Let's review. We have radical Catholics preaching against the use of condoms in Africa, radical Jews fighting for their right to remain in illegally occupied territory in the West Bank, radical Muslims blowing themselves up in cities across the globe, and a radical born-again Christian (Pat Robertson to be precise) calling for the United States to assassinate a world leader. Is it any wonder that many are not terribly drawn to any of the world's leading faiths?

All this extremism at least partially explains the existence of do-it-yourself religions -- and we're not talking about Scientology. Rather, the tendency for otherwise sane people to identify themselves as "Jedis"  when asked for their religion in census surveys, for example. But while the Jedi prank was something of a short-lived phenomenon, some wacky religions have surprising staying power. Like the decades-old Church of the Subgenius , whose belief structure is decidedly difficult to grasp for most mortals. And then, as written about in our pages today, the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster , founded in response to the Kansas Board of Education's decision to teach "intelligent design" alongside evolution in state schools, is growing by the day.

But it's not the first parody religion out there. In the late 1980s, the deity known as the Invisible Pink Unicorn  began winning over adherents -- also as a mind game, similar to the Flying Spaghetti Monster. (How can an invisible unicorn be pink?) The unicorn has inspired other new deities like The Invisible Green Dragon . And why not? If you think these deities are ridiculous, we've got a talking, burning bush to sell you.

Iraq's Mini-Taliban City: Haditha

A reporter for The Guardian newspaper has revealed that an entire city in central Iraq is being run by insurgents, much like a smaller version of Fallujah, a notorious thorn in the US military's side earlier during the occupation. According to the report, hard-handed tactics by Shiite police led to a Sunni-led insurgency in the farming town of Haditha  near the Euphrates river. Now the town of 90,000 is an insurgent citadel. Over the course of a year, insurgents have come to dominate the local political, administrative, and security landscape. Only three hours northwest of Baghdad, the city is said to exist outside of state control; Sharia-like rules have been introduced and grisly punishments are meted out in the main marketplace.