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

Beliefnet News

(UNDATED) Yousef Abdallah’s annual Ramadan duties promise to be tougher than usual this year. The Islamic holy month starts Friday (Aug. 21) or Saturday (Aug. 22) night, depending on the sighting of the moon. Abdallah, a regional operations manager for Islamic Relief USA, one of the nation’s largest Islamic charities, and his staff are preparing…

VATICAN CITY (RNS) Doctors removed a cast from Pope Benedict XVI’s right wrist on Friday (Aug. 21), five weeks after he fractured it during a fall. A Vatican press release said that an x-ray showed the fracture had healed, but that Benedict would recover full use of his wrist after completing “an adequate program of…

(RNS) The nation’s largest Lutheran denomination approved a carefully balanced statement on human sexuality late Wednesday (Aug. 19) that progressives quickly welcomed as a possible step towards overturning a churchwide ban on non-celibate gay clergy later this week. By a vote of 676 to 338 — the exact two-thirds majority needed for passage — delegates…

WASHINGTON — Facing incendiary charges that health care reform would finance abortion and euthanasia, President Obama on Wednesday (Aug. 19) appealed to religious groups to help sell the plan and debunk critics’ “false witness.” “I’m going to need the help of all of you,” Obama told a conference call and live webcast that attracted an…

As college students return to campus in the coming weeks, a new study suggests that some could be in danger of losing their religion. Economics professor Miles Kimball and researchers from the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research determined that certain academic majors can influence students’ religiosity — positively or negatively — over time.…

(UNDATED) It was Aug. 5, 2003, and bishops at the triennial General Convention of the Episcopal Church had voted for the first time to let an openly gay man become a bishop. Louie Crew of East Orange, N.J., who has been active in Episcopal Church politics for decades, was there in Minneapolis and vividly remembers…

Associated Press – August 18, 2009 NEW YORK – In a Muslim country, celebrating Ramadan is relatively simple: Most people are fasting from sunrise to sunset. But in the U.S., most people are eating, and enticing food commercials, an overabundance of restaurants and watching others eat can make celebrating the holiday more challenging. How do…

Associated Press – August 19, 2009 SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Planned Parenthood is raising red flags that the state could close the only abortion clinic in South Dakota in a matter of days, according to the latest filing in a court battle over a 2005 law that requires doctors to tell women an abortion ends…

A photo of Lisa Carter is available via www.religionnews.com By KAY CAMPBELL c. 2009 Religion News Service HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Congress may be on summer recess, but Americans who are motivated by their faith are joining the conversation over changing the way that health care is paid for in the United States. The Huntsville Chapter…

Associated Press – August 18, 2009 AMSTERDAM – A Dutch university fired Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan on Tuesday for hosting a show on Iran’s state television, which the school said could be seen as endorsing the regime. Ramadan – known as a reformist who condemns terrorism, seeks to modernize Shariah law and urges Muslims living…
archives most recent
search this blog
More from Beliefnet and our partners