Inspiration Faith & Prayer Health & Wellness Entertainment Love & Family
Newsletters Special Offers

Beliefnet News

RALEIGH, N.C. – Nine years of scrutiny have made some American Muslims wary of the federal government, and that has the U.S. Census bureau working to make sure its crucial survey doesn’t become a casualty of fear. Muslims are not the only group the agency has identified as needing special attention, but they may be…

(RNS) The top leader of the Assemblies of God wants his name removed from a civility statement signed by religious leaders after learning that its signatories included non- evangelicals. George O. Wood, general superintendent of the prominent Pentecostal denomination, decided earlier this month that he no longer wanted his name on the statement issued in…

EAST LONGMEADOW, Mass. (RNS) Less than 24 hours after calling for Pope Benedict XVI to step down, a Massachusetts priest has been rebuked by his local bishop. A longtime critic of how the church has handled the sexual abuse crisis, the Rev. James J. Scahill delivered four sermons over the weekend suggesting that the 82-year…

VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Vatican on Monday (April 12) published an on-line guide to its disciplinary procedures in processing cases of sexually abusive priests, including a mandate to cooperate with local civil authorities. Running less than 700 words in length, the guide is intended for lay people and non-specialists in church law. Based on a…

(RNS) Nearly a year after President Obama told an audience in Cairo that America wanted a “new beginning” with the Muslim world, evidence of that policy shift has, in recent weeks, become hard to ignore. The Obama administration is revising national security guidelines that strip references to “Islamic radicalism” and other terms deemed inflammatory to…

NAIROBI (RNS/ENI) Archbishop Henry Orombi of Uganda has reportedly resigned from the standing committee of the Anglican Communion, citing the election of a lesbian bishop by the Episcopal Church as part of an unacceptable “revisionist theology”. At the same time, Orombi called for an urgent meeting of the primates, or senior bishops, of the Anglican…

(RNS) As Supreme Court Justice John Paul Stevens prepares for retirement, religious advocates are cheering his support of church-state separation and readying for the battle over his successor. Stevens, the court’s oldest justice at age 89, sent a letter to President Obama Friday (April 9) informing him that he would retire when the high court…

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Pope Benedict XVI is ready to hold more meetings with victims of clerical sex abuse, his top spokesman stated on Friday (April 9). “The pope has written that he is available for new meetings with (victims), taking the same path as the whole community of the church,” wrote the Rev. Federico Lombardi,…

(RNS) Tariq Ramadan made his first public appearance in the U.S. on Thursday (April 8) since the U.S. State Department barred entry to the controversial scholar and Islamic activist in 2004. Ramadan’s appearance on a panel in New York on “Islam in the West” reflects recent U.S. efforts to build bridges with Muslims and ends…

(RNS) After a decade long moratorium, Mormon is back. The name, that is. It was on display everywhere last weekend (April 3-4) as thousands gathered here for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ 180th Annual General Conference in Salt Lake City. Where LDS leaders once were pushing members to call themselves Latter-day Saints,…
archives most recent
search this blog
More from Beliefnet and our partners