Thursday’s Religion News Roundup: Cleaver assault * atheist prayer * Hasid hipster?

A man was hacked with cleavers by men claiming to be Muslims. An atheist lawmaker delivers a prayer. A Brooklyn Hasidic group thinks men's beards are hipster-ish.

A Twitter feed photo of Kevin Durant's tattooed back.
A photo of Kevin Durant's tattooed back.

A Twitter feed photo of Kevin Durant’s tattooed back.

A man thought to be a British soldier was killed by two men in a frenzied attack on a London street. After being run over by a car, the man was hacked with cleavers by men who claimed to be Muslim. One of them told a TV reporter, “We swear by almighty Allah we will never stop fighting you.”

Perhaps they should take a lesson from the pope.


In remarks at a Mass on Wednesday, Pope Francis said building walls against non-Catholics leads to “killing in the name of God.”

“To say that you can kill in the name of God is blasphemy,” the pope said.

In other Vatican news, a financial watchdog group said it had detected six possible attempts to use the Holy See to launder money last year.

An atheist lawmaker’s decision to give the daily prayer at the Arizona House of Representatives triggered a do-over from a Christian lawmaker who said the previous day’s prayer didn’t pass muster.

WaPo posted the text of the “prayer,” by Democratic Rep. Juan Mendez of Tempe:

“In this room, let us cherish and celebrate our shared humanness, our shared capacity for reason and compassion, our shared love for the people of our state, for our Constitution and for our democracy.”

Mild-mannered and respectful, I say.

The Anti-Defamation League is going after Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan for making anti-Semitic statements at a Detroit church appearance. Farrakhan denounced “Satanic Jews” and the “synagogue of Satan” that he said controls major U.S. institutions.

Who says New Yorkers are godless? The city council passed a resolution calling on state lawmakers to protect their right to rent worship space on Sundays.

Of course, everyone knows Brooklyn is mecca for hipsters. Right?

Trying to outdo the Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn’s “Jesus was the original hipster” ad campaign, Chabad of North Brooklyn recently released a “Unite the Beards” video with the theme, “Hasid and hipster, not as different as you think.” But no bearded hipsters turned out for a forum on the subject of facial hair. Just bearded Hasidim.

Not quite hipster, more dermal art aficionado: Check out basketball player Kevin Durant tattooed back. It includes a portrait of Jesus and a quote from James 1: 2:4.

A prominent American Jewish leader was warned about a serious Holocaust compensation scam more than eight years before the fraud became public.


Julius Berman, chairman of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, failed to act on the fraud taking place, The Forward is reporting.

The Boy Scouts of America’s national leadership will vote today on whether to allow openly gay Scouts in its ranks. Stay tuned for more coverage.

Kellie Kotraba looks at the growing role of gay Mormon characters in theater and literature.

An American missionary priest entangled in a dispute over the ownership of two mission hospitals in Kenya has been suspended from the priesthood by his order. He sued a cardinal and a nun.

Chelsea Clinton, a Methodist who married a Jew, is stumping for interfaith relations. She is the co-founder and co-chairwoman of New York University’s Of Many Institute, a program for “multifaith” education.

Our own Jonathan Merritt interviewed Shane Claiborne, one of the leaders of the New Monasticism movement, which is made up of Protestants, mostly. Claiborne is pretty rad. He’s also pretty practical:


“One of my closest friends and mentors is an 80-year-old nun who’s as wild as they come. We’ve gone to jail together many times for protesting bad laws. (It’s always a good idea to have a nun next to you when you get arrested!)”

And finally, who knew? The New York Times gushes about Brigham Young University’s computer animation program. “Out of nowhere, B.Y.U. — a Mormon university owned and operated by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — has become a farm team for the country’s top animation studios and effects companies. Unlikely as it sounds, young Mormons are being sucked out of the middle of Utah and into the very centers of American pop-culture manufacturing.”

We won’t suck you out of anywhere for subscribing to the Roundup. But you might become part of a farm team knowledgeable about religion news.

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