By Laura Koran, CNN

Here's the Belief Blog’s morning rundown of the top faith-angle stories from around the United States and around the world. Click the headlines for the full stories.

From the Blog:

CNN: Catholic Archdiocese of Washington rebukes Georgetown on Sebelius speech
The Archdiocese of Washington, the Catholic Church’s authority in the nation’s capital, is rebuking another Catholic icon, Georgetown University, the oldest Catholic college in the United States. The conflict is over the university’s Public Policy Institute’s invitation to Kathleen Sebelius, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, to be its 2012 award ceremony speaker this weekend.

President Barack Obama at an Easter prayer breakfast this year.

CNN: In face of faith-based attacks, Obama campaign hires faith outreach director
Just as it confronts fallout with some religious communities over President Barack Obama’s newly expressed support for same-sex marriage, the Obama re-election campaign is hiring a religious outreach director, it confirmed Tuesday. Michael Wear, who currently serves as executive assistant to the executive director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, will join the Obama campaign in Chicago as faith vote coordinator, a campaign official said.

Tweet of the Day:

"There's not a lick of Catholic doctrine that would forbid men and women from playing baseball against each other." es.pn/L8aske

—
Sarah Posner (@sarahposner) May 15, 2012

Enlightening Reads:

Haaretz: Court rules Judaism, not place of birth, is grounds for Israeli citizenship
The Haifa District Court on Tuesday rejected an appeal submitted by Professor Uzzi Ornan, who sought to compel Israel's Interior Ministry to recognize his citizenship based on the fact that he was born in Israel, rather than on the grounds that he was Jewish.

Religion News Service: Vatican settles with Benetton over pope-kissing ad
The Vatican announced on Tuesday (May 15) it had settled a lawsuit against Italian clothing group Benetton for using an image of Pope Benedict XVI in one of its advertisement campaigns. The image had been modified to show Benedict kissing Sheikh Ahmed Mohamed El-Tayeb, imam of Cairo's renowned al-Azhar Mosque.

The Washington Post: Most popular baby names have biblical origins
The list of the country’s most popular baby names for 2011, released Tuesday by the Social Security Administration, revealed that for new parents, God is in. Among the top 10 names for baby boys, four are biblical. For girls, variations on biblical names were also popular, with Isabella (the Spanish version of Elizabeth, John the Baptist’s mother) Ava (a variation on Eve) and Abigail (an Old Testament character) making the top 10.

Quote of the Day:

When I was standing there on that corner, I didn't have no idea that anything like this would have happened, but I still had a smile to give. I still had this god-given golden voice. You know? I had those things, and I never let–lost hope with having them, so I prayed about it. Every day the prayers got more and more abundant. And then eventually, the stealing became less. The crack smoking became less. As I was standing there, I was used to smoking $250 a day worth of crack. I could make that money instantly. But god said you stand on that corner and you give me reverence right there [….] So every day is a challenge. Keep the faith. Keep the hope and keep the initiative to do better.

Ted Williams, author of “A Golden Voice: How Faith, Hard Work, and Humility Brought Me From The Streets To Salvation," in an interview with CNN’s Piers Morgan. Williams, who struggled with drug addiction, was homeless when a passerby captured his smooth radio-announcer voice in a camera-phone video that soon went viral on YouTube. Read more here.

Opinion of the Day:

CNN: My Take: What the Bible really says about homosexuality
Daniel A. Helminiak who was ordained a priest in Rome, is a theologian, psychotherapist and author of “What the Bible Really Says about homosexuality" and books on contemporary spirituality. He is a professor of psychology at the University of West Georgia.

Lynette (Felicity Huffman), Gaby (Eva Longoria), Susan (Teri Hatcher) and Bree (Marcia Cross) tried to be good neighbors.

CNN: My Take: 'Desperate Housewives' wrestled with big Christian issues
Danielle Elizabeth Tumminio is an ordained Episcopal Church priest and author of "God and Harry Potter at Yale: Teaching Faith and Fantasy Fiction in an Ivy League Classroom."

Join the conversation…

CNN: Evangelical leader Tony Perkins knocks Rand Paul's 'gay' remark
You may disagree with it, but you shouldn’t make fun of it. That’s what conservative Family Research Council president Tony Perkins told CBS’s "Face the Nation" on Sunday about U.S. Sen. Rand Paul’s arguably derogatory use of the term “gay.”

