Back in November, U.S. District Judge David Hamilton ruled that invocation prayer must not advance any religion.

Indiana legislators spoke unanimously (83-0) to support freedom of prayer in the state’s House of Representatives on Monday in a landslide vote. The resolution does not carry the force of law though.

“[The order] attempts to control the content of prayer, this order undermines the rights of all Hoosiers regardless of their theological convictions,” is an excerpt of the resolution.

Members have been gathering to pray at the rear of the legislative chamber before official meetings since the 2006 House session began. They say this has been a tradition in Indiana for 189 years.

Full story at The Christian Post

Finlandian Helsingin Sanomat published an open letter to Jesus and Mohammed signed by journalist Heikki Aittokoski.

While I don’t agree with a lot of points of the letter, it’s worth reading.

Read the letter

“I am the Jesus Christ of politics, a victim, patient, I put up with everything, I sacrifice myself for everyone”.

That’s what Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian primer minister said last Saturday night at the start of official campaigning for April’s general election.

Quite a statement, don’t you think?

Giuseppe Giulietti, an opposition Left MP, said: “Silvio Berlusconi has as usual with his usual limited sense compared himself to Jesus Christ,[…] According to information that I have, God the Father and the rest of Jesus’s family did not take this very well.”, he joked.

“I know he will say he was speaking in jest but such things should not be spoken of in jest.”, said a senior Catholic Church official showing the Vatican’s concern.

Just a few days before, Berlusconi compared himself to French Emperor Napoleon in a TV talkshow. “Only Napoleon has done more than me but nevertheless I am greater than him”, he said.

Full story at the Telegraph

“Prayer in Jesus’ name remains an issue in military chaplaincy” is the title of a SBCBaptistPress article.

“Prohibitions against praying in Jesus’ name have been a longstanding complaint lodged by several dozen current and former chaplains in their lawsuits against the Navy. The plaintiffs include 11 Southern Baptists.”, says the article.

Washington hosts the fight for the right of evangelical chaplains in all branches of the military to pray in Jesus’ name.

Initially, last October, Rep. Walter Jones and 68 other members of Congress asked President George Bush to issue an executive order addressing this matter. They wanted to protect chaplains’ constitutional rights. Later, in December, four congressmen presented supporting petition signed by almost 160,000 citizens. Evangelical leaders followed, sending a letter to Bush.

“This is going to be a major thrust to see if we can get this fixed,” said Billy Baugham, director of the International Conference of Evangelical Chaplain Endorsers. He also noted that chaplain Jonathan Sterzbaugh called him from Iraq Jan. 30 to inform him that he had been removed from preaching duties at chapel services.

It is not clear how the issue will be resolved.

A few weeks ago, Italian priest Enrico Righi (76) was accused of abuse of popular belief and impersonation.

The plaintiff is Luigi Cascioli (72), who lives in the same town as Righi. They even went to the same seminary school when teens.
However, they took separate roads. Very different roads. Righi became a priest, while Cascioli a vocal atheist.

The abuse of popular belief accusation appears when Righi, in his parish newspaper, wrote about Jesus as a historical character. Cascioli said: “In my book, ‘The Fable of Christ,’ I present proof Jesus did not exist as a historic figure. He must now refute this by showing proof of Christ’s existence,”.

The second charge, impersonation, is also commented by Cascioli: “The Church constructed Christ upon the personality of John of Gamala,”. John of Gamala was the 1st century Jew who fought against the Roman army.

Presenting these charges, Cascioli isn’t putting only Righi on trial, but the whole Roman Catholic Church.

“It would take a miracle to win,” Cascioli joked weeks ago. Well, this Italian atheist just lost his crusade so no miracles for him.

The judge rejected his attempts to sue Enrico Righi. But it’s not over yet. There are two reasons:

- Cascioli plans to appeal to Italy’s highest court, and then to The Hague.

- Bruno Severo, priest Righi’s lawyer, said that the judge recommended magistrates investigate Cascioli for slandering Righi.

“Thank God it’s over,” Righi told Reuters. “I’m glad it has ended like this, because imagine if it had gone on and on.”

With all these references made by Cascioli to his own book, “The Fable of Christ”, I’m sorry but I can’t help to wonder if this was all a publicity stunt by this novel author…

Full story on ABC: The trial and the judge’s decision