Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7023413.stm

A delegation of influential elder statesmen led by Archbishop Desmond Tutu has been visiting Darfur to try to find solutions to the conflict.

The "Elders" have been talking to local community leaders and to displaced people living in camps.

The visit comes three days after an attack on the African Union base in southern Darfur left 10...

Author: Felisa Cardona

Source: The Denver Post

http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_7056577

Three Latin crosses displayed on the official city emblem of Las Cruces, N.M., are the subject of a legal battle over the U.S. Constitution's treatment of religion and its proper place in government.

The fight made its way to the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday as a three-judge panel heard arguments from lawyers representing the city and Paul...

Author: David G. Savage

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/nation/story/2BB94E9C62F026F2862573680012F720?OpenDocument

WASHINGTON — The Supreme Court on Monday refused to expand the rights of church groups, turning down appeals in a pair of cases.

In the first, the justices rejected a free speech claim from an evangelical minister...

Author: Sipho Khumalo

Source: IOL

Author: Michael Paulson

Source: The Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/09/26/episcopal_leaders_act_to_avert_a_schism/?p1=email_to_a_friend

The Episcopal bishops of the United States, attempting to head off a schism over gay rights and biblical interpretation, yesterday promised to "exercise restraint" by not approving more gay bishops and not authorizing a formal...

Author: CLIFFORD J. LEVY

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/23/world/europe/23russia.html

One of the most discordant debates in Russian society is playing out in public schools like those in this city not far from Moscow, where the other day a teacher named Irina Donshina set aside her textbooks, strode before her second graders and, as if speaking from a pulpit, posed a simple question:

“Whom should we...

Author: Ann Belser

Source: Pittsburg Post-Gazette

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/07266/819566-85.stm

Over the last two years, thousands of fugitives in four states have lined up outside of churches, waiting for a chance to turn themselves in.

The program is called Fugitive Safe Surrender. For four days, a local church is turned into a full-fledged court, complete with judges, public defenders, prosecutors and identification equipment such as...

Author: WARREN ST. JOHN

Source: NY Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/22/us/22church.html

When the Rev. Phil Kitchin steps into the pulpit of the Clarkston International Bible Church on Sunday mornings, he stands eye to eye with the changing face of America. In the pews before him, alongside white-haired Southern women in their Sunday best, sit immigrants from the Philippines and Togo, refugees from war-scarred Liberia, Ethiopia and Sudan, even a...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6996112.stm

Prince Charles should not become defender of all faiths rather than just Christianity when he becomes King, the Archbishop of Canterbury has insisted.

Dr Rowan Williams also said his coronation should be a Christian rather than a multi-faith service.

In a wide-ranging interview with the Daily Telegraph he described Britain as a "broken society" and said urgent...

Author: Andrea Stone

Source: USA Today

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2007-09-11-amendment_N.htm?csp=34

Most Americans believe the nation's founders wrote Christianity into the Constitution, and people are less likely to say freedom to worship covers religious groups they consider extreme, a poll out today finds.

The survey measuring attitudes toward freedom of religion, speech and the press found that 55% believe...

Author: JEFF HEINRICH

Source: The Gazette

Author: Lisa Anderson

Source: Chicago Tribune

...

Author: Michael Paulson

Source: Globe Staff

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2007/08/31/consecration_in_kenya_widens_a_religious_rift/

NAIROBI - Delivering a blistering rebuke to the Episcopal Church for its support of gay and lesbian rights, spiritual leaders representing tens of millions of Anglican Christians from around the world gathered here yesterday to consecrate two conservative...

Author: Amir Shah

Source: Boston Globe

Wire Service: AP

http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2007/08/31/taliban_free_last_7_church_workers/

JANDA, Afghanistan - Taliban militants released the last seven South Korean hostages yesterday under a deal with the government in Seoul, ending a six-week drama that the insurgents claimed as a "great victory for our holy warriors."
...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/6963391.stm

Malaysia has shut down a newspaper for a month after it published a picture of Jesus holding a cigarette and what appears to be a can of beer.

Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi himself stepped in to admonish the editors of Makkal Osai, a Tamil-language paper.

The country's publishing laws allow politicians to close any publication...