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

Beliefnet News

Waltham, Mass. – The dozens of independent Jewish prayer groups cropping up all over the country in the past decade have mostly attracted worshipers with traditional roots, rather than converts or secular Jews, a new study reports. Based on a 2007 survey of 747 members of independent minyans, or lay-led prayer groups, the findings show…

New York – Carrying signs reading “Love not H8” and “Did you cast a ballot or a stone?”, a large crowd of gay-marriage supporters gathered outside a Mormon temple to protest the church’s endorsement of a same-sex marriage ban in California. The rally Wednesday night outside The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints temple…

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court warily confronted a case Wednesday that mixes limits on free speech with issues of church-state separation. The justices engaged in lively arguments over a small religious group’s efforts to place a monument in a public park that already is home to a Ten Commandments display. The court seemed reluctant to…

Supporters of gay marriage, frustrated over a ballot-box defeat in California, have channeled much of their anger toward the towering white spires of Mormon temples. For months, the Mormon church sought to portray itself as just one member of a coalition of Catholics, evangelicals, black Protestants and others supporting Proposition 8, a measure to stop…

RATANPUR, Nepal – The teenage boy revered by many as a reincarnation of Buddha sat silently in the jungle as he blessed his devotees Wednesday with a light tap on the head, which they consider the touch of the divine. His face was still, his long hair spilled over his white robe, and he never…

Vatican City – Roman Catholic Church officials are sending messages to U.S. president-elect Barack Obama, saying they will oppose any changes in U.S. policies on embryonic stem cell research. Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragan, the pope’s health minister, on Tuesday reiterated the Vatican’s opposition to using embryos for research purposes. President George W. Bush has issued…

Washington – A survey shows religious Americans are less worried about the economy than they are about a “spiritual recession.” The Faithbook on Facebook poll released Tuesday found nearly 72 percent of respondents said such a spiritual recession was more of a concern to them than a downturn in the spiritual arena. In a similar…

Salt Lake City – Gay-rights activists see opportunities for their cause in Utah thanks to Mormon church officials, who strongly supported California’s proposition denying same-sex couples the right to marry but said they did not object to granting those couples certain other rights. The advocacy group Equality Utah is asking The Church of Jesus Christ…

A Chinese official Monday called on the Dalai Lama to “correct his mistakes” and move closer to the central government.” China’s government officials provided more details Monday of their meeting last week with the spiritual leader’s representatives, Xinhua reported. “We hope that (the Dalai Lama) could correct his mistakes and get closer to the central…

BALTIMORE – The head of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, opening a national church meeting Monday, said that continued support for abortion rights will undermine any advances in social justice that come from a new president and Congress. Chicago Cardinal Francis George said “we must all rejoice” that an African-American will be in the…
archives most recent
search this blog
More from Beliefnet and our partners