Washington (CNN) - The Archdiocese of Washington, the Catholic Church’s authority in the nation’s capital, is rebuking another Catholic icon, Georgetown University, the oldest Catholic college in the United States.

The conflict is over the university’s Public Policy Institute’s invitation to Kathleen Sebelius, the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, to be its 2012 award ceremony speaker this weekend. The decision drew immediate ire from Catholic groups who see Sebelius, a Catholic, as someone who is using her office to violate religious liberty.

In a statement Tuesday, the Archdiocese of Washington called the decision unfortunate and even charged that the Public Policy Institute was supporting a “radical redefining of ministry.”

“Given the dramatic impact this mandate will have on Georgetown and all Catholic institutions, it is understandable that Catholics across the country would find shocking the choice of Secretary Sebelius, the architect of the mandate, to receive such special recognition at a Catholic university,” reads the statement. “It is also understandable that Catholics would view this as a challenge to the bishops.”

According to the archdiocese, the heart of the issue is that “the selection of a featured speaker whose actions as a public official present the most direct challenge to religious liberty in recent history.”

Catholics groups have taken particular issue with the HHS mandate that religious employers offer health insurance coverage that includes access to contraceptives and birth control services. The Catholic Church teaches that use of contraception and abortion are morally wrong.

Seven states, along with a handful of religious organizations, have filed a lawsuit against the federal government over the issue.

Georgetown University President John J. DeGioia had issued a statement attempting to create some distance between the university and the contraception issue.

“The invitation to Secretary Sebelius occurred prior to the January 20th announcement by the Obama Administration of the modified healthcare regulations,” reads the statement. “The Secretary’s presence on our campus should not be viewed as an endorsement of her views. As a Catholic and Jesuit University, Georgetown disassociates itself from any positions that are in conflict with traditional church teachings.”

However, DeGioia did support her invitation to campus.

“We are a university, committed to the free exchange of ideas,” read that statement. “We are a community that draws inspiration from a religious tradition that provides us with an intellectual, moral, and spiritual foundation. By engaging these values we become the University we are meant to be.”

The archdiocese shot back. “Contrary to what is indicated in the Georgetown University President’s statement, the fundamental issue with the HHS mandate is not about contraception. As the United States Bishops have repeatedly pointed out, the issue is religious freedom,” its statement said.

“ Secretary Sebelius’ mandate defines religious ministry so narrowly that our Catholic schools and universities, hospitals and social service ministries do not qualify as “religious enough” to be exempt,” the statement continued. “This redefinition of religion penalizes Catholic organizations because they welcome and serve all people regardless of their faith. Ironically, because of Georgetown’s commitment to open its doors to Catholic and non-Catholic students alike, the university fails to qualify as a religious institution under the HHS mandate.”

After the uproar over the Sebelius selection first unfolded, HHS spokesman Keith Maley highlighted the former Kansas governor’s credentials as the reason she was selected.

"As a state legislator, insurance commissioner, governor and now cabinet secretary, Secretary Sebelius’ message will be about honoring the achievements of these students who are devoting their careers to public policy," said HHS spokesman Keith Maley.

Georgetown’s Washington, D.C. location has made it the location of a number of high-profile political speeches in the last year. Many of these have led to protests from both conservative and liberal wings of the politically diverse Catholic Church.

Just last month, a budget speech by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.), a Catholic, led vocal criticism from 90 members of the Georgetown staff. The group sent a letter that questioned the budgets Catholic principles and its emphasis on cutting social safety net program.

“We would be remiss in our duty to you and our students if we did not challenge your continuing misuse of Catholic teaching to defend a budget plan that decimates food programs for struggling families, radically weakens protections for the elderly and sick, and gives more tax breaks to the wealthiest few,” read the letter.

This is not the first time that a Catholic university’s decision to invite an Obama White House representative to speak has elicited a negative reaction from Catholic groups. In 2009, after President Obama was selected to speak at the University of Notre Dame commencement, Catholic organizations protested the selection.

During the speech, Obama addressed the abortion issue.

"Each side will continue to make its case to the public with passion and conviction," the president told the Fighting Irish graduates. "But surely we can do so without reducing those with differing views to caricature."

