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“As many American Christians are aware,” writes former Time magazine Asia correspondent David Aikman, “China’s Christian house churches, those Christian communities who don’t want to be controlled by the Communist Party, have been under their savage repression in years from the authorities.  The most serious persecution has targeted the Shouwang church, the largest in Beijing.” The 1,000-member church…

The movie Captain America will keep its patriotic full title in most of the world when the superhero adventure hits the big-screen. Paramount Pictures and Marvel Comics gave distributors around the world the option of shortening the title of Captain America: The First Avenger to simply The First Avenger, out of concern about anti-American sentiment. But…

A Portland, Oregon, awaiting trial has been denied a medical furlough she requested to receive an abortion. Bridget Burkholder is facing charges for arson, criminal mischief, driving under the influence, reckless driving and disorderly conduct. Most of these charges stem from an incident in which the 23-year-old allegedly damaged a hotel room in an attempt to…

The moment the Washington, D.C.-area First Baptist Church of Glenarden opened its doors Friday night, nearly 3,000 teenagers rushed inside for a high-octane worship service, according to the Washington Post. Inside the Upper Marlboro mega-church, a large digital clock was at four minutes and counting down. When the numbers reached zero, the Christian go-go band Vertical…

Atheists and agnostics have a lot to learn from gays about the essential role of coming out in any long-term battle for personal respect and political recognition in American society, writes Washington Post blogger Susan Jacoby.  “When New York’s state Senate passed a historic bill legalizing gay marriage last weekend, I happened to be attending…

His name is a daily message to his fellow Americans: They must deal with him for who he is — a Muslim who loves his country and proudly sells American flags. “A lot of people use a nickname to make it easier for Americans to pronounce,” says Fawaz Ismail, who for decades went by “Tony,” “but…

The Rev. Jonathan Gledhill, the Bishop of Lichfield, told a group of clergy in a speech in his London diocese this week that church services have become too long, recommending “clergy should aim to keep the time of worship to no more than 50 minutes.” The bishop continued to say that worship has become “too…

By LAUREN MARKOE ~ c. 2011 Religion News Service In a potential blow to the proposed San Francisco circumcision ban, the city’s top lawyer has concluded it is unconstitutional to ban the practice as a religious ritual, but allow it as a medical procedure. The measure, now headed toward the Nov. 8 ballot, would ban…

Jurors who found Casey Anthony not guilty of killing her 2-year-old daughter are asking for the media to respect their privacy. They don’t want to make any comments on the case, the press was told. The group of seven women and five men were brought in from the Tampa Bay area and sequestered for the entire…

A former RAF pilot’s lifelong dream of becoming an astronaut might actually come to fruition after he was tapped by Sir Richard Branson to become chief pilot for Virgin Galactic, Branson’s $200,000 per ticket sub-orbital “commercial” spacecraft enterprise. The “VSS Enterprise” — named after the famed Star Trek Enterprise — is expected to make its virgin…
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