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By CHARLES POPE c. 2011 Religion News Service WASHINGTON (RNS) The Rev. Patrick Conroy was sworn in Wednesday (May 25) as House chaplain, making him the first Jesuit to hold the position, and the first candidate forced to navigate around the Catholic Church’s abuse scandal. “It’s clear this loyal servant of the faithful is uniquely…

By G. JEFFREY MacDONALD c. 2011 Religion News Service BEVERLY, Mass. (RNS) No sooner had 29-year-old Graham Messier joined a small group at his church earlier this year than he found himself breaking an American taboo: talking about how much he earns, and where it all goes. Others in the group did likewise as they…

By ADELLE M. BANKS c. 2011 Religion News Service (RNS) Nearly two-thirds of Americans say gay or lesbian relations between consenting adults should be legal, the highest percentage ever recorded by Gallup. Researchers found that 64 percent of American adults supported legal gay relations, which Gallup has included in surveys since 1977. In 2003, the…

By BRUCE NOLAN c. 2011 Religion News Service NEW ORLEANS (RNS) A Methodist hurricane-recovery ministry that funneled nearly 68,000 hammer-wielding volunteers into metro New Orleans until it essentially ran out of money has reinvented itself — by asking volunteers to pitch in $225 to spend a week repairing houses. And the volunteers are still coming.…

By TOM EHRICH c. 2011 Religion News Service (RNS) If you are reading this, then you apparently didn’t qualify for the Rapture on May 21. Or Judgment Day predictors need better math. Either way, last Saturday belonged to God, not to fundamentalist cranks who peddle absolute certainty encased in right-wing theology. If religion is correct…

By IVEY DEJESUS c. 2011 Religion News Service GRANTHAM, Pa. (RNS) Alumni at evangelical Messiah College have launched an online petition urging the conservative Christian school to change its policies toward gay and lesbian students. The petition has collected hundreds of alumni signatures, with some indicating that they would withhold donations as long as the…

By LAUREN MARKOE c. 2011 Religion News Service WASHINGTON (RNS) Heavyweight champion Muhammad Ali joined other prominent Muslim Americans on Tuesday (May 24) to plead for the release of two American hikers who have been imprisoned in Iran for nearly two years. Ali, who attained heroic status among Muslims worldwide when he converted to Islam…

By FRANCIS X. ROCCA c. 2011 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY (RNS) The morality and effectiveness of using condoms to prevent HIV/AIDS will be on the agenda at a Vatican conference this weekend (May 27-28), six months after comments by Pope Benedict XVI again touched off worldwide controversy. The conference, which will focus on “the…

By ADELLE M. BANKS c. 2011 Religion News Service (RNS) Radio evangelist Harold Camping, who predicted the Rapture would occur on May 21, now says his calculations were off by five months. The 89-year-old president of the Family Radio network in Oakland, Calif., said life on Earth will continue until October 21. “At that time…

By YONAT SHIMRON c. 2011 Religion News Service DURHAM, N.C. (RNS) For decades, mainline Protestants have been beset by bad news: declining numbers, aging membership, waning cultural influence. A new study from Duke University Medical Center, however, gives these Protestants one reason for cheer: they seem to have larger brains than born-again Christians, Roman Catholics…
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