(RNS) Ten years after rejecting an "amicable separation" as premature, conservatives within the United Methodist Church now say a divorce is inevitable. The post Conservative United Methodists say split over sexuality is ‘irreconcilable’ appeared first on Religion News Service . ...
Children should be taught about religion, not have one imposed on them. That a third of state schools in the UK are faith schools is a disaster Is it a witch-hunt? The investigation into a host of Muslim majority schools in Birmingham, Luton, Leicester, Bradford and elsewhere has a flavour of panic about it. Some with long memories compare it to the Cleveland child abuse alarm when more than 100 children...
Experts reject argument that Vatican only exercises control over city state and is not accountable for priests' actions worldwide The United Nations Committee Against Torture (CAT) has criticised the Vatican's handling of the clerical sex abuse scandal, urging the Catholic church to do more to punish perpetrators, help victims and place "meaningful sanctions" on clerics who fail to deal properly...
Rabbi Abraham Skorka only one of large number of Argentinian Jews with whom pope has developed strong, personal ties Rabbi Abraham Skorka has spent many long days as the pope's house guest at Casa Santa Marta, the modest Vatican guesthouse that Francis chose over the sumptuous Apostolic Palace as his residence in Rome. The pontiff even makes sure that Skorka and his wife are served only kosher meals...
The newspaper delivers an air of legitimacy, even when those words are paid for by xenophobes to spread alarmist messages By its own admission, the New York Times does not accept advertisements that are "gratuitously offensive on racial, religious or ethnic grounds or that are considered to be in poor taste." So it's difficult to comprehend how a full-screen online ad by a right-wing group...
A year after archbishop of Canterbury promised to dispose of investment in payday lender, sale proves harder than expected The Church of England has admitted it is struggling to sell its investment in Wonga because it could lose up to £9m in a disposal. The admission comes almost a year after Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, pledged to sell the Church's indirect holding in the payday...
Common cause brings Muslims and Christians together as anger grows amid rumours militants are government-funded When Islamist militants set off two bombs that killed 123 people in Nigeria's volatile city of Jos on Tuesday, many feared it would also detonate bloody reprisals in one of Africa's most religiously tense cities. Umar Tijani, a Muslim, barricaded himself indoors, haunted by memories of seeing...
Christian pilgrims happily swallow a political narrative that is served up to them by the rebranding of archaeological sites Jesus was baptised in the river Jordan. That much we know. But what we don't know is exactly where, or more specifically, on which side. Did he step into the muddy waters from the east or from the west? I know, I know: who really cares? Well actually, it matters not least to...
Vatican says purpose of visit is mainly religious, but political spectres hang over three-day tour of Jordan, Palestine and Israel In a refugee camp near Bethlehem, final preparations are being made for Pope Francis's first official trip to the Holy Land, which begins on Saturday night. On Saturday, in the Phoenix Centre, a modern community hall on the outskirts of the Deheisheh camp, Francis will...
(RNS) The Church of Beyonce, of course. Phil Robertson as a modern-day John the Baptist? And a dinosaur that got swept up by Noah's flood? All that and more in today's Roundup. The post Church of Beyonce * Hairy prophets * Ol’ Sparky returns : Friday’s Religion Roundup appeared first on Religion News Service . ...
A new campaign called #NotInGodsName (Not In God's Name) is an a public declaration to reject criminal acts in the name of God or any religion. The post Video: Not in God’s Name appeared first on Religion News Service . ...
ROME (RNS) The panel’s criticism was far more muted than a scathing February report from the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child that asserted that the Vatican had fostered “impunity” for abusers. The post UN criticizes Vatican on sexual abuse but stops short of calling it torture appeared first on Religion News Service . ...
“I simply cannot believe that Jesus would require me to condemn my friends, nor that Jesus would require me to report any of my colleagues who supported, even loved, gay persons, nor do I believe for a moment that Jesus would punish me for my earlier ministry.” – Richard Hague, who retired from a 45-year career in […] The post Quote of the Day: Former Catholic school teacher Richard Hague...
TRENTON, N.J. (RNS) Four Orthodox rabbis implicated in a torture-for-hire operation were indicted Thursday (May 22). The post Orthodox rabbis indicted in divorce shakedown scheme appeared first on Religion News Service . ...
NEW YORK (RNS) “In our church we are always fishing inside the aquarium,” Archbishop Claudio Celli, head of the Pontifical Council for Social Communications, said. “And we forget that most fish are outside the aquarium.” The post Vatican media chief says the church can’t ignore social media appeared first on Religion News Service . ...
(RNS) Does the IRS discriminate against atheist groups? A federal court says "no." The post Atheists lose court battle with IRS appeared first on Religion News Service . ...
Unlike his predecessors, Pope Francis won't hide his sympathies for the Palestinians on his Middle East visit this weekend Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, had better brace himself: Pope Francis arrives in the Middle East on Saturday. The pontiff's words, of course, will be of the need to improve relations between Christians, Jews and Muslims. But the visit's semiotics will send out...
As Pius XII's canonisation is considered, Nazi hunters want to see files on alleged links between Vatican and war criminals The pope's visit to Jerusalem this weekend has given fresh hope to campaigners some of whom are close friends of the pontiff who believe that he might use the occasion to open the Vatican's secret Holocaust-era files. Among them is Efraim Zuroff, chief Nazi hunter of the Simon...
Jewish extremists under house arrest. A Catholic principal apologizes for featuring a photo of Ellen DeGeneres on an Oscars-theme invitation. Evangelicals (and others) take to the skies. The post House arrest * Oscars party * Drone evangelism: Thursday’s Roundup appeared first on Religion News Service . ...
(RNS) A French Jesuit's ideas of "conscious evolution" may be at the heart of the showdown between American nuns and Vatican hard-liners. The post U.S. nuns haunted by dead Jesuit: the ghost of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin appeared first on Religion News Service . ...