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Associated Press New York – The Anti-Defamation League was “deeply troubled” by the prayer. Conservative Jewish rabbis said they were “dismayed and deeply disturbed” by its language. But some veteran interfaith leaders – Jewish and Roman Catholic – say there’s no evidence that a revised Good Friday liturgy approved this month by Pope Benedict XVI…

Associated Press Washington – A senior Chinese official is trying to calm U.S. misgivings ahead of Beijing’s coming Olympic Games about what the Bush administration sees as religious intolerance in China. The director of China’s religious affairs bureau met in Washington with U.S. officials and spoke at a Roman Catholic institution, Georgetown University. Ye Xiaowen…

By Daniel Burke Religion News Service (RNS) The high court of the Presbyterian Church (USA) has issued a landmark decision that unequivocally bars noncelibate gay and lesbian clergy and halts recent attempts to compromise on ordination standards. Ministerial candidates in the PCUSA are required to be in faithful heterosexual marriages or remain celibate, though a…

Associated Press – February 19, 2008 VATICAN CITY – The Vatican’s No. 2 official, on the eve of a trip to Cuba, held out the possibility of a future visit there by Pope Benedict XVI, according to an interview published Tuesday. Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, the Vatican’s secretary of state, departs for Havana on Wednesday for…

Associated Press – February 20, 2008 PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Fed up with violence and broken promises, voters in Pakistan’s deeply conservative northwest have thrown out the Islamist parties that ruled this province for five years – a clear sign that Pakistanis rejected religious extremism in a region where al-Qaida and the Taliban have sought refuge.…

By Francis X. Rocca Religion News Service Vatican City — In his 26-year reign, Pope John Paul II canonized a record 482 saints and beatified an additional 1,341 Catholics, more than all his predecessors combined since the late 16th century. John Paul’s recognition of holiness among previously underrepresented groups of laypeople and non-Europeans aroused enthusiasm…

Associated Press Kampala, Uganda – Uganda’s Anglican church threatened Monday to secede from the rest of the 77-million member fellowship unless U.S. clergy condemn homosexuality. The announcement was the latest salvo in a fierce debate about homosexuality has overtaken the global Anglican Communion since its U.S. wing – the Episcopal Church – consecrated its first…

Associated Press Asheville, N.C. – Evangelist Billy Graham is back at his North Carolina home recovering from surgery to update a shunt that controls excess fluid to his brain. Mission Hospitals spokeswoman Merrell Gregory says Graham is recovering well and physicians are pleased with his progress. Graham underwent surgery last Wednesday. Dr. Ralph Loomis said…

By Daniel Burke Religion News Service The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania filed lawsuits Thursday (Feb. 14) challenging a judge’s ruling that marriages performed by ministers without a congregation or place of worship are invalid. The 2007 ruling, by a judge in York County, Pa., negated a marriage officiated by a minister who was…

By Rachel Pomerance and Francis X. Rocca Religion News Service Conservative rabbis expressed their “dismay” this week over a traditional Good Friday prayer that calls for the conversion of Jews that Pope Benedict XVI revised but left largely intact. In a last-minute resolution added to the agenda of the Rabbinical Assembly’s annual convention in Washington,…
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