Magda Hornemann (“Forum 18 News Service,” May 15, 2013)
Only state-approved religious groups affiliated with China’s five state-backed monopoly faiths are allowed to apply to set up educational institutions for the study of their faith or training of clergy, Forum 18 News Service notes. State regulations and practices determine how many and how big such institutions can be and what they can and cannot teach.
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(AP, May 18, 2013)
Beirut – A wave of tit-for-tat kidnappings between rival Islamic militant groups in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo risks sparking large-scale internal fighting between rebels after clashes killed at least four militants earlier t…
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(“The Daily Beast,” May 18, 2013)
Rama Burshtein, the director of Fill the Void—a new film about the complex world of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Jewish women—only found religion herself two decades ago. Burshtein, now 45, was born into a secular Jewish family in New York; she’s now a practicing Orthodox in Tel Aviv.
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James. F. McCarty (“The Plain Dealer,” May 17, 2013)
The federal Bureau of Prisons is forcing some imprisoned members of an Ohio Amish community to study for high school equivalency certificates in violation of their First Amendment rights, a lawyer for the sect contends.
Lawyer Edward Bryan, who represents imprisoned Amish bishop Samuel Mullet, said Friday he intends to write a letter of protest to prison officials cite a U.S.
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Dudley Althaus (“Global Post,” May 16, 2013)
Mexico City, Mexico — Many Roman Catholics believe their church’s future may well hinge on the ability of Pope Francis, an Argentine barely two months into his reign, to revive the faith in Latin America.
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Michael Gryboski (“The Christian Post,” May 16, 2013)
An Anglican congregation in Virginia that recently lost a property suit against The Episcopal Church is asking for a rehearing before the state Supreme Court.
George Ward, senior warden of the vestry of The Falls Church Anglican, told The Christian Post that the congregation will submit a petition that may be heard by the Court.
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Kate Brumback & Russ Bynum (AP, May 16, 2013)
Atlanta — When Ed Buckner and his family went to a north Georgia state park to celebrate his son’s birthday, he was surprised and concerned to find Bibles in the state-owned cabin he had rented.
An a…
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Max Fisher (“The Washington Post,” May 16, 2013)
Life can get complicated in Xinjiang, the far-western Chinese province perhaps best known as the home of ethnic Uighurs, who are majority Muslim. As in neighboring Tibet, Beijing restricts traditional religious practice there and keeps the province largely shut off from the outside world.
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Niraj Warikoo (“USA Today,” May 16, 2013)
Detroit — Speaking to about 250 religious and community leaders here Thursday, minister Louis Farrakhan urged unity among African Americans and called on them to buy up property in Detroit.
“We don’t have a lot of money,” Farrakhan said of African Americans. “But we have about 500,000 to 600,000 blacks” still in Detroit.
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Aaron Schrank (“The Huffington Post,” May 17, 2013)
Paul Sefranek is a lifelong Roman Catholic and a long-serving volunteer in the Boy Scouts of America — two parts of his identity that have always been in harmony.
Until now.
As the BSA decides this month whether to allow openly gay boys into its program, Sefranek is among those who say the controversial move would cause him to quit the venerable Scouting program.
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(AP, May 17, 2013)
Peshawar, Pakistan — Bombs that exploded outside two mosques in a village in northwestern Pakistan killed at least 15 people Friday, underlining the challenge of militant violence facing a new government set to take power under the leadership of former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
The blasts at the two Sunni Muslim mosques also wounded 70 people, said tribal police officer Mohammad Jamil Khan.
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John Bingham (“The Telegraph,” May 16, 2013)
A new analysis of the 2011 census shows that a decade of mass immigration helped mask the scale of decline in Christian affiliation among the British-born population – while driving a dramatic increase in Islam, particularly among the young.
It suggests that only a minority of people will describe themselves as Christians within the next decade, for first time.
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Ori Lewis (Reuters, May 17, 2013)
Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews protested in Jerusalem on Thursday against plans to enlist men from their community into the military, a proposal supported by the secular majority pushing for a more equal share of the…
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Pope Francis toured St. Peter’s Square to greet tens of thousands of people attending a rally of prayer, music and speeches Saturday, and he embraced the brother of a Pakistani politician who was assassinated in his country after…
Read the original article at nzherald.co.nz - Religion and Beliefs 2013-05-19 »
By Philip Pullella VATICAN CITY, May 18 (Reuters) – Pope Francis shared personal moments with 200,000 people on Saturday, telling them he sometimes nods…
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