News - October, 2011

News

Greek Orthodox church to rebuild at Ground Zero

Oct 26, 2011

Ten years after St. Nicholas Greek Ortho­dox Church was destroyed by falling rubble from the World Trade Center towers, church leaders have reached an agreement to rebuild at Ground Zero.

News

Well before Romney, Mormon founder ran for president

Oct 26, 2011 by Daniel Burke

(RNS) For all the political hubbub over Mormonism, youmight have thought Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman are the first Mormons to run for president.

    In fact, 11 Latter-day Saints have campaigned for the White House, including the faith’s founder, Joseph Smith.

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Clergy petition Village Voice to drop ads linked to sex trafficking

Oct 26, 2011 by Adelle M. Banks

(RNS) Three dozen religious leaders have signed an ad calling on Village Voice Media to remove an adult section of its BackPage.com that they and others claim is a conduit for child sex trafficking.

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Faith groups target `Super Committee' on poverty

Oct 26, 2011 by Josef Kuhn

WASHINGTON (RNS) As the deadline for a federal deficit-reduction plan looms, religious communities are holding prayer vigils, phoning politicians and organizing letter campaigns in a bid to protect safety net programs for the poor.

News

Williams confronts Mugabe with dossier of abuses

Oct 26, 2011

Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams has asked Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe to intervene to stop attacks on Anglicans by allies of an excommunicated bishop who has seized church property and intimidated clergy and worshipers.

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Hindu festival of lights goes mainstream

Oct 25, 2011 by Lauren Markoe

(RNS) Happy Diwali!

    Happy Di what?

    It’s a Hindu holiday -- and an important one -- celebrated this week by Hindus all over the world, including an estimated 2 million in the United States. But do most Americans even know what Diwali is all about?

News

Muslims call for reforms 10 years after Patriot Act

Oct 25, 2011 by Omar Sacirbey

(RNS) A Muslim civil rights group is accusing the FBI and other federal agencies of “bad policing” and flaunting the Constitution in a 56-page report released to mark the 10th anniversary of the Patriot Act.

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Muslim mortgages in limbo after bank collapse

Oct 24, 2011 by Ron Csillag
TORONTO (RNS) The collapse of a lender that offered Shariah-compliant mortgages has left Muslim homeowners in the Toronto area with many questions and so far, few answers.

Founded in 2004, Toronto's UM Financial partnered with an Ontario credit union to offer mortgages and other financial products that promised to circumvent Islam's ban on interest and usury.
News

Vatican blasts `idolatry' of global markets

Oct 24, 2011 by Francis X. Rocca

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Blaming the world's economic and financial crisis on an “economic liberalism that spurns rules and controls,” the Vatican on Monday (Oct. 24) released an ambitious proposal for global regulation of the financial industry and the international money supply.

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Shifting course, St. Paul’s orders protesters out

Oct 24, 2011 by Al Webb
LONDON (RNS) More than a week after welcoming anti-corporate protesters onto its grounds, London’s historic St. Paul’s Cathedral now wants them to go away because their presence is costing too much money.
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In Philippines, native wisdom enhances Christian spirituality

Oct 21, 2011 by Maurice Malanes

Baguio City, Philippines, October 21 (ENInews)--Indigenous spirituality is enhancing Christian tradition in some Philippine churches as they retrace the local context of their faith.

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Church wrestles with growth of Wisconsin shrine to Mary

Oct 21, 2011 by Judy Keen
c. 2011 USA Today

CHAMPION, Wis. (RNS) Philip and Barbara Hesselbein came to the Shrine of Our Lady of Good Help to pray for a grandson who has an inoperable brain tumor.

Darlene Searcy prayed for her family and for herself; she has cancer.

Mary Spakowicz, who also has cancer, came "because God will hear me here."
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Vatican hails end of Gadhafi regime

Oct 21, 2011 by Francis X. Rocca
VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Vatican called the death of Libya’s longtime leader Col. Moammar Gadhafi the end of a "harsh and oppressive regime," and pledged to work with the country’s new government.

Gadhafi, 69, was shot by rebels on Thursday (Oct. 20) near his native city of Sirte, and video images of his dead body appeared almost immediately on the Internet.
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St. Paul's Cathedral closes, asks protesters to leave

Oct 21, 2011

London, October 21 (ENInews)--Due to health, safety and fire concerns connected with an anti-corporate protest camp at its doors, St. Paul's Cathedral, London's 16th-century landmark, announced it is closing until further notice and asked the protesters to leave.

News

Family behind `Big Love' comes out from the shadows

Oct 20, 2011 by Piet Levy
(RNS) Joe Darger sees his unconventional marriage as a loving commitment to family, one that makes him a better man and brings him closer to God.

Utah law, however, sees it as a crime.