pewforum.org Religion News on the Web

Religion News on the Web

Selected religion-related news from around the Web
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.
NYT: Catholics mobilize to defeat Philippine politicians who backed reproductive law
After a stinging, high-profile defeat in December, Catholic groups in the Philippines are organizing an effort to influence congressional elections that could put the church’s political power to the test.
Journal-Constitution: Chick-fil-A keeps growing despite uproar
Chick-fil-A president Dan Cathy’s controversial comments on “biblical” marriage last summer and the uproar that followed didn’t dampen the Atlanta company’s annual sales.
NYT: In shift, an activist enlists same-sex couples in a pro-marriage coalition
David Blankenhorn, a traditional-marriage advocate and star witness in the Proposition 8 trial in California in 2010, shocked his allies with an Op-Ed article in The New York Times last June announcing that he was quitting the fight against same-sex marriage.
Reuters: Exclusive: Gay marriage foes suffer from fundraising shortfall
Foes of same-sex marriage are laboring to pay the tab for an epic legal case now before the U.S. Supreme Court, as the movement suffers from fundraising shortfalls that could sap its strength in future battles.
AP: Washington casts wary eye at Muslim Brotherhood
President Barack Obama begins his second term straining to maintain a good relationship with Egypt, an important U.S. ally whose president is a conservative Islamist walking a fine line between acting as a moderate peace broker and keeping his Muslim Brotherhood party happy with anti-American rhetoric.
NYT: Israeli secularists appear to find their voice
Speaking to a group of ultra-Orthodox men shortly before he officially entered politics, Yair Lapid, a proudly secular talk-show host, declared that in a century-long competition to define Israel’s character, “we lost and you won.”
AP: Testimony scheduled on VT assisted death proposal
Two Senate committees are slated to take testimony this week on what has become a perennial issue around the Vermont Statehouse: legislation that would allow doctors to help terminally ill patients end their own lives.
AP: Boy Scouts could face division and defections if it proceeds to end mandatory ban on gays
The Boy Scouts of America’s proposed move away from its no-gays membership policy has outraged some longtime admirers, gratified many critics and raised intriguing questions about the iconic organization’s future.
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