Trayvon Martin’s shooter, George Zimmerman, says “it was all God’s plan” that he carry a gun the night he confronted and killed the 17-year-old in Sanford, Florida and he would never “second-guess” the Almighty.

The teen's father, Tracy Martin, tells the AP: “We must worship a different God. There is no way that my God wanted George Zimmerman to murder my teenage son.”

Accusations by Rep. Michele Bachmann and several other Republican lawmakers that an Islamist group has infiltrated the U.S. government, including Huma Abedin, a top aide to Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, are prompting a sharp backlash from fellow lawmakers and religious groups.

GOP Sen. John McCain in particular went maverick on Bachmann: "These attacks on Huma have no logic, no basis and no merit, and they need to stop now.”

A federal judge clears way for new Tennessee mosque that has been the focus of anti-Muslim sentiment to open for Ramadan.

Ever wonder how Muslim athletes can compete in the grueling Olympics while fasting for Ramadan?

The Family Research Council isn’t worrying about Muslim backlash: Tony Perkins has hired former general Jerry Boykin as his righthand man.

Newt Gingrich almost became the Republican nominee for president and emerged as a leading exponent of conservative Catholicism. Now he’s on “The Tonight Show” with Snooki.

But that’s okay: Mitt Romney now says he feels like a Catholic, and we all should, because of opposition to the Obama contraception mandate. (And Kathryn Jean Lopez goes for the inevitable click-catcher of the day: “Mitt Romney Converts to Catholicism”) Didn't Glenn Beck first say "We are all Catholics now"? Is it a Mormon thing?

Wheaton College, the “evangelical Harvard” provides contraception coverage for its employees but has joined in suits against the mandate. So maybe Romney should be feeling evangelical. It’d help with the base.

The bishops have their own birth control mandate: promoting “natural family planning.”

Inspiring Story of the Day: A Catholic man in Nevada credits his faith for allowing him to forgive the guy who raped and killed his wife and 10-year-old daughter and left him for dead in a brutal home invasion three months ago.

Go figure: “The Blind Side” movie was one of the best advertisements for evangelical Christians in years, but may not be appropriate for evangelical Christians themselves.

Scientologists are fed up with the post-TomKat raps against their religion, but especially the short jokes.

Our Own Mark Silk sorts out the Orthodox Church in America mess over Metropolitan Jonah.

Big Question of the Day: Does quantum physics make it easier to believe in God?

Baffling Answer of the Day: Lawrence Krauss says the Higgs Boson dispels the need for a Prime Mover.

Americans are very religious, but not very guilty about how much trash we produce.

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David Gibson

Photo credit: "The Blind Side" poster, via Wikipedia