Author: Staff Writer

Source: Times of India

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/Obama-believes-in-power-of-prayers/articleshow/4258625.cms

President Barack Obama, who has acknowledged Mahatma Gandhi as one of his inspirations, prefers to have interfaith prayers at rallies, and has thus opened "a new frontier of religious politics".

Prayer has become more common at presidential...

Author: Christopher Landau

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7888193.stm

Maher al-Gohary has converted from Islam to Christianity. In spite of facing death threats, he's engaged in a legal battle to have his changed religion recognised on his official Egyptian documents.

We drive through the chaotic streets of Cairo to meet Mr Gohary's lawyer at a petrol station.

His client lives in hiding, and doesn't...

Author: Marta Hepler Drahos

Source: Traverse City Record-Eagle

http://www.record-eagle.com/faith/local_story_072221617.html

Bonnie Smith came from a Catholic background and wanted to be a nun until she discovered boys.

Now she's a deacon in the Episcopal church -- and a founding member of a new area faith diversity council called Area Council on Religious Diversity, or ACORD. The group also includes representatives of the Unitarian...

Author: Daniel Burke

Source: Religion News Service

http://pewforum.org/news/display.php?NewsID=17707

Friday afternoons find the Rev. Ann Holmes Redding at the Al-Islam Center in Seattle, reciting Muslim prayers.

Come Sunday, she heads about two miles south to kneel in the pews of St. Clement's of Rome Episcopal Church.

"My experience and my call is to continue to follow Jesus," said Redding, an Episcopal priest for the past 25...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Daily Democrat

Wire Service: AP

Author: Colleen Walsh

Source: Harvard University Gazette

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2009/03/religious-diversity-explored-at-local-level/

Can a diverse religious...

Author: Kathy Nance

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/civil-religion/nance/2009/12/local-artist-sends-prayer-for-unity-to-parliament-of-world-religions/

On this first full day of the Parliament of World Religions (PWR) in Melbourne, Australia, a group of Pagans met to give blessings to four rattles created by St. Louis artist...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: World Council of Churches

http://www.oikoumene.org/en/news/news-management/eng/a/article/1722/faith-and-values-organiza.html

Some forty-five religious, interfaith, and value-based organizations from five continents agreed to form a coalition to advance a "United Nations Decade for Inter-religious and Intercultural Dialogue, Understanding, and Cooperation for Peace." Coalition...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: World Faith News

http://www.wfn.org/2009/03/msg00088.html

Some forty-five religious, interfaith, and value-based organizations from five continents agreed to form a coalition to advance a "United Nations Decade for Inter-religious and Intercultural Dialogue, Understanding, and Cooperation for Peace." Coalition members expressed the hope that the UN Sixty-Fourth General Assembly, which will begin its deliberations in September 2009...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Times of India

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Hindus-Muslims-celebrate-Lucknows-Holi-Baraat/rssarticleshow/4252309.cms

Amid shouts of "Holi hai", a large number of Hindus and Muslims came together here on Wednesday for a 40-year-old practise of jointly celebrating the festival of colours in the old quarter.

Dancing to the beat of drums,...

Author: Cathy Lynn Grossman

Source: USA Today

http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-03-09-american-religion-ARIS_N.htm

When it comes to religion, the USA is now land of the freelancers.

The percentage. of people who call themselves in some way Christian has dropped more than 11% in a generation. The faithful have scattered out of their traditional bases: The Bible Belt is less Baptist. The Rust Belt is less...

Author: Michelle Boorstein

Source: The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/09/AR2009030903043.html

Prayer has become more common at presidential appearances under the Obama administration, including at nonreligious events such as stimulus rallies. The White House is acting in a deliberately inclusive, interfaith way that seems to limit opposition.

Church-state experts...

Author: Michelle Green

Source: Ecumenical News International

http://www.eni.ch/featured/article.php?id=2797

Leaders of Malaysia's minority religious groups have criticised the country's government for restricting the use of the word Allah by non-Muslims in Bibles, a Catholic newspaper and other texts.

The Malaysian Consultative Council of Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Sikhism and Taoism said in a statement made available on 6 March that...

Author: Staff Writer

Source: Nyasa Times

http://www.nyasatimes.com/national/2938.html

Muslims in the country will on Tuesday commemorate the birth of the Prophet Muhammad, with Christians from various denominations on their side to demonstrate a symbol of unity in religious diversity.

Meanwhile, thousands of Muslims from all walks of life across the country are trooping to the cities of Lilongwe and Blantyre to take part in various activities...

Author: David Hench

Source: Portland Press Herald

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/story.php?id=243829

For many Muslim women, being seen in public with one's head uncovered is a violation of religious tenets as well as an embarrassing display of immodesty.

Head coverings also can be, to varying degrees, important to Jews, Sikhs and people of other faiths.

But that obligation has collided with security concerns and cultural...