CNN: American Academy of Religion is noodling the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

Politico: Dean says Jews can go to heaven.

Newsweek: No communion or Presidency for Giuliani say Catholic Bishops.

Mitt Romeny — whose religion accounts for just 2 percent of the US population — says there will be no Muslims in his cabinet, according to an opinion piece in the Christian Science Monitor, because “based on the numbers of American Muslims [as a percentage] in our population, I cannot see that a cabinet position would be justified.” Read more at the CSM.

Of course now that he’s being called on it, Romney is in full denial mode. But talkingpointsmemo’s Josh Marshall explains it all to us (4 mins 30 secs):

Bill Keller tells his followers Romney’s Mormonism will cause Americans to end up in hell, says Salon. Here’s an excerpt:

A vote for Romney is a vote for Satan,” Keller declared in his daily e-mail devotional last May. His reasoning went like this: Romney’s election would serve as a giant advertisement for a competing religion, Mormonism, which Keller and others believe has falsely portrayed itself as another form of Christianity in an effort to find converts. “He would influence people to seek out the Mormon faith,” Keller predicted of a Romney presidency. “They would get sucked into those lies and they would eventually die and go to hell.”

Read more. [thx boingboing and Val]

Also: Orrin Hatch urges Romney to give the “Mormon Speech,” says god-o-meter.

British School teacher Gillian Gibbons allowed Sudanese six- and seven-year old students to name a teddy bear Muhammed, so she has been arrested and is being charged with offending religion and inciting religious hatred. [BBC] Her offense could get her 40 lashes and a year in prison, according to CNN. Imagine the reaction if she prevented the children from naming the bear Muhammad.

This prompts the BBC to ask “What can’t be named Muhammad?” The answer, like most religious “immutable truths” remains debatable. Most important, religion retains its right to be offended by anything it dreams up.