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Associated Press – June 15, 2008 LONDON – The bishop of London said Sunday he would order an investigation into whether two gay priests exchanged rings and vows in a church ceremony, violating Anglican guidelines. The priests walked down the aisle in a May 31 service at one of London’s oldest churches marked by a…

Associated Press – June 16, 2008 ROME – Rome’s diocese said Monday it has barred the producers of “Angels & Demons” from filming in two churches for the prequel to the “The Da Vinci Code,” the popular book and film that angered many Catholic leaders. Producers of the film, directed by Ron Howard and starring…

By Francis X. Rocca Religion News Service VATICAN CITY — President Bush received an especially warm welcome from Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican on Friday (June 13), as the two leaders met for the third time in little more than a year. Instead of receiving his guest in the papal apartments, as protocol ordinarily…

Associated Press ORLANDO, Florida — U.S. Roman Catholic bishops issued a document Friday warning against what they consider the moral dangers of embryonic stem cell research, saying it treats human beings as commodities and reduces procreation to a manufacturing process. With general elections looming in November, the bishops said they are not asking Catholics or…

By Ashly McGloneReligion News Service WASHINGTON — A federal religious freedom watchdog panel says it has reviewed textbooks used in a Saudi-run school in northern Virginia and confirmed that they contain passages that promote violence and intolerance. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom said Wednesday (June 11) that the most troubling elements of the…

By Amy GreenReligion News Service ORLANDO, Fla. — Immigration has not weakened the Christian identity of the United States but rather strengthened it, the director of the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life told Catholic bishops here Thursday (June 12). “Even though immigration is increasing diversity,” Luis Lugo said, “its primary result is that…

United Press International GAINESVILLE, Ga. — A Georgia woman has received a one-year jail sentence after paying and signing paperwork for her son’s girlfriend to have an abortion, officials say. Cindi Cook, 44, was found guilty of encouraging her son’s 16-year-old girlfriend to have an abortion by paying for her to have the procedure at…

The Associated Press WASHINGTON – About 300 houses of worship are displaying anti-torture banners this month in an initiative by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture. Most of the banners are a stark black-and-white and read, “Torture is Wrong” or “Torture is a Moral Issue.” Congregations participating in the month-long campaign include Methodists, Presbyterians, Jews,…

By Paul R. KopenkoskeyReligion News Service GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — The perception that people unfettered by religion are happier than those who regularly attend church is false, an economist says. “People who believe in no moral constraints on activities have less happiness,” said Arthur Brooks, professor of business and government policy at Syracuse University’s Maxwell…

By Adelle M. Banks Religion News Service Southern Baptists on Tuesday (June 10) elected a Georgia pastor, the Rev. Johnny Hunt of First Baptist Church of Woodstock, as president after the most wide-open leadership race in three decades. Hunt, 55, a megachurch pastor known for his encouragement of young pastors, won 53 percent of the…

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