Author: Marat Haravy

Source: BelaPAN

http://naviny.by/rubrics/inter/2008/03/02/ic_articles_259_155839/

The Constitutional Court of Belarus has rejected a 50,000-signature petition calling for liberal amendments to the 2002 Law on Freedom of Conscience and Religious Organizations, BelaPAN said.

The court said in a written comment that it is authorized to look at the legality of a law only at the request of the head of state or...

Author: JAMES ANGELOS

Source: The New York Times

Author: Thomas Erdbrink and Karin Brulliard

Source: Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/29/AR2008022903488.html

For decades the United States has funded an effort intended to help Christians, Zoroastrians and Jews escape persecution in Iran. Now some of their leaders are questioning American motives as sects that have endured here for thousands of years dwindle...

Author: Jodi Enda

Source: Conscience

http://www.catholicsforchoice.org/conscience/current/cWinter0708_playingwithfire.asp

Less than two months before Iowans would go to their caucuses, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops issued a “faithful citizenship statement” urging Catholics to “use the values of their faith to shape their political choice.” While the statement didn’t tell...

Author: JOE RODRIGUEZ

Source: The Wichita Eagle

http://www.kansas.com/194/story/327331.html

Part of a message posted on the outdoor sign of a south Wichita church proclaims, "Islam is a lie."

A newsletter published by Wichita's largest Protestant church contains a column that asks the question: "Can Muslims be Good Americans?" The answer, according to the article, is no.

Other Wichita churches hold town hall meetings and weeks-long...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Thaiindian News (IANS)

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/kirpan-barred-so-sikh-group-to-skip-meeting-with-pope_10022976.html

A Sikh organisation in the US will skip a scheduled meeting with Pope Benedict XVI in Washington, DC, next month because its representatives have been been asked not to carry kirpans to the event. The World Sikh Council -...

Author: Eliza Griswold

Source: The Atlantic Monthly

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200803/nigeria

It was an ordinary soccer pitch: sparse tufts of grass and reddish soil surrounded by cinder-block homes. The two candidates stood on opposite sides of the field as the people of Yelwa, a town of 30,000 in central Nigeria, lined up behind them one May morning in 2002 to vote. Whoever had more supporters would lead the town’s council. And whoever led the...

Author: Neil Datta

Source: Conscience

http://www.catholicsforchoice.org/conscience/current/cWinter0708_forwhomthebelltolls.asp

In Denmark, Thorkild Grosboel, a Lutheran priest, declares, “There is no heavenly God, there is no eternal life and there is no resurrection.” His local bishop, Lise-Lotte Rebel, suspends but cannot dismiss him. Not surprising in a country where just over 3 percent of the...

Author: Rebecca Trounson

Source: Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/features/religion/la-me-beliefs1mar01,1,3623156.story

The Rev. Naim Ateek is a white-haired, American-trained Anglican priest who supports nonviolent solutions to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and often speaks of his dream of a world in which Israeli and Palestinian states exist peacefully, side by side.

Ateek is also the founder of Sabeel...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Religion News Service/Kansas City Star

http://www.kansascity.com/255/story/511318.html

The mayor of the small city of Hudsonville in western Michigan said the City Commission will continue to “strive to serve God,” despite an atheist group’s demand that the phrase be removed from the city’s mission statement.

“We are not creating a church; we are not asking anybody to only accept what...

Author: PRESS RELEASE

Source: Worldwide Faith News

http://www.wfn.org/2008/02/msg00232.html

The Honorable Condoleezza Rice Secretary of State United States Department of State Washington, DC 20520

Dear Secretary Rice,

As you prepare to return to the Middle East, we - the leaders of U.S. Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant churches and church-related organizations that make up Churches for Middle East Peace - are writing to ask you to take...

Author: Riazat Butt

Source: The Guardian

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/29/religion

Faith charities encouraging or promoting violence or hatred risk losing their charitable status as part of a radical overhaul proposed by the Charity Commission.

For the first time all charities - including those advancing religion - must show that their aims are for the benefit of the public. Draft guidance, issued today, will explain to the...

Author: Robert Weller

Source: The San Diego Union-Tribune

Wire Service: AP

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/military/20080228-1513-wst-academy-islam.html

The Air Force Academy has invited three speakers to give their vision of Islam after remarks made by three self-described former terrorists that some in the audience believed were condemnations of all Muslims.

Mikey Weinstein,...

Author: Linda Bloom

Source: Worldwide Faith News/UMNS

http://www.wfn.org/2008/02/msg00191.html

A focus on the Middle East will be among the social priorities for the National Council of Churches over the next few years.

But the council also will look at strengthening the relationships among its 35 member communions, including The United Methodist Church, and re-energizing the ecumenical movement as a whole.

Those were among the topics...

Author: Jim Sanders

Source: Sacramento Bee

http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/742653.html

God is disgusted with California legislators – at least some of them, according to an evangelical chaplain who ruffled feathers this week in the same Capitol where he leads Bible studies for lawmakers.

Ralph Drollinger, who played basketball at UCLA in the 1970s and now heads Capitol Ministries, criticized lawmakers who participate in a separate fellowship...