pewforum.org Religion News on the Web

Religion News on the Web

Selected religion-related news from around the Web
NYT: British House of Commons approves gay marriage
The House of Commons voted overwhelmingly on Tuesday to approve a bill legalizing same-sex marriage in Britain, indicating that the bill is assured of passage as it moves through further legislative stages.
AP: Push for assisted suicide comes to Connecticut
A push for the legalization of physician-assisted suicide is under way in at least three Northeastern states including Connecticut, where proponents say they see strong support for allowing doctors to prescribe mentally competent, dying individuals with the medications needed to take their own lives.
AP: Interview: Morocco Islamists warn of unrest
Morocco likes to project itself as unique in the Middle East in finding a third way between revolution and repression amid the uprisings of the Arab Spring.
AP: Interview: Egypt’s Coptic Christian pope delivers measured criticism of Islamist government
Egypt’s Coptic patriarch delivered a cautious but unusually sharp criticism of the nation’s Islamist leadership in an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday, dismissing the new constitution as discriminatory and rounds of national dialogues sponsored by the president as meaningless.
Reuters: German Catholic Church may back some "morning-after pills"
Germany's Catholic Church may approve some so-called morning-after pills for rape victims after a leading cardinal unexpectedly announced they did not induce abortions and could be used in Catholic hospitals.
NYT: New Archbishop of Canterbury takes office
On the eve of a divisive vote in Parliament on the legalization of same-sex marriage, Justin Welby, the former bishop of Durham, on Monday took over formally as the 105th archbishop of Canterbury, the spiritual head of the world’s 77 million Anglicans, saying he shares the Church of England’s opposition to marriage among people of the same gender.
AP: Catholic hospital takes surprise stance in lawsuit
It was a startling assertion that seemed an about-face from church doctrine: A Catholic hospital arguing in a Colorado court that twin fetuses that died in its care were not, under state law, human beings.
NYT: Vote to eliminate ban on gays in Boy Scouts is on agenda at board meeting
A proposed shift by the Boy Scouts of America to drop its national ban on gay leaders and scouts, and allow local scout units to decide for themselves, was the center of attention as the organization’s national board gathered here on Monday for a three-day meeting and a vote on the issue.
Journal-Constitution: Churches fret as Scouts debate ending gay ban
While the Boy Scouts of America faces increased pressure to admit gay Scouts and gay Scout leaders, some of the churches that host Scout troops are also in the front lines of the battle and could lose their troops.
NYT: More in France are turning to Islam, challenging a nation's idea of itself
The spacious and elegant modern building, in the heart of this middle-class suburb of Paris, is known as “the mosque of the converts.”
NYT: Academic study weakens Israeli claim that Palestinian school texts teach hate
An academic study of the contents of Israeli and Palestinian Authority textbooks, to be published Monday, finds that each side generally presents the other as the enemy, but it undermines recent assertions by the Israeli government that Palestinian children are educated “to hate.”
NYT: Lawyers say surveillance of Muslims flouts accord
Civil rights lawyers have asked a federal judge to appoint an independent monitor to review the New York Police Department’s counterterrorism efforts.
Toronto Star: Iraq’s Christians still searching for a home
Sitting in the living room of his home in Erbil, capital of the Iraqi Kurdistan region, 63-year-old Rostom Sefarian stops talking, struggling to hold back the tears.
USA Today: As Supreme Court takes up gay marriage question, foes rally
Foes of same-sex marriage are warning the Supreme Court that lifting state or federal restrictions would threaten their own economic and religious freedoms and lead to social and political upheaval.
Wash. Post: The White House’s contraceptives compromise
The Obama administration proposed broader latitude Friday for religious nonprofits that object to the mandated coverage of contraceptives, one that will allow large faith-based hospitals and universities to issue plans that do not directly provide birth control coverage.
Reuters: Church should have more control over Russian life: Putin
President Vladimir Putin said on Friday the Orthodox Church should be given more say over family life, education and the armed forces in Russia, as he celebrated the leadership of its head Patriarch Kirill.
The Times: High Court opens way to Sharia divorces
The prospect of divorce cases being settled by Sharia and religious courts has been opened up by a landmark legal decision.
AP: Foes, supporters debate Wash. abortion insurance bill at House hearing
Abortion rights supporters and opponents packed a Washington state House hearing Thursday and debated a measure that would require insurers to pay for the procedure.
NYT: Cardinal in Los Angeles is removed from duties
Cardinal Roger M. Mahony, who retired less than two years ago as the leader of the nation’s largest Roman Catholic archdiocese, was removed from all public duties by his successor, Archbishop José H. Gomez, as the church complied with a court order to release thousands of pages of internal documents that show how the cardinal shielded priests who sexually abused children.
Wash. Post: Russian anti-gay bill sets off furor
On Friday, Ilya Kolmanovsky, who is straight, stood outside Russia’s lower house of parliament to protest an anti-gay bill.
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