* No, it doesn’t rival the Scopes Monkey Trial in national notoriety, but Tennessee legislators are making sectarian news again. They are deeply divided over a proposal to make the Bible an official state book: Those who think it’s a good idea and those who think it’s a great idea.
* Retired Pope Benedict XVI celebrated his 88th birthday recently by having a beer with some fellow Bavarians at his old summer residence.
“I like the monastery life most of the time,” acknowledged the Pope Emeritus, “but there’s nothing like Oktoberfest in April. Anything but Bud Light. Ein prosit.”