Link roundup: 6 December – 9 December

• A study finds that most Canadians lie and exaggerate the frequency of their church attendance.
• In the continued debate over polygamy in BC: After last week’s testimony from an academic suggesting that the women in the community of Bountiful, BC, were healthy and well-adjusted, a psychologist from Utah presents the other side of the coin.
• Stephen Prothero mourns the death of feminist theology.
• Military chaplains in the US are discussing how to adapt to ‘don’t ask don’t tell’ and its possible repeal.
• The Huffington Post discusses the effect of apocalyptic beliefs on morality.

• Can intelligent design thrive now that conservative Catholics are criticising it?
• Who won this year’s dreidel spinning competition in Brooklyn? Let’s find out!
• Qatar beats out the United States for the 2022 World Cup of Football/Soccer, and Islamic clerics rejoice.
• The Washington Post has an op-ed about Christopher Hitchens and his new autobiography.
• A conservative Catholic group in the US has sent nativity scenes to all fifty state governors.
• Time magazine asks if environmentalism has lost its spiritual core.
• The NY Times has a piece about Iran’s rising divorce rate, the increase in divorce initiated by women, and how (religious) law is dealing with it.
• China has announced that it will choose the heads of the Catholic church in its country, denying the Vatican its traditional right to do so.
• It’s official: the Maccabeat’s Hanukkah tune ‘Candlelight’ is an internet hit.
• A church in rural Quebec was deconsecrated Tuesday… due to excessive ghost hunting.
• The Toronto Star cites a report about rising extremism among Muslim youth in Toronto.
• A sociological journal suggests that the friendship built in congregations helps religions contribute to the happiness of its believers. CNN reports on the same journal article.
• Some conservative rabbis in Israel are encouraging Jews not to sell property to non-Jews.
• An Indian MP is lobbying to install mandatory yoga sessions in the country’s schools.
• Germany and Austria experiment with state training for Imams.