The Christian Century

c. 2012 Religion News Service (RNS) The Oklahoma state Senate voted down a bill that would have prohibited state judges from considering foreign laws, including religious laws, in their decisions.

State Rep. Sally Kern (R-Oklahoma City) submitted House Bill 1552 last year after a similar law approved by voters in a 2010 referendum was ruled unconstitutional.

c. 2012 Religion News Service HIGHLAND PARK, N.J. (RNS) He is young and looks even younger than his 36 years. Yet in the midst of a confrontation with the federal government that could have grave consequences for his future, the Rev. Seth Kaper-Dale acts with the poise of a much older man.

c. 2012 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY (RNS) In a rare public rebuke, Pope Benedict XVI on Thursday (April 5) denounced a call for optional celibacy and women's ordination that was issued by a group of Austrian priests, saying true reform will not come as a result of open dissent.

c. 2012 Religion News Service WASHINGTON (RNS) President Obama hosted his third annual Easter prayer breakfast at the White House on Wednesday (April 4), saying that Jesus's suffering and sacrifice during Holy Week puts the travails of his own life in perspective.

c. 2012 USA Today NASHVILLE (RNS) One of the largest student religious groups at Vanderbilt University is leaving campus in a dispute over the school's non-discrimination policy that bars student groups from requiring their leaders to hold specific beliefs.

Though many Democrats worry that President Obama could lose Jewish support because of his approach to the Middle East, a poll indicates that Israel is not the top political issue of American Jews, with only 4 percent calling it the most important factor in their vote.