By Dan Merica, 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: At church where Houston got start, congregants gather to mourn
As the sun rose the morning after Whitney Houston's death, congregants at the Baptist church where she began her singing career as a member of the junior gospel choir to mourn, pray and share stories of the pop superstar.

CNN: Mrs. Obama urges faith-based groups to join healthy eating campaign
First Lady Michelle Obama made a stop at the Northland Church in Florida Saturday, bringing her healthy-eating campaign to a crowd that included religious organizations affiliated with a broad swath of faiths and congregations.

Reaction to contraception compromise has been mixed.

CNN: Catholic bishops group denounces contraception compromise
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops denounced President Barack Obama's compromise over whether to require religiously affiliated institutions to provide contraception to female employees, saying the proposal raises "serious moral concerns," according to a statement posted on its website late Friday.

Belief on TV:

Nicki Minaj, LL Cool J get religious at the Grammys:

Award shows are a hotbed for outlandish outfits and revealing dresses. But who would have thought the 2012 Grammys would see someone wearing something that mixed a red nun’s habit and a little red riding hood costume?

Nicki Minaj, a Grammy nominated female rap artist, walked the red carpet on Sunday night wearing exactly that while strutting arm-in-arm with an older man dressed up as a bishop. And that was not the only religious reference during the show.

Rapper and host LL Cool J opened the show with a Christian prayer in honor of the late Whitney Houston.

“Heavenly father we thank you for sharing our sister Whitney with us. Today our thoughts are with her daughter, her mother and all of her loved ones. And although she is gone too soon, we remain truly blessed to have been touched by her beautiful spirit and to have her lasting legacy of music to cherish and share forever.”

And Minaj, who turned heads with her earlier wardrobe choice, upped the ante with her performance of “Roman’s Holiday” when she continued her religion themed night by simulating an exorcism on stage. The performance not only featured the aforementioned bishop, but Minaj was also backed up by a choir singing "Come All Ye Faithful."

As one might expect, the performance caused a stir. Some fans tweeted that they enjoyed the uniqueness of the performance, while others called the prime time exorcism "sacrilegious."

The Episcopal Church even fact checked Minaj by (@iamepiscopalian) retweeting“That priest was wearing an Anglican Collar in a confessional…I don't think so. Get it right #GRAMMYs.”

Enlightening Reads:

Catholic Sun: HHS mandate worries Catholic business owners
When President Barack Obama announced Feb. 10 that religious employers would not have to offer contraception and sterilization free of charge through their health plans, he made it clear that their insurance companies would still be compelled to do so.

Jewish Journal: Grandson of Auschwitz survivor takes the ice for Germany
More than 65 years ago Kurt Kaufmann was liberated from the Auschwitz concentration camp. This weekend his U.S.-born grandson, Evan Kaufmann, is taking the ice for the German national hockey team.

U.S. Catholic: How can Catholics deal with being ‘politically homeless’?
The question of which political party is more in line with the teaching of the Catholic Church is always bound to spark some heated debate. Some make the argument that a Catholic can never vote for a Democrat, while others say the Republicans are woefully out of touch with the church’s ideals on a number of social issues. So where does that leave Catholic voters?

Excerpt of the Day:

There are six bills aimed at undermining the teaching of evolution before state legislatures this year: two each in New Hampshire and Missouri, one each in Indiana and Oklahoma. And it's only February.

In an opinion piece, Katherine Stewart of the Guardian discuses what she calls “a disturbing trend” of anti-evolution bills trying to undermine public education. In Stewart’s opinion, these bills are reminiscent of previous attacks on evolution.

Today’s Opinion:

CNN: My Take: Why I’m a Catholic for contraception
I have been a Catholic my whole life. Baptized as a baby and confirmed in the seventh grade, I attended weekly catechism classes and received a Jesuit education. Never once did the opinion of the church on a person's use of contraceptives surface.

Washington Post: You can’t ‘compromise’ on religious liberty
Hasn’t it always been liberals telling us to keep religion out of politics, legislation and government? Now, our liberal president and his administration have proven that they are committed to trying to do just that. The federal government has targeted Catholics and pro-life religiously affiliated organizations, schools, and hospitals by using the power granted to the executive branch in ObamaCare.

