President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama have concluded their trip to Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country and the president’s former childhood home. Although the Indonesia visit had been postponed twice because of erupting domestic American concerns, the Obamas also ended up leaving early, due to an actual erupting volcano. (Nature has a sense…

Elizabeth Smart, a sheltered, devout Mormon teenager from Salt Lake City, was abducted, raped and held against her will as the “plural wife” of self-proclaimed prophet Brian David Mitchell in June 2002. After reuniting with her parents and five siblings nine months later, she moved on with her life, including studying music at Brigham Young University and serving an…

From today’s Religion News Service roundup: In Spain over the weekend, Pope Benedict XVI defended traditional families and the rights of the unborn, attacking Spanish laws that allow gay marriage, fast-track divorce and easier access to abortions; the pontiff was met by 200 kissing gays and lesbians as he headed to dedicate Barcelona’s iconic basilica,…

Comedy Central hosts Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert didn’t skip a beat this week, coming back from their Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear to satirize the mid-term elections (aka “Indecision 2010”) — including live Election Night coverage. Check out Colbert’s take on the results, including Oklahoma’s approved constitutional amendment to forbid the state’s courts…

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