GENEVA (ENI) Religious leaders in Switzerland and abroad have warned that a referendum in which Swiss citizens voted for a constitutional ban on the building of minarets in their country undermines social harmony.
(RNS) When Switzerland recently voted to ban the construction of minaret towers at mosques, some observers interpreted it as an expression of European xenophobia that would never find a home in multicultural America.
LOUISVILLE — The death toll from the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti is mounting and chaos threatens in the capital city of Port-au-Prince because of fractured infrastructure that is making relief efforts difficult at best.
PORTLAND — The Oregon farm kid whose biggest dream as a child was traveling to Salem to see the Oregon state capitol building first-hand probably would have been surprised — but shouldn’t have been — to see hundreds of Presbyterians turn out for his memorial service.
LOUISVILLE — Marj Carpenter, former General Assembly moderator and former director of the Presbyterian News Service, is recovering in a Big Spring, Texas, hospital from a Dec. 31 fall in her home that resulted in a broken hip.
LOUISVILLE — The National Middle Eastern Presbyterian Caucus has condemned an attack on Christmas Eve worshipers in Nag Hammadi, Egypt, that killed eight Coptic Christians.
The 6th General Assembly of the Fellowship of the Middle East Evangelical Churches (FMEEC) has concluded its historic gathering and issued a final communiqué. FMEEC includes Reformed, Anglican, and Lutheran churches in the region. The Assembly met from Jan. 11-13 in Harissa, Lebanon.
LOUISVILLE — As the desperate search continues in Haiti for remaining survivors, confirmation has been received that Hopital Sainte Croix (Holy Cross Hospital) in Leogane, a major focus of Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) mission in Haiti for decades, collapsed in the Jan. 12 quake.
ROME (ENI) — Pope Benedict XVI, visiting the Great Synagogue of Rome, has defended the actions of Roman Catholics in protecting Jews during the Second World War, amid continuing debate about the wartime role of his predecessor, Pius XII.
GENEVA (ENI) — Christians around the world are remembering the 1910 World Missionary Conference in the Scottish capital of Edinburgh as a key initiative that led to the ecumenical movement seeking the unity of the Church.
(ENI) — The ACT Alliance global network of churches and related agencies says its members are bringing food and temporary shelter to victims of the earthquake that struck Haiti but has warned that the country's food supplies may soon run out.
(ENI) — A Roman Catholic archbishop in Germany has given support to the country's senior Protestant bishop, Margot Kässmann, in her criticism of Germany's military strategy in Afghanistan.
LOUISVILLE — Two Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) missionaries in Haiti and mission teams from three PC(USA) congregations in the country when the devastating earthquake struck Jan. 12 have been accounted for.
The leaders and citizens of Haiti were not prepared to absorb or respond to Tuesday’s 7.0 earthquake – the most powerful to hit their island nation since 1770. Nobody is ever fully prepared for such trauma, but in Haiti “unprepared” is the ultimate understatement.
EDINBURGH (ENI) — Britain might soon have its first female Anglican bishop, serving the 38,000-member Scottish Episcopal Church, part of the worldwide Anglican Communion.
(ENI) — The leader of the largest Protestant church in Madagascar has appealed for the release of two church radio journalists detained on January 8 by the island's government.
(ENI) The government of Belarus has refused to renew work permits for a group of Roman Catholic priests from neighboring Poland who minister in the country to make up for a shortage of clergy.
(ENI) — Jordan has complained to a United Nations agency after Canada refused to seize the Dead Sea Scrolls, which had been on display in an Ontario museum on loan from the Israel Antiquities Authority.
(ENI) — Australian Christians from many denominations are set to rally with the country's Coptic community against violence directed towards Christians in Egypt.
Eboo Patel, founder and executive director of the community service group Interfaith Youth Core, has become the first Muslim to win the prestigious Grawemeyer Award in Religion from the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary and the University of Louisville.
VATICAN CITY (RNS) - Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Pope Benedict XVI agreed Dec. 3 to establish full diplomatic relations between Russia and the Holy See, a step likely to be seen as healing decades of mutual suspicion and tension.
NEW HAVEN, Conn. (RNS) - After receiving new evidence, the editor of a prominent compilation of famous quotations now believes theologian Reinhold Niebuhr most likely is the author of the popular “Serenity Prayer.”
GENEVA (ENI) — The sexual and reproductive health and rights of women living with HIV are being ignored, the World Young Women’s Christian Association warns in a statement marking World AIDS Day.
