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By Robert Schwaneberg (RNS) Luisa Paster and Harriet Bernstein of Ocean Grove, N.J., say they were not trying to start a federal case when they complained last month to the state’s civil rights agency. “All that we were trying to accomplish was to have our civil union in the boardwalk pavilion” in Ocean Grove, a…

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – A man charged with dragging Holocaust scholar Elie Wiesel from a hotel elevator apologized in court Monday to the Nobel laureate over the alleged anti-Semitic attack. Eric Hunt, 22, has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted kidnapping, false imprisonment, battery, stalking, elder abuse and hate crimes following the February incident…

MEXICO CITY, Aug 13, 2007 (UPI via COMTEX) — The international rights group Amnesty International is poised to defy the Roman Catholic Church by endorsing abortion rights for rape victims. The group’s leaders are meeting Mexico City this week, and the British newspaper, The Independent, said they were expected to endorse a board recommendation last…

CHICAGO (RNS) — Efforts to eliminate a celibacy requirement for gay Lutheran clergy failed Saturday (Aug. 11) at a churchwide assembly, but delegates urged bishops to refrain from disciplining sexually active gay pastors. After five days of debate among delegates from the 5 million-member Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, voting members deferred any changes in…

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Democratic presidential contenders Thursday sought to underscore their differences with Republicans on gay and lesbian rights, but leading candidates also faced sharp questions on their reluctance to embrace marriage for same-sex couples. In a forum focusing on gay issues sponsored by a gay-rights organization and aired on a gay-oriented cable channel,…

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) – The Internet, satellite television and even the telephone are increasingly being used in the Muslim world to issue fatwas – religious decrees – on issues as varied as whether women can pluck their eyebrows or good Muslims should read Harry Potter. A fatwa is a ruling by a recognized Islamic scholar,…

By Jennifer Koons, Religion News Service WASHINGTON (RNS) Against the backdrop of celebrations to mark the one-year countdown to the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the Chinese government has angered religious freedom activists by attempting to assert greater influence over the successor to the Dalai Lama. “The so-called reincarnated living Buddha without government approval is illegal and…

Associated Press KOLOMUDO VILLAGE, Thailand – The black-uniformed raiders roared into this Thai Muslim village, firing assault rifles and hurling grenades from a pickup truck at a group of teenagers relaxing near the mosque. When the attack was over, five of the youths lay dead. As they have done in the past, authorities initially said…

Associated Press VATICAN CITY – The Vatican on Thursday sought to calm Jewish anger over the pope’s meeting with a prominent Polish priest accused of anti-Semitism, declaring the encounter did not imply any change in the church’s desire for good relations with Jews. The Vatican issued the assurances after Pope Benedict XVI’s brief meeting Sunday…

Associated Press BAGHDAD – Hundreds of thousands of Shiites marched to a gold-domed mosque in harsh heat and sun Thursday in a pilgrimage of devotion to an 8th century saint that also starkly demonstrated their political power. Only scattered strikes by Sunni insurgents marred the day, which was held amid tight security to avoid the…
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