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Authorities this morning arrested eight members of a Christian biker gang known as Set Free Soldiers on charges of attempted murder in connection to a bar fight last week between the gang and members of the Hells Angels, according to Anaheim police.

This flight attendant wants 10 percent of Victoria Osteen's net worth for her alleged 'diva' act.

Or, maybe you just want to share with others the lesson you learned freshman year.

Archdiocese: Pat a child's back, but no kisses.

Minister involved in alleged road rage attack.

Not according to this jury. The Osteens thanked Jesus for the verdict.

Did this help any of you evangelicals pick a candidate?

It occurred to me while reading Cracked.com's list of 7 Eccentric Geniuses Who Were Clearly Just Insane:

Why do you suppose so many geniuses are crazy, and why do so many crazy people start their own religions?

And I'm not just talking about the guy on the subway car telling you that the end is near and you have to put your faith in the rotten banana he's carrying in his pocket.

How about Pythagoras, the mathematical genius who founded a religion that held that beans were evil and that vegetarianism and pacifism were essential (except when Pythagoras was himself slaughtering oxen or dying in fights)?

Or Empedocles, the Greek philosopher who came up with centrifugal force and the round earth 430 years before the birth of Christ, but also sought to prove he was a God by jumping into a volcano?

Is there something about being so much more intelligent than anyone you know that makes you think you must in fact be God, be one of God's elect or be privy to the secret keys of the Universe?

Also: why is it that you used to have to be a genius to get away with believing that but these days Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, not exactly the brightest stars in the intellectual firmament, seem to have convinced so many they have an in with the All Mighty?

Theorizing that the Earth is round more than a thousand years before it's proven, contributing essential building blocks to physics and democracy -- those are impressive feats for which we'll have to excuse your crazy.

Pretending you can leg press 2,000 pounds and theorizing that everyone who disagrees with you is gay ...not as impressive.

I blame television.

Here's a story that didn't get a whole lot of play at the Olympics this year: The Chinese Government, infamously distrustful of organized religion as competition for its own authority, would not allow chaplains from the athletes' various religions into the country.

Instead, the state said it would provide the staff for a "religious center" that many athletes found woefully inadequate.

From the Washington Post story:

The Olympic Village's religious center has become the target of a quiet protest by athletes, coaches and other delegates who say its staffing and services fall woefully short of the promises made by Chinese organizers.

"They should allow chaplains -- perhaps one from each country -- to be in the village. . . . This is important, because for many of us, athletics is not only physical and mental but spiritual," said McAdams, who is Mormon.

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This Olympics has really diappointed me in terms of the IOC bowing to the Chinese on all sorts of things that are just ridiculous -- from their keeping Joey Cheek out of the country to the controversy over the true ages of China's gymnasts (leave aside the fact that these kids are taken from their families at very young ages and pressured to become world class athletes).

But this may be the worst.

Religion is always a complex issue in China. But if you want to be part of the world community, you've gotta allow a little pluralism. You don't have to embrace it totally -- that's asking a bit much maybe, and we have trouble with it ourselves from time to time. But you can't invite people into your country and then begrudge them the means of worshipping as they choose.

The Chinese seem not even to recognize the problem. From the story:

"I feel it's all running smoothly," said Sister Yu Shuqin, who is in charge of Catholic services at the center. "What we have here is not much different from the services in Beijing outside the village."

Those who have attended services say that's the problem.

The Olympic Village, wherever it's located, isn't about the host country. It's about the world community coming together for competition and fellowship. Letting politics get in the way of that is a serious mistake that I hope the world will recognize and remember.

In this YouTube video Oxford Professor, evangelical atheist and bestselling author Richard Dawkins reads his hate mail from the faithful. Between his gentle English accent and the over-the-top bloodlust of the adherents of the Prince of Peace, it's a hoot.

If you haven't read Dawkins' The God Delusion, you should - whatever your belief system.Those who honestly engage with the book and disagree will find their faiths strengthened. Incredibly thought-provoking and good for hours of conversation

The region is marked by religious tensions between Christian missionaries who work with mostly poor tribes in the region and hard-line Hindu groups that claim the Christians are forcing or bribing people to convert.

As the trombones blared, the "saints" -- dressed in white -- filled the streets in front of God's White House in Northwest Washington yesterday to be soaked in the name of Jesus during the final day of the 82nd annual Holy Convocation of the United House of Prayer for All People (there's one on the corner of East Market and Bennett streets in Greensboro, where they have a public cafeteria).

The mass outdoor baptism service was the first major event presided over by Bishop C.M. "Sweet Daddy" Bailey, the new leader of the District-based organization that has more than 1.5 million members nationwide. Bailey succeeds Bishop S.C. "Sweet Daddy" Madison, who died in April after a brief illness.

In his will, Feinberg expressed his wish to disinherit any descendant "who married outside the Jewish faith."

An Illinois Appellate Court has weighed in on the case, giving judges a chance to consider a question as old as the law itself: When an individual's rights are on a collision course with those of society, which has to give way?