– CNN’s Sally Holland contributed to this report.

By Daniel A. Helminiak, Special to CNN

President Barack Obama’s support of same-sex marriage, like blood in the water, has conservative sharks circling for a kill. In a nation that touts separation of religion and government, religious-based arguments command this battle. Lurking beneath anti-gay forays, you inevitably find religion and, above all, the Bible.

We now face religious jingoism, the imposition of personal beliefs on the whole pluralistic society. Worse still, these beliefs are irrational, just a fiction of blind conviction. Nowhere does the Bible actually oppose homosexuality.

In the past 60 years, we have learned more about sex, by far, than in preceding millennia. Is it likely that an ancient people, who thought the male was the basic biological model and the world flat, understood homosexuality as we do today? Could they have even addressed the questions about homosexuality that we grapple with today? Of course not.

CNN’s Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest stories

Hard evidence supports this commonsensical expectation. Taken on its own terms, read in the original languages, placed back into its historical context, the Bible is ho-hum on homosexuality, unless – as with heterosexuality – injustice and abuse are involved.

That, in fact, was the case among the Sodomites (Genesis 19), whose experience is frequently cited by modern anti-gay critics. The Sodomites wanted to rape the visitors whom Lot, the one just man in the city, welcomed in hospitality for the night.

The Bible itself is lucid on the sin of Sodom: pride, lack of concern for the poor and needy (Ezekiel 16:48-49); hatred of strangers and cruelty to guests (Wisdom 19:13); arrogance (Sirach/Ecclesiaticus 16:8); evildoing, injustice, oppression of the widow and orphan (Isaiah 1:17); adultery (in those days, the use of another man’s property), and lying (Jeremiah 23:12).

But nowhere are same-sex acts named as the sin of Sodom. That intended gang rape only expressed the greater sin, condemned in the Bible from cover to cover: hatred, injustice, cruelty, lack of concern for others. Hence, Jesus says “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 19:19; Mark 12:31); and “By this will they know you are my disciples” (John 13:35).

How inverted these values have become! In the name of Jesus, evangelicals and Catholic bishops make sex the Christian litmus test and are willing to sacrifice the social safety net in return.

The longest biblical passage on male-male sex is Romans 1:26-27: "Their women exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, and in the same way also the men, giving up natural intercourse with women, were consumed with passion for one another."

The Greek term para physin has been translated unnatural; it should read atypical or unusual. In the technical sense, yes, the Stoic philosophers did use para physin to mean unnatural, but this term also had a widespread popular meaning. It is this latter meaning that informs Paul's writing. It carries no ethical condemnation.

Compare the passage on male-male sex to Romans 11:24. There, Paul applies the term para physin to God. God grafted the Gentiles into the Jewish people, a wild branch into a cultivated vine. Not your standard practice! An unusual thing to do — atypical, nothing more. The anti-gay "unnatural" hullabaloo rests on a mistranslation.

Besides, Paul used two other words to describe male-male sex: dishonorable (1:24, 26) and unseemly (1:27). But for Paul, neither carried ethical weight. In 2 Corinthians 6:8 and 11:21, Paul says that even he was held in dishonor — for preaching Christ. Clearly, these words merely indicate social disrepute, not truly unethical behavior.

In this passage Paul is referring to the ancient Jewish Law: Leviticus 18:22, the “abomination” of a man’s lying with another man. Paul sees male-male sex as an impurity, a taboo, uncleanness — in other words, “abomination.” Introducing this discussion in 1:24, he says so outright: "God gave them up … to impurity."

But Jesus taught lucidly that Jewish requirements for purity — varied cultural traditions — do not matter before God. What matters is purity of heart.

“It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles,” reads Matthew 15. “What comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles. For out of the heart come evil intentions, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a person, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile.”

Or again, Jesus taught, “Everyone who looks at a women with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). Jesus rejected the purity requirements of the Jewish Law.

In calling it unclean, Paul was not condemning male-male sex. He had terms to express condemnation. Before and after his section on sex, he used truly condemnatory terms: godless, evil, wicked or unjust, not to be done. But he never used ethical terms around that issue of sex.

