religion

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140 Killed in India Temple Stampede

40 children among the dead in mountaintop pilgrimmage

(Newser) - At least 140 people, including at least 40 children, were killed today in a stampede when a restraining rail gave way at a Hindu temple in northern India, the BBC reports. The pilgrims were attending a 9-day religious festival. Authorities used a cable car to remove the injured from the...

Fewer Men Are Going to Church
Fewer Men
Are Going
to Church
Jul 24, 2008 1:40 PM CDT

Fewer Men Are Going to Church

Religious groups recruit with 'guy decor' and 'beast feasts'

(Newser) - The number of men attending church services is plummeting, and now females outnumber males at places of worship in every major Christian denomination, reports USA Today. Religious groups across the US are launching campaigns to get men praying, trying everything from guy decor to "beast feasts," where male...

Dutch Fight Smoking Ban With God

Smokers' Church members claim immunity from ban

(Newser) - Worshipers are flocking to the One True Universal Smokers' Church of God—whose "masses" are held in bars—since the Netherlands instituted a smoking ban July 1. Adherents claim their right to light up is protected as a religious freedom, Radio Free Netherlands reports. "I genuinely believe in...

World's Oldest Bible Makes Web Debut Thursday

German university, British Library compile 390 pages of 4th-century parchment

(Newser) - The world's oldest nearly intact Bible—a fourth-century manuscript written in ancient Greek—will be published online later this week, Deutsche Welle reports. The Codex Sinaiticus, rediscovered in a Sinai Peninsula monastery in 1844, contains half the Jewish Old Testamant and most of the Christian New Testament. The University of...

Pope to Kids: Spurn 'Spiritual Desert'

Young should change lives of 'quiet despair,' Benedict pleads

(Newser) - Pope Benedict XVI called on young Christians to revive spirituality by rejecting modern society's greed and materialism, AP reports. At a mass of 350,000 young pilgrims in Sydney, and a global TV audience of millions, the pope called for "a new age in which hope liberates us from...

Illinois Man Calls Home a Church, Saves $80K in Taxes

Locals suspicious of religious conversion

(Newser) - An Illinois man has declared his home a church, knocking $80K off his property taxes in the bargain, the Chicago Tribune reports. George Michael says he got an online pastor's degree and transformed his $3 million lakefront estate into a house of worship so his disabled wife and daughter could...

Judaism's Black Converts Growing Part of US Mosaic

More African-Americans switch religions even as Obama seeks to renew connection

(Newser) - The number of African-Americans converting to Judaism is growing, the Christian Science Monitor reports, at a time when Democrat Barack Obama is seeking to renew what was once a strong alliance between the groups. Politics, though, plays a small role; "Obama's candidacy, African-Americans choosing to be Jews ... is all...

Heckler Halts Gay Bishop's London Sermon

Episcopal rift over homosexuality roils upcoming conference

(Newser) - He was uninvited to the Anglican Church's big, once-a-decade Lambeth Conference next week, but New Hampshire’s gay Episcopal bishop decided cheerfully to go anyway, to be a “constant and friendly reminder” of gays in the sect. Not so cheerful was the heckler who interrupted his sermon in London...

Buddhism Faces Bleak Future in Japan

Temples going begging and Buddhism disappearing from funeral rites

(Newser) - Buddhism, once a significant element of Japanese culture, is beginning to decline in both popularity and influence, reports the New York Times.  Buddhist rituals are even fading from funerals, where the religion once had a near-monopoly, as the Japanese increasingly rely on funeral homes, or skip funerals. If something...

Obama's Unique Road to Faith
 Obama's Unique
 Road to Faith 
Jul 13, 2008 3:19 PM CDT

Obama's Unique Road to Faith

How the presumptive nominee found a religion, and now seeks a church

(Newser) - As a young man, Barack Obama experienced a lonely, drawn-out crisis of faith—and now finds himself churchless as the whole world watches, Newsweek reports. His father was an atheist Muslim, his mother a Christian who turned secular, and Obama eventually embraced Chicago's Trinity United after years of church-based activism....

