WASHINGTON (RNS) — In 2008, Safoorah Khan, a math teacher in Illinois, asked for 15 days of unpaid leave (19 days, including weekends) to make a pilgrimage to Mecca, an obligation for all Muslims. The local school board refused, but…
TSA, airlines tread carefully on religious expression
(RNS) — Air travelers want to feel safe, and federal security officials want to make sure they actually are safe. If only it were that simple. Misunderstandings over religious expression have led to recent incidents that prompted apologies from airlines.…
Church bans employees' social networking with minors
MOBILE, Ala. (RNS) — The Archdiocese of Mobile has told staff and volunteers who work with children that electronic communication with minors must be limited to “providing information related to a ministry or event and not for socialization or other…
Museum to feature treasure trove of biblical artifacts
WASHINGTON (RNS) — A new multimillion-dollar, high-tech, interactive museum of the Bible was announced March 31 amid 130 artifacts of the Good Book at a private exhibition at the Vatican Embassy. The exhibit was a sample of Jewish, Roman Catholic…
Ground Zero cross on the move again
NEW YORK (RNS) — The Cross at Ground Zero was one of thousands of I-beams used to construct the iron skeletons of the World Trade Center towers. This one fell from the fiery, apocalyptic heavens during the 9/11 terror attacks…
Evangelicals most likely to support government shutdown
WASHINGTON (RNS) — A slim majority of evangelicals favor government shutdown over a budget compromise, according to new research by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. The U.S. government will shutter all non-essential services at midnight…
'The Borgias': skeletons in the Catholic Church's closet
(RNS) — In its new Sunday night series, “The Borgias,” Showtime has found the magic combination for ultimate crowd appeal in a scintillating soap opera about a bad-boy pope. “The Borgias” follows the quasi-historic story of the Spanish noble family…
Court rules for pharmacists on morning-after pill
(RNS) — Pharmacists with religious objections to “morning-after” emergency contraceptives cannot be compelled to sell the product, an Illinois Circuit Judge ruled April 5. The Illinois Health Care Right of Conscience Act was passed in 1998 to shield health care…
Millionaire buys paintings so church can keep them
CANTERBURY, England (RNS/ENInews) — A self-effacing multimillionaire has become a local hero after buying a series of 17th-century religious paintings and then donating them back to the Church of England in a bid to help boost art tourism. Jonathan Ruffer,…
Evangelist testifies in ex-bodyguard's murder trial
WATERLOO, Ill. (RNS) — Televangelist Joyce Meyer said April 6 she testified “honestly and truthfully” in a closed pretrial deposition in the murder trial of her former bodyguard, Christopher Coleman. But Meyer said she would honor a request not to…
Top U.K. Druid charged with money fraud
LONDON (RNS) — One of the prominent figures in the revived ancient priesthood of Druidism in Britain has been charged with defrauding the government of 40,000 pounds (about $25,000) in welfare payments over the past eight years. Druid Terry Dobney,…
Japan aftershocks: reminder of 'long-haul' needs
By Kim Plummer Krull At the one-month anniversary of the March 11 earthquake and tsunami, strong aftershocks continue to plague Japan. At least four people were killed by tremors April 7 and 11, according to news reports, and the most recent aftershock left…
Chance meeting opens up roads for Kenyan bishop
On a hot July evening in Houston during last summer’s LCMS national convention, Dr. Walter Obare, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Kenya (ELCK), found himself without dinner plans one evening. As he was returning to his hotel room…
Survey queries rostered workers on indebtedness
The Lutheran Church Extension Fund (LCEF) has launched an in-depth study on indebtedness of LCMS church workers — especially how indebtedness affects their lives and if they are aware of LCMS-sponsored money-management programs and services. For that study, Behavior Research Center…
Lutheran partners in Japan begin relief shipments
By Kim Plummer Krull As the death toll continues to climb and radiation worries persist, disaster survivors along the coast of Miyagi and Fukushima Prefectures began receiving the first of weekly emergency shipments from Japanese Lutheran partners who say assistance…
Pressure Points (April 2011)
With Dr. Bruce Hartung Q: How much do you think “personality” plays into conflicts between people? Here is why I ask. We are having a very serious tiff in our congregation that involves [two] … members of our staff. They…