As for marriage, again, the Bible is more liberal than we hear today. The Jewish patriarchs had many wives and concubines. David and Jonathan, Ruth and Naomi, and Daniel and the palace master were probably lovers.

The Bible’s Song of Songs is a paean to romantic love with no mention of children or a married couple. Jesus never mentioned same-sex behaviors, although he did heal the “servant” — pais, a Greek term for male lover — of the Roman Centurion.

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Paul discouraged marriage because he believed the world would soon end. Still, he encouraged people with sexual needs to marry, and he never linked sex and procreation.

Were God-given reason to prevail, rather than knee-jerk religion, we would not be having a heated debate over gay marriage. “Liberty and justice for all,” marvel at the diversity of creation, welcome for one another: these, alas, are true biblical values.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Daniel A. Helminiak.

Washington (CNN) – Just as it confronts fallout with some religious communities over President Barack Obama’s newly expressed support for same-sex marriage, the Obama re-election campaign is hiring a religious outreach director, it confirmed Tuesday.

Michael Wear, who currently serves as executive assistant to the executive director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, will join the Obama campaign in Chicago as faith vote coordinator, a campaign official said.

Wear, who was raised a Catholic but now attends a nondenominational, evangelical-style church in Washington, has spearheaded White House outreach to evangelicals and has focused on policy issues like adoption throughout Obama’s first term.

A source close to the campaign said the decision to hire a faith-focused staffer was provoked largely by continuing criticism of the administration from America’s Roman Catholic bishops and conservative Catholic organizations.

“I don’t think the campaign originally had this position in its box,” said a source close to the campaign, who refused to speak on the record because the person was discussing sensitive issues.

“But persistent opposition from Catholic groups sent the message that this was something (the campaign) had to think about longer-term,” the source said.

Sources close to the campaign say the timing of Wear’s hiring was not dictated by the controversy over Obama’s support for legalized same-sex marriage. After Obama announced his support, he hosted a conference call with 13 pastors Wednesday to talk about his views.

The Catholic bishops and conservative Catholic groups have attacked Obama over a proposed rule that would require all employees, including those at Catholic institutions other than churches, to have access to free contraception. Those camps have also alleged that the White House is waging a broader assault on Americans’ religious liberty.

Wear’s hiring was first reported Monday by the Religion News Service.

CNN’s Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest stories

One activist who is close to the Obama White House said the decision to hire Wear, 24, speaks to the campaign’s demographic calculus.

“They could have gone with someone who’s been in Washington for 30 years,” said Tim King, the communications director for Sojourners, a progressive evangelical group.

“The campaign chose to go with a young Christian, and it indicates the Demographic they want to reach,” King said. “A lot of older evangelicals didn’t like candidate Obama in 2008 and don’t like him today. The campaign is making a concerted effort to go after young Christians.”

Joshua DuBois, the executive director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, directed religious outreach for the Obama campaign in 2008. Before that, it was unusual for Democratic presidential campaigns to hire faith outreach staffers.

In the aftermath of the 2004 election, when George W. Bush won re-election with the help of many so-called values voters and when religion-related issues like same-sex marriage figured into race, Democrats began stepping up outreach to religious voters.

Last year, the Democratic National Committee hired a minister, the Rev. Derrick Harkins, to lead its faith outreach efforts.

– CNN’s Jessica Yellin contributed to this report.

By Danielle Elizabeth Tumminio, Special to CNN

(CNN) – A neighbor recommended I watch "Desperate Housewives" when it premiered eight years ago, and I was hooked from the moment I saw that snake hand Eve the apple during the opening credits.

I was a grad student at the time, poor and living in an attic apartment, studying Christianity and trying to figure out who I was and who I would become.  Every Sunday night, my neighbor and I got together to cook dinner – her meals were always perfectly prepared and mine were always burnt – and watch the adventures of four neighbors, Susan, Lynette, Bree and Gaby, as they negotiated the quirky dynamics of their relationships.

Watching "Desperate Housewives," which had its series finale Sunday night, became a non-negotiable ritual that nothing interfered with, in part because I treasured my neighbor’s inspired cooking and in part because I was convinced this show had something to say to people of faith such as myself.

