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As a new mom, I often improvise new verses to make those upteen renditions of “The Wheels on the Bus” more entertaining. Just when I thought I’d sung it all, a bunch of stories popped up this week about controversial bus ads — directing Muslims to leave Islam in New York, Detroit and Miami, calling Iran’s President…

Pope Benedict’s upcoming trip to Cyprus, a majority Greek Orthodox country, has church leaders on both sides hoping the island’s first papal visit helps continue to improve Catholic-Orthodox relations, about a thousand years after the Great Schism split the church into eastern and western factions. (As I wrote last week, most Cypriots don’t seem much impressed by the pontiff’s…

Today’s scheduled federal sentencing on bank fraud charges of Sholom Rubashkin, head of the now-defunct Agriprocessors kosher meat plant in Postville, Iowa, has been postponed until June 22 while his state trial on 83 counts of child labor violations continues. Many American Jews, particularly the Rubashkin family’s ultra-Orthodox support base, have paid close attention to this story…

This has turned into Gay Faith News Wednesday! Guess I’ll run with it: While American lawmakers appear poised to lift the ban on gays in the military, they’re getting an earful from religious groups on both sides of the debate. A sample of related stories: Jewish groups urge repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (JTA) Repealing…

If you’re interested in learning more about the role that conservative religious leaders — including Pastor Lou Engle and other American evangelical Christians — have played in Uganda’s efforts to pass a harsh anti-gay law, check out tonight’s “Missionaries of Hate” episode of Vanguard, a documentary series on Current TV. (You may recognize it as Al Gore’s…

I wrote a story for Religion News Service yesterday about Georgia repealing a religious food labeling law specifying that kosher products must adhere to Orthodox Jewish standards. The law had been around for about 30 years, but was only challenged recently by a Conservative Jewish rabbi, with help from the ACLU. Similar laws have been…

The Dalai Lama recently completed a 10-day teaching tour of the United States (with guest appearance by Buddhist celebrity Richard Gere), and has shared some of idealism regarding the “common ground” between Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Islam in a New York Times op-ed piece. (I’m guessing he’s not a big fan of Stephen Prothero’s new book,…

Updated at 4:30 p.m. to add attorney responses: Some good news for Pope Benedict: the Obama administration, in a brief filed by Solicitor General and Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan, has sided with the Vatican in the 2002 Oregon lawsuit pending SCOTUS review over sex abuse claims, saying that the Holy See has diplomatic foreign sovereign immunity. (This doesn’t…

The Jews for Jesus movement, a controversial Christian group focused on converting Jews — highly offensive to some, understandably — has confused and fascinated me for years. Doesn’t being a Jew who believes in Jesus basically make you a Christian? (Weren’t all the disciples “Jews for Jesus,” by definition?) If I’m a baptized Christian, but find Shabbat traditions, Passover Seders and…

Like many “Lost” fans, I’m not sure what to think about last night’s series finale, but the show certainly continued to mine religious concepts — forgiveness, sacrifice, communion, purgatory, nirvana, etc. — until the very end, even literally gathering most of the characters in a church to say their final goodbyes. I was hoping to see…
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