Religion News

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A federal judge on Tuesday, in a rebuke to the Bush administration, ordered the release in the United States of 17 Chinese Muslims who have been held at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI says the global financial crisis show the futility of money and ambition.

ROME (Reuters) - Pope Benedict on Sunday kicked off a seven-day, non-stop Bible reading marathon on Italian television.

ROME (AFP) - Pope Benedict XVI attacked the Godless character of modern culture as he celebrated mass Sunday in a Roman basilica to mark the opening of a synod of Catholic bishops.

ROME - Pope Benedict XVI warned Sunday that modern culture is pushing God out of people's lives, causing nations once rich in religious faith to lose their identities.

MONROEVILLE, Pa. - Clergy and lay members of the theologically conservative Pittsburgh diocese voted overwhelmingly Saturday to break from the liberal Episcopal Church, with which it differs on issues ranging from homosexuality to biblical teachings on salvation.

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The Episcopal Diocese of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, announced Saturday its split from the liberal US Episcopal Church, chiefly in protest over the ordination of gay bishops and blessing of same-sex marriage.

CASPAR, Wyoming (AFP) - The Mormon church will build its first temple in Italy, in Rome, and other new temples in Argentina, United States and Canada, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS) announced Saturday.

NEW YORK - Newspapers that carried an advertising supplement in recent weeks containing a DVD critical of radical Muslims have faced complaints from readers and questions about whether newspapers should offer a platform to everyone willing to pay for distribution.

MADISON, Wis. - The nation's largest group of atheists and agnostics is suing President Bush, the governor of Wisconsin and other officials over the federal law designating a National Day of Prayer.

PHILADELPHIA - Episcopal leaders gathered in Philadelphia expect to formally apologize Saturday for their ancestors' slave ownership — and to discuss the "white privilege" they say endures.

NEWARK, N.J. - In a case that could erode hard-won trust between Muslims and law enforcement, the government is appealing the case of a Muslim leader who won his fight to remain in the United States.

SAVANNAH, Ga. - In a letter home, a Jewish soldier in basic training at Fort Benning complained of religious discrimination and wrote that a friend overheard platoon members saying they wanted to beat him up.

SOFIA (AFP) - The 13th-century master who painted what has been listed by UNESCO as one of the world's finest collections of medieval frescoes at the Boyana church on the outskirts of Sofia has finally been identified.

AUSTIN, Texas - Four State Board of Education members are promoting a public school Bible curriculum that has been criticized as favoring conservative Protestant views and has already landed some districts in court.

RALEIGH, N.C. - Within the nation's largest Protestant denomination, a woman may not lead a church or a home. But prominent Southern Baptists see nothing wrong with Sarah Palin serving as vice president — or perhaps even commander-in-chief someday.

MONT-SAINT-MICHEL, France (AFP) - France's stunning Mont-Saint-Michel, the coastal abbey set atop a tidal island, was erected in 708 to warn unbelievers of the terrible power of the Christian God.

WESTHAMPTON BEACH, N.Y. - They are largely invisible, sometimes as simple as a small, plastic marker affixed to a utility pole. There's one around the White House and one in Manhattan that sprawls from the East River to the Hudson.

WASHINGTON - A day after the House defeat of a financial bailout plan that sent Wall Street into a frantic downward spiral, the Capitol was largely deserted Tuesday as Congress marked the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashana.

CHICAGO - Between the prayers that fill the holy month of Ramadan, during the long fasts that stretch from dawn to dusk, Muslims have been meeting to discuss the disappearance of Salman Ibrahim.

ROME - Pope Benedict XVI has urged tourists to respect the environment and local cultures, touching again on a theme that has earned him a reputation as the "green pope."

TOPEKA, Kan. - An atheist soldier says in a federal lawsuit that his superiors required him to be present for Christian prayers, and that the military allows fundamentalist Christians to proselytize.

HOUSTON - Two former Texas A&M University researchers allege colleagues threw animal feces and urine on their prayer rug and routinely mocked and mistreated them because they are Muslims from Iraq, according to a federal lawsuit.

PARIS - The European Union says it is "very worried" about what it sees as a deterioration of religious freedom in Iran.

SAN FRANCISCO - Hundreds of pastors have called on their congregations to fast and pray for passage of a ballot measure in November that would put an end to gay marriage in California.

NEW YORK - A federal appeals court says it was constitutional for the United States to require visitors from two dozen Arab and Muslim countries and North Korea to register with immigration authorities.

BOSTON - A Roman Catholic church in Boston has removed a man from lay leadership posts over a book he wrote describing himself as "a happy porn-writing Sodomite."

A U.S. Muslim advocacy group Tuesday asked the Federal Election Commission to investigate whether a nonprofit group that distributed a controversial DVD about Islam in newspapers nationwide is a "front" for an Israel-based group with a stealth goal of helping Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

ROANOKE, Va. - The chancellor of Liberty University has an ambitious plan to get the 10,500 students at the evangelical Christian college registered to vote in Virginia, a swing state that could be crucial to victory in the presidential election.