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When a faith-related story falls off the radar, sometimes I try to catch up up with it, Lewis Black-style. (In all seriousness, it amazes me how short our news attention span is — when’s the last time you heard about the earthquake in Haiti, the genocide in Darfur, etc.?) So, at an event with NBC’s “Meet the Press” host David Gregory…

The Senate vote on a military bill that would have included the repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” allowing openly gay troops to serve in the U.S. armed forces (as do our allies, including England and Israel), didn’t get enough support to overcome a fillibuster today — to the relief of conservative Christians, among others.…

While I continue to sift through all the coverage of Pope Benedict’s now-concluded visit to the United Kingdom, here are some links to other religion news stories that have made headlines in the last 24 hours: 1) Today is “Everybody Pray for Hitchens Day,” but ailing atheist Christopher Hitchens is ignoring the religious well-wishers, opting to continue fighting his…

Remember that Time magazine cover story I blogged about a few months ago, “Why Being Pope Means Never Having to Say You’re Sorry?” Pope Benedict seems to feel otherwise, given the number of apologies he has made lately — including two big ones during his papal visit to the United Kingdom, which concluded today as “a…

The Pacific Northwest may be the least churched part of America, but two big religion stories come from my backyard today: a new Catholic archbishop heading to Seattle, and The Seattle Weekly announcement that “Everybody Draw Mohammed Day” cartoonist Molly Norris has gone into hiding for her own safety. For more on Bishop James Peter Sartain, the…

Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, starts at sundown today, and once again, Jews who have wronged Stephen Colbert in the past year can apologize via his “Atone Phone” hotline: 1-888-OOPS-JEW. (Not to be confused with 1-888-MOPS-KEY, 1-888-MOSS-LEW or 1-888-MOS-PLEX.) Here’s a clip of Joan Rivers calling in a few days ago. You can…

Talk about an ice cream headache: an ad for Antonio Federici gelato, featuring a heavily pregnant nun spooning up the frozen treat paired with an “immaculately conceived” tagline, has been banned by Britain’s Advertising Standards Authority, prompted by Catholic outcry on the eve of Pope Benedict’s visit to the United Kingdom. To see the ad…

Pope Benedict’s four-day visit to England and Scotland kicked off today, and with the exception of the island’s excited Catholics and a warm welcome from British Prime Minister David Cameron and Queen Elizabeth, public sentiment apparently ranges from angry to apathetic. In other words, not so easy to boil this down to a punchy headline! It gets even more…

After months of will-they-or-won’t-they, the French government has banned face-cloaking veils such as the Muslim niqab and burqa (check Religion News Service for the distinctions). The law will go into effect in six months, assuming it gets the final stamp of approval this month from France’s Constitutional Council and doesn’t get challenged before the European…

Outreach magazine has come out with its list of America’s largest and fastest-growing churches. More than one million Americans attend the top 100 largest churches (at 384 worship sites). About half of these churches identify themselves as “nondenominational.” The top five: 1. Lakewood Church, Houston, Texas, Joel Osteen, (43,500) 2. North Point Community Church, Alpharetta, Ga.,…
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