The statement by the Association of Researchers and Teachers of Qom is an act of defiance against the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has made clear he will tolerate no further challenges to Mr Ahmadinejad’s “victory” over Mir Hossein Mousavi. The association’s statement also shows how deeply the political establishment is divided, and the extent to which the Supreme Leader now derives his power from military might, not moral authority. Professor Ali Ansari, head of Iranian Studies at St Andrews University, said: “It’s highly significant. It shows this is nowhere near resolved.” - TIMES ONLINE

Pope Benedict XVI called Tuesday for a new world financial order guided by ethics and the search for the common good, denouncing the profit-at-all-cost mentality blamed for bringing about the global financial meltdown. "There is urgent need [for] a true world political authority" that can manage the global economy, guarantee the environment is protected, ensure world peace and bring about food security for the poor, he wrote. - NPR.org

The couple told their attorney a San Diego county government employee knocked on their door on Good Friday, asking a litany of questions about their Tuesday night Bible studies. She says she was then told that she must stop holding "religious assemblies" until she and her husband obtain a Major Use Permit from the county. Without it, official warned, the couple will be charged escalating fines beginning at $100, then $200, $500, $1000, "and then it will get ugly." - WORLD NET DAILY

An English nurse may soon be fired for offering to pray for her patients' recovery. Caroline Petrie, a Christian, has been suspended and faces disciplinary action because her employer claims she failed to show a personal and professional commitment to equality and diversity" when she suggested the prayer, the London Telegraph reported. - WORLD NET DAILY

"Since Brits are frightfully embarrassed about bringing up God in public, it is a godsend in some ways to have the atheists do it for us." - Nick Spencer, of Theos, a public theology think tank