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The Westboro Baptist Church, a small hate group predominantly comprised of the Phelps family of Kansas, still has the right to picket at military funerals with signs like “Thank God for Dead Gay Soldiers” and “God Hates Fags,” asserting its claim that troop deaths are divine punishment for America’s tolerance of homosexuality and other “sins.” A federal…

With President Obama throwing his constitutional law support behind the proposal to build an Islamic cultural center (community center, mosque, etc.) a few blocks from Ground Zero, the debate seems to have just gotten even more heated. Given that some Americans — presumably including those staunchly opposed to this project — still think he’s a closet Muslim,…

With all the panic lately about gay marriages resuming in California and mosques proposed near Ground Zero and elsewhere, plus Muslims scared that this year’s timing of the end of Ramadan will be interpreted as some kind of Sept. 11 celebration, it’s refreshing today to turn to a simpler kind of fear: Paraskevidekatriaphobia, or for those of…

Ramadan, the holy Muslim month of reflection and daytime fasting, started yesterday. (This was not acknowledged during my Fox & Friends debate about the “Ground Zero Mosque” — perhaps I should have snuck in a cheerful “Ramadan Kareem” greeting to any Muslim viewers, instead of just raising my eyebrows in astonishment, after Pamela Geller’s attempt to equate…

Nothing like a summer vacation to lift your spirits, especially after an especially stressful winter and spring. Pope Benedict, currently staying at the papal summer residence of Castel Gondolfo, has just gotten another reason to relax after his scandal-plagued Year for Priests: the three plaintiffs in a Kentucky clergy sex abuse lawsuit against the Vatican, who…

Here’s the clip of my appearance on Fox & Friends this morning, briefly discussing why I think the 9/11 NYC bus ads against Park51 (formerly called Cordoba House, inaccurately smeared as the “Ground Zero Mosque”) are bad advertising at best, grossly offensive at worst. They had me debating Pamela Geller, of Stop Islamization of America. The…

Update: I’ll be appearing on the Fox & Friends morning show at about 8:15 a.m. Wednesday morning (August 11), along with Stop Islamization of America’s Pamela Geller, to discuss this issue. The New York Times reports that some New York City buses will soon display ads opposing the construction of Cordoba House/Park51 (see prior posts) near Ground Zero,…

Vocal atheist (among other things) Christopher Hitchens is gravely ill, with esophageal cancer. After his diagnosis became public two months ago, people, particularly Christians, wondered whether it would be appropriate to pray for the author of God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything. Hitchens says he doesn’t mind, but remains an avowed atheist. In fact,…

People reports that Julia Roberts, who was raised Christian, is now “definitely” Hindu. Presumably, she felt a spiritual connection to the faith while filming Eat Pray Love in India. According to the magazine: The entire Roberts-Moder family, she reveals, goes to temple together to “chant and pray and celebrate. I’m definitely a practicing Hindu,” says…

The Senate has approved the nomination of U.S. Solicitor General Elena Kagan, 50, to the Supreme Court. With Kagan, it’ll be the first time the court has three female justices, three Jewish justices, and no Protestants. Catholic News Agency reports that Kagan’s confirmation is “deeply troubling” to pro-life leaders. The story doesn’t note that six of the…
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