Religion News on the Web
Selected religion-related news from around the Web
May 30, 2013
- The Christian Science Monitor
CS Monitor: El Salvador high court upholds abortion ban as 'Beatriz' challenges law
A 22-year-old pregnant woman from the rural interior of El Salvador is lying in a hospital bed waiting to see if a recent Supreme Court ruling will be her death sentence. The reason: She is carrying a high-risk pregnancy in a country that has outlawed all forms of therapeutic abortion.
May 30, 2013
- The Christian Science Monitor
CS Monitor: Churches grapple with whether to cut Boy Scout ties
Religious groups sponsor nearly 70 percent of Boy Scout troops nationwide. But the reaction among these groups was as diverse as the congregations themselves when the Boy Scouts of America recently voted to allow openly gay boys to join.
May 26, 2013
- The New York Times
NYT: Archdiocese pays for health plan that covers birth control
As the nation’s leading Roman Catholic bishop, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan of New York has been spearheading the fight against a provision of the new health care law that requires employers, including some that are religiously affiliated, to cover birth control in employee health plans.
May 20, 2013
- The New York Times
NYT: State Dept. report says countries have repressed religious freedom with laws
Countries around the world, including allies of the United States, have used laws on blasphemy and apostasy to suppress political opponents, the State Department said on Monday in an annual report chronicling a grim decline in religious freedom that has resulted in rising bigotry and sectarian violence.
May 20, 2013
- The Washington Times
Wash. Times: Evangelical weakness in gay Boy Scouts debate could hurt GOP
Signs of waning evangelical power in the nation’s culture wars and in Republican policy — and some unexpected challenges for GOP candidates — loom as the 103-year-old Boy Scouts of America gears up for a definitive vote this week on whether to welcome openly gay youths into the organization’s ranks.
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 17, 2013
- The New York Times
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.