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The Church of England, the home base of the global Anglican Communion, has moved closer to approving female bishops, more than 30 years after its U.S. Episcopal Church began ordaining women. (The CoE began ordaining women priests in 1994; Anglican churches in the U.S., Australia, New Zealand, Canada and Cuba already have women bishops.) The…

The Swiss have just denied the U.S. government’s request to extradite Oscar-winning filmmaker and accused child rapist Roman Polanski, apparently on a legal technicality. The Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) has weighed in, denouncing the decision: This is a travesty. Our hearts go out to anyone who was hurt by Polanski and…

Presbyterian leaders voted to allow gay clergy, but not gay marriage, during the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) General Assembly last week. But PBS’s Religion & Ethics Newsweekly reports that the measure now goes to the presbyteries, or local juriscdictions, which have previously rejected resolutions to ordain gays and lesbians. The Associated Press reports: Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is ranked…

There were a lot of quirky religion news stories with serious undertones this week, ranging from a cussing Catholic priest ministering to Mexican gangsters to the appointment of a Muslim mayor in a strongly Orthodox Jewish suburb of New York City. Iran even banned the mullet, among other decadent “un-Islamic” Western men’s hairstyles. But, I’ve got to give…

Check out this Newsweek column by religion editor Lisa Miller, about the high cost of being Jewish. I’ve noticed this myself, through friends and in my reporting on Judaism: synagogue fees and Hebrew school tuition can be pretty pricey, that’s not even counting private day schools, summer camps and other activities considered optional for some Jews,…

Last month, I wrote about how the disastrous oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico had prompted environmental soul-searching, particularly among Christians and adherents of nature-based religions (Native Americans, Pagans, etc.) who have been offering up prayers and rituals to help heal the earth. National Catholic Reporter has published an oil spill hymn, written by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette,…

It seems that Paul the Octopus might be omniscient after all — the eight-legged oracle correctly predicted Spain would beat Germany in today’s FIFA World Cup semifinal, to advance to Sunday’s final against the Netherlands. (No word yet on whether any religious groups object to the potential for sea creature idolatry here; then again, sports-related…

Pope Benedict is off to Castel Gondolfo, the papal summer residence 27 miles southeast of Vatican City, for the rest of the month. (The 136-acre estate is actually larger than Vatican’s own city-state.) Presumably, he will use this time to get some rest, after a rather harrowing “Year for Priests,” and perhaps write another book. The Vatican is still open…

The Dalai Lama turned 75 today, celebrating with hundreds of cheering followers in Dharmsala, India, where they have lived in exile since fleeing Tibet after the failed 1959 uprising against China. His fans, Buddhist and otherwise, around the world are also wishing him a happy birthday. It’s a bittersweet milestone, however, given that the aging…

It’s been less than a week since President Obama took the podium at American University to make the case for comprehensive immigration reform — a speech that resonated with Catholics, Jews, evangelicals and mainline Protestants — and the clergy involved in the interfaith movement for new legislation used the July 4 holiday to preach on this issue to…
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