Religion News on the Web
Selected religion-related news from around the Web
February 15, 2012
- The New York Times
NYT: Self-insured complicate health deal
The Obama administration thought it had found a way to ease mounting objections to a requirement in the new health care act that all employers — including religiously affiliated hospitals and universities — offer coverage for birth control to women free of charge.
February 12, 2012
- The Associated Press
AP: Amish man's letters sway lawmakers on buggy issue
The simple, heart-felt letters of an old-fashioned Amish man are being credited for the Senate's quick passage of a bill that would allow Kentucky's Amish residents to use reflective tape on their horse-drawn buggies instead of the bright orange triangular signs that they object to on religious grounds.
February 08, 2012
- The New York Times
NYT: The church that politics turned into a mosque
As worshipers knelt to face the Qiblah for noon prayers in the Hagia Sophia of Iznik last week, a caretaker beckoned to a couple of tourists tiptoeing around behind them.
February 07, 2012
- Straits Times
Straits Times: Is Atheism Illegal in Indonesia?
After surviving a mob attack over a Facebook posting, 31-year-old Indonesian civil servant Alexander Aan was taken into custody by the West Sumatra police for his own safety.
February 03, 2012
- The Associated Press
AP: Contraception mandate outrages religious groups
The Obama administration’s decision requiring church-affiliated employers to cover birth control was bound to cause an uproar among Roman Catholics and members of other faiths, no matter their beliefs on contraception.
January 12, 2012
- The Australian
Australian: Salman Rushdie brushes off call for festival 'blasphemy' ban
The vice-chancellor of Darul Uloom Deoband, one of India's most influential Islamic seminaries, has called on the government to deny the Indian-born writer a visa to attend the Jaipur Literary Festival over the insult caused to Muslims by his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses.
January 11, 2012
- The New York Times
NYT: After losing a lawsuit, taking their appeal to God
They have tried letter-writing, petitions and a lawsuit, all to no avail. So now the Christian congregations that are weeks away from expulsion from New York City’s public schools are focusing on more-religious tools in their arsenal: prayer, fasting and repentance.