Commission wants clarifications from IRS. A commission created by the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability called for clearer IRS guidance and greater involvement among donors to address ministries and other nonprofits that are not being financially accountable. Its 91-page report was a response from Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, after he concluded a three-year investigation into alleged lavish spending by six prominent broadcast ministries in 2011. The commission recommended compensation for leaders of nonprofits should be “reasonable,” and nonprofits should make such information available to donors who request it. It further recommended the IRS should clarify forms related to the income tax exclusion for clergy housing and provide more advice about monetary gifts to clergy given outside regular congregational offerings.
Pope tweets. When the Vatican announced Pope Benedict XVI’s Twitter account recently, @Pontifex drew more than 629,000 followers within a matter of days, even before the official launch Dec. 12. The pope plans to answer questions about faith submitted to him via Twitter through a special hashtag, #askpontifex, set up by the Vatican. At least initially, the pope’s tweets will be related to his official speeches and activities, but their scope might be extended in the future. While the pope will tweet in eight languages, Vatican officials said he won’t “follow” other Twitter users.
U.S. dominates list of most influential Muslims. There are more Muslims from the United States than any other country on this year’s “The Muslim 500: The World’s 500 Most Influential Muslims,” compiled by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre. America’s 2.6 million Muslims represent a tiny fraction of the world’s 1.6 billion Muslims, but they took 41 spots on the 500 list, including two in the top 50. Sheikh Hamza Yusuf Hanson, a California-born convert who founded Zaytuna College, an Islamic school in Berkeley, Calif., and a leading Islamic authority in America, ranked No. 42, two places ahead of Seyyed Hossein Nasr, an Islamic studies professor at George Washington University known for his work in Islamic philosophy.
Secular celebrants rejected by court. A federal court in Indiana has rejected humanists’ requests for secular celebrants to sign marriage licenses, saying only clergy or public officials are licensed to solemnize marriages. A lawsuit filed by the Indiana chapter of the Center for Inquiry—a secular humanist organization—argued an Indiana law that requires marriages to be solemnized only by clergy, judges, mayors or local government clerks violates the Constitution. But Judge Sarah Evans Barker of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Indiana ruled that marriage has religious roots. Therefore, government regulation of marriage is an act of religious accommodation—not endorsement—and protected by the Constitution. She also noted Indiana’s law does not limit who may marry the plaintiffs, but only who may sign their license.