Just as Christians struggle with Jesus’ command to love our neighbors, the characters in "Desperate Housewives" struggled with that same principle. From the first moment of the first episode, when the seemingly perfect neighbor Mary Alice Young shoots herself in the head, leaving Lynette, Gaby, Susan and Bree wondering why they didn’t know something was wrong, to Bree’s alcoholism, Lynette’s battle with cancer and the murder of Susan’s husband, "Desperate Housewives" has been about a lot more than the antics of four eccentric women.

CNN’s Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest stories

It has been about how much these eccentric women know their neighbors and how much they ought to care for them.

A long time has passed for Susan, Bree, Gaby and Lynette since that first episode. Bree married the sleazy Orson, Susan became a grandmother, Lynette found out Tom had a child from a previous relationship and Gaby confronted her stepfather Alejandro, who raped her, and whose stalker behavior led her husband, Carlos, to murder him and her friends to cover up the crime.

That last plotline dominated the final season of "Desperate Housewives" as the neighbors tried to hide Alejandro’s murder from the cops. When they failed at that, Bree allowed herself to be put on trial alone so that her friends might remain unharmed. In Sunday’s concluding episode, the women’s loyalty was pushed to its most desperate limits, and what it means to love your neighbor was literally put to the test.

In the two-hour finale, viewers saw that loving one’s neighbor isn’t always graceful or easy.  (Spoiler alert!). Renee betrayed Bree, testifying against her at the trial not because she necessarily believed in her guilt but because it was in her own best interest. Wanting to buy time so her husband wouldn’t confess to murdering Alejandro, Gaby stuck a knife in her husband’s jacket so security workers at the courthouse would be sure to detain him.

And after a divorce primarily provoked by her insatiable perfectionism and lack of appreciation for her husband, Lynette jeopardized her newfound reconciliation with her other half because she was tempted by a New York job offer.

Not the best examples of loving thy neighbor for people of faith, which makes one wonder if the women of Wisteria Lane were more successful at demonstrating how not to love your neighbor than they were at providing healthy role models.

And yet the conflicts that arose in their relationships developed because the characters are flawed like us. Despite their limits, they were trying, in an intimate and authentic way, to be neighbors to one another. As Susan said toward the end of the final episode, “It’s funny, some people never get to know the folks next door. They share a fence and nothing else, and we’ve shared everything.  How did we get to be so lucky?”

Perhaps, then, what the ladies of Wisteria Lane offer the faithful is the reality that loving one’s neighbor is challenging because it demands giving of your whole person. It requires sharing what you have with another – sharing time, emotions, stories, money, secrets, fears and vulnerabilities. It means sharing the burnt dinners as well as the perfectly prepared ones.

Living that way carries the hazard of hurt precisely because it asks that we be willing to share the most desperate, shameful parts of our lives in order to be truly loved and to love truly in return.

As Susan leaves her house in the final moments of "Desperate Housewives," the narrator says that the ghosts of those whose lives played out on Wisteria Lane are watching her. "They watched her as they watch everyone,” the narrator tells the audience, “always hoping the living could learn to put aside rage and sorrow, bitterness and regret.  These ghosts watch, wanting people to remember that even the most desperate life is oh so wonderful.”

And that might be the enduring lesson "Desperate Housewives" leaves us with: The reality that in one way or another, we are all desperate.  But when, even in our desperation, we do our best to love our neighbor by giving of ourselves, our lives may seem to be a lot less desperate after all.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Danielle Elizabeth Tumminio.

By Laura Koran, CNN

Here's the Belief Blog’s morning rundown of the top faith-angle stories from around the United States and around the world. Click the headlines for the full stories.

From the Blog:

CNN: Source: Obama campaign hires faith outreach director
Just as it confronts fallout with some religious communities over President Barack Obama’s newly expressed support for same-sex marriage, the Obama re-election campaign is hiring a religious outreach director, an activist close to the campaign said Monday.

Family Research Council President Tony Perkins says the issue of same-sex marriage is not "a laughing matter."

CNN: Evangelical leader Tony Perkins knocks Rand Paul's 'gay' remark
You may disagree with it, but you shouldn’t make fun of it. That’s what conservative Family Research Council president Tony Perkins told CBS’s "Face the Nation" on Sunday about U.S. Sen. Rand Paul’s arguably derogatory use of the term “gay.”

