1. U.S. Supreme Court: Don't remove cross—yet
The Supreme Court has repeatedly refused to get involved in the dispute over whether a 29-foot-tall cross at San Diego's Mount Soledad Veterans Memorial violates the constitutional ban on the establishment of religion. That changed Monday, when Justice Anthony M. Kennedy stayed a federal judge's order that the city remove the cross by August or face a $5,000 daily fine. The stay is in effect until the Court issues a further order—but that doesn't mean that the Supreme Court will hear the case. "I would cancel the funeral," city attorney Michael Aguirre told the San Diego Union-Tribune. "But I would not schedule the victory party yet." Pat Mahoney of a group called the Christian Defense Coalition had a different interpretation: "Yes, we're thankful to Justice Kennedy, but God did this. God the Sovereign intervened." So if the Supreme Court decides that the cross should be removed, will Mahoney claim that's an act of God, too, or will he attack "activist judges"?

2. A true American idol There's something awfully syncretistic about the 72-foot Statue of Liberation Through Christ, created by World Overcomers Outreach in Memphis. It looks like the New York Harbor's Statue of Liberty, only instead of a torch, she's carrying a cross, and instead of the July 4, 1776, tablet, she carries the Ten Commandments. Her crown says "Jehovah," and a tear is running down her cheek. A tear indeed. World Overcomers pastor Alton Williams says the 12,000-pound statue, which cost $260,000, was created to fight "godlessness in America." The New York Times quotes him saying, "This statue proves that Jesus Christ is Lord over America, he is Lord over Tennessee, he is Lord over ...