Join the conversation…

CNN: Mixed Catholic reaction to revised White House contraception plan
As word trickled out of a White House compromise with Catholic groups on its rule around contraception coverage on Friday morning, administration officials took to the phones to sell the plan to religious leaders across the spectrum.

NEWARK, New Jersey (CNN) – As the sun rose the morning after Whitney Houston's death, congregants at the Baptist church where she began her singing career as a member of the junior gospel choir to mourn, pray and share stories of the pop superstar.

The Houston family has been "inseparable" from New Hope Baptist Church, Pastor Joe A. Carter said in an interview Saturday night, and Whitney would continue to visit throughout her life.

Carter led the congregation in a prayer service for Whitney Houston on Sunday morning, "petitioning the Lord on behalf of Whitney's daughter, her mother, and the entire Houston Family," according to a statement on the church's website.

Houston, 48, was found dead Saturday by her bodyguard at a Beverly Hills, California, hotel.

Whitney Houston's mom, Cissy Houston - herself a renowned gospel singer - was director of sacred music at the church for 54 years and is still a member there.

Asked whether he had spoken to Cissy Houston, Carter said Sunday he had, and "she needs our prayers and support."

"Whitney was a mother, a daughter, a sister, and that's the focus that we want to keep in front of everyone today, to continue to lift the family up and respect this time of grief."

Those arriving for the service Sunday were quiet and somber. Reporters were not allowed inside.

Whitney was born in Newark in 1963 and was soloing in the junior choir by age 11, according to the All Music Guide. "Whitney's mother and cousins nurtured her passion for gospel music since birth," according to Houston's official website. Her cousins include singers Dee Dee Warwick and Dionne Warwick, and her godmother was Aretha Franklin.

As a teenager, Houston would accompany her mother in concert.

A video posted on the Internet sharing site YouTube shows a young Houston singing the lead on the gospel song, "Have a Little Talk with Jesus," at the church.

The church's history is "deeply associated with the power of Whitney's voice and the influence that she's had, not only in this church but across the world," Carter said. "We're saddened at this loss."

New Hope Baptist began operating in a Newark home in 1903, originally led by a preacher from North Carolina.

"As the world mourns the loss of one of the all-time greats, we in Newark feel an especially deep sadness," Newark Mayor Corey Booker said in a statement Saturday night. "She went from a Newark church to the global stage, but she always remained a deep part of our pride and collective heart."

"This church, the church that Whitney grew up in, is calling for prayer for her daughter, Bobbi Kristina, her mother ... and the entire Houston family and Whitney's fans," Carter said, appealing for privacy on behalf of the church and Houston's family.

–CNN's Poppy Harlow, Deb Feyerick and Dan Gilgoff contributed to this report.

(CNN)–First Lady Michelle Obama made a stop at the Northland Church in Florida Saturday, bringing her healthy-eating campaign to a crowd that included religious organizations affiliated with a broad swath of faiths and congregations.

In her remarks at the Central Florida evangelical mega-church where Joel Hunter serves as pastor, the first lady made the case that religious organizations can be natural partners in her efforts to combat childhood obesity.

“Our faith communities don’t tend only to folks’ spiritual health but to their emotional and their physical health as well,” she said. “Think for a moment about the scripture that tells us that your bodies are temples given to you by God. That is a core teaching of so many of our faiths — a teaching that calls us to honor and nourish the bodies we’ve been blessed with, and to help others do the same.”

Read the full story from CNN's 1600 Report

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops denounced President Barack Obama's compromise over whether to require religiously affiliated institutions to provide contraception to female employees, saying the proposal raises "serious moral concerns," according to a statement posted on its website late Friday.

"Today's proposal continues to involve needless government intrusion in the internal governance of religious institutions, and to threaten government coercion of religious people and groups to violate their most deploy held convictions," the statement said.

