In Mexico, public school officials rejected a Catholic bishop’s deeply confusing claim that the country’s sex education program makes it more difficult for priests to remain celibate or respect children. One health group said the statement “borders on the pathetic.” A blasphemy law that protects the six official religious traditions in Indonesia from being “distorted” was upheld by the constitutional court Monday on the grounds that it is “vital to religious harmony,” according to The Associated Press. Meanwhile, the Malaysian government is arguing against a court decision that controversially allows Christians to use the word “Allah,” citing national security concerns.
The New York City Museum of Jewish Heritage, with its many exhibits dedicated to the Holocaust, could be the new hotspot for Orthodox Jewish singles to meet, according to Jewcy.com.
Honoring the separation of church and state, Republican legislators in Florida are sponsoring a measure that would repeal a ban on public dollars going to religious groups and allow teachers to pray with children. Commenting on the Tea Party movement, Jim DeMint gave a quick history lesson, saying, “A lot of our founders believed the American Revolution was won before we ever got into a fight with the British. It was a spiritual renewal.” The Supreme Court will be deciding if Christian groups that exclude non-Christians and gays should be allowed on college campuses.
Stacy L. Harp at Active Christian Media opined on RFID technology, whether or not Obama is a Christian, and the difference between abortion and breaking an iPad during her radio program Monday, saying “How can anybody not see that the stage is being really set for the end of times?”
In Baltimore, an alleged cult run by “Queen Antoinette” instructed a woman to starve her son if he did not say “Amen” before a meal. Following the death of her son, the woman has been given a suspended sentence and probation. A controversial religious figure in India claims a video showing him in a sexual act with two women is fake. The swami, who has a huge following in southern India and missions in several countries, was arrested on obscenity charges and has since stepped down from his leadership position “to live a life of spiritual seclusion for some indefinite time.”
Although scientists haven’t weighed in on the matter yet, an Iranian cleric blamed revealing clothes and sexually promiscuous women for Iran’s earthquakes. A Saudi cleric had to be let go this week after upsetting the religious police by saying “Mixing (between the sexes) is just natural and there is no good reason to ban it.” And in Turkey, gay rights activists interrupted a speech on gender equality after the speaker called homosexuality a “disease that needs treatment.”
