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

Beliefnet News

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – On a recent Sunday, the Rev. Richard Mahan scrapped a sermon on forgiveness. He felt compelled instead to address the economic turmoil battering the nation. “Everybody’s facing hard times,” he told worshippers at St. Timothy Lutheran Church in Charleston. “If you’re not, you’re going to.” Include churches in that dismal forecast. With…

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (RNS) The hottest campaign in Michigan this fall features no candidate, but an embryo. In the fight over Proposal 2, advocates and opponents are spending millions to shape voter opinion on a proposal to loosen current restrictions on embryonic stem cell research in the state. In West Michigan, Amway co-founder Richard DeVos…

When she was director of religious outreach for John Kerry’s Democratic presidential campaign four years ago, Mara Vanderslice could hardly have seemed lower on the campaign totem pole. “I had one unpaid intern who didn’t have a phone,” she said. “We didn’t have a budget, and they never let me talk to the press.” Her…

Vatican City – The Vatican is appealing for an end to religious violence in India, seeking to halt anti-Christian rampages by Hindu extremists. The Vatican used its annual message for the Hindu Diwali festival of light, praising the father of Indian independence Mahatma Gandhi as a model of nonviolence. The violence has claimed 38 lives…

By most counts, several times more people live in New York City than practice Buddhism nationwide. So American Buddhists aren’t likely to become a political machine or a crucial swing vote any time soon. But as the religion born in the East carves its place in the West, many Buddhists are making a mark in…

Leesburg, Virginia – Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin told a cheering crowd Monday that Democrats would raise taxes and “punish hard work” if Virginia voters break a 44-year preference for Republican presidents and help send Barack Obama to the White House. Palin, Republican John McCain’s running mate, also tried to burnish her foreign policy…

Washington – Fordham University’s plan to give an award to Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer has drawn criticism from alumni and the leader of the Catholic church in New York over Breyer’s support for abortion rights. Cardinal Edward Egan has spoken to the Catholic university’s leaders to ensure “that a mistake of this sort will…

Dharmsala, India – The Dalai Lama said Saturday he has given up on efforts to convince Beijing to allow greater autonomy for Tibet under Chinese rule. The Tibetan spiritual leader said he would now ask the Tibetan people to decide how to take the dialogue forward. China has repeatedly accused the Dalai Lama of leading…

JERUSALEM – The German government on Thursday handed Israel’s national Holocaust memorial the personal details of 600,000 Jewish residents of Nazi Germany, the most comprehensive record to date of German-Jewish life during the Nazi era. German Culture Minister Bernd Neumann presented the directory during a ceremony at the Yad Vashem memorial, saying that it allowed…

(RNS) New York state’s high court ruled Thursday (Oct. 23) that the Episcopal Church and Diocese of Rochester are entitled to keep the property of a parish that has seceded and joined another branch of the Anglican Communion. All Saints Protestant Episcopal Church agreed to abide by the rules of the national denomination and the…
archives most recent
search this blog
More from Beliefnet and our partners