Under the new plan announced by Obama Friday, religiously affiliated universities and hospitals will not be forced to offer contraception coverage to their employees. Insurers will be required, however, to offer complete coverage free of charge to any women who work at such institutions. Women who work at churches, though, will have no guarantee of such contraception coverage - a continuation of current law.

News of the compromise came after days of escalating partisan and ideological rhetoric over the divisive issue. The White House originally wanted to require hospitals and schools with religious ties to offer full contraception coverage. Many Catholic leaders and other religious groups strongly oppose any requirement for contraception coverage on theological grounds.

By Karalen L. Morthole, Special to CNN

I have been a Catholic my whole life. Baptized as a baby and confirmed in the seventh grade, I attended weekly catechism classes and received a Jesuit education. Never once did the opinion of the church on a person's use of contraceptives surface.

In high school, I was prescribed birth control to balance my hormones. I suffered from terrible mood swings that had negative effects on my relationship with my family and got me into trouble with teachers. I also experienced menstrual cramps so painful as to be debilitating; sometimes, they left me unable to move.

My mother, a devout Catholic, had no problem with my taking birth control, because she recognized the dramatic effects this simple medication had on my life. Birth control gave me a new, healthy and balanced way to live. As a 22-year-old woman, I am able to think more rationally because of birth control.

Teachers at the Jesuit high school I attended urged students to protect themselves when they became sexually active, to use condoms to stamp out the risk of contracting a viral sexually transmitted disease that would affect the rest of their lives. Some would criticize my teachers for that, but I thank them. My peers and I were taught by caring and realistic teachers with experience making decisions to promote their own health. Some had seen the horrors of sexually transmitted diseases.

CNN's Belief Blog – all the faith angles to the day's top stories

Birth control, condoms and emergency contraception have all served their purpose in my life, because each work in different preventative ways. Birth control has aided my mental health, giving me a clearer head; condoms have protected me from contracting diseases from sexual partners. Emergency contraceptives were there when I was uncertain about whether I’d become pregnant and needed reassurance. I’m not ready to raise a child on my own.

Even though the official Catholic Church teaches against contraceptives, I do not feel immoral using them. They’ve allowed me to live my life without the fear of unwanted pregnancies or deadly diseases.

My religion has played a large part of my life, laying the groundwork for my personal relationship with God. It has taught me how to respect others, be a human with integrity and help those in need. Catholicism is a beautiful religion that supports family values and tolerance of others and leads us to serve others, a teaching I’ve adapted into my everyday living. The Catholic Church does an exceptional job standing up for those who live in poverty and suffer injustices.

But on contraception, the Catholic bishops have taken a stance that violates the basic rights that affect millions of Catholics across the country and shows a lack of concern for women's health.

It is disheartening that the Catholic bishops were so opposed to the Obama administration's decision to require religious institutions like hospitals and colleges to provide their faculty, staff and students with access to reproductive health care, which includes birth control, emergency contraceptives and condoms. Even after the White House announced a revised policy Friday that exempts religious institutions from having to pay for the contraception coverage, at least one bishop voiced disgust. The U.S. bishops said in a statement Friday that it's "too soon to tell whether and how much improvement (there's been) on core concerns."

The bishops have gone so far as to threaten to cease health care coverage to the faculty and staff at my college if it’s forced to comply with the Affordable Health Care Act.

Even though the church will not support women's health needs and denies them opportunities to care for their physical and mental health, it does apparently condone other uses for condoms. In 2010, Pope Benedict XVI endorsed the use of condoms for male prostitutes, saying condoms “can be a first step in the direction of a moralization, a first assumption of responsibility,” and could help “in the intention of reducing the risk of infection.”

In my view, any sexual activity that spreads deadly diseases is sinful because it shows complete disregard for human health and human life. The Catholic Church believes that condoms negatively impact the sexual lives of men and women, preventing reproduction and the creation of life.

I believe that condoms are, in fact, pro-life. They help women and men act responsibly in regards to the spread of HIV/AIDS. Condoms also prevent unintended pregnancies that could result in abortions, another issue that the Catholic Church has strong views about.

