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Associated Press – February 11, 2008 WASHINGTON – Rep. Tom Lantos, who as a teenager twice escaped from a Nazi-run forced labor camp in Hungary and became the only Holocaust survivor to win a seat in Congress, has died. He was 80. Spokeswoman Lynne Weil said Lantos, a Californian, died early Monday at the Bethesda…

Associated Press – February 10, 2008 SALT LAKE CITY – A group of gay Mormons is seeking an unprecedented meeting with the new church president and his counselors, hoping to begin a conversation and find ways to address the concerns of its members. Affirmation, with more than 2,000 gay, lesbian and transgender members, is not…

Associated Press – February 8, 2008 LINCOLN, Neb. – The Nebraska Supreme Court ruled Friday that electrocution is cruel and unusual punishment, outlawing the electric chair in the only state that still used it as its sole means of execution. In the landmark ruling, the court said the Legislature may vote to have a death…

Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa) – February 8, 2008 London (dpa) – A call by the Archbishop of Canterbury to introduce elements of Islamic sharia law in Britain continued to come in for furious criticism Friday, with one former government minister describing the idea as “catastrophic.” The suggestion put forward by Rowan Williams, who is the head…

Associated Press – February 8, 2008 LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The founder of a popular Kentucky Christian museum that rejects evolution says in a new book that Darwin’s theory fuels racism and genocide. Ken Ham, who opened the Creation Museum last year, and co-author Charles Ware, president of Crossroads Bible College in Indianapolis, have written “Darwin’s…

The Wichita Eagle, Kan. – February 7, 2008 Feb. 7–Before the colorful Dragon Dance, the passing out of “lucky money” and the shooting of fireworks in celebration of the lunar new year, members of the Phap Hoa Temple gathered in the shrine for prayer on Wednesday. Called together by the ringing of bells and chanting,…

By Omar Sacirbey 2008 Religion News Service (UNDATED) Muslim Americans and political observers heralded the 2006 elections as a sort of debutante’s ball for the Muslim voter, when anger and organizational heft pushed unprecedented numbers of Muslim citizens to vote and get involved with U.S. politics. The 2008 election cycle, however, isn’t quite working out…

Associated Press – February 7, 2008 WASHINGTON – Republican Mitt Romney, in a speech Thursday ending his presidential candidacy, said Europe faces “demographic disaster” because of moral and religious failings, and warned that United States should not become “the France of the 21st century.” Romney also placed Russian President Vladimir Putin, alongside the United States’…

Associated Press – February 6, 2008 THE HAGUE, Netherlands – Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a guru to the Beatles who introduced the West to transcendental meditation, died Tuesday at his home in the Dutch town of Vlodrop, a spokesman said. He was thought to be 91 years old. “He died peacefully at about 7 p.m.,” said…

By Francis X. Rocca 2008 Religion News Service VATICAN CITY — With his decision last July to liberalize use of the Old Latin Mass, Pope Benedict XVI sought to appease traditionalists disaffected by recent changes to Catholic worship. But in making it easier for priests to celebrate the so-called Tridentine Rite, Benedict also resurrected a…

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