With the Catholic Church up on arms over the proposed mandate to hospitals regarding contraception, Bill O’Reilly spent a second tonight parsing out the problems the Church has with the policy. To discuss the current disagreements between the Obama administration and the Catholic Church, O’Reilly set up a full-clergy panel with Fox News’ Father Jonathan Morris and Executive Director of the Religious Institute Debra Haffner that began in a friendly tone, but ended with Rev. Haffner calling for the Catholic Church to “deal with its own sexuality problems,” which led to O’Reilly calling her “way off base.”

On Tuesday’s Morning Joe, hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski continued to tackle the controversial birth control mandate that has many religious groups and institutions — such as the Catholic Church — speaking out against it.

On Monday, the Morning Joe crew had something of a personal discussion on the White House’s new birth control mandate, which holds that most employers would have to include contraceptives in their health insurance coverage, regardless of whether that employer happens to be a religious institution. The Catholic Church in particular has been vocal about its opposition to the mandate.

In his final New Rule of the night, Bill Maher disputed the idea thrown out by some that atheism is a religion. It’s a refrain you hear from people who can’t stand both groups and believe that dogma is dogma, plain and simple, but Maher argued that treating atheism like a religion would be like saying “abstinence is a sex position.” After all, when was the last time a non-believer ever claimed to see the silhouette of Christopher Hitchens on the side of a tree?

At this morning’s gathering for the annual National Prayer Breakfast, President Barack Obama turned to religious scripture as references for how to best approach economic policies. His faith, he shared, as well as teachings from various other faiths, often serve as his guide.

This afternoon, CNN’s Brooke Baldwin sat down with Rev. O’Neal Dozier, an ultra-conservative pastor who has been named an honorary chairman for GOP presidential hopeful Rick Santorum‘s campaign in Florida.

Dozier holds several controversial views, including that homosexuality is “something so nasty and disgusting that it makes God want to vomit.”

The South Dakota House has voiced its support for a measure allowing the state’s public schools to teach the Bible as part of its curriculum, although it has yet to be officially approved. The discussion surrounding this measure has, predictably, prompted mixed reactions, with some in the state believing that teaching the Bible not only [...]

Tim Tebow, kind of religious. Were you aware of this? The Denver Broncos’ starting quarterback’s Christian faith has inspired many headlines and much debate and, now, it’s the subject of a new ad from the American evangelical Christian non-profit Focus on the Family. The commercial focuses specifically on one of Tebow’s favorite Biblical verses, John 3:16. (“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”)

Have we not reached a place free of this yet? For some reason, George Stephanopoulos decided to talk about the notoriously Christian NFL player Tim Tebow on This Week today. He asked George Will how Tebow has become such a polarizing figure in not just sports, but somehow in politics as well. Will called Tebow “an exemplary gentleman” and said he was undeserving of the attacks against him.

Tim Tebow is a football player very well-known for his Christian beliefs. And recently, he has begun to get some flack in the media for silent prayers after scoring a touchdown and for other public displays of his faith. You’ll recall that he filmed an ad for Focus on the Family that took a very powerful stand against abortion that aired during the Super Bowl. On Reliable Sources today, Howard Kurtz examined media coverage of Tebow and how much of it was being influenced by religion as opposed to sports.

Rick Perry is trying to revive an otherwise moribund campaign by touting his religious credentials– which, against Newt Gingrich (Catholic of questionable marital history) and Mitt Romney (Mormon of otherwise squeaky-clean marital history), may be his last hope. One entity, according to Funny or Die, that is not happy to have been involuntarily dragged into Perry’s anti-gay, hyper-religious politics? Jesus Himself, who kindly requested to be kept out of politics, please.

“Time for the traditional, true story of Thanksgiving,” Rush Limbaugh announced. “Written by me!” In other words: TIME FOR A MOTHERF$%#ING TREAT!

Limbaugh recounted the story of religious separatists who journeyed to the New World in search of the freedom to worship as they saw fit without fear of persecution. They faced many challenges and hardships in their new home, but eventually benefited from agricultural practices shared by local Indians.

“So, is it a holy war that is being waged in our nation’s capital?” That’s a question Sean Hannity and his panelists attempted to answer Thursday night on Fox News. Muslim students attending DC’s Catholic University of America have claimed that their human rights are being violated by the school because it has refused to provide a space — free of Catholic iconography and paraphernalia — in which its Muslim students can practice their daily prayers.

