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Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News Oct. 18–OAKLAND — When President Bush handed the Dalai Lama the Congressional Gold Medal on Wednesday, the Bay Area Tibetan community applauded. Some took the day off so they could watch the presentation on TV. A few even made the trek to Washington to greet the 72-year-old Tibetan spiritual leader when…

By Bill Walsh Religion News Service WASHINGTON (RNS) Bowing to pressure, Sen. David Vitter, R-La., has backed off an attempt to steer $100,000 to a Christian group that supports teaching religious and alternative theories of creation alongside evolution in science classrooms. Vitter has taken heat from educational, religious and civil rights groups for earmarking money…

The Providence Journal Newport – It’s not easy being a child. How do you suddenly go from tearing around the playground to concentrating on schoolwork? How do you get control of your emotions when you become angry or overexcited? One answer may be yoga. Adults have found contentment and relaxation through the ancient Indian practice…

The Providence Journal Providence – Voice of the Faithful, the organization of reform- minded lay Catholics spawned by the priest sex-abuse scandal that erupted in the Archdiocese of Boston five years ago, will hold its third national convention beginning Friday at the Rhode Island Convention Center. The two-day event, featuring more than 30 workshops and…

By Daniel Burke Religion News Service Baltimore – The Rev. Drew Phoenix is many things to many people. To St. John’s of Baltimore City, he’s the fun-loving pastor who counsels them, takes their kids hiking, explains Scripture, and plunges into worthy causes. To conservative Methodists, Phoenix embodies another front in the “culture wars,” a rebel…

By Daniel Burke 2007 Religion News Service WASHINGTON — Demonstrating an unprecedented show of support for Tibet, the U.S. on Wednesday (Oct. 17) awarded the Dalai Lama the nation’s highest civilian honor, the Congressional Gold Medal, despite strong objections from China. The nation’s most powerful political leaders, including President Bush and a bipartisan congressional delegation,…

By Bobby Ross Jr. Religion News Service OKLAHOMA CITY (RNS) The embattled president of Oral Roberts University will take an indefinite leave of absence but expects to return to the post “in God’s timing,” he said Wednesday (Oct. 17). The decision by Richard Roberts, son of the charismatic Christian university’s namesake founder, came amid intense…

By Francis X. Rocca Religion News Service VATICAN CITY — Pope Benedict XVI on Wednesday (Oct. 17) said he will elevate 23 men, including two Americans, to the highest ranks of the Roman Catholic hierarchy when he makes them cardinals at a ceremony next month in Rome. Eighteen of the newest cardinals will be under…

Bobby Ross Jr. Religion News Service Oklahoma City – The wife of Oral Roberts University’s president denied charges that she spent the night with an underage male and engaged in other lurid behavior with a “male 16-year-old friend,” as alleged in a recent lawsuit. Lindsay Roberts, whose husband, Richard Roberts, is president of the charismatic…

By Joanna Corman Religion News Service Hannah Nemer’s bat mitzvah was still a year away, but already she was feeling reluctant about such a big production. Based on other Jewish coming-of-age ceremonies she had attended, she worried the ritual would be more an empty performance rather than the spiritual transformation she desired. But when her…

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