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Guess I wasn’t kidding about having that “Jon Stewart curse” — a lot of faith-related news broke while I was on vacation, including the prayers and faith-based aid directed to Japan’s disaster recovery efforts, and the American Muslim community’s reaction to the congressional hearings on homegrown Islamic terrorism. (Incidentally, there were no signs of the tsunami…

There’s a lot of religion news expected over the next few days, including the ongoing fallout from the clergy abuse scandal in Philadelphia, tomorrow’s Ash Wednesday (kicking off Lent for Catholics and Protestants; it already began for Orthodox Christians with Clean Monday) and Thursday’s start of the controversial congressional hearings on homegrown Muslim terrorism. Unfortunately, I’ll be…

As Catholics prepare for Ash Wednesday and the Lenten season — a period of penitence and reflection — the Philadelphia archdiocese is getting hit with a major lawsuit, three weeks after a grand jury investigation concluded that it has continued to protect more than three dozen priests credibly accused of abusing children. From The New York Times:…

I’ve had a hard time picking just one “Fun Friday” topic to elaborate on in past weeks, but this time was easy: a revised Catholic Bible includes changing “booty” to “spoils of war” and “ideal wife” to “woman of worth.” USA Today has a good stand-alone story, also highlighted in GetReligion’s round-up on the topic. Some revisions were prompted by…

Religion reporters increasingly hear from Christian groups advocating positions that are politically more aligned with Democrats than Republicans, particularly on the environment, immigration and health care reform. I usually take this kind of thing with a pillar of salt during campaign season, however, since when the ballots are counted, most evangelicals and traditional Catholics still seem to vote their…

It’s inevitable that our 24-hour news cycle leaves even major stories slipping through the cracks — when’s the last time we heard about Haiti or the Gulf of Mexico oil spill? — so I appeciate it when there’s a chance to catch up on something that made headlines a whole two months ago — like…

It’s a bad news morning: Christian Pakistani Minister Shot Dead in Islamabad Ambush (Reuters) High Court Rules for Military Funeral Protesters (AP) Wow. Makes me wish I had stayed in bed longer, especially after an all-nighter with a sick toddler. . For a silver lining — though it doesn’t make up for an atrocious bit…

Belief Beat usually covers hard news or stories that make multiple headlines, but now that it’s March, let’s look back at a few interesting February features you may have missed: Gay Parenting Takes Off In Bible Belt (CNN Belief  Blog) Spanish Nun Leaves Convent Over Facebook (National Catholic Reporter) In an Amish Village, the SEC…

I’m glad I live on the West Coast now, so that I don’t have to stay up late to watch the Academy Awards anymore — especially when it’s a rather dull telecast, as it was this year. There has been some interesting faith-related news from the event and its aftermath, however, starting with Oscar winner Natalie Portman…

Stories about clergy abuse and honor killings have something interesting in common: the horror rarely seems to faze the truly faithful — or at least not the faithful who haven’t experienced it in their immediate circles. In my reporting and casual conversations, it seems the vast majority of Catholics/Muslims always agree that these are terrible but isolated cases…
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