As a Catholic, I stand with President Obama's decision to require religious institutions to provide access to contraceptives. I believe that birth control can be used by religious people without having a negative effect on someone’s faith. Catholics value human life. I believe that includes acknowledging the rights of women to take care of our bodies.

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Karalen L. Morthole.

Washington (CNN) – As word trickled out of a White House compromise with Catholic groups on its rule around contraception coverage on Friday morning, administration officials took to the phones to sell the plan to religious leaders across the spectrum.

Catholic officials say President Obama called New York Archbishop Timothy Dolan, President of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops, to explain the revised policy, which exempts religiously affiliated universities and hospitals for paying for no cost contraception for their employees but requires insurers to offer such coverage for for free to women who work at such institutions.

Dolan responded to the White House plan Friday afternoon in a statement saying the move was, "a first step in the right direction."

“While there may be an openness to respond to some of our concerns, we reserve judgment on the details until we have them," he added.

But other bishops were far more critical. "I think he's punting, just kicking the can down the road," Miami Archbishop Thomas Wenkis told CNN. "He's hasn't really addressed our concerns.  I think the only thing to do is... to take back the whole thing."

After hanging up with Obama Friday morning, Dolan quickly organized a conference call with other bishops nationwide, according to a source briefed on the calls. It's yet to be seen how the Catholic Church will greet the revised White House policy, but some conservative religious voices say they're not satisfied.

CNN's Belief Blog – all the faith angles to the day's top stories

Wenkis said the Miami Archdiocese pays an insurance company to cover its 5,000 employees and argued that if the insurance company is paying for and providing contraceptives, as the new compromise lays out, the church would still be paying for it.

"They're missing the point when they say this is about contraception," he said. "This is about religious freedom.  It's a sham to say contraception aren't widely available in this country."

But some Catholic groups applauded the White House announcement. Sister Carol Keehan from the Catholic Health Association said she is"very pleased" with the White House.

"Folks were extremely grateful for this," said James Salt, who heads the progressive group Catholics United, which is close to the White House.

Salt was on a White House call to religious leaders Friday morning that was led by Joshua DuBios, director of Obama's Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships.

"This is a solution that can be universally celebrated," Salt said. " There were groups on the call that have a very pro-choice world view and there was no dissent... We're putting out a full-throated endorsement of this."

Stephen Schneck, a professor from Catholic University who has advised the administration in the past, is also pleased with the new HHS policy.  "There was great enthusiasm on the call, a real sense of relief," he said, referring to the conference call with DuBois.

"I think [the administration] finally got it as a result of the fire storm...the religious liberty concerns, that's what turned the policy makers," he said.  "The level of solidarity with the bishops  in seeing this as a religious liberty issue is what I think turned the day."

In recent weeks, religious leaders loudly lobbied the White House on its plan to make religious institutions offer free contraception to employees through health insurance plans. Evangelicals and conservative Jews joined with Catholics in saying the policy was an intrusion of religious liberty.

"As long as the Obama portrayed this as a contraception issue they had a chance to win the pr battle," said Richard Land, head of public policy for the Southern Baptist Convention.  Despite the compromise, Land said the damage has been done.

"It'll be devastating with Catholics," he said, arguing that the president has "shown what he really believes."

The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which brought three lawsuits in federal court against the policy, denounced the White House change Friday as an “accounting gimmick.”

Becket said the new compromise doesn’t address the private religious groups and others who object the policy and still view the new policy as them paying for contraceptives, albeit through an insurer.

“Hundreds, if not thousands, of religious institutions are still left out in the cold and will be forced to violate their religious convictions,” said Hannah Smith, senior legal counsel for the Becket Fund, in a statement.

An administration official said the White House will convene meetings with religious leaders in coming days and that “this policy will be developed collaboratively so that the ultimate outcome works for religious employers, their workers and the public.”

President Barack Obama announced a compromise Friday in the dispute over whether to require full contraception insurance coverage for female employees at religiously affiliated institutions.