CNN: Dalai Lama silent on monk self-immolations
The Dalai Lama refused to answer a question Monday about whether Tibetan monks should stop setting themselves on fire to protest China's occupation of Tibet. "No answer," he said, saying it was a sensitive political question and that he had retired from politics.

Tweet of the Day:

Should churches express views or keep out of politics? Divisions on issue among religious groups - pewrsr.ch/GIw3eE #religionandpolitics

—
Pew Forum (@pewforum) May 14, 2012

Belief on TV:

Enlightening Reads:

The Washington Post: Man on a mission: Mitt Romney in France
A largely Catholic country with a culture built on wine, epicureanism and harsh skepticism, France does not seem fit for an American religion whose hallmarks are teetotalism, self-denial and blind faith. The Venn Diagram of France and Mormonism consists of two entirely separate circles. And 1966 - the year Mitt Romney arrived - was one of the worst times for any American Mormon to try to convert French people.

The Jewish Daily Forward: Orthodox Rally for a More Kosher Internet
An upcoming ultra-Orthodox mega-rally in New York about the dangers posed by the Internet has a promotional Twitter account. The event’s box office has an email address. Speeches will be live streamed. And one of the event’s organizers owns a Web marketing company specializing in search engine optimization. This isn’t your average anti-Internet demonstration.

KATU News: Beaverton church sues family after they criticize it online
A church pastor is suing a mother and daughter for $500,000 because they gave the church bad reviews online. The family being sued left the church a few years ago and Julie Anne Smith says she and her family were shunned and couldn't understand why. So she went online and wrote Google and DEX reviews of the church and then started a blog. "I thought, I'm just going to post a review," Smith said. "We do it with restaurants and hotels and whatnot, and I thought, why not do it with this church?"

The Los Angeles Times: As Stockton struggles, churches hold drive-thru prayers
The news in Stockton hasn't exactly been great lately: City leaders are considering filing for bankruptcy protection and Stockton's homicide rate soared last year, prompting local police to erect billboards calling it "the second most dangerous city in California." But over the weekend, in the midst of a citywide effort to crack down on crime, Stockton church leaders hoped a little extra prayer would help. Ten churches scattered throughout Stockton participated in Saturday's drive-thru prayer event.

The Huffington Post: The Dalai Lama, Arianna Huffington Interview: His Holiness Discusses Compassion, Science, Religion And Sleep
His Holiness the Dalai Lama sat down with Arianna Huffington at St. Paul’s Cathedral in London to celebrate his Templeton Prize, and discuss the importance of a productive conversation between spirituality and science. The Dalai Lama's role in fostering positive interactions between religion and science is one of the reasons why he was honored by the prize.

Excerpt of the Day:

A reasonable observer would conclude that these proclamations send the message that those who pray are favored members of Colorado's political community, and that those who do not pray do not enjoy that favored status.

From a report in which Judge Steven Bernard, part of a three judge appeals panel in Colorado, explains court’s decision to deem National Day of Prayer proclamations unconstitutional. Read more here.

Join the conversation…

Delman Coates at Mt. Ennon Baptist Church is among a minority of black ministers in Maryland who have endorsed gay rights.

CNN: Is the black church guilty of spiritual hypocrisy in same-sex marriage debate?
Some people wonder if the black church will punish President Barack Obama for announcing support for same-sex marriage. Here’s another question: Why would the black church cite scripture to exclude gays when a similar approach to the Bible was used to enslave their ancestors?

Washington (CNN) – Just as it confronts fallout with some religious communities over President Barack Obama’s newly expressed support for same-sex marriage, the Obama re-election campaign is hiring a religious outreach director, an activist close to the campaign said Monday.

Michael Wear, who currently serves as executive assistant to the executive director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, will join the Obama campaign in Chicago as Faith Vote Director, according to James Salt, a Catholic activist who is close to the Obama campaign and White House.

A White House source confirmed Wear’s departure on Monday but could not say whether he is joining the Obama campaign. The campaign did not respond to a request for comment on Monday. Wear’s hiring was first reported Monday by the Religion News Service.

CNN’s Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest stories

"Michael has served the president extremely well and he will be a great asset to the campaign," said Salt, the organizing director for Catholics United, a progressive group.

