Author: Louisa Lim

Source: NPR

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128691021

Four years ago, eight senior monks, clad in scarlet-and-saffron-robes, filed in front of a golden Buddha and began chanting on stage in the eastern Chinese city of Hangzhou. It marked an important turning point in China's attitude toward religion.

This was the first World Buddhist Forum, attended by more than 1,000 monks, and held in...

Author: Maggie Hyde

Source: Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life

Wire Service: RNS

http://pewforum.org/Religion-News/Fla-church-plans-to-burn-Qurans-on-9-11-anniversary.aspx

A Florida church with "Islam is of the devil" signs in its front lawn plans to host an "International Burn A Quran Day," on the ninth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks this year. 

Author: Bob Smietana

Source: WBIR/The Tennessean

http://www.wbir.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=127568&provider=rss

As a seminary student, the Rev. Jeremy Squires 
learned most of what he needed to know to be a 
Methodist preacher, but he didn't learn much about 
other faiths, like Islam or Buddhism. 

That's left Squires, pastor of Pleasant View United 
Methodist church in...

Author: Laurie Goodstein

Source: The New York Times/MSNBC

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38303952/ns/politics-the_new_york_times/

At a time when the prospects for immigration overhaul seem most dim, supporters have unleashed a secret weapon: a group of influential evangelical Christian leaders.

Normally on the opposite side of political issues backed by the Obama White House, these leaders are aligning with the president to...

Author: Louisa Lim

Source: NPR

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128544048

Alongside China's astonishing economic boom, an almost unnoticed religious boom has quietly been taking place.

In the country's first major survey on religious beliefs, conducted in 2006, 31.4 percent of about 4,500 people questioned described themselves as religious. That amounts to more than 300 million religious believers, an...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: New Zealand Herald

Wire Service: AP

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Sify News

Wire Service: ANI

http://sify.com/news/hindu-statesman-zed-lauds-church-of-england-for-allowing-female-bishops-news-international-khosOcdjgij.html

Acclaimed Hindu statesman Rajan Zed has extolled Church of England for its decision to allow women bishops, calling it a 'step in the right direction'.

Author: Cary McMullen

Source: The Ledger

Author: Eric Aasen

Source: The Dallas Morning News

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/religion/stories/071110dnmetulster.1b2422e.html

For far too long, Protestants and Catholics didn't mingle in Northern Ireland. Violence tore them apart.

But this month, 16 teenagers from the Belfast area – eight of them Protestant, eight of them Catholic – are side by side and...

Author: Emily Schmuhl

Source: Mormon Times

http://www.mormontimes.com/article/15730/99-Names-of-God-and-the-glassmaker

Glass. It attracts fingerprints, invites dust and cracks under pressure.

While we're tiptoeing to the dinner table carrying Grandma's heavy tartan pitcher, Andrew Kosorok could literally consult a recipe and cook you up a fresh batch of glass. No problem.

He could then turn around and fashion,...

Author: Samuel Freedman

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/10/us/10religion.html?_r=1&ref=religion_and_belief

When Barry Goldwater mounted his campaign for the White House in 1964, the Jewish humorist Harry Golden took notice. “I always knew the first Jewish president of the United States,” Mr. Golden put it, “would be an Episcopalian.”

On the surface, Mr. Golden...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The First Amendment Center

Wire Service: AP

http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/news.aspx?id=23139

A Fort Wayne third-grader’s parents have sued the school district, claiming she was sent to a religious instruction program on school grounds without their permission.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Indiana, which filed the lawsuit for the parents this week in federal...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: CNN

http://religion.blogs.cnn.com/2010/07/08/an-armada-of-faith-leaders-tours-the-gulf-spill/

There were only five small boats, 20 to 25 feet long, quietly moving through the water, barely making a ripple in the area designated as a “No Wake Zone." 

It was part show and tell, part media circus, part holy pilgrimage. On board the boats were a dozen high-profile...

Author: Khristina Narizhnaya

Source: Birmingham News

Wire Service: AP