CAMBRIDGE, ENGLAND (ENI) Historian Simon Schama says the sudden spread of “democratic liberation” in the Middle East should prompt discussion of whether secularism has a future in emerging democracies in the region.
WASHINGTON (RNS) Faith leaders with long-term ties to Cuban organizations are hailing a change in White House policy that reduces limits on religious travel to the island nation.
SAN FRANCISCO (RNS) A Chinese Christian should be given another chance in court after an immigration judge denied his request for asylum in part because he couldn’t answer “basic questions” about Christianity, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled.
LONDON (RNS) A Florida pastor who sparked fury when he threatened to burn a pile of Qurans on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks has been officially banned from Britain for preaching religious extremism.
LONDON (Ecclesia) The increasingly targeted attacks on gay people in a number of African countries, which are thought to have led to the Jan. 27 murder of Ugandan gay activist David Kato, make it less likely gays will seek treatment for HIV infections, says the U.K.-based churches’ international development agency Christian Aid.
KHARTOUM (ENI) Now that voting has produced an almost unanimous call for secession, the head of the Sudan Council of Churches (SCC) has backed a statement by the president of southern Sudan that the southerners should forgive the northerners for the deaths and atrocities of the 21-year civil war.
RICHMOND, VA. As the cold month of January drew to a close, so did the tenure of Martha Skelton, who had announced in mid-December her intention to retire from serving as associate editor of the Presbyterian Outlook. She completed six years of service.
Warsaw (ENInews) A senior Turkish Protestant has said his country's small Christian churches still face severe hardships, despite recent pledges by the government to improve protection of religious rights.
LOUISVILLE – The Rev. Gradye Parsons, General Assembly stated clerk of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), has written a letter to Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, urging him to call off a plan to balance the state budget in part by de-unionizing state workers.
