10. Have top U.S. military officers, Defense Department officials, and politicians say we’re in a religious war.

His ordination by the Episcopalian Church was greeted with both outrage and celebration in various parts of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

No matter what side of the abortion issue you fall on, there was plenty of interest surrounding Obama's Notre Dame commencement address.

"The enormous political clout wielded by evangelical Christians in the United States is usually seen from the outside as a coup for rightwing zealots against any agenda that might be called "progressive". But we should think again. The recent revelation that Michael Moore's Catholicism emerges in his latest film as a centrepiece of his critique of capitalism is really no surprise. The claim in Capitalism: A Love Story that free markets are inconsistent with Christianity has wrong-footed Moore's rightwing critics, but the right's bid to monopolise religion has been challenged for some time." Tags: Christian

An academic has claimed that the Bible passage saying God created the Earth has been mistranslated. Here are four other times when science and religion have clashed. Geocentrism: He has fixed the earth firm, immovable. (1 Chronicles 16:30) The idea that the Sun orbited the Earth – rather than the other way around – was the common position throughout antiquity. The Bible, in verses like the one above, seemed to support it.

"The state has more megachurches than anywhere else in the country, with the majority in the suburbs between Los Angeles and San Diego. Their upbeat approach is luring thousands each weekend. Once again, the Sunday faithful have packed the cavernous sanctuary at Shepherd of the Hills Church in the San Fernando Valley, clapping and swaying for Jesus as a band rocks the hall. "Come bless the Lord," the worshipers sing. "Praise his name to the ends of the Earth." Most churches would be thrilled to fill their sanctuaries any day of the year. Shepherd of the Hills, a nondenominational church in Porter Ranch, does it six times a weekend, attracting 8,000 people to its energetic services and offering a lesson about the growth of evangelical Christianity in California." Tags: Christian

Five decades ago, Paul F. Knitter, then a novice studying to become a Roman Catholic priest, would be in the seminary chapel at 5:30 every morning, trying to stay awake and spend time in meditation before Mass. Last Wednesday, at the same hour, he was sitting on his Zen cushion meditating in the Claremont Avenue apartment he occupies as the Paul Tillich Professor of Theology, World Religions and Culture at Union Theological Seminary in New York. A few hours later he was talking about his pointedly titled new book, “Without Buddha I Could Not Be a Christian” (Oneworld). The book is the outcome of decades of encounters with Buddhism — and of struggles with his own faith. Tags: Christian Buddhism

The official oracle couldn't make it; he's in L.A. But much of the rest of the Dalai Lama's unusual entourage is with the Tibetan spiritual leader as he moves around Washington this week. The monk-molecular geneticist known as the "happiest man in the world"? Here and apparently quite happy. Celeb-Buddhist Richard Gere? Of course. Beefy Tibetan bodyguards? In the front row. The Dalai Lama often calls himself a "simple monk," but he runs with a crew that's far from simple. Even his longtime translator, Thupten Jinpa, is a Cambridge philosophy PhD who left monkhood for marriage and now researches compassion and something called "neuroeconomics." Tags: Buddhism

It's time to abandon the strategy of global domination (military, economic or cultural) and seek homeland security through an ethos of generosity and genuine caring for the well-being of everyone on the planet and of the planet itself. First step: When President Obama comes to San Francisco's St. Francis Hotel on Tuesday, tell him to just say "no" to the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and instead launch a domestic and global Marshall Plan with the G-20 countries, each one dedicating 1 to 2 percent of its gross domestic product each year for the next 20 years, to once and for all end global and domestic poverty, homelessness, hunger, inadequate education, inadequate health care, and to save the global environment. This is what the Bible means when it instructs us: I have set before you life and death - choose life!

