As a new mom, I often improvise new verses to make those upteen renditions of “The Wheels on the Bus” more entertaining. Just when I thought I’d sung it all, a bunch of stories popped up this week about controversial bus ads — directing Muslims to leave Islam in New York, Detroit and Miami, calling Iran’s President…

Pope Benedict’s upcoming trip to Cyprus, a majority Greek Orthodox country, has church leaders on both sides hoping the island’s first papal visit helps continue to improve Catholic-Orthodox relations, about a thousand years after the Great Schism split the church into eastern and western factions. (As I wrote last week, most Cypriots don’t seem much impressed by the pontiff’s…

Today’s scheduled federal sentencing on bank fraud charges of Sholom Rubashkin, head of the now-defunct Agriprocessors kosher meat plant in Postville, Iowa, has been postponed until June 22 while his state trial on 83 counts of child labor violations continues. Many American Jews, particularly the Rubashkin family’s ultra-Orthodox support base, have paid close attention to this story…

This has turned into Gay Faith News Wednesday! Guess I’ll run with it: While American lawmakers appear poised to lift the ban on gays in the military, they’re getting an earful from religious groups on both sides of the debate. A sample of related stories: Jewish groups urge repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (JTA) Repealing…

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