Religion News on the Web
Selected religion-related news from around the Web
May 18, 2013
- The New York Times
NYT: Hollande signs French gay marriage law
The rush toward France’s first same-sex marriage officially began Saturday morning, after President François Hollande signed the country’s “marriage for all” act into law.
May 13, 2013
- The Associated Press
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.
May 02, 2013
- The New York Times
NYT: With Benedict's return, Vatican experiment begins
When Benedict XVI, the pope emeritus, returned to Vatican City on Thursday, two months after his retirement, he inaugurated a living arrangement as unusual as it may be unpredictable.
May 01, 2013
- The Christian Science Monitor
CS Monitor: Irish bill brings more clarity – and more heat – to abortion debate
It came half a day late, but late last night the Irish government finally published the "heads of bill" outlining its proposed abortion legislation – though it did little to stem arguments about the legality and morality of abortion in Ireland, where the practice has been outlawed.
April 27, 2013
- The Times
The Times: The book everyone talked about
On Monday St Martin-in-the-Fields church in Trafalgar Square hosts a theological colloquium to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the publication of John Robinson's Honest to God and to ponder its message for today.
April 24, 2013
- The New York Times
NYT: Boston attack spotlights struggle half a world away
With an automatic weapon at his side and a black flag behind him, the Islamic rebel explained in a video why he had gone to war with his government. As is often the case in the broiling Muslim insurgency here in the North Caucasus, his complaints were intensely local: a police commander had announced a policy of harassing and threatening family members of suspected militants.
April 21, 2013
- The New York Times
NYT: Search for home led suspect to land marred by strife
Tamerlan Tsarnaev had already found religion by the time he landed in Dagestan, a combustible region in the North Caucasus that has become the epicenter of a violent Islamic insurgency in Russia and a hub of jihadist recruitment. What he seemed to be yearning for was a home.
April 16, 2013
- The Christian Science Monitor
CS Monitor: Ireland takes step toward gay marriage rights
Ireland, a famously conservative country with a government dominated by the center-right, has taken a step toward legalizing same-sex marriage, following several other Catholic nations into what some say is belated equality – and others claim is murky legal and moral territory.
April 11, 2013
- The Economist
Economist: High office, low church
It is hard to imagine a prime minister doing such a thing now, and even then it seemed rather surprising. In May 1988 Margaret Thatcher went to the General Assembly of the (Presbyterian) Church of Scotland and gave what would soon be called the Sermon on the Mound.