Author: Joe Sterling

Source: CNN

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/meast/12/24/iraq.christians/index.html

It's a bittersweet Christmas season for Joseph Kassab, who grew up in Iraq under Saddam Hussein's Baathist regime and now lives in Detroit, Michigan. Tempering the season's joy is his concern for fellow Iraqi Christians, who have endured killings, displacement and daily intimidation.

Christians in Iraq face a "bleak future...

Author: Javier C. Hernandez

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/14/education/14nativity.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail1=y

In public schools, it is known as the December Dilemma — the delicate balancing of menorahs, Christmas trees, stars and crescents along hallways and in front offices. The New York City Department of Education has long granted such symbols a public place during the holiday...

Author: Matt Campbell

Source: The Kanas City Star

http://www.kansascity.com/255/story/979947.html

David Engle said he felt a chill down his spine Sunday on a visit with his family to the Kansas City Zoo.

He could hardly believe it when he saw zoo visitors rubbing the heads and bellies of two large, smiling statues of Buddha at the entrance to the Tiger Trail area.

“We can’t have a cross or a nativity scene on public...

Author: Aman Ali

Source: The Journal News

http://lohud.com/article/20090112/NEWS02/901120330/-1/newsfront

The local interfaith community came together yesterday to share perspectives on the crisis in the Gaza Strip.

"People really need to talk about this conflict," said Anees Shaikh, communications director for the Upper Westchester Muslim Society in Thornwood. "We see a need for people to say what they want to say in an...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Associated Press

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/11/AR2009011101465.html

The Rev. Sharon Watkins, pastor of a Protestant denomination with about 700,000 members in the United States and Canada, will deliver the sermon at the National Prayer Service that caps the inauguration activities of Barack Obama.

Watkins will be the first woman to give the...

Author: Rev. Peg Chemberlin

Source: The Star Tribune

http://www.startribune.com/yourvoices/37397179.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUdcOy9cP3DieyckcUsI

The National Council of Churches reports that on Jan. 9, “leaders of three faiths that trace their origins back to a common ancestor -- the Patriarch Abraham -- joined their hearts and pens today to form a...

Author: Duke Helfand

Source: Irish Times/The Los Angeles Times

http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2009/0109/1231454443296.html

Ever-adaptable American capitalism is pioneering new products to bring religion to those in a big hurry, writes Duke Helfand in Los Angeles

So you're racing through another jam-packed day, late picking up the children from football practice because you got stuck at the office. Then you pay...

Author: Julia Torres-Barden

Source: Midlothian Exchange

http://www.midlothianexchange.com/index.php/news/article/faith-based-communities-gather-for-prayer-for-peace-service/18167/

President of the Virginia Muslim Coalition for Public Affairs Imad Damaj, called his faith brothers, Rev. R. Charles Grant at Bon Air Presbyterian Church and Rabbi Ben Romer of Congregation Or Ami, to...

Author: Rick Bella

Source: Religion News Service

http://pewforum.org/news/display.php?NewsID=17300

Two high-profile deaths from 2008 will land in the courts in 2009 when the Oregon justice system determines whether members of an Oregon City faith-healing church acted criminally in the deaths of two children who were denied medical treatment.

The trials, in Clackamas County Circuit Court, could lead to the first legal tests of a 1999 state law...

Author: Achal Narayanan

Source: Religion News Service

http://pewforum.org/news/display.php?NewsID=17290

India's Supreme Court has told the state government of Orissa that it will not "tolerate persecution of religious minorities" and if the state government cannot protect Christians, "then quit office."

A three-judge panel of the Supreme Court issued the warning Monday (Jan. 5) following a petition filed by Roman Catholic Archbishop Raphael...

Author: Manya A. Brachear

Source: The Chicago Tribune

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-lutheran-mideast-trip-05-jan05,0,1059155.story

Seeking to amplify mainline Protestant influence on Middle East affairs during the Obama administration, more than half of the nation's Lutheran bishops will launch an unprecedented tour of the war-torn Holy Land on Tuesday.

The pilgrimage, planned for more...

Author: Ian Urbina

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/04/us/04louisville.html?emc=tnt&tntemail1=y

Tom Riner looks for God everywhere, and in places he does not find him, he tries to put him there.

For more than 30 years, Mr. Riner’s singular devotion has been to inject God into the public arena. It has guided him as he preached the Bible in the countryside of Nicaragua and Jamaica. And it...

Author: Sheryl A. Kujawa-Holbrook

Source: Congregations

http://www.alban.org/conversation.aspx?id=7006

One Friday during Lent, Greg Foraker, director of adult formation ministries at St. Philip’s in the Hills Episcopal Church in Tucson, Arizona, entered the Islamic Center, the city’s largest mosque, to participate in worship with its 500 members. To the left of the entrance was a group of women in traditional attire and to the right was a room...

Author: Nikita Stewart

Source: The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/12/30/AR2008123002858.html?hpid=sec=religion

A group of atheists, led by a California man known for challenging the use of the words "under God" in recitals of the Pledge of Allegiance at public schools, filed a lawsuit yesterday to bar prayer and references to God at the swearing-in of...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Associated Press

http://www.ohio.com/news/ohiocentric/36749889.html

A religious holiday message on a city hall bulletin board in northeast Ohio has drawn protests from a Washington, D.C.-based advocacy group.

The Cleveland office of the Americans United for Separation of Church and State group has asked Avon Lake officials to remove the message that says: "Remember Christ is in Christmas."

In a...