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(RNS) Secular and religious groups are urging Christians and Jews to take safety precautions during Christmas and Hanukkah, when candles, electric lights and flammable decorations create fire hazards. Hanukkah, the eight-day Jewish festival of lights that begins at sunset on Dec. 11, has traditions that involve lighting up to eight candles and frying foods in…

LAKEWOOD, N.J. – The leaders in the local large Orthodox Jewish community go to great lengths to keep out the outside world, discouraging nonbusiness use of the Internet and encouraging strict filters to keep the ungodly out when members must use the Web. But last month, several rabbis and other elders did something astounding for…

BERLIN (RNS) Constitutional provisions that declare Sunday a day of rest mean German merchants will have to significantly rein in the number of days they are open for business, Germany’s highest court ruled Tuesday (Dec. 1). The ruling was prompted by protests from Catholic and Protestant churches in Berlin over laws enacted in 2006 that…

PORTLAND, Ore. (RNS) Teachers are likely to win the right to wear religious clothing such as turbans, yarmulkes, crosses and headscarves in public schools when state lawmakers convene in February, elected officials say. Oregon’s relatively unique prohibition on teachers’ religious garb dates to a shameful anti-Catholic, anti-immigrant period in state history and is overdue to…

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Three Virginia yoga instructors aren’t feeling so Zen about a state plan to regulate and license would-be teachers of the ancient discipline. The instructors say they plan to file a federal lawsuit in Alexandria on Tuesday claiming the plan infringes on their free speech rights. They say entrepreneurs would have to ask…

VATICAN CITY (RNS) The Vatican is facing calls to apologize — as yet unanswered — for the large-scale child abuse by Irish Catholic priests detailed in a damning government report. The new report, issued by a commission charged with probing allegations involving the Archdiocese of Dublin between 1975 and 2004, revealed a pattern of clergy…

PARIS (RNS) A Swiss vote to ban the construction of minarets at Muslim houses of worship sent ripples of surprise and dismay across Europe and Islamic countries Monday (Nov. 30), as opponents vowed to challenge the results. “We are really sad — for ourselves and for Switzerland’s place in the world,” said Geneva Muslim leader…

(RNS) After receiving new evidence, the editor of a prominent compilation of famous quotations now believes theologian Reinhold Niebuhr most likely is the author of the popular “Serenity Prayer.” “I think it’s not certain,” Fred R. Shapiro, editor of “The Yale Book of Quotations,” said in an interview Monday (Nov. 30). “If I had to…

The Vatican has offered Anglicans a chance to return to the Catholic church.  Simon Constable speaks with three eminent scholars about the offer to bury the hatchet after a half-millennium. Watch the video:   Video courtesy of our partners at the Wall Street Journal. The featured scholars are Thomas Reese of Georgetown University Woostock Theological…

JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia – Rare, heavy rainstorms soaked pilgrims and flooded the road into Mecca, snarling Islam’s annual hajj as millions of Muslims headed for the holy sites. The downpours add an extra hazard on top of intense concerns about the spread of swine flu. Pilgrims in white robes porting umbrellas, some wearing face masks…
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