pewforum.org Religion News on the Web

Religion News on the Web

Selected religion-related news from around the Web
Wash. Post: At al-Azhar mosque, struggle over Islam roils a revered Egyptian institution
They came by the thousands, pouring through the ancient stone archways and into the gleaming white marble courtyard of al-Azhar mosque.
AP: Sarkozy nixes halal meat in schools for Muslims
The issue of France's Muslims moved front and center into the presidential campaign with the incumbent, Nicolas Sarkozy, excluding on Saturday any special indulgences for halal meat or separate swimming hours for Muslim women in public pools.
Reuters: Insight: "Rock star" scholars a risk for Islamic finance
Decades of parsing turgid legal documents have not dampened the enthusiasm of octogenarian Islamic scholar Sheikh Hussein Hamed Hassan.
Times of India: Religious conversion stalls dead man's last rites
Burial or cremation? This is the conflict surrounding death of a man, who had converted into Islam, after entering into a relationship with a Muslim woman.
NYT: Israeli Court invalidates a military exemption
The Israeli Supreme Court has invalidated a law that exempted from military service ultra-Orthodox Jews engaged in religious studies, adding a new urgency to the government’s negotiations with religious parties over a more equitable distribution of the burdens of citizenship.
Straits Times: There's a difference between tradition and religion
IN 2007, there was a local Malay drama which featured a storyline about a Chinese convert who faced a dilemma when she had to fulfil her mother's dying wish.
AP: Israelis flock to sages' tombs seeking miracles
One man prays to heal the legs he broke in a car accident. An older woman pleads for grandchildren.
South China Morning Post: Catholics urged to shun chain stores
The Catholic church has launched a campaign in support of small businesses by encouraging people to give up relying on chain stores for Lent and support their local shopkeeper....
Toronto Star: From Vatican to Toronto, Catholic clergy plan ‘rekindling of faith’
The day Catholic cardinals met to discuss “re-evangelizing” Western culture, the butterfly tattoo of showgirl Belen Rodriguez was the talk of Italy.
Irish Times: Dawkins claims poll shows religion is largely irrelevant in Britain
FOR SOME, scientist and author Richard Dawkins is the high priest of atheism. For others, he is a deeply annoying fundamentalist – just as fundamentalist about his lack of belief in a higher being as some of those who do profess faith.
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.
Wash. Post: Elie Wiesel calls on Mitt Romney to make Mormon Church stop proxy baptisms of Jews
Nobel-laureate Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel and a top official from the Simon Wiesenthal Center said Tuesday that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney should use his stature in the Mormon Church to block its members from posthumously baptizing Jewish victims of the Holocaust.
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.
AP: Movie house as chapel: NYC congregations, evicted from schools, seek new space for worship
Scores of religious congregations are scrounging for cheap space in New York City as they prepare to be evicted, on constitutional grounds, from rooms they've been renting at public schools.
Irish Times: Orthodox Christians in fear of 'utter chaos' seek refuge in prayer
THE ORTHODOX convent of Our Lady of Saydnaya sits four-square on a hilltop an hour’s drive from Damascus.
Free Press: Judges to decide: Can religious confessions be used against you?
Michigan Court of Appeals judges will hear arguments Thursday on a case that could have serious repercussions for church members: Can what you confess to your pastor be used against you in a court of law?
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.      

 
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.
Toronto Star: Shafia murders: Fatwa issued against honour killings, domestic violence, hatred of women.
Muslim clerics in Canada issued a fatwa on Saturday against honour killings, domestic violence and hatred of women.
Irish Times: Court upholds Scientology fraud ruling in France
A FRENCH appeals court has upheld fraud charges and a €600,000 fine against the Church of Scientology for cajoling followers into paying large sums for bogus personality tests and cures.
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