All Blog Posts (5,492)

More than 5,600 people sign petition in favor of creationism

Source: A Riverside Seventh-day Adventist university is under fire for teaching evolution in its biology classes without telling students that the scientific explanation for the origins of life contradicts church beliefs. The controver

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Added by The Watchmen on November 10, 2009 at 11:44am — No Comments

Ohio Woman Says Clinic Turned Her Away Because She's Not Married

DAYTON, Ohio — An Ohio woman has been complaining to various officials because she says a hospital facility refused to help her get pregnant because she's not married. Karri O'Reilly acknowledges that Kettering Reproductive Medicine outside Dayton has religious ties, but she says it should not have turned her away because its parent organization also accepts taxpayer funds. Kettering Health Network, which is affiliated with the Seventh-Day Adventist Church, has rel

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Added by The Watchmen on November 10, 2009 at 11:33am — No Comments

More Than 15,000 Bibles Confiscated in Malaysia

Source: KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Malaysian authorities have confiscated more than 15,000 Bibles in recent months because they referred to "God" as "Allah," a translation that has been banned in this Muslim-majority country, Christian church officials said Thursday. The alleged seizure of the Bibles, imported from ne

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Added by The Watchmen on November 7, 2009 at 8:36pm — No Comments

Where paths of faith converge

Source: As the 35 youth at Camp Brotherhood entered the chapel Tuesday, the laughing, shouting and talking fell to a low murmur. Some even took off their shoes as they entered the worship space to s

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Added by The Watchmen on November 7, 2009 at 3:17pm — No Comments

Black cardinal in pole position to be next pope

The Scotsman POPE Benedict has appointed a Ghanaian cardinal to one of the most influential jobs in the Vatican, increasing the possibility that the next pontiff might be a black man. He named Cardin

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Added by The Watchmen on November 7, 2009 at 1:00pm — No Comments

Vatican's fury as court bans crucifixes in Italian classrooms because they 'breach religious rights of children'

Crucifixes have been banned in Italian schools by a ruling from the European Court of Human Rights. The decision has enraged politicians, with Italy's foreign minister Franco Frattini saying: 'This is a death blow for a Europe of values and rights. 'Europe's roots lie in its Christian identity. At a time when we'r

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Added by The Watchmen on November 5, 2009 at 2:47pm — No Comments

Pope invites Tony Blair to Vatican summit to discuss Church's fears that politics is losing its religion

Losing influence: Pope Benedict XVI greets pilgrims before his weekly address at the Vatican today Catholic convert Tony Blair is among several world leaders

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Added by The Watchmen on November 5, 2009 at 12:37pm — No Comments

Pope calls for strengthening of religious freedom in Iran

By John Thavis Posted: 11/2/2009 VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Pope Benedict XVI called on Iran to strengthen guarantees of religious freedom for the country's tiny Catholic minority. Welcoming Iran's new ambassador to the Vatican Oct. 29, the pope praised the "deep religious sensibility" of the Iranian people, and said the Catholic community there -- which dates to the church's early centuries -- has a long history of living in harmony with the Muslim majority. "The Holy See tr

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Added by The Watchmen on November 5, 2009 at 11:55am — No Comments

Scots Secretary Jim Murphy In Rome To Plan Pope's Visit To Scotland

JIM MURPHY will travel to Rome this week to finalise a deal to bring the Pope to Scotland. The Scottish Secretary will have talks with the Vatican about the details of Pope Benedict's tour of the UK next year. It follows a meeting last week between Murphy and Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who invited the Pope to Britain when he met him at the Vatican in February. A preliminary itinerary included visits to Edinburgh, Birmingham and Oxford. And it's now hoped a trip to Gla

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Added by The Watchmen on November 2, 2009 at 9:13pm — No Comments

Pope Benedict’s ‘Impelling Duty’: Rebuild the Full and Visible Unity of the Church

By Deacon Keith Fournier 10/24/2009 Catholic Online 'To reunite all his children, scattered and led astray by sin, the Father willed to call the whole of humanity together into his Son's Church'. CHESAPEAKE, Va. (Catholic Online) – On April 20, 2005 newly elected Pope Benedict XVI gave his first message at the end of a Mass he had concelebrated with the members of the College of Cardinals in the Sistine Chapel. He signaled his mission: “Nourished and sustained by the Euch

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Added by The Watchmen on November 2, 2009 at 9:12pm — No Comments

