Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6158811.stm

Pope Benedict XVI has visited one of Turkey's most famous mosques in what is being seen as an attempt to mend relations with the Muslim community.

During his tour of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, the pontiff paused in silent prayer alongside senior Muslim clerics.

It marks only the second papal visit in history to a Muslim place of worship.

Earlier, the Pope visited the nearby Hagia Sophia...

Source: Islamic Society of North America Press Release

MPAC

http://www.mpac.org/publications/op-eds/mpac-in-the-news-scholars-say-pontiffs-trip-can-make-amends.php

Author: Tracy Wilkinson

Source: Los Angeles Times

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-students28nov28,1,6960986.story?coll=la-headlines-world

ROME - When Zeinep Ozbek told her parents how she planned to pursue her education, they were shocked.

Not only was the young Muslim woman about to leave her native Turkey, she was venturing into a strict traditional bastion of...

Author: SABRINA TAVERNISE

Source: The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/28/world/europe/28turkey.html

ANKARA, Turkey — A short 24 hours before a visit by Pope Benedict XVI to this Muslim country, its prime minister finally agreed to meet him publicly. The venue: the airport, on the Turkish leader’s way out of town.

A pedestrian street in Istanbul, where women in miniskirts and head scarves mingle. Turkey...

Author: Kent Spencer

Source: The Vancouver Province

http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=75c72dab-8ace-495b-8e50-4b8d4173e022

Christian prayer meetings have been cancelled at Surrey City Hall after the prayer group published a letter critical of Muslims.

"We will not be having prayer services in council chambers,"

Mayor Dianne Watts said after meeting with the group, Prayer...

Source: Yahoo! News

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/061122/5/singapore242623.html

By this time next year, Singapore could be a platform where leading international religious authorities come together to seek and promote greater understanding of each other's faith.

Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong personally discussed this possibility with the Secretary of State of the Holy See, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone at the Vatican City on Monday.

The suggestion of an...

Source: Catholic News Service

http://www.cathnews.com/news/611/111.php

Prayer for peace needs to be heard in synagogues, churches, mosques, pagodas and gurudwaras as well as in schools, workplaces, homes and "most importantly in our hearts", say young people who met for the 20th anniversary of the Day of Prayer for Peace in Assisi.

Zenit reports that about 45 young from 29 countries and belonging to Hindu, Taoist, Buddhist, Jain, Jewish, Muslim, Zoroastrian, Sikh, Bahai,...

Author: Jeremy Roberts

Source: The Australian

http://www.news.com.au/perthnow/story/0,21598,20787618-949,00.html#

The South Australian Attorney-General has admitted dropping a planned ban on religious-based discrimination from a new law because of fears from Christians they would be prevented from converting non-Christians.

Muslim leaders and legal experts have condemned the decision to drop the ban, arguing that laws were...

Source: Beliefnet

Wire Service: AP

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/204/story_20469_1.html

The spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians cautioned Turks in an interview published Sunday against creating potential "unpleasant incidents" during Pope Benedict XVI's upcoming trip to Turkey.

Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I said in an interview published in the Sabah newspaper Sunday that the pope's Nov. 28 to Dec. 1 trip was a...

Author: Mary Tan

Source: wcco.com

http://wcco.com/local/local_story_320195110.html

Sen. Satveer Chaudhary, a practicing Hindu, was re-elected in District 50 last week on the Democratic ticket, netting 63 percent of the vote. But rather than placing a call to concede the race, his Republican opponent Rae Hart Anderson instead offered him an e-mail concession that he said read like an attempt to convert his religious beliefs.

"To get a sermon is...

Author: Linda Pressly

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/crossing_continents/6150340.stm

Abandoning Islam for Christianity is such a sensitive issue in Malaysia that many converts find themselves leading a secret, double life.

"If people know that I've converted to Christianity, they might take the law into their own hands. If they are not broadminded, they might take a stone and throw it at me."
...

Author: Rebecca Rosen Lum

Source: Contra Costa Times

http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/local/states/california/16000247.htm

They prayed for the flocks, they got them, and now they're grappling with the reality: Houses of worship in Central and East Contra Costa are flexing with a demographic explosion that's forcing some to construct buildings, expand existing ones or add services.

Rapidly...

Author: Frances D'Emilio

Source: The Detroit News

Wire Service: AP

http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061112/LIFESTYLE04/611120336/1041/LIFESTYLE04

The pope's upcoming trip to Turkey will include a meeting with a Muslim cleric who was one of the first to denounce Benedict XVI for his remarks on Islam and violence, the Vatican said Saturday.

The...

Author: Brian Murphy

Source: The Washington Post

Wire Service: AP

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/11/AR2006111100600.html

The death threat came on simple white fliers blowing down the streets at dawn. A group calling itself "Friends of Muhammad" accused a local Palestinian Christian of selling mobile phones carrying offensive sketches of the Muslim prophet....