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United Press International – January 1, 2008 CONCORD, N.H., Jan 1, 2008 (UPI via COMTEX) — Twenty-three New Hampshire gay couples became the first in the state to be united in civil union ceremonies just after midnight Tuesday. The couples were united at a collective ceremony held on the Statehouse steps during the very first…

Associated Press – January 1, 2008 LONDON – Episcopal Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori says her church has been unfairly singled out for criticism because it is honest about consecrating gay bishops. Jefferts Schori told BBC Radio 4’s “PM” program that the New York-based church, which is the Anglican body in the U.S., is far…

Associated Press – January 2, 2008 VATICAN CITY – Catholic and Muslim representatives plan to meet in Rome in the spring to start a “historic” dialogue between the faiths after relations were soured by Pope Benedict XVI’s 2006 comments about Islam and holy war, Vatican officials said. Benedict proposed the encounter as part of his…

Associated Press Livingston, Texas – The death sentence of a Texas man is under scrutiny because jurors at his trial had Bibles with them when they decided he should be executed Jurors sentenced Khristian Oliver to the death penalty in 1999 after he was convicted of brutally killing a 64-year-old man during a home break-in.…

The Hartford Courant Watertown – It was the last Sunday service at Christ Church. Unable to go “further in a church that continued in a false gospel,” the entire congregation, including the rector and church leaders, will sever ties with the national Episcopal Church and reform under a new name: New Hope Anglican Church. One…

Associated Press Des Moines, Iowa – Mike Huckabee, a Republican relying on support from religious conservatives in Thursday’s hard-fought presidential caucuses, on Sunday stood by a decade-old comment in which he said, “I hope we answer the alarm clock and take this nation back for Christ.” In a television interview, the ordained Southern Baptist minister…

By Adelle M. Banks Religion News Service Former Vice President Al Gore has been named “Baptist of the Year” by EthicsDaily.com, the Web site of the Baptist Center for Ethics. “He has pressed for the global good with a compelling message about the danger of climate change and a clear call for moral responsibility, knitting…

Associated Press Garhi Khuda Bakhsh, Pakistan – Hundreds of thousands of mourners thronged the mausoleum of Pakistan’s most famous political dynasty on Friday in an outpouring of emotion for Benazir Bhutto. The government said al-Qaida and the Taliban were responsible for her death, claiming it intercepted an al-Qaida leader’s message of congratulation for the assassination.…

Associated Press New York – Long after most of its customers left the neighborhood to pursue the American Dream, the last matzo factory on Manhattan’s Lower East Side is moving out, saying goodbye to a part of town that was once the center of immigrant Jewish life in the U.S. Streit’s, a family-owned matzo-making giant…

Associated Press From Moscow to Washington to New Delhi and points in between, dismay and condemnation poured forth Thursday over the assassination of Pakistani opposition leader Benazir Bhutto, along with concern for the stability of the volatile region. World leaders lauded her bravery and commitment to democratic reform. The U.N. Security Council voted unanimously to…

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