From stuff.co.nz:

An Auckland church is hoisting a mischievous billboard intended to provoke conversation about spiritual matters at Christmas.
St Matthew-in-the-City will be putting up a Christmas billboard tomorrow that will feature an illustration the church felt could disturb some.
On it, Mary and Joseph are in bed. Joseph looks down dejected. Mary looks sad. The caption reads: "Poor Joseph. God is a hard act to follow."

Spotted at USA Today:

A push to spread the gospel about the 2010 Census this Christmas is stoking controversy with a campaign that links the government count to events surrounding the birth of Jesus. The National Association of Latino Elected Officials is leading the distribution to churches and clergy of thousands of posters that depict the arrival of Joseph and a pregnant Mary in Bethlehem more than 2,000 years ago.

[Ed note: yes, there is a graphic of the poster at the linked article]

From AP:

Lawyers for the Roman Catholic Church urged a court Monday to let Christians use "Allah" as a translation for God and overturn a government ban that has become a symbol of religious grievances in Muslim-majority Malaysia.

We generally don't talk much about religion and the Supreme Court. We talk about the need for race and gender diversity on the court in brave, sweeping pronouncements: The court needs more women, we say, or more Asians, or more gay and disabled people. Because all those things will impact the law. But when it comes to talking about religious diversity, it happens in whispers, if at all. Because it might impact the law. For a small handful of Americans, the fact that six of the nine justices on the current court are Catholics is an underreported national scandal. But for most, it's just quirky news.

Five people who stared at the sun in the hope they might be witnessing religious apparitions are being treated for serious eye damage, a top eye surgeon has revealed.

Reports of pilgrims to Knock seeing the sun dance in the sky and changing colour indicate serious eye damage.

So sure, evangelical Christian preachers telling the members of their flock that all they have to do is trust in Jesus and they'll be moving, lickety-split, right on up into that McMansion on the hill, played some part in encouraging a blithe American sense of entitlement, a confidence that riches should be our earthly reward just for being born again. But it is by no means the whole story, and in a perverse way lets regulators, Wall Street executives, and economists off the hook while partially blaming the lowest rung of the totem pole, the Jesus-dazzled Americans who took out loans that they couldn't afford, for being the prime movers in creating an economic disaster, when in fact they were just as much victims as perpetrators.

This just in: the American Humanist Association is launching a new "national" ad campaign similar to its controversial ads in Washington, D.C., last year, where the group is based. The ads will appear in transit systems in five cities: Washington, New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Featuring pictures of smiling people wearing Santa hats, the ads seems to be again intended to stir up publicity with their provocative message: "No God? ... No Problem!"

From The Abilene Reporter-News:

Suddenly, there were satellite dishes out front and worshippers were trapped inside, trying to escape to the safety of their cars in the parking lot.

Kroon tried to control the chaos, telling journalists they were free to participate in worship services, but not to film or to interrupt them.

The pastor also asked them not to fish for interviews as members arrived or departed. He thought these rules were enough.

He was wrong.

A crop of bumper stickers and T-shirts emblazoned with [a] call to prayer for the president have appeared for sale recently online through make-it-yourself outlets such as Zazzle.com and CafePress.com. And most of the "Pray for Obama" slogans are accompanied by a scripture reference: "Psalm 109:8."

In the New International Version translations, that verse reads;

May his days be few; may another take his place of leadership.

From beatcrave.com...

Hip hop is on the rise and christian rock struggles to keep audiences...