Christianity

Buddhism Losing Fast in Mongolia

September 17, 2008

Author: Michael Kohn

Source: San Francisco Chronicle

http://www.buddhistchannel.tv/index.php?id=47,7139,0,0,1,0

Mitch Tillman is an unlikely savior. Six years ago, the Baptist missionary languished in an Alabama jail, facing a prison sentence on drug charges. Today he builds hospitals, feeds street children and saves souls in Mongolia.

For Christian missionaries like Tillman, Mongolia is the new El Dorado. Since communist rule ended...

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Church of England Apologizes to Darwin

September 16, 2008

Author: Al Webb

Source: Religion News Service

http://blog.beliefnet.com/news/2008/09/church-of-england-apologizes-t.php

Some 126 years after Charles Darwin's death, the Church of England has gone into 21st-century cyberspace to issue an official apology to the naturalist for its own 19th-century "misunderstanding" over his theory of evolution.

Darwin's thesis that all life evolved over millions of years was published...

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India's `Untouchable' Christians Push for Protection

September 16, 2008

Author: Vishal Arora

Source: The Charlotte Observer

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/175/story/196942.html

Franklin Caesar Thomas was one of India's millions of unlucky souls, born into a Dalit, or outcast, family that is the lowest of the low in this nation's rigid caste system.

His parents converted from Hinduism to Christianity, hoping for an escape. They sacrificed and saved to send their son to college for separate degrees in...

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In Philippines, Abandoned Deal Reignites Rebel War

September 14, 2008

Author: Blaine Harden

Source: The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/13/AR2008091302274.html

After years of calm, the oldest insurgency in Asia has flared into a brutish war, with burned villages, slain families, artillery bombardments, vigilante death squads and hundreds of thousands of displaced people.

The match was lit last month when the Philippine government...

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In New York, Pennsylvania and Nationwide, Episcopalians Remember September 11 Attacks

September 12, 2008

Author: Janet Kawamoto

Source: Episcopal News Service

http://www.episcopal-life.org/79901_100625_ENG_Print.html

On the seventh anniversary of the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 that killed some 3,000 people in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C., Episcopal congregations around the country remembered the dead, comforted the bereaved, and sought hope for the future.

At St. Paul’s Chapel in lower Manhattan, which...

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Vietnamese Catholics Assert Themselves in Land Dispute With Vietnam's Communist Government

September 6, 2008

Author: Ben Stocking

Source: The Associated Press

http://www.amny.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-vietnam-catholic-challenge,0,5224939.story

At a vacant lot in downtown Hanoi, Catholics have gathered to worship the Virgin Mary — and pressure the communist authorities.

For the second time this year, the city's Catholics have taken the extraordinary step of occupying state-controlled land that...

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Florida Court Tosses Challenge to Religious Funding Ban

September 4, 2008

Author: Tim Murphy

Source: Religion News Service

http://pewforum.org/news/display.php?NewsID=16427

Florida's Supreme Court on Wednesday (Sept. 3) tossed out two statewide ballot initiatives aimed at ending a longstanding ban on public funding for religious institutions, drawing praise from church-state watchdogs.

Civil liberties groups had filed suit to remove the amendments headed for the November ballot, which sought to rewrite the state...

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Religious Diversity Celebrated at Interfaith Event

September 3, 2008

Author: Trish Hollenbeck

Source: Northwest Arkansas Times

http://nwanews.com/nwat/News/68743/

A Muslim from Palestine, Fadil Bayyari, is helping to build the Jewish Temple Shalom in Fayetteville. It is being designed by a Christian.

University of Arkansas Chancellor G. David Gearhart gave this as an example of tolerance and diversity as he spoke during the Institute of Interfaith Dialog's fourth annual Interfaith Banquet Tuesday night at the Fayetteville...

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India Christians Shelter in Camps

September 1, 2008

Author: Staff Writer

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7591217.stm

More than 10,000 Christians are living in refugee camps in the eastern Indian state of Orissa after anti-Christian violence in the area, officials say.

Meanwhile, the toll in the continuing violence, after a Hindu leader was killed 10 days ago, has risen to 20.

Over 3,000 police have been deployed but attacks on churches and Christian...

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Catholics Invite Hindus for Inter-Religious Commission

September 1, 2008

Author: Staff Writer

Source: News Track India

http://www.newstrackindia.com/newsdetails/14460

Catholics have invited Hindu leader Rajan Zed, the president of Universal Society of Hinduism, for an interfaith dialogue. He has been invited to attend the Diocesan Ecumenical Interreligious Commission meeting of Roman Catholic Diocese of Sacramento schedule for November 18.

Most Reverend William Keith Weigand, Bishop of Sacramento Diocese, in a...

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Somali Christians Struggle in Kenya

September 1, 2008

Author: Noel Mwakugu

Source: BBC News

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7464035.stm

In a secluded house just outside the Kenyan capital, Nairobi, a group of men and women meet at least once a week to worship in secret.

Their prayer session is simple and conducted in Somali. Elders take turns to pray or read verses from the Somali bible before a sermon is delivered.

There are dozens of Somalis living in Nairobi who have converted from...

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South Korea's Buddhists March Against President

August 27, 2008

Author: Jeong Jae-hyun

Source: International Herald Tribune

Wire Service: AP

http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/08/27/asia/AS-SKorea-Buddhist-Protest.php

Tens of thousands of South Korean Buddhists rallied Wednesday against alleged religious discrimination by the government of President Lee Myung-bak, the latest setback for his protest-plagued administration.

Discontent among...

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Attack Forces Indonesian Christians Off Campus

August 22, 2008

Author: Sarah Schonhardt

Source: The Associate Press

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i7NVlbnN8MRMDVCUTbiPCIj_IrsQD92N6EGO0

Hundreds of Christian theology students have been living in tents since a mob of angry Muslim neighbors stormed their campus last month wielding bamboo spears and hurling Molotov cocktails.

The incident comes amid growing concern that Indonesia's tradition of religious tolerance is under threat...

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