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CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — When Zahra Khan arrived at Massachusetts Institute of Technology from her native Ottawa, Canada, in 2005, she looked for a swimming pool where she wouldn’t have to worry about showing too much skin. The only options were mixed-gender pools, which Khan felt would violate beliefs about modesty grounded in her Muslim faith.…

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI deplored priests who were unfaithful to their vows and called Thursday for a “frank and complete acknowledgment” of the Catholic Church’s weakness in a letter to priests around the globe. The letter was the first public statement from Benedict since an independent commission in Ireland issued a report last…

WASHINGTON (RNS) President Obama signed an executive order Wednesday (June 17) expanding benefits available to same-sex partners of federal employees, a move that was not unexpected but nonetheless criticized by social conservative groups. “Many of our government’s hard-working, dedicated, and patriotic public servants have long been denied basic rights that their colleagues enjoy for one…

SRINAGAR, India – Thousands of Hindu devotees began an annual pilgrimage Tuesday to an icy cave in Indian-controlled Kashmir amid tight security in the Muslim-majority region, officials said. At least half a million devotees are expected to make the pilgrimage to the Amarnath shrine over the next two months. Thousands of army and paramilitary troops…

JERUSALEM (RNS) A new Internet search engine is making it possible for ultra-Orthodox Jews who use computers to obtain information online– but not on the Sabbath, when the site shuts down. Dubbed Koogle (a cross between Google and kugel, the name of a Jewish noodle pudding), the Hebrew-language search engine is being touted as a…

(RNS) A hugely popular Miami priest, who left the Catholic Church when he could no longer abide by his vow of celibacy and his romantic relationship became tabloid fodder, married his girlfriend of two years Tuesday (June 16). The Rev. Alberto Cutie, 40, and Ruhama Canellis, 35, took their vows in front of a judge…

DALLAS – Federal laws targeting the financing of terrorism are vague and have given the government unchecked power over American Muslim charities, the American Civil Liberties Union said in a new report. The rules have made American Muslims fearful that giving to charity, as required by their faith, could get them mixed up in a…

c. 2009 Salt Lake Tribune PROVO, Utah — Tyson Boardman sits before the computer screen at the LDS Missionary Training Center, discussing Mormonism with Jason and Travis in two Internet conversations at the same time. Why do people say Mormons aren’t Christian? What does it mean to be baptized for the dead? How do Mormons…

VATICAN CITY – The Vatican’s top envoy for China says the time has come for the Holy See to get tough with Beijing and not compromise over religious freedom, saying relations are taking a “worrisome slide” for the worse. Hong Kong Cardinal Joseph Zen also said the Vatican shouldn’t give so much importance to re-establishing…

Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) – June 15, 2009 Vatican City (dpa) – The Vatican announced Monday the retirement of long-time papal personal physician, Renato Buzzonetti, who assisted Pope John Paul II following the failed 1981 assassination attempt and at his deathbed in 2005, before going on to serve the current pontiff, Benedict XVI. The 84-year-old Buzzonetti,…
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