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RNS by Michelle Rindels Washington – Several Congressmen are urging the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to investigate an allegedly anti-Semitic, anti-Catholic chaplain at a government-run clinical research hospital in Bethesda, Md. The Rev. O. Ray Fitzgerald, a Methodist minister and former head of the Spiritual Ministry Department, was demoted after a Catholic…

RNS by Michelle Rindels Washington – A broad coalition of evangelical leaders is attempting to “correct a serious misperception” that all evangelicals oppose creating a Palestinian state. Led by Ron Sider, a professor at the American Baptist-affiliated Palmer Theological Seminary and head of Evangelicals for Social Action, the coalition sent a letter to President Bush…

Associated Press Kandahar, Afghanistan – July 30, 2007 – A purported Taliban spokesman claimed the hardline militia killed a second South Korean hostage Monday because the Afghan government failed to release imprisoned insurgents. Afghan officials said they hadn’t recovered a body and couldn’t confirm the claim. The Al-Jazeera television network, meanwhile, showed footage that it…

Associated Press Peshawar, Pakistan – July 30, 2007 – Pro-Taliban fighters seized an Islamic shrine in restive northwestern Pakistan and renamed it after the Red Mosque, where dozens of militants died this month in a showdown with government forces in the capital, officials said Monday. The attack drove home the lack of government control in…

United Press International Detroit – July 30, 2007 – Several U.S. health officials argued that the passage of the Partial Birth Abortion Act is forcing more dangerous procedures to occur. Health officials through agencies like Michigan’s WomanCare have pointed out that since the U.S. Supreme Court passed the act, they have been forced to use…

Omar Sacirbey Religion News Service George Bush and Osama bin Laden are both losing the battle for Muslim hearts and minds, according to a new report. The Pew Global Attitudes Project, a 47-nation survey, found that rising prosperity in the Islamic world has helped slash support for terrorism and bin Laden, but has not changed…

Associated Press Islamabad, Pakistan – A suspected suicide bomber killed 13 people at a hotel near Islamabad’s Red Mosque on Friday as the government reopened the religious complex for the first time since a bloody army raid ousted Islamic militants from the site. Hundreds of students clashed with security forces outside the mosque and occupied…

Associated Press Seattle – Pharmacists have sued Washington state over a new regulation that requires them to sell emergency contraception, also known as the “morning-after pill.” In a lawsuit filed in federal court Wednesday, a pharmacy owner and two pharmacists say the rule that took effect Thursday violates their civil rights by forcing them into…

Adelle M. Banks Religion News Service Leaders of an upcoming Baptist unity celebration have denied two Baptist organizations an official role in the event because they support gay rights. The Association of Welcoming & Affirming Baptists and the Baptist Peace Fellowship of North America learned in mid-July that they could not be “participating organizations” of…

By Jennifer Koons Religion News Service Washington — Bolstered by polls showing that a growing number of young evangelicals are turning away from the Republican Party, Democrats are on a campaign to reach them where they’re at — in school. Republicans lost votes across all age groups in the 2006 midterm elections,but it was young…

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