Author: Staff Writer

Source: Houston Belief

Wire Service: AP

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/religion/5494247.html

Police in Vietnam's capital have launched a criminal investigation into Catholic Church protests over a land dispute, while state-run media accused church leaders Tuesday of abusing their power to incite followers to confront the Communist government.

Catholic parishioners and...

Author: Anne Farris

Source: The Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy

http://www.religionandsocialpolicy.org/news/article.cfm?id=7651

President George W. Bush in his final State of the Union address Monday night lauded the work of faith-based organizations with government's help and proposed continued support of faith-based programs during the last year of his Administration.

Author: Staff Writer

Source: EarthTimes.org/DPA

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/179118,catholic-protests-continue-in-hanoi.html

A government-imposed deadline to end a vigil lasting several weeks by Catholic demonstrators demanding the return of church land in downtown Hanoi passed Sunday with no immediate effort by police to disperse the demonstrators. Hundreds of protestors gathered on the lawn of the...

Author: NEDRA PICKLER

Source: The Washington Post

Wire Service: AP

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/21/AR2008012100183.html

Barack Obama is stepping up his effort to correct the misconception that he's a Muslim now that the presidential campaign has hit the Bible Belt.

At a rally to kick off a weeklong campaign for the South Carolina primary, Obama...

Author: Edward Cody

Source: The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/01/19/AR2008011902465.html

There was Hu Jintao, head of the Chinese Communist Party, warmly shaking hands at a party-sponsored New Year's tea party with one of the country's main Christian leaders. To make sure the message got through to China's 68 million party faithful, a large photograph of the moment was...

Author: Adelle M. Banks

Source: The Pew Forum on Religion...

Author: Julie Hubbard

Source: The Macon Telegraph

http://www.macon.com/198/story/236501.html

Middle Georgia is smack dab in the Bible Belt, but almost two years after state lawmakers agreed to let public highschools teach a course on the Old and New Testaments, the idea hasn't caught on.

At least 10 Middle Georgia school systems said they do not offer a Bible course in their high schools, nor do they have plans to. It's better to leave that...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Malta Independent

http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=62873

Some weeks ago, Professor Andrea Riccardi, founder of the Communita di Sant’Egidio delivered a talk at MCC

Professor Riccardi started his lecture by speaking about the particular reality of the Mediterranean Sea; a melting pot of exchange, of encounters as well as of confrontation. Malta, with its profound Christian identity...

Author: JIM SALTER

Source: The Associated Press

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5iuWxzSvp6gUjpbkFiGf9PbXyV4PQD8U2IBB01

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A rural school district's long-standing practice of allowing the distribution of Bibles to grade school students is unconstitutional, a federal judge has ruled.

An attorney for the southeastern Missouri school district said Wednesday he will appeal the judge's injunction against...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Yahoo! News

Wire Service: AFP

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080108/wl_uk_afp/britainaviationreligion

A British Airways worker has lost her case for religious discrimination over wearing a cross to work, she said Tuesday.

Nadia Eweida, 56, took BA to an employment tribunal claiming it effectively discriminated against Christians because they were not allowed to...

Author: Priscila Mosqueda

Source: San Antonio Express News

http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/religion/stories/MYSA010608.05B.UJWRELIGION.293418f.html

A new law soon will require all Texas public school districts to offer a Bible as Literature course if 15 or more students express interest, but one San Antonio public school has been offering such a course for more than 30 years.

Churchill High School in...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7175021.stm

Iraq's minority Christian population has been targeted in a series of apparently coordinated attacks in Mosul.

Bombs exploded outside three churches and a monastery in the northern Iraqi city on Sunday, wounding four people.

The explosions struck on Epiphany Sunday - an important date in the Eastern Christian calendar.

Christians...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: New York Times

Wire Service: Reuters

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/world/asia/06afghan.html

Afghanistan’s Islamic council has told President Hamid Karzai to stop foreign aid groups from converting local people to Christianity and has demanded the reintroduction of public executions.

The council, an influential group that lacks binding authority, is made up of the...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Inquierer.net/Agence France-Presse

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/world/view_article.php?article_id=108259

Pope Benedict XVI on Friday called for "tolerance and mutual respect" among religions while stressing that the Roman Catholic Church should push forward in its battle to win souls.

"Is it still permissible to evangelize today? Shouldn't religions and conceptions of...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: AOL News

Wire Service: AP

http://news.aol.com/story/_a/malaysian-christian-challenges-islamic/n20080103014309990005

The Christian husband of a dead Malaysian woman sought to stop Islamic authorities Thursday from giving her a Muslim funeral amid a dispute over whether she converted to Islam before her death.

The case is the latest in a series...