Supreme Court Refuses to Stop Release of Documents in Priest Sex Cases

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States Supreme Court on Monday turned away a last-ditch appeal to stop the release of documents from sexual abuse lawsuits against priests in a Roman Catholic diocese in Connecticut. The court refused to hear the appeal from the diocese, in Bridgeport, which has fought for years to prevent the release of the docume

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Added by The Watchmen on November 2, 2009 at 8:54pm — No Comments

Vatican Condemns ‘Dangerous’ Halloween

THE Vatican yesterday slammed tonight’s Halloween celebrations as “anti-Christian” and “dangerous” because of its links to the occult. The ghosts and goblins fun festival falls before tomorrow’s deeply-significant Roman Catholic holy day of All Saints. The condemnation follows similar criticism from Catholic bishops in Spain who earlier his week urged parents not to let their children dress

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Added by The Watchmen on October 31, 2009 at 10:13pm — No Comments

Bankruptcy court reopens case of Tony Alamo follower to look for possible assets

By Associated Press 7:44 AM CDT, October 21, 2009 TEXARKANA, Ark. (AP) — A bankruptcy judge has agreed to reopen the closed Oklahoma bankruptcy case of a member of Tony Alamo Christian Ministries. A trustee overseeing the case of Thomas Scarcello asked to reopen the case to look for possible assets Scarcello may not have report

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Added by The Watchmen on October 26, 2009 at 6:38pm — No Comments

$3 Million Awarded In Suit Against Tony Alamo's Enforcer

Little Rock, AR -- Evangelist Tony Alamo's alleged enforcer has been ordered to pay $3 million in restitution to two boys he's believed to have beaten bloody on the preacher's behalf. Federal Judge Harry Barnes' order comes as alleged enforcer John Kolbek remains a fugitive. But lawyer W. David Carter said his clients can collect on church properties l

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Added by The Watchmen on October 26, 2009 at 6:00pm — No Comments

Impact of pope's decree begins to dawn on Church of England members

For many sitting in the pews of Saint Augustine's Anglican church in north London it was a particularly special Sunday. There were three confirmations and one man received his first communion. But amid the applause and smart outfits there was another sense of occasion, with people coming to terms with one of the biggest developments in Christendom

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Added by The Watchmen on October 26, 2009 at 5:07am — No Comments

Vatican thumbs up for Karl Marx after Galileo, Darwin and Oscar Wilde

Karl Marx, who famously described religion as “the opium of the people”, has joined Galileo, Charles Darwin and Oscar Wilde on a growing list of historical figures to have undergone an unlikely reappraisal by the Roman Catholic Church. L’Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper, said yesterday that Marx’s early critiques of capitalism had highlighted the “social alienation” felt b

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Added by The Watchmen on October 23, 2009 at 2:20am — No Comments

Offer Raises Idea of Marriage for Catholic Priests

The New York Times By RACHEL DONADIO ROME — In making it easier for traditionalist Anglicans to become Catholic, Pope Benedict XVI once again revealed the character of his papacy: to reach out to the most fervent of like-minded believers, even if they are not Catholic. Yet some observers wonder whether his move could paradoxically liberalize the c

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Added by The Watchmen on October 22, 2009 at 12:49pm — No Comments

New Vatican plan lets Anglicans convert easier

By NICOLE WINFIELD The Associated Press Tuesday, October 20, 2009 11:43 AM VATICAN CITY -- The Vatican announced a stunning decision Tuesday to make it easier for Anglicans to convert, reaching out to those who are disaffected by the election of women and gay bishops to join the Catholic Church's conservativ

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Added by The Watchmen on October 20, 2009 at 12:50pm — No Comments

Vatican / U.S. Partnership Fighting Against AIDS

Sponsors Conference on Saving Children in Africa By Edward Pentin ROME, OCT. 15, 2009 (Zenit.org).- A Rome conference which drew together world leaders in the field of HIV/AIDS has highlighted the urgent need to improve prevention of mother-to-child transmission of the disease. It also managed to unite both the Church and the Obama administration in a potentiall

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Added by The Watchmen on October 17, 2009 at 8:34pm — No Comments

Catholics and Muslims defend life against abortion law in Indonesia

Rome, Italy, Oct 16, 2009 / 04:07 pm (CNA).- Catholics, Muslims, Protestants, Buddhists and Hindus have joined together to protest the liberalizing of Indonesia’s abortion laws. Although the bill has been approved by the country's Parliament, it still needs to be signed by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. At a press conference at the headquarters of th

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Added by The Watchmen on October 17, 2009 at 8:31pm — No Comments