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(Updated at 1 p.m. EST with new AP link.) The Associated Press reports that the Supreme Court will allow a clergy abuse lawsuit against the Holy See to move forward, despite the Vatican’s claim of foreign sovereign immunity. The lawsuit, originally filed in 2002 in Oregon, seemed to falter last month, when a White House brief filed by Solicitor…

I can’t decide which of these religion stories has more entertainment value: disgraced lobbyist (and Orthodox Jew) Jack Abramoff now serving his debt to society by working at a kosher pizzeria in Baltimore, or China holding its first “Religious Games,” in which Buddhist monks played basketball in short robes and nuns lost graciously to Muslims at badminton. Thoughts? *Click here…

Just nine days after clergy abuse victim advocates held a protest in Belgium calling for more state and church action against pedophile priests and their protectors, police have raided the Belgian Catholic Church headquarters and the home of recently-retired Cardinal Godfried Danneels of Brussels. The investigators have seized Danneels’ personal computer and records related to an internal…

I wanted to post a round-up about Spain joining the list of European countries considering bans on identity-cloaking veils worn by a small percentage of devout Muslim women. Unfortunately, I’m having trouble finding articles that clearly explain the relevant angles: the current status of each of the proposed laws, the type of veil specified (hijab, burqa and/or niqab?), the…

I’ve only skimmed part of the hugely popular “Twilight” series — I already took a bite out of the vampire genre back before Anne Rice was a Christian author, followed up by my “Buffy” years — but I may just have to check out the third film when “The Twilight Saga: Eclipse” opens next week, if only because part of it takes place here…

I’m under the weather today, so here’s a trinity of faith-related news making traditional and blogosphere headlines in round-up form: 1. Gen. Stanley McChrystal, despite warnings from Muslim leaders in Afghanistan, has been removed from command (and replaced by Gen. David Petraeus) after his Rolling Stone interview reveals allegedly insubordinate remarks. For more:   Obama Relieves McChrystal of…

As a religion reporter who lived in Manhattan on Sept. 11, 2001, I’ve followed the Ground Zero mosque debate with interest. Given the city’s incredible diversity, not to mention the range of beliefs and cultures among America’s Muslims, it’s disappointing that so much of the dialogue, and by extension the coverage, makes this a black-and-white issue.  Is it a slap in the…

My post here last week about Boston University professor Stephen Prothero’s appearance on The Colbert Report to discuss his new book, God Is Not One: The Eight Rival Religions That Run The World — and Why Their Differences Matter, has made news of its own: fellow Beliefnet blogger Rod Dreher, then GetReligion’s Terry Mattingly, then Dreher again,…

A federal judge has sentenced Sholom Rubashkin, the former head of the Agriprocessors kosher meat plant in Postville, Iowa, to 27 years in prison on fraud charges stemming from a $27 million loss to his lenders. Rubashkin’s defense team and his supporters, including horrified members of his ultra-Orthodox Jewish base who believe anti-Semitism has tainted this process…

Check out Bono’s op-ed piece in Sunday’s New York Times, about the “extraordinary” apology offered last week by British Prime Minister David Cameron for the 1972 “Bloody Sunday” shootings of 14 unarmed demonstrators in Northern Ireland. While the U2 frontman’s activism has sometimes come across as random celebrity do-gooding, it’s well worth reading his thoughts…
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