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October 18th, 2010
09:18 PM ET
Megachurch Crystal Cathedral Ministries seeks bankruptcyThe Southern California megachurch Crystal Cathedral Ministries will enter bankruptcy as it faces lawsuit-filing creditors and a rapid decline in donations due to the recession, church officials announced Monday. An unspecified small number of creditors have sued the church and obtained writs of attachment, said church spokesman John Charles. The church had sought a voluntary moratorium with vendors to allow "an equitable repayment plan" under the oversight of the Credit Managers Association of California, but negotiations didn't move fast enough to satisfy creditors, Charles said. The ministry in Garden Grove, California, is seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization. 
October 18th, 2010
04:42 PM ET
Justice Department stands behind controversial Tennessee mosqueThe U.S. Justice Department filed a legal brief Monday stating its support of the continued construction of a controversial mosque in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, that was targeted by arsonists in August. In the friend-of-the-court brief - filed in response to a lawsuit brought by local landowners against Rutherford County, Tennessee - the department argued that practicing Islam is a freedom protected under the First Amendment of the Constitution. "A mosque is quite plainly a place of worship, and the county rightly recognized that it had an obligation to treat mosques the same as churches, synagogue, or any other religious assemblies," said Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general for civil rights. 
October 18th, 2010
03:23 PM ET
Defense asks court to delay Utah polygamist's extradition to TexasEditor's Note: CNN's Ashley Hayes files this report Attorneys for Utah polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs are asking a court to delay his extradition to Texas, where he faces charges including aggravated sexual assault of a child, until Utah authorities decide whether to retry him. "Mr. Jeffs, although presumed innocent, has now been incarcerated for more than four years on charges that, given the [Utah] supreme court's opinion clarifying the law in Utah, will be difficult if not impossible for the state to sustain," defense attorneys wrote in the motion filed in Utah's Third District Court earlier this month. "The state is punting, using the [Uniform Criminal Extradition Act] as an offensive line to protect its weakened prosecution, buying time until it can figure out what to do next in its now frantic effort to defeat Mr. Jeffs and the unpopular religion he represents," the motion said. 
October 18th, 2010
12:43 PM ET
D'oh! Vatican declares Bart and Homer Simpson CatholicHomer Simpson - perhaps the most profane character and worst father ever to headline a mainstream American television program - is Catholic, the Vatican's official newspaper has declared. "Few know it, and he does all he can to hide it. But it is true," Luca Possati writes in Sunday's Osservatore Romano. OK, Homer snores through the Rev. Lovejoy's sermons. Yes, he relentlessly humiliates his evangelical Christian neighbor Ned Flanders. But the show is one of the few in American life that takes religion seriously, a Jesuit is arguing - from grace before meals to an (admittedly off-kilter) belief in the afterlife. 
October 18th, 2010
12:09 PM ET
Donald Miller’s 'Blue Like Jazz' set to filmDonald Miller’s Christian memoir "Blue like Jazz" is finally poised to become a film. A month ago, Miller announced that plans for the film version of the book had been scrapped because filmmakers couldn’t get enough funding. The film has been anticipated for years. Miller is a popular author who is in demand among multiple audiences: evangelicals, progressives and “emergent” church folks who don’t easily fit into any category.
October 18th, 2010
10:25 AM ET
Reverend: If Heaven is integrated, why not churches?Editor's Note: CNN's Soledad O'Brien looks at how some are fighting debt from the pulpit in "Almighty Debt: A Black in America Special," premiering at 9 p.m. ET on October 21. The Rev. Mark Whitlock's church practices what he calls the 11th commandment: "Thou shalt not be boring." Christ Our Redeemer African Methodist Episcopal Church in Orange County, California, also practices something many other black churches don't: integration. "We're fully integrated in the workplace, schools, public restaurants everywhere, except the church," Whitlock told CNN. "It's still the most segregated place on Sunday in the United States. Our goal is to do what heaven has already done. Heaven is fully integrated." But most churches aren't. Nine of 10 churches are segregated, according to an analysis by Christopher P. Scheitle and Kevin D. Dougherty published in the August addition of the journal Socialogical Inquiry. For the purposes of the paper, "segregated" meant 80 percent of a church's members were of one race. "People choose churches where they feel comfortable. Maybe they get challenges there, but they're going for the comfort," says Dougherty, a sociology professor at Baylor University in Texas. 
October 18th, 2010
08:32 AM ET
Pope: Church feels 'shame and regret' for abuseCatholic priests who sexually abused children "disfigured their ministry" and caused the Catholic Church "profound shame and regret," Pope Benedict XVI wrote Monday, in one of his strongest statements to date on the scandal facing the Vatican. " What has happened should make us all the more watchful and attentive," the pope wrote in an open letter to men studying to be priests. But he insisted that it is still good to become a priest and that celibacy still "makes sense." 
October 18th, 2010
12:40 AM ET
Freed Chilean miners return to 'Camp Hope' for MassAbout a dozen or so of the 33 miners freed in Chile this week after spending more than two months underground returned Sunday to the mouth of the mine to offer thanks during a private Mass. For many of the miners, it was the first time back since their dramatic Wednesday rescue that was watched by the world. Just the miners, their families and a handful of local officials were invited to attend the service. 
October 18th, 2010
12:30 AM ET
Jewish museum makes novel decision on whether to close for SabbathCNN's Dan Gilgoff filed this report: Before it could open its doors in Philadelphia next month, the new National Museum of American Jewish History had to resolve a classic Jewish American predicament: how to treat Saturdays, the Jewish Sabbath. If the museum remained open for the Sabbath - called Shabbat - the institution would be violating Jewish law, which forbids work and financial transactions on that day. But if the museum closed for Shabbat, it would prevent the institution from carrying out its mission of sharing the story of American Judaism with visitors on what's likely to be the highest traffic day of the week. |
  About this blog
The CNN Belief Blog covers the faith angles of the day's biggest stories, from breaking news to politics to entertainment, fostering a global conversation about the role of religion and belief in readers' lives. It's edited by CNN's Daniel Burke with contributions from Eric Marrapodi and CNN's worldwide news gathering team.  |
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