Devil, US May Care About Satanist's Custody Fight

Mom wants kids to spend Sunday morning in church instead of with devilish dad

(Newser) - An Indiana man says he is a loving father who just wants to share his faith with his kids—but his Christian ex-wife would prefer their daughters spent Sunday morning in church instead of with their Satanist dad. The custody case raises thorny church and state issues, the Chicago Tribune ...

'Hugging Saint' Embraces NYC
 'Hugging Saint' Embraces NYC 
Jul 10, 2008 8:30 AM CDT

'Hugging Saint' Embraces NYC

Indian spiritual leader squeezes thousands in marathon session

(Newser) - Over the past 2 days one woman has hugged more than 8,000 Manhattanites, reports the New York Times. Her name is Mata Amritanandamayi, but her followers call her Amma, or the “Hugging Saint.” She has been hugging anyone and everyone since she was a teenager in India,...

Ancient Text Casts Doubt on Resurrection

In tablet, scholar sees risen messiah as pre-Jesus theme

(Newser) - A new interpretation of a tablet written in 1st century BC questions the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the Times of London reports. One biblical scholar says the text conveys the story of an angel telling a dying Jew, killed by Romans 4 years before Christ's birth, that he...

Global Warming's a Myth; Here's Why People Believe

The climate change debate is one of 'sick-souled religion'

(Newser) - Global warming is a bunch of hooey, a “nonfalsifiable hypothesis logically indistinguishable from claims for the existence of God”—and any discussion of it is not a matter of science but one of “sick-souled religion,” writes Bret Stephens in the Wall Street Journal. Evidence has emerged...

Conservatives Break With Anglican Church

Debate over homosexuality leads to schism 'in all but name'

(Newser) - Traditionalist Anglican bishops, most of them representing the developing world, have broken away from the Anglican communion and formed their own global church. Galvanized by the consecration of Gene Robinson, the openly gay bishop of New Hampshire, the disgruntled clergymen have formed the Fellowship of Confessing Anglicans, which rejects the...

Christian Novel Outstrips Oprah Pick

Somewhat controversial book depicts God as a black woman named "Papa"

(Newser) - Once rejected by multiple mainstream publishers, the slim Christian novel The Shack is flying off shelves, topping the New York Times trade paperback bestseller list. “Everybody that I know has bought at least 10 copies,” says one devotee. The Times looks at a blockbuster built around an unconventional...

Americans See Many Stairways to Heaven: Poll

70% say chance for eternal life isn't unique to their religion

(Newser) - Reaching the afterlife is possible through more than one religion, 70% of Americans believe, according to a new poll. Surveying 36,000 people, the study confirms that while 92% of Americans believe in God, the country is growing more secular, the Dallas Morning News reports. Seven in 10 also agreed...

Calif. County Shuffles Clerks Who Oppose Gay Marriage

They ask for transfer on religious grounds

(Newser) - Some employees of the San Diego County clerk's office are being shuffled to other duties because they object to same-sex marriage, the Los Angeles Times reports. Fourteen workers initially posed "sincerely held religious objections," but sources said many had since changed their minds. Marriage-license business has approximately doubled...

Anglicans Move Closer to Split
 Anglicans Move Closer to Split 
Jun 19, 2008 8:45 PM CDT

Anglicans Move Closer to Split

'No longer any hope ... for a unified Communion,' says faction disapproving of gays

(Newser) - Scores of Anglican bishops are boycotting the church's once-a-decade conference next month in favor of a conservative counter-meeting, the New York Times reports. The rival gathering, beginning Sunday in Jerusalem, results from a serious division in the denomination over homosexuality—and could be another step toward an irreparable break in...

Clyburn Is the Perfect Ally for Obama

Dem whip brings consensus-building record to campaign

(Newser) - Jim Clyburn is exactly the kind of ally Obama needs. A pioneer in his own right, the first Southern-raised black majority whip has a strong record of building consensus among blacks, whites, Hispanics, and people of all faiths. He's the action to complement Obama's lofty words, reports Politico—and holds...

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