Some interesting law & religion stories from around the web this week:

• To prevent clashes with Muslims, Israeli officials closed the Temple Mount in Jerusalem to Jews and Christians on Tishna B’Av, a Jewish day of mourning for the destruction of the two Jewish Temples that were located on the site.
• Britain’s Channel 4 will air the three-minute call to prayer for Muslims at 3am every day for the entire month of Ramadan.
• The Thai government and Muslim guerrillas signed a Ramadan cease fire accord.
• Coptic Christians in Egypt are being singled out for violence by radical Islamists for campaigning against former President Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood.
• Christians in Sudan face increased arrests, detentions, and deportations.
• The 2013 Economic Values Survey has developed a new religious orientation scale in order to explore differences and similarities among Americans of faith. The survey is sponsored by the Public Religion Research Institute and the Brookings Institute.
• Nearly 40 members of the U.S. House of Representatives sent a letter to President Obama urging him to convene a “Religious Diversity Summit” and do more to fight discrimination against religious minorities.
• California state legislators are considering a bill that would give some alleged sex abuse victims more time to sue. Opponents argue the bill allows lawsuits so old that the Church cannot fairly defend against them.
• The California Supreme Court refused a request by backers of Proposition 8 to reinstate the measure.
• Queen Elizabeth formally approved a gay marriage bill in Britain.
• Rhode Island’s Governor Chafee vetoed legislation to authorize a “Choose Life” license plate that would have raised money for a Christian crisis pregnancy center.
• A new survey finds a third of Americans believe the First Amendment goes too far in guaranteeing freedom of speech, religion, press, assembly, and petition.
• Halalgoogling, a new search engine, functions much like Google but with a built-in “advanced special filtering system” that blocks content deemed “haram,” or forbidden, in Islam.