Under the new plan, religiously affiliated universities and hospitals will not be forced to offer contraception coverage to their employees. Insurers will be required, however, to offer complete coverage free of charge to any women who work at such institutions.

Female employees at churches themselves will have no guarantee of any contraception coverage - a continuation of current law.

Washington (CNN)–The battle over who should pay for contraceptives and how has been framed in the news media as Catholics versus the Obama White House.

When the administration announced religiously affiliated institutions would have a year to comply with a new policy that require them to pay for contraceptives through insurance plans, it was Catholic bishops who led the criticism, firing off angry letters to be read at Mass in parishes nationwide. That campaign appears to have worked, with the White House signaling it will announce a compromise on its rule on Friday.

But in pushing the White House to change the rule, Catholics were joined by a politically formidable religious group that's OK with contraception but increasingly sensitive about what they say is a government bent on secularizing the public square: evangelical Christians.

"I'm not a Catholic," California megachurch pastor Rick Warren wrote on his Twitter feed Tuesday, "but I stand in 100% solidarity with my brothers & sisters to practice their belief against govt pressure."

A survey released this week by the Public Religion Research Institute showed Catholics were evenly divided over the issue of government mandated contraception insurance for Catholic institutions. The White House touted the survey to reporters to show there was support for the measure among Catholics.

The same survey showed that white evangelicals are the religious group who voice the greatest opposition to the new policy from the Department of Health and Human Services.

"We do see white evangelicals pretty much right in line with the bishops on this one, while Catholics are actually more divided," said Daniel Cox, the director of research at the Public Religion Research Institute, a nonprofit and nonpartisan research group.

"White evangelicals are strongly in support of having these religiously affiliated institutions being exempted," Cox said.

Most evangelical and conservative Christians from Protestant backgrounds do not oppose the use of contraceptives, as official Catholic teaching does. The issue for these groups is what they see as a threat to religious liberty.

Samuel "Dub" Oliver, the president of East Texas Baptist University in Marshall, Texas, said in an interview Thursday that he was willing and ready to go to jail rather than comply with the policy because he said it would violate his school's religious liberty. "In the long history of Baptist leaders, we feel strongly about religious liberty," he said. "Many have gone to jail and many have died defending religious liberty for all."

While his university's health center provides oral contraceptives, or the birth control pill, it does not provide emergency contraceptives. "We specifically exclude those, because according to our conscience, that's an abortifacient that we don't want to provide under our [insurance] plan," he said.  Many abortion opponents have argued that emergency contraceptives like "the morning after pill" acts to be an abortifacient, a medicine that can induce abortions. Emergency contraceptives are a stronger dose of birth control and health providers make a distinction between them and the abortion pill RU-486.

"The deeper idea for us is the idea of religious liberty and government has crossed a boundary to require them to do something that violates their conscience," Oliver said.

Warren, who delivered the invocation at President Obama's inauguration, tweeted this week that he, too, would go to jail over the issue .

Warren has a large national following. The pastor of Saddleback Church in Southern California is also one of the best-selling authors of his generation with his book "The Purpose Driven Life."

"I'd go to jail rather than cave in to a government mandate that violates what God commands us to do," Warren tweeted this week. "Would you? Acts 5:29."

Warren was referencing the New Testament's Books of Acts, in which Jesus' apostles had been jailed for preaching in the Jewish temple and were brought before the religious leaders of the day. The apostles responded to the charges, "We must obey God rather than men."

One of the first legal challenges to the new Obama policy came from Colorado Christian University, a nondenominational university near Denver. In December, it filed a lawsuit with the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty challenging the HHS regulation as a violation of the school's First Amendment rights.

The Becket Fund, a conservative religious legal organization, represented  another college and the Catholic television channel EWTN in separate lawsuits against the policy.

Shapri LoMaglio, who heads government relations for the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities, which represents Colorado Christian and 114 other evangelical Christian schools in the United States, said the council's member schools actively lobbied members of Congress against the policy since its formal announcement last month.

"Our schools are very concerned. They see this as an infringement of religious liberties," LoMaglio said.

