away from the Wall can’t be granted.
Worth reading: Diana Butler Bass says the church does not need to convert the world. Rather, the world needs to convert the church. Live out its teachings and love your neighbor may be the way forward, she says. We strive to love our neighbors by offering a free Roundup subscription. Sign up by clicking on the blue button below.
