Bishops Sued * Muslims Grounded * Pope Bounced: Tuesday’s Religion News Roundup

The ACLU sues the USCCB over a failure to provide an abortion. The first "Muslim While Flying" case goes to trial. And should we be surprised that Pope Francis was a bouncer?

A bishop. By Tigger11th via Shutterstock
A bishop. By Tigger11th via Shutterstock

A bishop. By Tigger11th via Shutterstock

Today is GIving Tuesday or Charity Tuesday, when various non-profits hope consumers will consider all they’ve purchased on Black Friday and Cyber Monday and give even a fraction of that to the needy. This year #CharityTuesday takes off on Twitter.

The rest of the religion news:


1. Catholic bishops sued for substandard medical care: The ACLU is suing the USCCB over the case of a pregnant woman sent home from a Catholic hospital when best medical practice demanded an abortion to safeguard her health, according to the ACLU. Our friend at Notre Dame’s law school, Rick Garnett, suggests that the suit is a bit of a stretch of tort law.

2. Flying While Muslim: Believed to be the first challenge of the no-fly list to go to trial, the case of Malaysian university professor Rahinah Ibrahim — who says she landed on the list because of her Muslim faith and national origin — is before a federal judge in San Francisco. The topic is serious, but I think it’s OK to laugh when you read Arab-American Dean Obedeiah’s related piece, three years old but unfortunately not dated.

3. Unapologetic: A modern Christian apology, aimed primarily at Europeans’ who poo poo religion, is newly published in America. Authored by British novelist and essayist Francis Spufford, “Unapologetic: Why, Despite Everything, Christianity Can Still Make Surprising Emotional Sense,” aims “not to win souls, but simply to win back some respect for the emotional dignity of the Christian religion,” writes John Murawski, who wrote about the book for RNS.

4. Two pieces of further proof of the pope’s uncanny insight into human nature: Catholic News Service reports: i. He was a bouncer in his younger years. ii. When a woman asked him how she should pray for a relative preparing to become a Franciscan friar, Pope Francis told her to pray that he has

 . . . the perseverance to go forward, but also the courage to turn back if he understands that this is not the right path.

5. Tips for Jesus: Remember that not-so-lovely note written by that pastor on his restaurant bill: “I give God 10% why do you get 18”? In response comes “Tips for Jesus,” an anonymous person or persons who is going around the country leaving stunningly large tips for servers, or people who work not so fancy restaurants who are still called waiters and waitresses. Tips for Jesus’ motto: “Doing the Lord’s work, one tip at a time.” Follow the mind-boggling trail of tips on Instagram.

6. The most successful Christian author you’ve never heard of: Our own Sarah Pulliam Bailey introduces us to Sally Lloyd-Jones, whose “Jesus Storybook Bible” just sold its 1 millionth copy.

7. Sacred Mask Sale: Members of the Hopi tribe are trying to stop the sale of 70 masks created for use in tribal rites. Unfortunately for the Hopis, the sale of the masks, expected to bring in about $1 million next spring, will be held in Paris, where U.S. laws that prohibit the trafficking of American antiquities do not apply.

8. Can Turkish Imams Rock? The lead singer for a rock band in Turkey is also the imam for a small village mosque. Turkish religious authorities may not allow him to remain on both career tracks. And it may not matter that one of Ahmet Muhsin Tuzer’s songs is called “Come to God.” Take a look and a listen:


9. Nuns Held Hostage: In Syria, a mother superior said Syrian rebels abducted nine nuns and three other women from a convent near a Christian village 40 miles east of Damascus, a region where rebels have made advances this week.

10. “Sometimes I am a truly shitty Christian” No, not me. Jana Riess. Sometimes I am a truly shitty something else. But that is how RNS blogger Riess ends her most recent post about a Mormon bishop who pretends to be a homeless person for a couple of hours. Here’s what she thinks about what he did, and why she’s down on herself.

– Lauren Markoe

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