"American soldiers serving in Afghanistan are depressed and deeply disillusioned, according to the chaplains of two US battalions that have spent nine months on the front line in the war against the Taleban. Many feel that they are risking their lives — and that colleagues have died — for a futile mission and an Afghan population that does nothing to help them, the chaplains told The Times in their makeshift chapel on this fortress-like base in a dusty, brown valley southwest of Kabul. “The many soldiers who come to see us have a sense of futility and anger about being here. They are really in a state of depression and despair and just want to get back to their families,” said Captain Jeff Masengale, of the 10th Mountain Division’s 2-87 Infantry Battalion. “They feel they are risking their lives for progress that’s hard to discern,” said Captain Sam Rico, of the Division’s 4-25 Field Artillery Battalion. “They are tired, strained, confused and just want to get through.” The chaplains said that they were speaking out because the men could not." Tags: af-pak US Soldiers

"A German publishing house has backed out of printing a novel out of fear it would be judged as insulting to Muslims. Critics have accused the company of censorship and pandering to extremists. Droste Verlag said on Tuesday that it had cancelled the printing of a murder mystery, "To Whom Honor is Due" by Gabriele Brinkmann, because the author refused to alter passages in which a character makes derogatory remarks about the Koran. The story has attracted media attention, with German papers and pundits accusing the publisher of self-censorship and bowing to intimidation from extremists." Tags: Muslim

"Nearly one in four people worldwide is Muslim -- and they are not necessarily where you might think, according to an extensive new study that aims to map the global Muslim population. India, a majority-Hindu country, has more Muslims than any country except for Indonesia and Pakistan, and more than twice as many as Egypt. China has more Muslims than Syria. Germany has more Muslims than Lebanon. And Russia has more Muslims than Jordan and Libya put together. Nearly two out of three of the world's Muslims are in Asia, stretching from Turkey to Indonesia. The Middle East and north Africa, which together are home to about one in five of the world's Muslims, trail a very distant second. There are about 1.57 billion Muslims in the world, according to the report, "Mapping the Global Muslim Population," by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. That represents about 23 percent of the total global population of 6.8 billion. There are about 2.25 billion Christians, based on projections from the 2005 World Religions Database." Tags: Muslim

"When the Supreme Court takes up a religion case, it often prompts overheated charges: There is a war against Christianity under way; or civil liberties groups are trying to turn this into a secular nation. The court is scheduled to hear arguments on Wednesday in a case that raises none of these issues — even though Americans may well be treated to another round of scare stories. The narrow question is whether a large cross that has been placed on federal land violates the establishment clause of the First Amendment, the founders’ direction that there must be a wall of separation between church and state. The court should rule that it does." Tags: Supreme Court

"Lo and behold, the Bible has gotten too liberal, according to a group of conservatives. And it needs a little editing. That's the inspiration behind the Conservative Bible Project, which seeks to take the text back to its supposed right-wing roots. Yes, even scripture is not orthodox enough for the modern conservative. Not that it's the fault of the author(s), exactly. The group cites a few reasons why the Bible is too progressive: "Lack of precision in the original language ... lack of precision in modern language" and "translation bias in converting the original language to the modern one.""

"With matters of faith there's always plenty left open to interpretation. There may be no scientific way to characterize something as deeply personal as religious belief in this country. Still, this weekend's Parade Magazine tries to do that in a new survey. Martha Teichner looks at the findings, and some surprising perspectives, in our Cover Story."

"The Supreme Court refused on Monday to block the release of documents generated by lawsuits against priests in Connecticut for alleged sexual abuse. The justices turned down a request by the Roman Catholic diocese in Bridgeport. Several newspapers are seeking the release of more than 12,000 pages from 23 lawsuits against six priests. The records have been under seal since the diocese settled the cases in 2001. Courts in Connecticut have ruled that the papers should be made public. The decision ends a legal battle that dragged on for years and could shed light on how recently retired New York Cardinal Edward Egan handled the allegations when he was Bridgeport bishop. " Tags: Supreme Court Sex Laws Sex Scandal

