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Washington — Evangelical leaders gathered for the annual observance of the National Day of Prayer on Thursday (May 7) prayed for President Obama but criticized his decisions to not mark the day with a White House event or send a representative to their annual gathering on Capitol Hill. Observers say the change of plans from…

(RNS) Gov. John Baldacci signed legislation on Wednesday (May 6) that makes Maine the fifth U.S. state to allow same-sex marriages, and only the second to approve the unions without the threat of a court order. Maine now joins Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Iowa in allowing same-sex marriage. Lawmakers in neighboring New Hampshire have also…

VATICAN CITY – Reviewers at the Vatican’s newspaper have passed judgment on “Angels & Demons,” finding the religious thriller commercial and inaccurate, but concluding it is “harmless” entertainment and not a danger to the church. L’Osservatore Romano ran a review and an editorial in Wednesday’s edition, critiquing the movie based on the Dan Brown best-selling…

UNITED NATIONS – Israeli President Shimon Peres on Wednesday called a U.N. investigation accusing Israel of recklessness during the war in Gaza “outrageous” and said the Jewish state will not apologize for defending its citizens against Hamas missile attacks. He conceded that the Israeli military made some mistakes – as all armies do during war.…

Los Angeles — Controversy, if nothing else, sells newspapers and movie tickets. It worked with Ron Howard’s first film adaptation of a Dan Brown novel, 2006’s “The Da Vinci Code,” and Hollywood is hoping it will work again for their second collaboration, “Angels and Demons,” which opens nationwide on May 15. Howard recently stoked the…

Southern Baptist ethicist Richard Land, a leading Christian conservative who helped advance the Bush administration’s agenda on a range of social issues, said Monday (May 4) that the formerly sanctioned practice of waterboarding of suspected terrorists is torture and “violates everything we stand for.” Land, who is president of the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission…

A watchdog group that monitors inappropriate proselytizing in the military has renewed calls for a Pentagon probe after a recent Al Jazeera English news segment showed U.S. soldiers in Afghanistan preparing to distribute Bibles printed in the Pashto and Dari languages. “These inciteful actions are grossly offensive to not only Muslims in Afghanistan and across…

(RNS) Moves to create two Florida license plates with images of a crucified Jesus on one, and a stained glass window and cross on another, have died in the Florida legislature. Both plates had come under blistering criticism from Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the American Civil Liberties Union. The Associated…

WASHINGTON (RNS) The Obama administration says it will issue a proclamation marking the National Day of Prayer on Thursday (May 7), but appears to be moving away from the White House ceremonies hosted by former President George W. Bush. “President Obama is a committed Christian and believes that we should be engaging Americans of faith…

JERUSALEM – The Vatican’s representative to the Holy Land on Monday played down the controversies that could mar next week’s visit by Pope Benedict XVI: the conduct of a wartime predecessor and the church’s perceived lenience toward a Holocaust-denying priest. Benedict’s remarks about Muslims have stirred anger in the Arab world, as well. But Monsignor…
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