Author: Sonia Verma

Source: The Times

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article3549158.ece

The first Christian church in Qatar has no cross, no bell and no steeple. And when five thousand faithful descend on Our Lady of the Rosary this morning to celebrate its historic consecration they pray that no one will notice. “The idea is to be discreet because we don’t want to inflame any sensitivities. There isn’t...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Fox News

http://www.foxnews.com/wires/2008Mar13/0,4670,VaticanChina,00.html

The Vatican and its high-ranking clergy in China want to have a "respectful and constructive" dialogue with Beijing authorities over the role of the Catholic church there, the Vatican said Thursday.

The call came this week during a meeting of a special commission on China created by Pope Benedict XVI. Among the...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/7289508.stm

Religious and faith organisations contribute more than £100m in economic benefits to Wales, a report says.

But the groups have little in return, with barely a quarter of faith communities getting public funding, the research found.

According to the study, around 40,000 unpaid volunteers do 80,000 hours of community work a week...

Author: Ethan Cole

Source: The Christian Post

http://www.christianpost.com/article/20080309/31467_National_Muslim-Christian_Initiative_Launches_in_N._America.htm

Christian and Muslim leaders met this past week to launch the National Muslim-Christian Initiative in North America aimed at facilitating greater understanding between the two religious communities.

Author: Staff Writer

Source: ZENIT

http://www.zenit.org/article-22014?l=english

The peaceful coexistence of various religions is the rock upon which civilization depends, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone said when inaugurating the first Catholic Church in Azerbaijan.

The Pope's secretary of state said this Friday in Baku at the dedication ceremony of the Church of the Immaculate Conception, an event he said is "rich in meaning," and "will leave its mark...

Author: NEELA BANERJEE

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/08/us/08chapel.html?

On Sundays at the Naval Academy Chapel, at a few minutes past 11 a.m., the choir stops singing and a color guard carrying the academy flag and the American flag strides up the aisle.

Below a cobalt blue stained-glass window of Jesus, one midshipman dips the academy flag before the altar cross, and the other dips the American flag.
...

Author: Rich Barlow

Source: The Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/03/08/rabbi_praises_interfaith_mobility/

If Rabbi David Gordis is right, when it comes to improving relations among Christians, Jews, and Muslims, the words of the prophets are written not on church or temple or mosque walls, but in the hearts of the congregants.

In a talk at Merrimack College this week, Gordis,...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The TImes of India

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Gujarat_to_withdraw_Freedom_of_Religion_Amendment_Bill/articleshow/2848531.cms

The Gujarat government has decided to withdraw the controversial Freedom of Religion Amendment Bill 2006 after Governor Nawal Kishor Sharma returned it to the Assembly for reconsideration.

The bill will be...

Author: Amy Kotlarz

Source: Catholic Courier

http://catholiccourier.com/tmp1.cfm?nid=78&articleid=100198

The keys to religious harmony in a religiously diverse world are appreciation, humility and respect for others, said Rabbi Brad Hirschfield of New York City and author of You Don’t Have to Be Wrong for Me to Be Right: Finding Faith Without Fanaticism, which was published in January.

Rabbi Hirschfield spoke about religious...

Author: Mark Sappenfield

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0307/p04s01-wogn.html

Sakena Yacoobi well knows the hardships of Afghan women, caught between a war and the hopelessness of poverty and illiteracy.

Yet on International Women's Day Saturday, the Afghan educator will not ask the world to help Afghan women. Instead, she will ask Afghan women to help the world.

In a time of growing conflict...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Star Tribune

Wire Service: AP

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/faith/16335451.html

Representatives of five non-Christian faiths will meet with Pope Benedict XVI during his first U.S. visit as pontiff next month.

The 45-minute event on April 17 at the Pope John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington will include a papal address, greetings from the faith leaders and a...

Author: Kim Murphy

Source: Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/features/religion/la-fg-blasphemy6mar06,1,5881357.story

A funny thing happened in November when Britain launched a righteous protest over Sudan's arrest of a British schoolteacher accused of insulting Islam by letting her students name a class teddy bear Muhammad.

The Sudanese ambassador was summoned; Prime Minister Gordon Brown issued a protest....

Author: David Dishneau

Source: San Mateo County Times

Wire Service: AP

http://www.insidebayarea.com/sanmateocountytimes/localnews/ci_8473414

He has met with two U.S. presidents, lectured on Islam in scores of countries and appeared on global television. So Imam Yahya Hendi could be forgiven for declining engagements in the sticks.

But on successive days last month, Hendi drove from his...

Author: Sam Dagher

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0306/p01s05-wogn.html

The bullets lay on the desk amid Bibles and rosaries. They're for two pistols owned by Father Ayman Danna.

"The only solution left for our people is to bear arms. We either live or die. We must be strong," says the Syriac Catholic priest at the Church of Saint George in Bartella, a northern Iraqi town in a swath of fertile land...

Author: Jibril Adan

Source: allAfrica/The East Africa Standard

http://allafrica.com/stories/200803041134.html

ODM nominated MP and Muslim preacher, Sheikh Mohamed Dor, will become the first Imam in Kenya's Parliament.

Dor and Ms Safia Abdi were selected by the National Muslim Leaders Forum (Namlef) for the ODM nominations and would be sworn-in on Thursday.

Dor told The Standard yesterday in Mombasa that he would continue his work as...