"In an attempt to gain favor with China, the United States pressured Tibetan representatives to postpone a meeting between the Dalai Lama and President Obama until after Obama's summit with his Chinese counterpart, Hu Jintao, scheduled for next month, according to diplomats, government officials and other sources familiar with the talks. For the first time since 1991, the Tibetan spiritual leader will visit Washington this week and not meet with the president. Since 1991, he has been here 10 times. Most times the meetings have been "drop-in" visits at the White House. The last time he was here, in 2007, however, George W. Bush became the first sitting president to meet with him publicly, at a ceremony at the Capitol in which he awarded the Dalai Lama the Congressional Gold Medal, Congress's highest civilian award. " Tags: Dalai Lama

"This year, Yom Kippur was celebrated by Jews around the world on September 28th. As the holiest day of the Jewish calendar approached, Israeli bloggers took to the internet to share their thoughts, feelings, and hopes for the new year. Non-Jewish readers will note that Rosh HaShana is the Jewish New Year, while Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement: a fast day 10 days after Rosh HaShana. " Tags: Judaism

"A photograph of the Iranian president holding up his identity card during elections in March 2008 clearly shows his family has Jewish roots. A close-up of the document reveals he was previously known as Sabourjian – a Jewish name meaning cloth weaver. The short note scrawled on the card suggests his family changed its name to Ahmadinejad when they converted to embrace Islam after his birth. The Sabourjians traditionally hail from Aradan, Mr Ahmadinejad's birthplace, and the name derives from "weaver of the Sabour", the name for the Jewish Tallit shawl in Persia. The name is even on the list of reserved names for Iranian Jews compiled by Iran's Ministry of the Interior."

"Gallup Daily tracking for the month of September found 64% of U.S. Jews approving of the job Barack Obama is doing as president, significantly higher than the 52% average among national adults in September, and also higher than was seen among Catholics, Protestants, and Mormons. Only nonreligious Americans equal Jews in their support for the president." Tags: Judaism

"Elizabeth Smart, testifying Thursday at a hearing in Salt Lake City for the man accused of abducting her in 2002, said he "used religion to get what he wanted." Smart, 21, described for U.S. District Judge Dale Kimball how Brian David Mitchell took her at knifepoint from her home when she was 14, The Salt Lake Tribune reported. Smart said Mitchell forced her to hike to his home, where his wife, Wanda Eileen Barzee, forced her to change from her pajamas into a robe and Mitchell performed a marriage ritual, the newspaper said. "After that, he proceeded to rape me," Smart testified during the hearing to determine Mitchell's competency to stand trial. Mitchell has been diagnosed with a delusional disorder. Smart said Mitchell raped her three to four times a day for the nine months she was held captive and claimed he was a prophet of God. "He used religion to get what he wanted," she testified. "He had an excuse for everything he did with a religious side to it."

"The European Court for Human Rights has fined Russia for refusing to register Scientology churches in the cities of Surgut and Nizhnekamsk as religious groups. The Strasbourg court’s statement says the country has broken Articles 9 and 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and must pay €10,000 for punitive damages and another €10,000 in legal costs, RIA-Novosti news agency reports." Tags: Scientology

"For decades now, liberals have been agonizing because conservatives seem to win even when polls show that the public generally disagrees with them. In their postmortems, liberals have placed blame on the way they frame their message, or on the right-wing media drumbeat that drowns out everything else, or on the right's co-opting of the flag, Mom and apple pie, which is designed to make liberals seem like effete, hostile foreign agents. It's understandable that liberals prefer to think of their subordination as a matter of their own inadequacies or of conservative wiles. Theoretically, you can learn how to improve your message or how to match wits with adversaries, and a lot of liberal hand-wringing has been dedicated to doing just that. But it is becoming increasingly clear that liberals haven't just been succumbing to superior message control, or even to a superior political narrative (conservatives' frontier individualism versus liberals' communitarianism). They are up against something far more intractable and far more difficult to defeat. They are up against religion. Perhaps the single most profound change in our political culture over the last 30 years has been the transformation of conservatism from a political movement, with all the limitations, hedges and forbearances of politics, into a kind of fundamentalist religious movement, with the absolute certainty of religious belief."