Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Fresno Bee

Wire Service: AP

http://www.fresnobee.com/state/story/1802761.html

Islamic-rights activists are criticizing the mayor of Lancaster for promoting Christianity during his State of the City speech this week, specifically his comment that he is "growing a Christian community."

The Los Angeles chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said Friday that Mayor R....

Author: Do Je-hae

Source: The Korea Times

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/01/113_59889.html

The case of a drunken group of policemen beating up a monk is testing the relations between the Lee Myung-bak administration and the Buddhist circles.

The assault took place on the night of Jan. 19 at Yonghwa Temple in Gimpo, Gyeonggi Province. Jigwan, the chief monk of the temple, claimed that he went out when he...

Author: Ruta Tumenaite

Source: Ecumenical News International

http://www.eni.ch/featured/article.php?id=3732

Lithuania has come out in support of Italy in its efforts to revise a ruling of the European Court of Human Rights that obliges State schools throughout Italy to remove crucifixes from classrooms. 

The online news daily www.delfi.lt, on 13 January reported that the Committee for Foreign Relations of the Lithuanian...

Author: Kate Linthicum

Source: Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/nation-and-world/la-na-immigrant-nebraska28-2010jan28,0,6078807.story?page=1

Hawa Farah was living in Minneapolis three years ago making $8 an hour at a bakery when her fiance, Hussein Hussein, got a call about good jobs that paid better.

So the couple, like many Somali immigrants who follow work around the...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8482267.stm

Several severed pigs' heads have been found in mosque compounds in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.

The national police chief, Musa Hassan, linked the discoveries to recent attacks on various houses of worship.

Pigs are considered unclean by Muslims and their presence in the mosque compound will be taken as an insult.

In recent weeks,...

Author: Mary Beth Lane

Source: The Columbus Dispatch

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/01/27/poster-with-10-commandments-puts-judge-back-in-spotlight.html?sid=101

A second constitutional challenge to an Ohio judge's display of the Ten Commandments in his courtroom is making its way through the court system.

At issue is whether a...

Author: Yolande Knell

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8478397.stm

Worshippers arriving for mass at St Mary's Church in central Cairo say they were shocked but not surprised by a deadly attack against Coptic Christians in southern Egypt earlier this month.

"Copts have been suffering for a long time," comments Magda accompanying her teenage son to the service.

"There have been a lot of tensions between Christians...

Author: Nataliya Vasilyeva

Source: Yahoo News

Wire Service: AP

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100125/ap_on_re_eu/eu_russia_religious_freedoms

Religious freedoms are being rapidly curtailed throughout Russia as the Orthodox Church seeks to boost its dominance, human rights activists warned Monday.

In its annual report on...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Hindu

Wire Service: AP

http://beta.thehindu.com/news/international/article94649.ece

A Muslim mob torched unlicensed churches and priest’s home in western Indonesia last week and security forces have deployed to ensure order, a government spokesman said on Monday.

No one was hurt when hundreds of villagers burned down two Protestant churches on Friday in Sibuhuan...

Author: Bronislaus B. Kush

Source: Worcester Telegram & Gazette

http://www.telegram.com/article/20100124/NEWS/1240408/1101

Delegate members of the Massachusetts Council of Churches were challenged this weekend to continue to seek common ground in addressing the social, economic, and environmental problems racking the world. 

Additionally, they were urged to take a hard look at their own commitments to the ecumenical movement...

Author: Dana Chivvis

Source: AOL News

http://www.sphere.com/nation/article/after-earthquake-haitians-in-the-us-turn-to-religion-for-answers/19328395

Since last week's earthquake, the Rev. Donelson Thevenin, a priest at the Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church in Brooklyn, where many of New York's Haitians live, has been helping his congregation deal with the tragedy. He has prayed with them,...

Author: Katie Balestra

Source: The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/01/22/AR2010012202919.html

Inside a red brick house in Falls Church, Bridget Mary Meehan placed a silver chalice of wine and a plate of flatbread on the coffee table in her living room and prepared to lead a sacred, forbidden ceremony.

"As we gather around this table, this intimate little house church...

Author: Eric Eckholm

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/22/us/22guns.html

Bowing to Pentagon concerns and an international outcry, a Michigan arms company said Thursday that it would immediately stop embossing references to New Testament Scriptures on rifle sights it sells the military.

The company, Trijicon Inc., has multimillion-dollar contracts with the Pentagon for advanced telescopic sights that are widely used...

Author: Julia Zappei

Original Source: The Boston Globe

Wire Service: AP

https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/1161363

Vandals tried to burn down two Muslim prayer rooms in Malaysia on Thursday, following a string of arson attacks on churches amid a dispute over...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Herald-Tribune

Wire Service: AP

http://www.heraldtribune.com/article/20100120/ARTICLE/100129995?Title=Runaway-girl-to-remain-free-of-Muslim-parents

A runaway teenage girl from Ohio who converted from Islam to Christianity has reached a court settlement that allows her to remain free of her Muslim parents.

The...