"It targets one community, one faith," says Naeem Baig of proposed legislation to ban US state courts from considering shariah. "It is to create this fear of Islam and Muslims in the larger society."

The California Council of Churches supports Proposition 19, a state ballot measure to legalize marijuana, but there are some religious leaders who do not.

In Memphis, fugitives are turning themselves in at local churches as part of a two-year old Justice Department program called Fugitive Safe Surrender.