It’s awards season, so there’s lots of celebrity news — and the religion beat is no exception. Recent headlines include music superstars like Justin Bieber and Lady Gaga using their fame to weigh in on contentious values issues like abortion (Bieber is extremely pro-life) and homosexuality (Gaga, who campaigned for the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell repeal, is…

A new poll has asked Americans how they feel about U.S. Rep. Peter King’s plans for a Congressional hearing on the threat of homegrown Islamic terrorism. In my story for Religion News Service, I noted that most Americans haven’t heard about the hearings yet, but a slim majority likes the idea — though a larger…

Journalists can be a cynical bunch. (Perhaps we see too much, though there’s no excuse for some of the awful comments about CBS correspondent Lara Logan, who is recovering from a beating and sexual assault she suffered while reporting in Egypt.) Maybe that’s why I’m rarely surprised, though generally intrigued, by stories about falls from grace. Two such religion news items…

Any Mu-Bu’s out there? (Muslim Buddhists… Not quite as catchy as Bu-Jews or Cashews, but maybe I’ll start a trend here.) There’s twice as much reason for you to celebrate today: it’s the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday as well as Nirvana Day, the commemoration of the Buddha’s death. In contrast to the usual “Chrismukkah” type stories that proliferate whenever…

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