Religion News

Church of England vicar jailed for marriage scam
Reuters – 1 hr 9 mins ago

LONDON (Reuters Life!) - A Church of England vicar who oversaw hundreds of sham marriages to help migrants settle illegally in Britain was jailed for four years on Monday. Full Story »
Muslims tread carefully around proposed mosque near ground zero
The Christian Science Monitor – Sat Sep 4, 3:36 pm ET

American Muslims are treading carefully through the political minefield surrounding the proposed Islamic center near ground zero in New York – issuing warnings but not wanting to overreact to a recent series of desecrations and vandalism at mosques around the country, encouraging adherents to participate in a “9/11 National Day of Service and Remembrance,” and changing plans for celebrating the end of Ramadan. Full Story »
Muslims take to Minn. State Fair to repair image
AP – Sat Sep 4, 10:11 am ET

AP

FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. - Despite the smells of fried dough and roasted meat wafting from the Minnesota State Fair, Salim and Zuleyha Ozonder were focused on the people who were leaving, not the food or festivities beckoning from across the street. Full Story »
The man behind the mosque near ground zero: Who is Feisal Abdul Rauf?
The Christian Science Monitor – Sat Sep 4, 8:46 am ET

New York - A week after 9/11, Feisal Abdul Rauf, the imam of a mosque close to the still-smoldering World Trade Center ruins, invited other religious leaders to his regular prayer service. He was trying to show that Islam is a welcoming faith, not an angry one. Full Story »
CA university upholds suspension of Muslim group
AP – Fri Sep 3, 5:28 pm ET

IRVINE, Calif. - The University of California, Irvine has upheld its decision to suspend a campus Muslim group after some of its members disrupted a speech by the Israeli ambassador at a campus event. Full Story »
EU trade chief apologizes for Jewish comments
AP – Fri Sep 3, 1:18 pm ET

BRUSSELS - The EU's trade chief apologized Friday for blaming Jews and the "Jewish lobby" in Washington for blocking Mideast peace as the embarrassed EU head office quickly distanced itself from his comments. Full Story »
NY Catholic, Jewish, Muslim police tour Holy Land
Reuters – Fri Sep 3, 9:01 am ET

Reuters

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - Brian Reilly's visit to Jerusalem had a special touch this year because Jewish and Muslim colleagues joined him at the site believed to be where Jesus Christ was crucified and buried. Full Story »
Back from the USSR, Judaism enjoys German renaissance
AFP – Fri Sep 3, 2:48 am ET

AFP/File

LEIPZIG, Germany (AFP) - Judaism is making a comeback in Germany 65 years after the Holocaust, thanks largely to immigration from the ex-Soviet Union, as shown by the ordination in Leipzig this week of two rabbis. Full Story »
Farrakhan supports planned mosque near ground zero
AP – Thu Sep 2, 4:39 pm ET

WASHINGTON - Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan said Thursday an Islamic community center and mosque planned near ground zero should be built because Muslims were among those of many faiths who died in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Full Story »
Paris mosque slams burger chain's Muslim outreach
AP – Thu Sep 2, 12:00 pm ET

AP

PARIS - Note to big companies hoping to tap into France's lucrative but long-neglected Muslim consumer market: Pitfalls may await, and not only in the form of complaints from the far-right. Full Story »
John Walker Lindh seeks Ind. prison prayer ruling
AP – Thu Sep 2, 1:42 am ET

AP

INDIANAPOLIS - American-born Taliban fighter John Walker Lindh and another Muslim inmate have asked a judge to order a federal prison to allow them and other Muslims in their highly restricted cell block to pray as a group, in accordance with their beliefs. Full Story »
Builders of NYC mosque face financial hurdles
AP – Thu Sep 2, 7:04 pm ET

afp.com

NEW YORK - The developers planning to build a $100 million Islamic center near the World Trade Center site still have financial hurdles to clear: They haven't finished buying all the property they want for the project and are nearly a quarter-million dollars behind on real estate taxes and late fees. Full Story »
Mormon church, Jewish leaders tackle proxy baptism
AP – Wed Sep 1, 5:38 pm ET

SALT LAKE CITY - The Mormon church says it has changed its genealogical database to better prevent the names of Jews killed in Nazi concentration camps from being submitted for posthumous baptism by proxy. Full Story »
Methodist survey aims to stop membership decline
AP – Wed Sep 1, 5:01 pm ET

AP

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - It's the conundrum Protestant denominations with declining memberships and shrinking budgets are desperate to solve: How to stem the decades-long losses and attract new worshippers. Full Story »
New York imams say Muslims are Americans, too
Reuters – Wed Sep 1, 4:33 pm ET

AP

NEW YORK (Reuters) - New York City Muslims declared themselves just as American as opponents of an Islamic cultural center and mosque near the World Trade Center on Wednesday in a bid to seize control of a debate they appear to be losing. Full Story »
Police release 911 tape after church slaying
AP – Wed Sep 1, 4:15 pm ET

VISALIA, Calif. - Police have released a tape of a 911 call in which a man suspected of fatally shooting a Mormon church official in Central California told officers where to find him and to be ready for "mortal combat." Full Story »
Religion News in Brief
AP – Wed Sep 1, 12:22 pm ET

OMAHA, Neb. - A lawsuit filed by a federal agency claims Somali Muslim workers at a meatpacking plant in Nebraska were denied prayer time and faced harassment and even termination for asking to pray. Full Story »
New York imam: Mosque fight about Muslim role
AP – Wed Sep 1, 11:10 am ET

AP

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - The imam leading plans for an Islamic center near the site of the Sept. 11 attacks in New York said the fight is over more than "a piece of real estate" and could shape the future of Muslim relations in America. Full Story »