President Barack Obama’s speech in Cairo in which he pledged a new U.S. relationship with Muslim countries, has been named the top religion story for 2009 by secular journalists who cover religion in the United States. The June speech in Egypt was seen as offering an olive branch to the Muslim world and was named... Continue Reading

Actor Sam Elliot has blamed the Catholic Church for stopping sequels from being made to the Golden Compass movie based on the first book of Philip Pullman’s atheistic trilogy His Dark Materials. The film, starring Nicole Kidman, Daniel Craig and Eva Green, grossed more than $380 million worldwide after its Christmas 2007 release, but took... Continue Reading

The Ladue School District is seeking to acquire Westminster Christian Academy’s Creve Coeur campus for $18 million. The school district is eyeing 30 acres at 10900 Ladue Road for future expansion, according to Director of Communications Susan Dielmann. The Ladue School District’s board of education passed a resolution this week to seek a $32 million... Continue Reading

A Kentucky Baptist children’s home is being sued by a public taxpayer group who want to stop state funding because the home is a ‘faith based agency’. After a series of back and forth decisions, the U.S. 6th Circuit voted to allow the lawsuit to continue and the home says it will appeal to the... Continue Reading

Stars and angels may return to Christmas trees in Sonoma County government buildings in downtown Santa Rosa. Their reappearance, however, will be brief and moot. Most county offices are closing Thursday until Jan. 4. On Wednesday Acting Sonoma County Administrator Chris Thomas rescinded his directive on Monday to remove stars and angels from the trees.... Continue Reading

Excavators for the first time have found the remains of a home from the time of Jesus in Nazareth, Israel’s Antiquities Authority announced Monday. Up until now, archaeologists only found tombs but not remains of homes from the time of Jesus in Nazareth, where he spent most of his life. Archaeologists, however, did not draw... Continue Reading

Although Christmas does not have historical roots in Viet Nam, people across the country are filled with the holiday spirit. No need to wait until December 25, one can easily sense Christmas coming to many big cities. The whole country is singing Christmas carols together. The streets and buildings in Hanoi have been lavishly decorated... Continue Reading

The Associated Baptist Press is reporting that a North Carolina judge has ruled in favor of two registered sex offenders arrested in May for attending a Baptist church near Raleigh. The men were indicted May 11 for violating a state law requiring sex offenders to stay at least 300 feet away from places used primarily... Continue Reading

Britain’s Supreme Court has told an Orthodox Jewish school that its criteria for orthodoxy is unlawful, prompting fears about the state intruding into definitions of faith. The case involved a boy whose application to attend JFS, a Jewish secondary school, was turned down on grounds he didn’t meet the criteria because his mother is non-Orthodox.... Continue Reading

Irish-born novelist and scholar C.S. Lewis is having a college created in his name—and it will be located on the sprawling 217-acre campus of a former New England boarding school in Northfield, Massachusetts. The C.S. Lewis Foundation has been considering several locations throughout the United States for C.S. Lewis College and finally settled on the... Continue Reading