Under God

By Michelle Boorstein

This is unconfirmed, but the entertainment show "Inside Edition" says it will air an interview today with Miss USA Rima Fakih, a Lebanon-born Muslim, who says she thinks it's a bad idea to build a Muslim center so close to Ground Zero.

Here's how the show characterizes the view of 24-year-old Fakih (who was raised in Michigan):

"I totally agree with President Obama with the statement on Constitutional rights of freedom of religion. I also agree that it shouldn't be so close to the World Trade Center. We should be more concerned with the tragedy than religion."

By Elizabeth Tenety

Does the religion of a president matter?

A Pew Research Center survey showed that nearly 20 percent of Americans believe that President Obama is a Muslim (he is not), and only one-third of Americans believe he is a Christian (he is).

By Michelle Boorstein

I had a very interesting chat yesterday with Daniel Pipes, who is considered one of the most senior scholars who focus on radical Islam.

While Pipes is certainly considered hostile to Islam by many Muslim-Americans and Arab-Americans, he pointed out to me that until 2000, he would get called out very publicly several times a month by watchdog groups like the Council on American-Islamic Relations, for things he said or wrote. Now, he said, he's fallen off the radar because of "anti-Islam" bloggers and activists.

"This anti-Islamic agitation has been growing over time. It's much stronger than in 2001," he said. "The two sides are shooting at each other and don't notice me anymore."

Pipes says while he shares a concern about radical Islam with today's crop of bloggers, he considers them "anti-Islam" because in his view they see the faith and it scripture as fundamentally problematic for a pluralistic, democratic society like the United States and unchangeable.

Pipes said the bloggers have brought an unsophisticated tone to the debate, "which I think is unfortunate."

Russia is on fire, and Pakistan is under water. Scientific studies have not convinced the climate change-deniers to act to save the planet. Perhaps an imaginative game change is what is called for. "Global weirding" is one such imaginative breakthrough, but let's not rule out the fire and flood imagery of Armageddon, especially as apocalyptic imagery can well symbolize the mounting security threat nations face because of the social, political and economic chaos of accelerating climate change.

By Michelle Boorstein

Ramadan falling during the summer has an interesting side consequence: It's harder for Muslim charities to raise money.

With Muslims commanded to focus during Ramadan on good works like charity, the monthlong holiday is typically the most important fundraising time of the year. Non profits and aid groups often make a huge percentage of their annual income by raising money at the mosque after the nightly prayers that mark the end of each day's fasting.

But it's not easy to raise money from people who have been fasting in the worst heat of summer and aren't able to eat until the sun goes down, which can be 8 or 9 p.m. during the summer.

Is Glenn Beck a gay marriage advocate?

Beck, a convert to Mormonism, weighed in on the Proposition 8 ruling on the O'Reilly Factor Wednesday night, saying that he does not think the government "has anything to do with marriage. That is a religious rite."

By Elizabeth Tenety

Many of the world's 1.57 billion Muslims (1.4 million in America) Wednesday began the month-long observance of Ramadan, which requires adult Muslims to refrain from food, drink and sexual activity from dawn until sunset. Muslims in America will be fasting to develop discipline and to repent for their sins for approximately 16 hours of the day, a considerable sacrifice in the country that invented fast-food.

Although in America fasting is perhaps best associated with glucose-tests and Maple Syrup Diets, abstinence from food has a long and varied history in the world's religions.

By Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite

Like many Americans, I celebrated the ruling by Federal Judge Vaughn Walker that overturned California's Proposition 8, which had denied marriage to same-sex couples. The full-text of the ruling went "viral" almost immediately.

By Elizabeth Tenety

The blogosphere erupted this weekend as photos emerged of football player Tim Tebow's unusual haircut.

The shearing apparently was part of a hazing ritual intended "to build [team] chemistry" and imposed by teammates upon the rookie Denver Bronco, who is known as much for his Evangelical religious convictions as his skills on the field.

By Elizabeth Tenety

Julia Roberts has long been called America's sweetheart.

But is America ready for a Hindu sweetheart?

The star of the upcoming movie Eat, Pray, Love revealed in an interview in Elle magazine that she, along with her family, is a practicing Hindu.

By Elizabeth Tenety

Religion roundup on Prop 8 ruling:

In the immediate aftermath of Wednesday's ruling that deemed Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage in California, unconstitutional, it was mostly religious organizations opposed to gay marriage that spoke out.

Below is a roundup of religious responses; this list will be updated as more congregations and religious organizations weigh in.