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

• Egypt’s interim President, Adly Mansour, made a rare visit to the Coptic pope ahead of this week’s Orthodox Christmas celebrations, the first in 40 years
  • More on this story from NPR
• The Muslim Brotherhood adjusts to life underground are readies for a long struggle against Egypt’s military-backed government
• On January 6, a small congregation of Armenian Orthodox Christians prayed for peace at St. Sarkis Church in Old Damascus and reflected on the hardships of living in an uneasy middle ground in Syria’s increasingly sectarian conflict
• A French court convicted a young woman for wearing a full-face Islamic veil in public and threw out her bid to have the country’s controversial burqa ban declared unconstitutional
• Report: Christians killed for their faith around the world doubled in 2013 from the year before, with Syria accounting for more than the whole global total in 2012
• On Monday, the United States Supreme Court blocked further same-sex marriages in Utah
• Death threats against Tunisian secular lawmakers on Sunday disrupted voting on a new constitution, underscoring tensions over the role of Islam and the transition to democracy
• The Russian Orthodox Church has come under heavy criticism over a 2014 wall calendar that features portraits of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin
• A police investigation of a Catholic priest in Malaysia who used the word “Allah” to refer to God has become the latest round in a worsening struggle between the country’s minority Christians and majority Muslims
• The Church of England is introducing a christening ceremony that removes the requirement on parents and godparents to “repent sins” and “reject the devil”
• For the first time, German public schools are offering classes in Islam to primary school students
• Survey: How People in Muslim Countries Prefer Women to Dress in Public