NEW YORK (RNS) When Anam Chaudhry, 17, sang the national anthem to
several hundred protesters in Times Square on Sunday afternoon, she wore
a Muslim headscarf, and around her shoulders, another garment: the
American flag.
NEW DELHI (RNS) Protesters in Bhutan are denouncing the three-year
prison sentence of a Buddhist monk charged with violating the small
kingdom's anti-tobacco law.
The 23-year-old monk, Sonam Tshering, was the first victim of a ban
rooted in the religious zeal of Bhutanese elders who believe smoking
defiles sacred spaces, according to local media reports.
Bangalore, India, March 4 (ENInews)--Two advocates for the Palestinian cause in the Middle East have expanded an awareness campaign to churches worldwide and recently brought the campaign to India.
Wellington, New Zealand, March 7 (ENInews)--Following widespread reports that 20 to 22 people had been trapped inside the Anglican cathedral in Christchurch, New Zealand after a devastating earthquake, a complete search has revealed there were no bodies in the rubble.
More than halfway through the balloting by regional presbyteries, a proposal to permit ordination of openly gay and lesbian pastors in the nation's largest Presbyterian denomination holds a lead.
Warsaw, March 4 (ENInews)--A senior Turkish Protestant has said his country's small Christian churches still face severe hardships, despite recent pledges by the government to improve protection of religious rights.
WASHINGTON (RNS) House Speaker John Boehner said on Friday (March 4)
that he and fellow lawmakers will defend the Defense of Marriage Act
after the Obama administration dropped its support for the law last
month.
NEW ORLEANS (RNS) As a high-school student in the mid-1960s, Greg Aymond
occasionally saw an angry teacher cuff a student. It never happened to
him, nor does the memory of faculty discipline in those days
particularly trouble the man who later became the archbishop of New
Orleans.
Tokyo, March 3 (ENInews)--The Tokyo-based Niwano Peace Foundation has announced it will award its 2011 Peace Prize to Sulak Sivaraksa, a Thai Buddhist leader.
(RNS) The Rev. James Martin has seen a lot of religious movies in his
life. But the Jesuit priest and author says a new film has sprung to the
top of his list.
Martin calls "Of Gods and Men," a film based on the kidnapping and
murder of seven Algerian monks in 1996, "the greatest movie on faith
that I have ever seen."
World membership in the United Methodist Church has risen above 12 million for the first time, but U.S. professing members dropped 1.2 percent to 7.8 million in the most recent data.
The major growth areas for the denomination are Africa and the Philippines, according to Scott Brewer, an official in the United Methodist Council on Finance and Administration.
BALTIMORE (RNS) Martina Bagnoli admits that the exhibit she helps curate
here at The Walters Art Museum may gross some people out.
After all, the display includes 2,000-year-old teeth, shards of bone
and splinters from a first-century execution device. But these are not
just any teeth, bones and splinters.
(RNS) Balancing the federal budget at the expense of the poor would be
un-Christian, evangelical leaders warned Congress on Thursday (March 3)
as they work to reject proposed spending cuts to domestic and foreign
aid.
