Mormons, Muslims and St. Isidore the Farmer

With the long Memorial Day weekend looming, I'm thinking you may have some time for a little extra reading – assuming you get the lawn mowed, the hot dogs barbecued and the potted chrysanthemums (I hope the spell-checker is working) delivered.

Here are some religion stories that I found online that I haven't been able to use yet:

For example, there's a story from the Washington Post about online support groups that have formed to help Mormons who are questioning their faith. That's a great thing. But I couldn't help but notice the story's URL, which suggests it is located in the Post's local/crime section. So questioning Mormonism is a crime in Washington? Somebody better warn Bill Maher.

On second thought, don't.

The Atlantic speculates on what former British Prime Minister Tony Blair can teach Mitt Romney about faith in politics. (Hint: It has to do with the words, "We don't do God.")

Columnist/blogger/Tweeter (Tweetist?) Joanna Brooks goes after New York Review of Books writer, Garry Wills, for a sloppy, inaccurate, superficial take on Mormonism in a recent story. Ever the academician, Brooks also puts in a plug for all publications that are bound to be producing a lot of LDS-oriented content during the coming months to hire a graduate student in Mormon studies as a fact checker. (Heck, I'd settle for a second-year seminary student who only knows half of the Scripture Mastery scriptures — at least they'd know something).

This just in: An LDS softball team in Pennsylvania has been banned from playing in a local church softball league because they're "not Christian."

And from our "you-knew-this-was-coming" department, the Washington Post is the first — and probably not the last — to try to make the Mountain Meadows Massacre a presidential campaign issue.

Oh, and if you've been wondering how Mormons feel about Mitt Romney running for president, they feel fine. Well, at least some of them do.

Believe it or not, there are also some non-Mormon, non-Romney faith-related stories you might want to take a look at, too. The Huffington Post looks at how Muslim athletes will observe Ramadan during the upcoming Summer Olympics in London. And Religion News Service explains why basketball is the favorite sport of Muslims (three words: heroes, culture, logistics).

And if you don't have time for any of that, at least make sure to read Jerry Johnston's column in our Faith Section Saturday about St. Isidore the Farmer, a pious Spaniard who could pray so beautifully God sent angels to plow his fields so he would have more time for praying. (Perhaps if I prayed more eloquently God would send angels to finish this … nah.)