After a nice little retreat, the Religion News Roundup is back in the saddle and ready to ride into the fray. Let’s see what the world is doing.
Protests over the New Year’s Day bombing of a Coptic church in Egypt that killed at least 21 have spread from Alexandria (see picture at left) to Los Angeles. The bombing was the latest in a series of anti-Christian incidents in Egypt, including a drive-by shooting that killed six Christians and a Muslim guard last January. Pope Benedict XVI condemned the bombing on Sunday as offensive “to God and all of humanity.”
President Obama also denounced Egyptian bombing, and another in Nigeria that reportedly killed more than 20 people last week as well. “Killing innocent civilians who were simply gathering – like so many people around the world – to celebrate the beginning of a New Year further demonstrates the bankrupt vision of those who carry out these attacks,” Obama said.
Three Swedish Muslims accused of trying to attack a Danish newspaper that printed unflattering cartoons of the Prophet Muhammad in 2005 remain in police custody. Under pressure from religious conservatives inside the country and Western leaders outside it, Pakistan said the government would not amend its blasphemy law.
Benedict announced that he would hold an interfaith meeting in Italy this October to mark the 25th anniversary of a watershed meeting held by his predecessor, John Paul II. Benedict also created a new in-house watchdog to promote compliance with international rules against financing terrorism, money-laundering, and insider trading. The appointment of an American bishop to head the Vatican’s investigation of U.S. nuns has the sisters breathing a little easier.
About 30 prominent rabbis’ wives are urging Israeli girls not to date Arabs, three weeks after 50 state-appointed rabbis told Jews not to rent or sell property to non-Jews. Police in Israel have made arrests in criminal rings that have been stealing valuable Torah scrolls from synagogues.
Three former Church of England bishops were received into full communion with the Catholic Church during a Mass at Westminster Cathedral on Saturday. A third of the staffers at Southern Baptist Convention’s North American Mission Board retired or were let go.
Tens of thousands celebrated a Mass honoring the family as a building block of Christianity in downtown Madrid on Sunday. With the greater acceptance of gays in mainline Christian denominations, the aging congregations of gay churches are struggling to attract younger members, according to the Orlando Sentinel.