As a bookend to his top-of-the-show interview with Robert Jeffress, Bill Maher simultaneously bashed Mormonism for promoting cult-like beliefs while acknowledging that Mormonism is just as radical a belief as any other mainstream religion. Maher used the opportunity to suggest that candidates like Mitt Romney should be asked about their religious beliefs because a president’s faith definitely influences their decision-making process. How screwed up does Maher think Mormonism is? “Tom Cruise would not join it, and Glenn Beck did.”

The first guest on Real Time with Bill Maher tonight was none other than Pastor Robert Jeffress, who caught a lot of flack after telling reporters at the Values Voters Summit that Mormonism is a “cult” and shared his reservations about voting for Mitt Romney. On Real Time, Jeffress sat down for a surprisingly cordial interview with Maher, which addressed not just Jeffress’ comments, but also Maher’s personal religious skepticism.

Rick Perry‘s wife Anita Perry addressed supporters at North Greenville University on Thursday and slammed criticism by the press and GOP. “We are being brutalized by our opponents in our own party,” Perry fretted. “So much of that is, I think they look at him because of his faith.”

Laura Ingraham sat in for Bill O’Reilly last night on The Factor, where she spoke with political analyst and former Senior Advisor and Deputy Chief of Staff to George W. Bush Karl Rove about a topic that’s been the subject of many headlines over the years, and this week in particular: “The politics of Mormonism.”

Pastor Robert Jeffress is getting his 15 minutes of fame this weekend after publicly declaring that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was a non-Christian “cult” and getting the pleasure of introducing Rick Perry at a speaking engagement. After his initial comment, Jeffress went on Anderson Cooper 360º and made some eyebrow-raising comments about President Obama’s “purported” religion. Today he returned to CNN once more, answering in the affirmative when asked if religion should trump competence in elections.

Mike Huckabee‘s weekly round at Fox & Friends this morning was far more somber than usual, as the topic of discussion naturally gravitated towards the September 11th attacks and the ceremony planned for tomorrow. Huckabee took offense at the secular nature of the ceremony, arguing that it was not “the politicians [who] were the heroes of 9/11,” but the clergy, and that anyone who would protest Muslim clerics at such a ceremony would be “inappropriate” and “ridiculous.”

Former Senate candidate Christine O’Donnell (R-De) demanded an apology from MSNBC’s Chris Matthews via Twitter Thursday morning over comments the Hardball host made during MSNBC’s post-debate wrap-up. “Chris Matthews owes Bible belt an apology for elitist, rude remark about low IQ’s,” O’Donnell tweeted, adding, “Hannity would’ve been fired if he said it!”

Matthews did, indeed, mention Bible Belt voters and “minimal IQ levels,” but a review of the clip in question suggests O’Donnell’s anger might be misplaced.

New York Times editor Bill Keller‘s column on religion didn’t go unnoticed by “culture warrior” Bill O’Reilly on his program today, but after a segment decrying its arrogance, O’Reilly came face to face with a guest that “totally agreed” with Keller that religious ignorance should come into play in politics. Somewhat shockingly, it was media critic Bernie Goldberg, who used Keller’s logic to justify the outrage against Pastor Jeremiah Wright.

New York Times Executive Editor Bill Keller‘s column for this week’s Sunday Times magazine, “Asking Candidates Tougher Questions About Faith,” is getting angrier buzz than a beehive at a piñata party. Most of the outrage centers on Keller’s clunky comparison of religion with a belief in space aliens, and the sense that he’s picking on Republicans. What does the Bible say about all of this, are candidates’ religious views fair game, and is Keller’s column just another excuse to highlight Mitt Romney‘s Mormonism?

Randy Roberts Potts appeared on HLN last night to talk about coming out as a gay man, being a grandson of the late evangelist Oral Roberts.

Washington Examiner columnist got a fair deal of pushback for asking Rep. Michele Bachmann whether, as President, she would be submissive to her husband, as per an answer to questions she had given in the past. And Fox News media analyst Bernie Goldberg would typically be one to partake in challenging the media for inappropriate questioning, but this time, he was on York’s side, calling Rep. Bachmann a “hack” for “weaseling out” of the question and claiming “submission” was synonymous with “respect.”

Texas Gov. Rick Perry‘s much talked about religious event “The Response” finally took place today, and as promised the potential Republican presidential candidate abstained from talking politics. Instead, Gov. Perry stood up to read scripture, mostly, and give a prayer for the American government and ask for forgiveness, because “we have forgotten who made us.”