pewforum.org Religion News on the Web

Religion News on the Web

Selected religion-related news from around the Web
Post-Gazette: 7 Amish men face federal charges in attacks
Armed with 8-inch scissors, the group would arrive at the homes of Amish families in rural Ohio after dark and attack the men inside, holding them down as they sheared their beards and left them emasculated and humiliated.
NYT: In Russian chill, waiting hours for touch of the holy: Virgin Mary belt relic draws crowds in Moscow
From morning all through the night, tens of thousands of Russians have been lining up since Saturday in the cold with just one aim: to kiss a glass-covered reliquary that they believe holds the Virgin Mary’s belt.
Wash. Post: Opinion: Obama’s challenge with Catholics and health care
Any time the Obama administration touches issues related to the Roman Catholic Church, it seems to wind up in a rhetorical and moral crossfire that leaves all involved wounded and angry.
Korea Herald: Islam offers a third way in Pakistan, Tunisia
During the worldwide depression of the mid-1930s, the poet and Islamic modernist Muhammad Iqbal, often called Pakistan’s spiritual founder, wrote a poem dramatizing the inadequacies of Western political and economic systems.
Wash. Post: In Boston, Mitt Romney ‘evolved’ in Mormon leadership, some churchwomen say
Three decades ago, Carolyn Caci, a recently divorced Mormon convert, joined a congregation here presided over by a young church leader named Mitt Romney.
AP: From Pakistani slum, 5,000 seat church rises, showing resilience of community under fire
Pakistan's tiny and downtrodden Christian community thought big when constructing its latest church — a domed, three-story building that towers over the sprawling slum it serves and is the largest yet in the violent, Muslim country.
RNS: Catholic bishops welcome dialogue with Obama as concerns remain
The standoff between the White House and the nation’s Catholic bishops over gay marriage and other hot-button issues may be easing after a quiet Oval Office meeting between President Barack Obama and the head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
AP: Pope's new document outlines church role in Africa
In a basilica built in the birthplace of Africa's Voodoo religion in Benin, Pope Benedict XVI on Saturday unveiled a treatise outlining the role of the Catholic Church on the continent and explained how Catholicism can help address Africa's chronic wars and interact with indigenous practices.
LA Times: O.C. Catholic diocese to buy bankrupt Crystal Cathedral
In the end, 2,000 years of tradition carried the day.
Daily Star: Catholic patriarchs urge Christians to hang on to lands
A gathering of Catholic patriarchs in the Middle East urged Christians Thursday to hold onto their lands and holy places despite the ongoing popular uprisings in the Arab world, which have raised fears about the presence of Christians in the region.
AP: Pope heads to continent to articulate position on Africa, war and peace
Pope Benedict XVI is returning this week to Africa, the Roman Catholic Church's fastest-growing region whose pool of aspiring priests replenish dwindling numbers of clerics elsewhere.
NYT: Mormons’ ad campaign may play out on the ’12 campaign trail
After Sunday worship in recent months, Mormon bishops around the country gathered their congregations for an unusual PowerPoint presentation to unveil the church’s latest strategy for overcoming what it calls its “perception problem.”
Reuters: U.S. Catholic Church prepares to accept Episcopalians
The U.S. Roman Catholic Church will establish a body in January to house disaffected members of the Episcopal Church, beginning with a few dozen ministers and at least two congregations seeking communion, U.S. bishops were told on Tuesday.
Korea Herald: Many Mormon missionaries come to Korea, some stay
“Whenever we say we’re Mormon, a lot of people think we’re polygamists,” said Elder Tyson Bailey, 21, his voice betraying a hint of exasperation.
Jerusalem Post: Bill to ensure all rabbis can perform weddings
MK Tzipi Hotovely announced Monday she would be introducing a bill, along side MK Uri Orbach, to legally ensure that any rabbi with ordination from the Chief Rabbinate is able to carry out wedding ceremonies.
Daily Star: Islamic Council: Don’t undermine premiership
The Highest Islamic Council, Lebanon’s highest Sunni religious body, has warned against attempts to undercut the premiership’s prerogatives, a day after ministers from Michel Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement strongly objected to the exception of the prime minister from a draft law to ban MPs from serving in the Cabinet.
Detroit Free Press: Overflow Dearborn crowd cheers Yemen's Nobel Peace Prize winner
Speaking to a cheering crowd inside a packed Dearborn center, a Yemeni opposition leader who last month became the first Arab woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize said the president of her country has committed war crimes and should be overthrown.
AP: US Catholic bishops prepare fight for religious exceptions over gay marriage, contraception
The mood among many U.S. Roman Catholic bishops was captured in a recent speech by Archbishop Charles Chaput of Philadelphia.
LA Times: As ultra-Orthodox flex muscle, Israel feminists see a backsliding
When public buses rumble to a stop in some of Jerusalem's religious neighborhoods, women often dutifully enter by the rear door and sit in the back, leaving the front for men.
AP: Detroit prayer event puts Muslim community on edge
An area with one of the largest Muslim communities in the United States is bracing itself for a 24-hour prayer rally by a group that counts Islam among the ills facing the nation.
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