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DHARMSALA, India – Tibetan exile leaders opened weeklong discussions Monday over the direction of their movement to win autonomy from China, after the Dalai Lama, the region’s exiled spiritual leader, expressed frustration over years of fruitless talks with Beijing. The meeting in northern India, called by the Dalai Lama, follows the exiled Buddhist leader’s comments…

(RNS) The Diocese of Fort Worth, Texas, became the fourth to secede from the Episcopal Church Saturday (Nov. 15), when delegates voted to align with a more conservative branch of the Anglican Communion. Nearly 80 percent of clergy and lay delegates from the North Texas diocese voted to join the Anglican Province of the Southern…

NEW YORK (RNS) Famous — and infamous — American Jews associated with the election season and the ongoing problems in the kosher meat industry dominated The Forward newspaper’s list of 50 influential Jews this year. The Forward, the largest national Jewish weekly in America, published its “Forward 50” on Nov. 15, grouping its entries into…

WASHINGTON — A South Carolina Roman Catholic priest who had warned Barack Obama voters not to take Communion without first confessing their sin said Friday (Nov. 14) he will not deny the sacrament based on “political opinions or choices.” But the Rev. Jay Scott Newman of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Greenville reiterated his belief…

(UNDATED) Stories about love, lust and the undead may not seem like the best vehicle for teaching teens about faith and morality. But for Stephenie Meyer, who has been called “the Mormon Anne Rice,” her best-selling “Twilight” books and upcoming movie contain plenty of teachable moments. Meyer, a wife and mother of three from Phoenix,…

ALBANY, Georgia – A Georgia priest facing excommunication for supporting the ordination of women said Friday he plans to visit the Vatican with a contingent of fellow priests and a bishop to appeal the decision. Roy Bourgeois, 69, a Maryknoll priest and nationally known peace activist, ran afoul of Vatican doctrine by participating in an…

Washington – Hundreds of people rallied outside the White House on Wednesday (Nov. 12) as religious leaders from a number of faiths met with members of Congress while also urging President-elect Barack Obama to sign an executive order banning torture. The National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT)’s “Day of Witness” included a procession of people…

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…

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