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(RNS) Eboo Patel, founder and executive director of the community service group Interfaith Youth Core, has become the first Muslim to win the prestigious Grawemeyer Award in Religion from the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary and the University of Louisville. Patel, 34, is a member of the White House’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships…

(RNS) An audio version of the modern edition of the Jewish Bible is being made available for free to the blind. The Jewish Publication Society spent more than a year recording 60 hours of the JPS Tanakh, in a project coordinated with JBI International, formerly the Jewish Braille Institute. Organizers recruited several Jewish celebrities to…

HARTFORD, Conn. – Recently retired New York Cardinal Edward Egan expressed skepticism over sexual abuse allegations against priests when he was a Connecticut bishop a decade ago, saying he found it “marvelous” that so few priests had been accused over the years, according to court documents unsealed Tuesday. The files, including two depositions of Egan,…

(RNS) Muslim Americans faced more anti-Muslim bias but fewer physical assaults in 2008, according to a report released Thursday (Dec. 3) by the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations. “In 2008, Muslims continued to face barriers to their full and equal participation in American society. Certain individuals and institutions persisted in profiting by smearing Islam,” CAIR’s…

NEW YORK (RNS) Religious activists on both sides of the same-sex marriage debate vowed to continue their work after the New York State Senate rejected a gay marriage bill on Wednesday (Dec. 2). The 34-28 vote, coming after debate in which state senators evoked various religious traditions and texts, was a blow for proponents of…

HANOI, Vietnam – Followers of a famed Buddhist monk say they are continuing to suffer police harassment two months after they were forcibly evicted from a monastery in southern Vietnam. The followers of Zen master Thich Nhat Hanh, who has popularized Buddhism in the West and sold millions of books worldwide, say they are being…

(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…
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