Religion News for 10/4/2010

Hey I just wanted to let you all know something I found out at today's panel before I put up today's news roundup: Open Mosque Week is coming up soon. I hope I see a lot more of this kind of thing in the future. Nice to see this as a counter to the awful drama of Burn A Quran Day. Can anybody recommend a mosque to visit in DC?

Anyhow, here's some stuff you might have missed:

• A French Lutheran couple has started a blog about their walk from Erfurt, Germany to Rome (following Luther's own trail), in an effort to improve Catholic-Protestant relations. (Here I Walk via Tammeus)
• I wouldn't ordinarily include this but it's fun to imagine the religious implications of a civilization or even forms of life literally alien to our own. A new planet with the potential to sustain life has been discovered. If you think Columbian arrival in the New World is responsible for the growth of a number of religions, just wait. (Discovery)
• Why pray for famed, reviled, and respected atheist Christopher Hitchens to recover from cancer? A bunch of Texan religious leaders offer their thoughts. One pretty touching reflection on Hitchens from Jonathan Tran, Assistant Professor of Theological Ethics, Department of Religion at Baylor University: "Too bad this person isn't a Christian; he'd be a good one."(DMN)
• Yep, religious Americans are lacking in their knowledge about religion, as compared to atheists and agnostics. (Pew)
• In the meantime, people (some of whom wouldn't describe themselves as religious, like the person in this story's lede) are increasingly interested in studying religion. (BuffaloNews)
• CNN's Rick Sanchez is off the air after calling Jon Stewart a bigot, among other comments. (WSJ via GetReligion)

Religion News Roundup (January 15 2010)

Hello readers,

Here's what's been going on in religion recently:

• The writing of the Bible may have started a lot earlier than scholars previously thought. (Haaretz)
• The Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life has recently been full of useful statistics about beliefs and attitudes in the U.S. 16.1% of US adults identify as "unaffiliated." Does this mean a lot of agnostics/atheists, or that a significant number of people are fed up with religious organizations?
• Also worth seeing: How religious is your state? (Pew) and the increasingly common mixture of faiths (Pew).
• The recent battle over gay marriage here in D.C. (my hometown) has been leaving many questioning whether the Catholic Church is too influential, or at least, trying to be. Now, a Washington Post guest columnist is asking the same question over a different topic: the healthcare debate. (WaPo).

Have a great Martin Luther King Day weekend!

Religion News for 9/14/2009

Hello readers! On today in 1975, Elizabeth Ann Seton was canonized, becoming the first native-born American saint. In religion news today:

• Frequent pro-life protester James Poullion was killed on Friday. (Politics Daily-1-2)
• Congressman Keith Ellison, D-Minn., is the country's first Muslim congressman. He had a few interesting comments for the Religion Newswriters Association. (Articles of Faith)
• Indonesia's Aceh province has approved stoning to death for adultery and other harsh punishments for what some lawmakers see as amoral. Human rights activists, including the gay community, are protesting. (SFGate)
• Atheists and agnostics held a conference in Indianapolis over the weekend. (Louisville Courier-Journal)

And it's not news, but I thought this column in Sojourners was pretty poignant.

Religion News for 9/9/2009

Happy 9/9/09, readers!

• The Washington Post claims that the Christian Right is being resuscitated by the healthcare debate. (WaPo)
• Mahmoud Amedinejad has put a woman in his presidential Cabinet. (Miami Herald)
• Americans see Muslims as facing more religious discrimination than people of other faiths. (Pew)
• A traffic sign near the University of Utah was the victim of vandals/atheists. (Salt Lake Trib)
• The President of the Columbia Chapter of Americans United for Separation of Church and State has problems with state officials and public prayer. (The State)