Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8407704.stm

Thirty elderly women have been arrested in Eritrea while praying together, one of their relatives living in the United States has told the BBC.

Requesting anonymity, she said she only found out about her mother when she phoned to speak to her this week.

Most of the women belonged to an outlawed evangelical group.

The government recognises only four...

Author: Verena Dobnik

Source: Delaware Online/USA TODAY

Wire Service: AP

Author: Staff Writer

Source: KGW

Wire Service: AP

http://www.kgw.com/news/local/78933227.html

A southern Oregon elementary school principal's decision to remove a holiday "giving tree" after a family's complaint has created an uproar. Now school district officials have decided to replace the original tree with a holiday display including three trees, snow and gifts for needy children.

Ashland School District...

Author: Erika Jacobson Moore

Source: Leesburg Today

http://www.leesburg2day.com/articles/2009/12/10/news/9956displays121009.txt

As many predicted during the debate about whether holiday displays should be allowed on the grounds of the courthouse, the controversy did not end with the vote of the Board of Supervisors last Tuesday and what started as a request to place a Christmas tree on the courthouse lawn has branched out in...

Author: Christopher Bodeen

Source: Google News

Wire Service: AP

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hr5vqPX-47JQ152pcwUWfiUi3O5wD9CGIPTG2

Towering eight stories over wheat fields, the Golden Lamp Church was built to serve nearly 50,000 worshippers in the gritty heart of China's coal country.

But that was before hundreds of police and hired thugs descended on...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Economist

http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15019864

On a manicured lawn within the grounds of the Arkansas state capitol in Little Rock a Nativity scene is erected each Advent. It is causing all sorts of problems. Shouldn’t other religions (or, for that matter, those who reject organised religion altogether) get their chance to show off? Doesn...

Author: Rob Luff

Source: Public Opinion

http://www.publicopiniononline.com/ci_13854798?source=most_viewed

An atheistic and agnostic group plans to seek legal action against the Borough of Chambersburg following a decision Monday night that bans anything other than flags and flowers from adorning the Memorial Square fountain war memorial.

The unanimous decision from Chambersburg Borough Council came after Carl Silverman,...

Author: Alexander Bratersky

Source: The Moscow Times

http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/missionaries-face-fines-for-sharing-their-faith/390816.html

Ordinary believers face fines for sharing their faith with strangers in the metro or on the street under amendments drafted by the Justice Ministry that are stirring worries among Protestant groups about a clampdown on religious freedom.

...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Google News

Wire Service: AP

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gcwPZdgx2c7bPVLxm71nb1xl11ZQD9CB13S00

Five members of an unregistered Chinese Protestant congregation have been sentenced to two years in a labor camp following a police raid on their church, a monitoring group said Wednesday.

The report comes less than a week after...

Author: Derek Kravitz

Source: The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/11/30/AR2009113003974.html

Carrying coal and wearing Christmas red, dozens of Loudoun residents stormed into a county meeting Monday night to protest a new policy barring structures, religious or otherwise, from the lawn of the century-old courthouse in Leesburg. The county's new rule, residents say...

Author: Erika Jacobson Moore

Source: Leesburg Today

http://www.leesburg2day.com/articles/2009/12/03/news/9970display120109.txt

Taking the Grinch out of Loudoun's holiday season, the Board of Supervisors today voted to overturn the decision of the Courthouse Grounds and Facility Task Force to prohibit displays of all kinds on the grounds of the historic courthouse in Leesburg.

The decision to allow all religious...

Author: Andrew Welsh-Huggins

Source: The Fresno Bee

http://www.fresnobee.com/641/story/1731279.html

A runaway Christian convert and her Muslim family must listen to each other's views about religion if they are to reunite, a possibility that appears in jeopardy since the girl continues to refuse any contact with her parents or siblings, a caseworker says.

A case-management plan filed Monday said Rifqa Bary and her parents should hear what each...

Author: Peter Capella

Source: Brisbane Times

http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/breaking-news-world/switzerland-confronts-backlash-over-minaret-ban-20091130-k0ub.html

Switzerland confronted an international backlash and charges of intolerance on Monday as the country's Muslim leaders urged calm over a shock vote to ban new minarets.

The Vatican joined Muslim leaders in...

Author: Peter Capella

Source: Brisbane Times

http://news.brisbanetimes.com.au/breaking-news-world/switzerland-confronts-backlash-over-minaret-ban-20091130-k0ub.html

Switzerland confronted an international backlash and charges of intolerance on Monday as the country's Muslim leaders urged calm over a shock vote to ban new minarets.

The Vatican joined Muslim leaders in...

Author: The (Columbia) State

Source: The Columbia State

http://www.heraldonline.com/120/story/1771812.html

South Carolinians might get a chance to buy a Christian “I Believe” license tag after all.

The plaintiffs who won the lawsuit this month that killed the General Assembly-sanctioned “I Believe” license tag are saying they won't protest a private group's request that the state make the same tag for them.

...