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...

Author: NICOLE WINFIELD

Source: The News...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7166297.stm

Indian Home Minister Shivraj Patil has visited part of the eastern state of Orissa which has seen recent fighting between hardline Hindus and Christians.

He is the first central minister to visit the state after violence last week killed at least four people.

Mr Patil visited the trouble-torn Kandhamal district, which was at the centre of the...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: AOL News

Wire Service: AP

http://news.aol.com/story/_a/indias-prime-minister-vows-to-stop/n20071231091509990007

India's prime minister has pledged to stem fighting between religious groups in the wake of Christian-Hindu violence that has left at least four people dead and hundreds of Christians seeking shelter in relief camps.

The violence, which...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Yahoo! News

Wire Service: Reuters

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20071231/media_nm/malaysia_religion_dc

Malaysia has renewed the publishing permit of a Catholic newspaper, reversing an earlier ban forbidding non-Muslims from using the word Allah after the move stoked fears of a rise in hardline Islam.

The government had earlier ruled that the term Allah -- long used...

Author: DALIA NAMMARI

Source: ABC News

Wire Service: AP

http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=4047403

Gloom was banished from Christmas celebrations in Bethlehem for the first time in years on Monday as Christian pilgrims from all over the world flocked here to celebrate Jesus' birth in an atmosphere of renewed tranquility.

After Israeli-Palestinian fighting erupted in 2000, nearly all of the...

Author: Michelle Boorstein

Source: The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/20/AR2007122002114.html

It's the holidays, a busy time for Santa and shoppers.

And lawyers.

Attorneys who specialize in religious expression say they get a spike in calls in November and December, with people calling about everything from public school choirs singing religious songs...

Author: HOLLY K. HACKER

Source: The Dallas Morning News

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/dn/religion/stories/121507dnmetcreation.2b0d011.html

Texas' debate over teaching evolution is going to college.

The nonprofit Institute for Creation Research in Dallas wants to train future science teachers in Texas and elsewhere using an online curriculum. A state advisory group gave its approval...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: The Economist

http://economist.com/world/international/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10311317&CFID=727173&CFTOKEN=101adbcc08e997bb-FCFA6C16-B27C-BB00-0143EC0AF3150320

CHRISTIANS and Muslims have one striking thing in common: they are both “people of the book”. And they both have an obligation to spread the Word—to...