Sources close the White House say the timing was not dictated by the controversy over Obama’s support for same-sex marriage. After Obama announced his support for legalized same-sex marriage, he hosted a conference call with 13 pastors on Wednesday to talk about his views.

Wear, who was raised a Catholic but now attends a nondenominational, evangelical-style church in Washington, has spearheaded White House outreach to evangelicals and has focused on policy issues like adoption throughout Obama’s first term

Joshua DuBois, the executive director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, directed religious outreach for the Obama campaign in 2008. Before that, it was unusual for Democratic presidential campaigns to hire faith outreach staffers.

In the aftermath of the 2004 election, when George W. Bush won re-election with the help of many so-called values voters and when religion-related issues like same-sex marriage figured into race, Democrats began stepping up outreach to religious voters.

Last year, the Democratic National Committee hired a minister, the Rev. Derrick Harkins, to lead its faith outreach efforts.

–CNN’s Jessica Yellin contributed to this report.

Washington (CNN) – You may disagree with it, but you shouldn’t make fun of it.

That’s what conservative Family Research Council president Tony Perkins told CBS’s "Face the Nation" on Sunday about U.S. Sen. Rand Paul’s arguably derogatory use of the term “gay.”

“The president, you know, recently weighed in on marriage,” Paul, a Kentucky Republican, remarked to the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, a conservative group, on Friday. “And, you know, he said that his views were evolving on marriage. And call me cynical, but I wasn’t sure that his views on marriage could get any gayer.”

The audience burst into a laughter that echoed all the way to the Sunday talk show tables, where opposing sides weighed in, from gay rights activist and singer Clay Aiken to Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus.

But Perkins’criticism of Paul’s comments was noteworthy because Perkins is one of the nation’s best-known opponents of same-sex marriage and of gay rights more broadly.

CNN’s Belief Blog: The faith angles behind the biggest stories

Condemning Paul’s remarks on Sunday, Perkins said the debate over homosexuality and same-sex marriage is not “a laughing matter.”

“I don’t think this is something we should joke about,” Perkins said on "Face the Nation." “We are talking about individuals who feel very strongly one way or the other, and I think we should be civil, respectful, allowing all sides to have the debate.”

While Perkins’ comments caught many by surprise, Aaron McQuade, director of news and field media for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, said he doesn’t believe Perkins was defending the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community.

“I think he was saying that he takes this issue so seriously that it’s not okay to make light of it, even if you also oppose it the way he does,” McQuade said in a phone interview.

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“This is not a man who represents the 40-whatever percent of the country that does not support marriage equality,” McQuade said. “This is a man who represents a tiny, tiny, fraction of Americans who believes, as he does, that gay people have an emptiness within them. That they are abnormal.”

The Family Research Council did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.

McQuade also said it was hard to tell what Paul meant by using the word “gayer.” “If that same comment was made by someone with a more pro-LGBT history, it likely would not be taken negatively,” he said.

On CNN’s "State of the Union" on Sunday, Perkins told chief political correspondent Candy Crowley that opposition to same-sex marriage shouldn’t be the “central point” of presumptive Republican nominee Mitt Romney’s campaign. But Perkins also admitted frustration with Capitol Hill Republicans who are portraying the issue as a political distraction.

“Defending the family, the cornerstone of civilization, is not a distraction,” he said, while stressing that the economy and jobs are also key issues in this election. “It should be a priority, and it should be a part of what Mitt Romney talks about.”

LONDON (CNN) – The Dalai Lama refused to answer a question Monday about whether Tibetan monks should stop setting themselves on fire to protest China's occupation of Tibet.

"No answer," he said, saying it was a sensitive political question and that he had retired from politics.

He handed over political leadership of the Tibetan community to an elected prime minister last year.

Self-immolation is becoming an increasingly common form of protest for Tibetans who want genuine autonomy from China and accuse Beijing of repression.

More than 30 of them took place in the last year in China, Tibetan advocacy groups say.

The Dalai Lama was speaking in London, where he is accepting the Templeton Prize, an award worth £1.1 million ($1.74 million) which honors "outstanding individuals who have devoted their talents to expanding our vision of human purpose and ultimate reality."

The Dalai Lama will give $1.5 million to the aid organization Save the Children, he said.

He is giving another $200,000 of the prize money to the Mind & Life Institute, and $75,000 to his own monastic community.