Author: Francis Wong

Source: Ecumenical News International

http://www.eni.ch/featured/article.php?id=3951

The Chinese government's new head of religious affairs has downplayed the role of house churches during his first official visit to Hong Kong, but a dissenting Chinese Christian has disputed his comments. 

Wang Zuo'an, the head of China's State Administration for Religious Affairs, met Hong Kong Protestant leaders at...

Author: Chris Herlinger

Source: Ecumenical News International

http://www.eni.ch/featured/article.php?id=3955

An exhibit in New York illuminates the complex relationship between Christians and Jews in medieval Spain and shows that producing art was often a cooperative, interfaith enterprise. The exhibit, "Uneasy Communion: Jews, Christians, and the Altarpieces of Medieval Spain," at the Museum of Biblical Art, does not...

Author: Mike Melia

Source: Google News

Wire Service: AP

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5idZiVQhHcyG1gpBjzXaAmmk4_OtAD9ENR5B80

Hundreds of Voodoo practitioners chanted, prayed and pounded drums Sunday to honor earthquake victims in an unusually public ceremony for a religion most often celebrated in private homes.

The white-clad Voodooists, many with black...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer/Agence France-Presse

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/world/view/20100324-260550/Vietnam-born-US-lawmaker-pleads-for-religious-freedom

The sole Vietnamese American member of the US Congress deplored Tuesday what he called worsening repression in his native country and appealed for pressure on Hanoi to...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Sikh Times

http://www.emgonline.co.uk/news.php?news=9146

A groundbreaking documentary exploring the role and symbolism of the turban since the London Bombings is to be used to train Officers at British Transport Police.

It’s the first time that “Turbanology: After 7/7” has been licensed by a British law enforcement agency as an educational toolkit.

Speaking about the licensing Paul Crowther...

Author: Mark Magnier

Source: Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-malaysia-church19-2010mar19,0,7453940.story

The Metro Tabernacle Church, a storefront with metal shutters, sits gutted, black smoke stains on the concrete pillars bearing witness to the intense fire that destroyed the property.

The attacks on this and more than a dozen other houses of worship in...

Author: Amanda Pazornik

Source: San Francisco Jewish Community Publications

http://www.jweekly.com/article/full/57478/matzah-and-mass-interfaith-families-tackle-their-passover-easter-dilemma/

When Cathy Polinsky and Russell Belfer host a seder at their San Mateo home, the Haggadah at everyone’s place is, in a way, a reflection of the group assembled around the table. 

Author: Taylor Bendig

Source: The Vancouver Sun

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Edmonton+groups+targeted+hate+crimes+extra+security/2677789/story.html

Eight of Edmonton's most frequently vandalized religious and ethnic centres will soon boast enhanced security, federal minister of public safety Vic Toews said on Friday.

His head covered with a yellow bandana in accordance with Sikh...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: CNN

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/meast/03/13/us.iran.religious.persecution/index.html

The State Department condemned Iran's persecution of religious minorities on Friday following the Iranian authorities' detention of Baha'is and Christians in recent months.

Iranian authorities have detained more than 45 Baha'is in the last four months, and as many as 60 Baha'is are imprisoned in...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: TREND

http://en.trend.az/regions/met/iraq/1652588.html

Some 122 Christian families have returned to the troubled northern Iraqi city of Mosul since the March 7 parliamentary elections, a local official said Thursday.

Representatives of the city's Christian population had earlier told the German Press Agency dpa that some 250 Christian families had fled following a string of deadly attacks targeting the...

Author: Robbie Brown

Source: The New York Times

http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/03/10/new-study-sorts-through-obama-muslim-myth/

A new academic study finds that Americans who believed during the 2008 campaign that Barack Obama was a Muslim generally held tight to that misconception, despite efforts by the media, fact-checking Web sites and his own campaign to debunk the myth.

The number...

Author: Ahmed Saka and Jon Gambrell

Source: Google News

Wire Service: AP

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5iNCU46VYMVf0VzhqkKJUus45PrDAD9EAFP4G1

Rioters armed with machetes slaughtered more than 200 people including a 4-day-old infant, residents said, less than two months after sectarian violence in the volatile region left more than 300 dead.

One aid worker...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Google News

Wire Service: AP

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gee0HQDakZhTyH0OADiv9B1zjQuQD9E9IN2O1

Malaysia's opposition has fired an outspoken lawmaker who broke ranks with his party in a religious dispute over the use of the word "Allah" by non-Muslims, party officials said Sunday.

The move follows weeks of turmoil in...

Author: Sean Yoong

Source: Yahoo News

Wire Service: AP

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100306/ap_on_re_as/as_malaysia_muslims_in_church

A Malaysian magazine apologized Saturday for upsetting Christians after it published an article researched by two Muslims who pretended to be Roman Catholics and took Communion in a church.

The apology is likely to soothe frustrations among religious...

Author: Lee Rood

Source: The Des Moines Register

http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100304/NEWS/3040352/Teacher-suspended-for-denying-Wiccan-altar

A Guthrie Center teacher this week received a five-day unpaid suspension for insubordination for not allowing a student to build a Wiccan altar in his shop class - discipline he said he still doesn't agree with.

Dale Halferty, who...