pewforum.org Religion News on the Web

Religion News on the Web

Selected religion-related news from around the Web
NYT: Abortion law in Arkansas is blocked by U.S. judge
A federal judge on Friday temporarily blocked enforcement of one of the country’s most stringent abortion laws, an Arkansas ban on the procedure at the 12th week of pregnancy, saying the law was likely to be declared unconstitutional.
Wash. Post: Seminary graduates not always ministering from the pulpit
Alethea Allen, a Virginia resident, graduated this week from Wesley Theological Seminary in Northwest Washington after years of divinity classes. But she has no intention of becoming a minister.
Deseret News: U.S. government's faith-based initiative moves ahead while dodging controversy
When Acacia Bamberg Salatti runs down the accomplishments of the faith-based center in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, one item is conspicuously missing from the list: how much money the center has handed out to churches and other religious groups.
Reuters: Critics slam new cloning research
Scientists' assertion that the advance in therapeutic cloning announced on Wednesday could not and would not pave the way to cloning a baby did little to assuage critics of the research.
Philadelphia Inquirer: Both sides on abortion applaud verdict
No one on either side of the intractable abortion debate was sorry Monday to learn that Kermit Gosnell was found guilty of first-degree murder.
Reuters: Christian churches back Jews facing anti-Semitism in Hungary
When Hungarian radical right-wingers rallied against a Jewish conference in Budapest in early May, a well-known Protestant pastor hid behind the stage while his wife stepped up to the podium to denounce Jews and Israel.
AP: Politics and the pulpit: Black churches at heart of gay marriage debate in Illinois
When a proposal to legalize gay marriage started gaining momentum in the home state of President Barack Obama, it seemed a quick and easy deal: The pastor of his former megachurch endorsed it with powerful testimony at the Capitol and Democrats control Illinois' government.
RNS: Church-based scouting alternatives attract interest
They have pledges. They have merit badges. And they may go camping.
Korea Herald: Missionaries urge Korea to lift travel ban
Kim Jin-dae hoped he could persuade the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to lift its ban on travel to countries it deemed as too dangerous for Korean passport holders, but he knew better.
AP: Africa, Asia See Boom in Priests as Europe Withers
The number of Catholic priests in Africa and Asia has shot up over the past decade while decreasing in Europe, mirroring trends in the numbers of Catholic faithful that helped lead to the election of Pope Francis as the first non-European pope in over a millennium.
LA Times: Sword of division is poised over Iraq
Less than a year and a half after the last U.S. troops left, Iraq's political leaders are openly debating the prospect of two dangerous paths for their country: de facto division or civil war. Perhaps both.
WSJ: The Pentagon's problem with Proselytizing
In early April, Army Reserve soldiers in Pennsylvania were told in a redeployment briefing that evangelical Christians and Roman Catholics were "extremists," the same category as al Qaeda.
AP: Minnesota, Illinois poised to join coastal states that have adopted gay marriage legislation
Just six months after Minnesota voters turned back an effort to ban gay weddings, lawmakers are poised to make the state the first in the Midwest to pass a law allowing them.
AP: Religious leaders: Including gay rights proposal could cost their support for immigration bill
Religious leaders said Wednesday that adding a gay rights proposal to immigration legislation could risk their support for the bill, setting up a potential Senate showdown.
Globe and Mail: A leap for some faiths, but many Canadians are losing their religion
Mariam Butt was raised by Muslim parents in Brampton, Ont., but only started truly practising the faith a little over a year ago, when she was 17. There was no self-consciousness about wearing the hijab or ducking away to pray five times a day where she lives.
WSJ: Islamists rely on TV sheiks to woo the masses in Egypt
Secular youth used Facebook and Twitter two years ago to help topple President Hosni Mubarak from power, but now Salafi Islamists are gaining sway in Egypt because of TV sheiks like Khaled Abdullah.
CS Monitor: Is there a God? The Vatican invites Mexicans to discuss.
A Vatican envoy has arrived in Mexico with a message: God is not dead.
AP: Pakistan's minorities have no faith in democracy
In majority Muslim Pakistan, religious minorities say democracy is killing them.
AP: Same-sex couples welcome Delaware gay marriage law
Mikki Snyder-Hall married her partner, Claire, in California in 2008, and moved two years ago to Rehoboth, a gay-friendly Delaware beach town.
Reuters: France struggles to fight radical Islam in its jails
In France, the path to radical Islam often begins with a minor offence that throws a young man into an overcrowded, violent jail and produces a hardened convert ready for jihad.
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