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(RNS) In the national fight over legalizing gay marriage, New Jersey is a battleground state. It’s the last state standing with a civil union law that has not explicitly prohibited or allowed gay marriage. Other states with civil union laws have already moved on, calling that union “marriage” or defining marriage as only between a…

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI will meet with the Archbishop of Canterbury next month in the leaders’ first encounter since the Catholic church moved to make it easier for disenchanted Anglicans to convert to Catholicism, a Vatican spokesman said Friday. Archbishop Rowan Williams, the Anglican leader, was already due to visit Rome in November…

The U.S. Supreme Court has decided not to hear the Roman Catholic Diocese of Bridgeport’s appeal of a state court decision to make public more than 12,000 pages of clergy sexual abuse files. “We were disappointed to learn that the United States Supreme Court has decided not to hear our case. The Court reviews only…

(RNS) The Archdiocese of Miami has banned the Legionaries of Christ, a conservative Catholic movement, saying it broke a promise to restrict its ministry to members and was “involved” in several schools without approval. In an Oct. 29 letter to Miami priests, Monsignor Michael Souckar, the archdiocese’s chancellor, said individual priests belonging to the Legionaries…

Oct. 30–Fearing a massive outbreak of fever and germs, the World Health Organization and Saudi Arabia are asking people who are at higher risk for getting the H1N1 virus to stay home from one of the holiest rituals known to Muslims: the hajj to Mecca. Published Thursday in the well-respected journal Science, the recommendation is…

James Dobson, the voice of conservative Christian group Focus on the Family, will no longer host its flagship radio broadcast and is cutting formal ties with the organization that he founded more than 30 years ago, the evangelical group said Friday. Dobson, 73, and the board of directors both agreed about the moves, which will…

(RNS) Synagogues in Los Angeles were on high alert Thursday (Oct. 29) after a gunman shot two men heading to morning prayers in the city’s North Hollywood neighborhood. Two men were in the underground parking lot of Adat Yeshurun Valley Sephardic synagogue when they were shot by a man in a black, hooded sweatshirt, according…

(RNS) When it comes to hot-button political issues, the United Church of Christ is anything but wishy-washy. Its new general minister and president, the Rev. Geoffrey Black, has delivered 17,000 petition signatures to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, urging health-care reform — including coverage for all and access regardless of ability to pay. Its outgoing president,…

GENEVA (RNS/ENI) Lutheran World Federation leaders plan to apologize for their ancestors 16th-century persecution of Anabaptists, religious reformers whose successors include Mennonites and the Amish. “We ask for forgiveness — from God and from our Mennonite sisters and brothers — for the harm that our forebears in the sixteenth century committed to Anabaptists,” says a…

(RNS) The online auction house eBay has halted a proposed auction of items that aimed to raise funds for the defense of the man charged in the May killing of abortion provider Dr. George Tiller. “Based on the details we know about the anticipated listings, we believe these would violate our policy regarding offensive material,”…
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