WorldWide Religious News

"Indian police told to shoot religious rioters"

(AFP, August 27, 2008)

Bhubaneswar, India — Indian police were ordered to shoot on sight to end Hindu-Christian clashes on Wednesday as Pope Benedict XVI "firmly condemned" violence that has killed at least nine people.

"Buffy the Vampire Slayer slaying church attendance among women, study claims"

By Martin Beckford ("Telegraph", August 23, 2008)

London, UK - The report claims more than 50,000 women a year have deserted their congregations over the past two decades because they feel the church is not relevant to their lives.

"China missed rights opportunity at Olympics - U.S."

By Jeremy Pelofsky (Reuters, August 25, 2008)

Crawford, USA - China missed an opportunity to show progress on human rights and religious freedom during the Olympic Games, the White House said on Monday, after eight Americans were deported for protesting.

"Missionaries taking quiet path in China"

(AP, August 22, 2008)

Beijing, China - Christian groups that flouted a Chinese ban on foreign missionaries are calling their underground evangelizing during the Olympic Games a success.

"Buddhists protest religious discrimination in South Korea"

("EarthTimes", August 27, 2008)

Seoul, South Korea - Tens of thousands of South Korean Buddhists protested Wednesday against what they said was discrimination from the government of conservative Christian President Lee Myung Bak. About 60,000 people, including thousands of monks, took part in the rally and march through central Seoul, television reports said.

"Fist-fights, backstabbing in Serbian church - Feature"

("EarthTimes", August 27, 2008)

Belgrade, Serbia - The Serbian Orthodox Church (SPC) has tried to keep a lid on tensions among its bishops, but Monday newspapers were full of embarrassing details about fist-fighting monks, accusations of backstabbing and hints of financial abuse. The scandal erupted when the hardline Kosovo Bishop Artemije decided to sack and ostracize his moderate deputy, Bishop Teodosije and Sava Janjic, an outspoken monk in the Visoki Decani monastery in Kosovo.

"In an uneasy peace fear haunts Tibetan monks"

By Richard Lloyd Parry ("The Times", August 22, 2008)

Tongren, China - For Jigdal Tulku, 23, from the deep west of China, the Olympic Games are precious — but for reasons very different to those of young men in Beijing or Shanghai.

"The proposed beauty pageant for nuns was 'misunderstood'"

By Richard Owen ("The Times", August 27, 2008)

Rome, Italy - An Italian priest who at the weekend launched an online "beauty pageant" for nuns has been forced to cancel it because it had been "misunderstood".

"Methodism founder Charles Wesley's secret code diary cracked by priest"

By Russell Jenkins ("The Times", August 27, 2008)

London, UK - An Anglican priest has unlocked the 270-year-old secrets of Charles Wesley's coded diary, throwing light on the turbulent relationship that he had with his brother John in the early years of the Methodist movement they founded.

"Let there be light – but not every night, parishes are urged"

By Jack Malvern ("The Times", August 26, 2008)

London, UK - The Church of England is asking members to cut back on illuminating churches, eight years after embracing a multimillion-pound scheme to install floodlights at 400 places of worship.

"AZERBAIJAN: Threats and deportation 'to stop us talking about God'"

By Felix Corley ("Forum 18", August 27, 2008)

Baku, Azerbaijan - Three weeks after being arrested for conducting "illegal religious propaganda", Jehovah's Witness Imamzade Mamedova was deported from Azerbaijan to Russia by car on 22 August, Jehovah's Witnesses told Forum 18 News Service on 26 August. "She was not given any deportation order, which is of course another violation of her rights," they complained. Mamedova, who is 58 and a Russian citizen, had been arrested with another Jehovah's Witness by police, who pressured them to renounce their faith. She was detained for two weeks in a Migration Service detention facility in Baku before being deported. During this time she was allowed almost no contact with the outside world.

"Catholics revisit natural birth control"

By Gregg Krupa ("The Detroit News", August 20, 2008)

Brighton, UK - Nancy Restuccia says she is happy for phone calls that interrupt her routine.