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You don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist or anti-Catholic to notice that the Vatican is fast-tracking Pope John Paul II for sainthood. With his beatification ceremony set for May 1, the process is racing along even faster than the one for Mother Teresa, due to a combination of popular demand and perhaps an effort…

Passover begins tonight, and Jews are vigorously debating — what else is new? — the proper way to observe this major holiday, with controversies ranging from the dietary (whether gin, ciabatta and quinoa are kosher-for-Passover) to the literal (how to make the Haggadah reading personally relevant without sacrificing too much of the ritual text). A few more  interesting…

I was going to save these fun Easter-related links for Good Friday, but I’m sure there will be plenty more entertaining religion news by then. Happy Palm Sunday! Check out the Community Christian Church’s take on that infamously awful “Friday” pop song, riffing on the excitement as Easter Sunday approaches. (My son jams to the beat!  Disclaimer: He’s a…

As another possible sign of the (May 21?) apocalypse, we now have Soapocalypse: ABC has canceled longtime soap operas “All My Children” (home of Susan Lucci, with notable alums including Kelly Ripa and Christian Slater) and “One Life to Live.”  I haven’t seen a faith-related story on this yet, but check out this Religion Dispatches…

Today marks the 150th anniversary of the start of  the American Civil War.  (Do they still teach it as the War Between the States or the War of Northern Aggression in southern schools?  Sigh.)  While this 19th century bloodshed wasn’t directly a faith conflict — not compared to Europe’s Catholics vs. Protestants, India’s Hindus vs. Muslims, etc.,…

Today marked the beginning of France’s controversial ban on the burqa — not to be confused with the niqab, hijab or chador, as I’ve previously noted here (and CNN reminds us), but rather the clothing that completely hides a Muslim woman’s face. However, I’ve now seen reports that the ban DOES also extend to the niqab,…

Perhaps a bit morbid for a Fun Friday, but I still got a kick out of this story — partly because I’m still debating whether to buy this gadget now, or wait for the inevitable upgrade: iPad 2 sold out in the afterlife as Chinese pray for the dead (Reuters) During the Qingming festival, also known…

As the April 29 royal wedding rapidly approaches, is it creepy or sweet to pray for Prince William and Catherine “Kate” Middleton to stay faithful to each other? Well, it can’t hurt, right? (Especially not with some people actually betting on divorce.) After all, with all the scandal that has plagued Britain’s House of Windsor in…

Yesterday marked the 43rd anniversary of the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Not to be confused with MLK Day in mid-January, which marks the civil rights leader’s birthday.) As PBS’s Religion & Ethics Newsweekly reported on the 40th anniversary, King was killed while in Memphis helping sanitation workers who were on strike trying…

Here’s some food for thought: Should all Christians, or at least evangelical Protestants, apologize on behalf of the actions taken by Florida’s reportedly unrepetant, enthusiastically Quran-burning pastor Terry Jones — which prompted violent protests in Afghanistan over the weekend — or the hatemongering Westboro Baptist Church (now planning to picket Elizabeth Taylor’s funeral!), or abortion clinic-bombers…
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