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Associated Press – September 17, 2007 JIDDAH, Saudi Arabia – For the first time ever, a group of women in the only country that bans female drivers have formed a committee to lobby for the right to get in the driver’s seat. They plan to petition King Abdullah in the next few days for that…

By Nancy Haught PORTLAND, Ore. — Jean Bucciarelli remembers the Sunday last May when someone urged her congregation to become a sanctuary church — to actively support illegal immigrants who want to stay in this country. “Someone said, `Let’s just do it,”‘ she recalls. Some members of Ainsworth United Church of Christ were ready, but…

Associated Press – September 14, 2007 BERLIN – The German government will allow the makers of a movie starring Tom Cruise as the country’s most famous anti-Hitler plotter to film at the site where the hero was executed. Shooting of “Valkyrie,” which has attracted controversy because Cruise is a prominent Scientologist, began in July. At…

Associated Press – September 14, 2007 VATICAN CITY – The Vatican reiterated Friday that it considers the removal of feeding tubes from people in vegetative states to be an immoral act. The Vatican issued the statement in response to questions from bishops in the United States in July 2005 – just months after the case…

WASHINGTON – Religious freedom has sharply deteriorated in Iraq over the past year because of both the insurgency and violence targeting people of specific faiths, despite the U.S. military buildup intended to improve security, says a State Department report to be released Friday. The Annual Report on International Religious Freedom finds that all worshipers are…

HARRISBURG, Pa. (RNS)– Jesus and Moses were sold out, but you could still head to the checkout counter with Mary, Noah, David and a ferocious-looking Samson, packaged with Delilah in hot pink. The world of posable action figures has traditionally belonged to hulking heroes such as Spider-Man and He-Man. But this latest crop — heroes…

(Religion News Service) The years-long strife in the Anglican Communion could reach a breaking point in New Orleans next week (Sept. 20-24) when Episcopal bishops consider a Sept. 30 deadline to change their church or face “consequences.” The Episcopal Church, the U.S. branch of the Anglican Communion, was given until the end of the month…

(AP) The Vatican and U.S. Roman Catholic bishops are investigating the writings of a well-known American theologian who has analyzed how the Catholic faith relates to other religions. The inquiry’s focus is the Rev. Peter Phan, of Georgetown University, a Vietnamese-American priest from the Dallas diocese and former president of the Catholic Theological Society of…

By Adelle M. Banks and Katy Reckdahl (RNS) Top leaders of the African Methodist Episcopal Church have joined protests of the prosecution of six black teenagers in Jena, La., who have been charged with the alleged beating of a white schoolmate. “We in no way condone fighting … and would expect local school officials to…

By Ansley Roan NEW YORK (RNS)– When Rabbi Amy Small arrives at the Beth Hatikvah synagogue in Summit, N.J., on Sept. 21, she will not follow her usual routine because Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, begins at sundown. In preparation for the special services she’ll lead that night, she’ll put on a white top…

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