The Family Research Council, an evangelical group in Washington, also came out in full force against the policy. Calling the policy an "oppressive mandate" it pulled together members of Congress and those affected by the policy for a town hall-style webcast on Thursday evening.

The evangelical disdain for the policy may have a limited impact on the presidential election, said Cox, the pollster.

"This isn't a group likely to support Obama in the general election," he said. "The political implications are more for Catholics, in particular white Catholics. That is a group fairly evenly divided when it comes to this. When it comes to white evangelicals, three out of four are likely to vote for the eventual Republican nominee."

CNN's Brianna Keilar contributed to this report.

By Dan Merica, 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: Contraception controversy consumes D.C., campaign
Congressional Democrats and Republicans escalated their rhetorical war Thursday over a pending federal rule requiring religiously affiliated employers to provide full contraception coverage to women – one day after hints emerged of a possible compromise between the White House and conservative religious critics.

A same-sex marriage bill passed the Washington House and Senate. Rev. Mike Denton approves.

CNN: Opinion: Why I support gay marriage in Washington
Rev. Mike Denton writes that, “Fifteen years ago, gay and lesbian folks were still stepping gingerly around the words “wedding” or “marriage.” It didn’t feel safe and just didn’t seem to be worth the fight so words like “union service” or “commitment service” were used instead.” In a piece special to CNN, Denton writes why he gay marriage legislation in Washington state.

Belief on TV:

Tweet of the Day:

From @ReligionNewsNow: Boo! Evangelicals are much more likely to believe in ghosts (not the Holy Spirit) than other Christians ow.ly/8YRVe

Enlightening Reads:

Baptist Pres: Wash. gay ‘marriage’ bill goes to governor
Washington state Gov. Christine Gregoire is on the verge of signing a bill that would legalize gay "marriage," but voters in the state likely will get the last word.

The Guardian: Can a religion survive being stripped of its superstitions?
A recurring criticism I've face in this series is that I talk about religion but focus almost exclusively on the Judaeo-Christian tradition. In some ways that's fair, but given my concerns are with the broader features of religious belief, not the minutiae of doctrinal differences, I'm pretty confident that all or at least most of my main points apply to the monotheistic religions at least, and many are also relevant to others.

The Christian Post: Honor of Dishonor? Tebowing vs. Bradying
"Tebowing" is considered an expression of praise, and has even received its own definition: "to get down on a knee and start praying, even if everyone else around is doing something completely different." On the other hand, "Bradying" isn't being seen as necessarily giving off the same meaning as its counterpart.

Religion News Service: Anglican breakaway group confronts new power struggle
The saga of the Anglican Mission in the Americas sounds like the words to an old country song: "Why have you left the one you left me for?" Founded by breakaway Episcopal priests who left their former denomination because they felt it was too liberal, the Anglican Mission is now in the middle of another ugly church feud.

Quote of the Day:

Palestine has to become part of the American vocabulary in the way Americans learn about and digest information, like in the kinds of magazines you read in the Laundromat.

Sarah Schulman, a professor of English at the City University of New York, spoke at a conference for people who believe Israel, due to their relationship with Palestinians, should be boycotted. Schulman and other boycott organizers hope to make their movement more “alive, progressive, increasingly available,” than it has been in the past.

Today’s Opinion:

CNN: Opinion: Why I fight to uphold traditional marriage in Washington
Rev. Kenneth Hutcherson writes in an article special to CNN that he is a strong supporter of traditional marriage, “because I am a pastor of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I am a shepherd that is supposed to lead, feed and protect the flock. Anything the bible says is good for society, I stand on it and I will not compromise on it.”

Join the conversation…

GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum addresses a group of pastors Wednesday in McKinney, Texas.

CNN: 10 reasons religious conservatives love Rick Santorum
For all the attention paid to the clout of fiscally focused tea party conservatives and of the primacy of jobs in the 2012 election, Rick Santorum’s trifecta victories Tuesday night are a good reminder of the powerful role religious conservatives play in the GOP. They fueled Santorum’s wins in Missouri, Minnesota and Colorado – and his earlier victory in the Iowa caucuses.