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

• A brutal attack on Coptic Christians outside a church, in which four people were killed and several more wounded
• The U.S. Air Force Academy may drop a religious reference from an oath cadets take to swear allegiance to the school’s honor code after a challenge by the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. The story reports that one option under consideration is “dumping the entire honor oath.” UPDATE: This story reports that today the Air Force decided that “So Help Me God” will be “optional”
• The Vatican has suspended Franz-Peter Tebartz-van Elst, the bishop of Limburg more commonly known as “the Bishop of Bling” because “he could no longer exercise his episcopal ministry” after running up a 31 million euro bill for a new diocese headquarters. This story reports the national scope of the scandal in light of the church tax system in Germany
• A United Nations Report published on Wednesday details widespread human rights abuses in Iran, including torture, arbitrary arrest, and discrimination against members of minority religious groups in employment and education. The report is here. Iran condemned the report, calling it unfair and politically motivated
• Four Christians were reportedly sentenced in Iran to 80 lashes for drinking communion wine, a violation of Iran’s anti-alcohol law
• Four Tennessee same-sex couples have filed a federal law suit seeking to force Tennessee to recognize their marriages
• In Oklahoma, two men of Native American descent were granted a marriage license through the Cheyenne and Arapahoe Tribal Court, which does not specify gender in its law and is not subject to state law which prohibits gay marriage
• Buddhist monks at the Labrang Monastery in China complain about intrusive communist government policies that they say are strangling their culture and identity.
• Islamist militants killed at least 6 Tunisian security officers on Wednesday in an attempt to disrupt reconciliation between the Islamist governing party in Tunisia and its more secular opponents.
• Prince George Alexander Louis of Cambridge was christened this past week by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby. Prince George will eventually hold the official titles of “Defender of the Faith” and “Supreme Governor of the Church of England”