Author: Staff Writer

Source: Baptist Press

http://www.sbcbaptistpress.org/BPnews.asp?ID=30128

Religious expression in the Central Asian country of Tajikistan may soon become even more restricted, according to a warning from a nonpartisan federal panel that keeps tabs on the global status of faith groups.

The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom has reported that Tajik President Emomali Rakhmon is preparing to sign a religion...

Author: Graeme Paton

Source: Telegraph

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/5039275/Druids-Rastafarians-and-atheists-in-new-religious-studies-classes.html

Lessons will also focus on Druids and Rastafarianism as part of a syllabus designed to boost understanding of religious diversity around the world.

Attitudes by different faiths towards same sex...

Author: Gene Johnson

Source: The Associated Press

Author: Laura Meckler

Source: The Wall Street Journal

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123785559998620329.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

In the early days of his administration, President Barack Obama has developed an unusual pattern as he talks about religion: He regularly puts nonbelievers on the same footing as religious Americans.

It is a rare gesture for a U.S. political leader. But what makes Mr. Obama's outreach...

Author: Rachel Zoll

Source: The Associated Press

http://www.douglasdispatch.com/articles/2009/03/24/news/religion/doc49c96bebecaf3315509173.txt

A wide-ranging study on American religious life found that the Roman Catholic population has been shifting out of the Northeast to the Southwest, the percentage of Christians in the nation has declined and more people say they have no religion at all.

...

Author: Ben Harris

Source: JTA

http://jta.org/news/article/2009/03/24/1003944/coalition-plans-interfaith-campus-in-omaha

An interfaith coalition in Nebraska is testing the viability of what is believed to be an American first: a joint campus to house a Jewish, Muslim and Christian house of worship.

The plan, under development by a local nonprofit called the Tri-Faith Initiative, would join a mosque, a...

Author: Electa Draper

Source: The Denver Post

http://www.denverpost.com/breakingnews/ci_11974138

Call it a leap of faiths — there's a reason a committed Muslim such as Emad Hussain attends a Methodist church and why he will raise his Muslim children in its sanctuary.

Hussain fled Iraq in 2007 after he survived an attack by militants on his workplace and became a target, but he left without his wife and two young sons.

It...

Author: Kathryn Kennedy

Source: The Daily Reflector

http://www.reflector.com/news/institutions-trying-to-be-more-inclusive-with-public-prayer-504837.html

One must only drive around Greenville to see how religiously diverse the community is today.

The city houses all the world's major religions, Mayor Pat Dunn pointed out: The Al-Masjid Islamic Center, Congregation Bayt Shalom, The Hindu...

Author: Jill Laster

Source: The Kentucky Kernel

http://kykernel.com/2009/03/22/event-highlights-common-beliefs-in-islam-christianity/

Although Christianity and Islam have many differences, the faiths share two key beliefs: loving God and loving one’s neighbor.

On Monday, two scholars will discuss those shared beliefs during “A Common Word,” a Christian-Muslim Dialogue event at 7 p.m. in...

Author: Connie Paige

Source: The Boston Globe

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/03/22/college_has_faith_in_its_unity_effort/

An elderly Jewish woman who had fled Hungary during the Holocaust was taking courses at Merrimack College a couple of years ago when she encountered Padraic O'Hare, executive director of the campus Center for the Study of Jewish-Christian Relations...

Author: Scott Wyman

Source: Sun-Sentinel

http://www.palmbeachpost.com/news/content/state/epaper/2009/03/21/0321busislamad.html

In the wake of controversial bus ads saying Jesus followed the principles of Islam, Broward County inspection reports commissioners are considering a ban on advertising religious messages on public transportation and all other government property.

The new policy would still permit...

Author: Dawn Walton

Source: The Globe and Mail

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/pro-god-message-to-hit-the-road-in-calgary/article20445456...

Author: Bae Ji-sook

Source: The Korea Times

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2009/03/113_41615.html

Koreans are guaranteed with the constitutional right to any religious belief, but some schools and civil service offices have been found to have practiced religious bias, the government said Thursday.

Forty-five cases of such bias have been reported to the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism since October last...

Author: Victor L. Simpson

Source: The Houston Chronicle

Wire Service: AP

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/life/religion/6321336.html

Religion must reject violence, Pope Benedict XVI told Muslim leaders Thursday before celebrating an open-air Mass in front of thousands and delivering a message of hope for Africa's expanding, vibrant Catholic flock.

In Cameroon's capital of Yaounde, a clapping,...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: IRIN

http://www.irinnews.org/HOVReport.aspx?ReportId=83524

"We feel disappointed, isolated and oppressed," said Ravil Singh, a Sikh leader in Nangarhar Province, eastern Afghanistan, adding that local people "are good to us".

He spoke to IRIN about the problems facing the Sikh and Hindu minorities in Afghanistan.

"Before the war [1979] there were 16,673 Sikh and Hindu families in Kabul, Nangarhar...