Author: Tim Cocks

Source: Reuters

http://blogs.reuters.com/faithworld/2009/07/14/baghdad-church-bombings-leave-tiny-christian-minority-trembling/

A spate of bombs targeting churches in Baghdad this week has Iraq’s minority Christian community trembling at the prospect of being the next victim of militants trying to reignite war.

Iraqi Christians, one of the country’s...

Author: Julia Zappei

Source: wtop.com

Wire Service: AP

Author: Adelle M. Banks

Source: Religion News Service

https://religionnews.com/2009/07/14/sotomayor-has-mixed-record-on-church-state-disputes/

As a federal judge, Sonia Sotomayor sided...

Author: Paolo Gallini

Source: Religious Intelligence

http://www.religiousintelligence.co.uk/news/?NewsID=4741

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today expressed its alarm at the recent spate of bombings of churches in Baghdad and Mosul and called on the Iraqi government to provide protection to all of the country’s citizens, especially its vulnerable Christian minority.

The bombings occurred late...

Author: Nada Bakri

Source: The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/13/AR2009071302043.html

Iraqi authorities on Monday tightened security around churches across Baghdad and in two Christian towns in the northern province of Nineveh, amid fears that a series of attacks against them could escalate.

The security measures were imposed a day after bombings in and around...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: UN News Centre

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=31450&Cr=iraq&Cr1=attack

The top United Nations envoy to Iraq today called for a redoubling of efforts to protect the country’s Christians, as well as its other minority communities, following a series of “orchestrated” bombings over the weekend that hit several churches.

The weekend attacks in the capital, Baghdad,...

Author: Michele Chabin

Source: Religion News Service

http://www.religionnews.com/index.php?/rnstext

When Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat decided in June to open a municipal parking lot that had been closed on Saturdays, the Jewish Sabbath, his office said he was simply being practical.

Extra parking is needed to help ease lines of double-parked cars near the Old City that have become an impenetrable maze for emergency vehicles and “an issue of...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://www.bbc.co.uk/stoke/content/articles/2006/03/06/local_tv_archive_shia_muslim_church_worship_feature.shtml

BBC Staffordshire TV spoke to the Shi'a Muslims who have found a place to worship in a New Baptist Church in Burton Upon Trent...

Shi'a Muslims in Burton upon Trent have been struggling to find a venue to...

Author: Nomaaan Merchant

Source: ABC News

Wire Service: AP

Author: Carol J. Williams

Source: The Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-pill-ruling9-2009jul09,0,6469894.story

Pharmacists are obliged to dispense the Plan B pill, even if they are personally opposed to the "morning after" contraceptive on religious grounds, a federal appeals court ruled Wednesday.

In a case that could affect policy across the western U.S., a...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: PRNewswire-USNewswire

http://sev.prnewswire.com/publishing-information-services/20090709/DC4429309072009-1.html

The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Virginia today demanded that officials at the Rappahannock Regional Jail immediately end their illegal practice of censoring religious material sent to detainees.

In a letter sent today to the jail's superintendent...

Author: Jemimah Noonoo

Source: The Houston Chronicle

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/religion/6522162.html

At an East Galveston beach, Mari Barkhausen is waist-deep in the cool, brown water. After repeating Hebrew blessings, she is immersed once, twice. When she emerges from the water a third time, she is a Jew.

She hugs her rabbi, looking to the shoreline at her husband and two sons who are waiting for their mikveh, the...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Wicked Local Shrewsbury

http://www.wickedlocal.com/shrewsbury/news/x931223906/Wellspring-Church-welcomes-Rev-Mariah-Tollgaard

Wellspring United Methodist Church is pleased to announce the appointment of the Rev. Mariah Furness Tollgaard by Bishop Peter Weaver of the New England Annual Conference of the United Methodist Church.

Peter Bjork, lay leader of...

Author: Adelle M. Banks

Source: Religion News Service

http://www.religionnews.com/index.php?/rnstext/on_all_things_religious_obama_turns_to_dubois1/

From a sparsely adorned office building a stone’s throw from the White House, Joshua DuBois carefully navigates the delicate line between church and state.

Each morning, he sends a devotional message to President Obama’s BlackBerry. He...

Author: Lise Fisher...