Religion News on the Web
Selected religion-related news from around the Web
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 15, 2013
- The New York Times
NYT: Online furor draws press to abortion doctor's trial
Through four weeks, prosecutors have laid out evidence against Dr. Kermit Gosnell, a Philadelphia abortion provider on trial on charges of killing seven viable fetuses by “snipping” their necks with scissors and of causing the death of a pregnant 41-year-old woman during a procedure.
April 13, 2013
- The New York Times
NYT: For Evangelicals, a shift in views on immigration
In the pews of the First Baptist Church of Orlando, where thousands of evangelical Christians gather on Sundays to worship and sing, a change of heart is happening on the once toxic issue of immigration.
April 11, 2013
- National Public Radio
NPR: Shop owner sued by state after denying flowers to gay couple
To Washington state now, where the state's attorney general is suing a florist for refusing to supply flower arrangements for a same-sex wedding. As NPR's Martin Kaste reports from Seattle, opponents of same-sex marriage are jumping to the florist's defense.
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.
April 11, 2013
- The Washington Post
Wash. Post: Women challenge Orthodox practice at Israel’s Western Wall
A long-running battle over worship at the Western Wall, Judaism’s holiest shrine , was rejoined Thursday as Israeli police arrested five Jewish women who wore prayer shawls at a morning service, contrary to Orthodox practice enforced at the site.
April 11, 2013
- Bloomberg News
Bloomberg: Boomers push doctor-assisted dying in end-of-life revolt
Claudia Burzichelli doesn’t want to die like her dad. Nine years ago, her father, already afflicted with Parkinson’s, killed himself with a gunshot to the head days after his release from a hospital where he had been treated for a heart attack.
April 10, 2013
- National Public Radio
NPR: 'Til faith do us part': the mixed blessings of interfaith marriage
In this day and age, interfaith marriage doesn't seem like that big a deal. They represent close to half of all marriages in this country over the past 10 years. The decision can also come with a price, though: disagreement on how to raise children and higher rates of divorce.
April 09, 2013
- The Associated Press
AP: Al-Qaida Iraq branch announces merger with Syrian militant group
Al-Qaida’s branch in Iraq said it has merged with Syria’s extremist Jabhat al-Nusra, a move that shows the rising confidence of radicals within the Syrian rebel movement and is likely to trigger renewed fears among its international backers.