Copyright (c) 2008 Yahoo! Inc. All rights reserved. http://news.yahoo.com/i/2727 Religion News en-us Fri, 09 May 2008 10:22:39 GMT 5 142 18 http://news.yahoo.com/i/2727 http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/us/nws/th/main_142b.gif http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080509/ap_on_re_us/bald_eagles_religion ap/20080509/bald_eagles_religion AP Fri, 09 May 2008 10:22:39 GMT <p><a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080509/ap_on_re_us/bald_eagles_religion"><img src="http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20080509/capt.449b7ad778184bc586d5ba9bfcd7cda0.bald_eagles_religion_ny107.jpg?x=90&y=130&q=85&sig=ERFk7FjL7A3uvzcfMu3_Hg--" align="left" height="130" width="90" alt="In this Dec. 17, 2007 file photo, Winslow Friday, a Northern Arapaho tribal member who admitted killing a bald eagle in 2005 for use in a religious ceremony, makes his way into the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals at the Federal Courthouse in Denver. A member of the Northern Arapaho Tribe who killed a bald eagle for use in his tribe's Sun Dance in 2005 must stand trial, a federal appeals court ruled.(AP Photo/Bill Ross)" border="0" /></a>AP - An American Indian who shot a bald eagle for use in a tribal religious ceremony must stand trial, a federal appeals court has ruled.</p><br clear="all"/> <p><a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080509/ap_on_re_us/bald_eagles_religion"><img src="http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20080509/capt.449b7ad778184bc586d5ba9bfcd7cda0.bald_eagles_religion_ny107.jpg?x=90&y=130&q=85&sig=ERFk7FjL7A3uvzcfMu3_Hg--" align="left" height="130" width="90" alt="photo" title="In this Dec. 17, 2007 file photo, Winslow Friday, a Northern Arapaho tribal member who admitted killing a bald eagle in 2005 for use in a religious ceremony, makes his way into the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals at the Federal Courthouse in Denver. A member of the Northern Arapaho Tribe who killed a bald eagle for use in his tribe's Sun Dance in 2005 must stand trial, a federal appeals court ruled.(AP Photo/Bill Ross)" border="0"/></a></p><br clear="all"/> (AP) http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080509/ap_on_re_us/polygamists_family_tree ap/20080509/polygamists_family_tree AP Fri, 09 May 2008 05:19:55 GMT <p><a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080509/ap_on_re_us/polygamists_family_tree"><img src="http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20080508/capt.e188a2e1e5834df4a1db423c298d1ceb.polygamists_family_tree_ny124.jpg?x=130&y=89&q=85&sig=f4jn71srYVnlqBE5SKu4Ew--" align="left" height="89" width="130" alt="In this April 8, 2008 file photo law enforcement vehicles park on the grounds of the Yearning For Zion ranch, home of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Eldorado, Texas. During their investigation of the compound, officials seized a jumbled list of mothers, fathers and children that may unlock some of the mysteries behind families who lived on the ranch. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)" border="0" /></a>AP - Hand-scrawled records taken from a polygamist sect are helping untangle the spider-web network of family relationships at the Yearning For Zion ranch, where some husbands had more than a dozen wives.</p><br clear="all"/> <p><a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080509/ap_on_re_us/polygamists_family_tree"><img src="http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20080508/capt.e188a2e1e5834df4a1db423c298d1ceb.polygamists_family_tree_ny124.jpg?x=130&y=89&q=85&sig=f4jn71srYVnlqBE5SKu4Ew--" align="left" height="89" width="130" alt="photo" title="In this April 8, 2008 file photo law enforcement vehicles park on the grounds of the Yearning For Zion ranch, home of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Eldorado, Texas. During their investigation of the compound, officials seized a jumbled list of mothers, fathers and children that may unlock some of the mysteries behind families who lived on the ranch. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez)" border="0"/></a></p><br clear="all"/> (AP) http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080508/ap_on_re/religion_briefs ap/20080508/religion_briefs AP Thu, 08 May 2008 16:00:46 GMT AP - Nearly two-dozen conservative Christian leaders have signed a letter to the Senate Finance Committee questioning an investigation into six large ministries that preach a gospel of prosperity. http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080508/ap_on_re/religion_today ap/20080508/religion_today AP Thu, 08 May 2008 16:00:08 GMT AP - Author Brian McLaren is among the most influential American religious thinkers of the last decade. http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080508/lf_afp/francepoliticsreligionislam afp/20080508/francepoliticsreligionislam AFP Thu, 08 May 2008 08:09:30 GMT <p><a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080508/lf_afp/francepoliticsreligionislam"><img src="http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/afp/20080508/capt.cps.ncr69.080508100859.photo00.photo.default-512x340.jpg?x=130&y=86&q=85&sig=LeD80SuGpytS_GAzs47B6w--" align="left" height="86" width="130" alt="President of the French Muslim Council Dalil Boubakeur (2ndL) speaking to journalists during a press conference at the Paris Grand Mosque in the French capital. Five years after it was set up by Nicolas Sarkozy France's official Muslim council has been beset by infighting with critics accusing it of failing the country's five million Muslims(AFP/File/Olivier Laban-Mattei)" border="0" /></a>AFP - Five years after it was set up by Nicolas Sarkozy, France's official Muslim council has hit a wall: hamstrung by infighting, critics accuse it of failing the country's five million Muslims while giving fundamentalists a stronghold in French public life.</p><br clear="all"/> <p><a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080508/lf_afp/francepoliticsreligionislam"><img src="http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/afp/20080508/capt.cps.ncr69.080508100859.photo00.photo.default-512x340.jpg?x=130&y=86&q=85&sig=LeD80SuGpytS_GAzs47B6w--" align="left" height="86" width="130" alt="photo" title="President of the French Muslim Council Dalil Boubakeur (2ndL) speaking to journalists during a press conference at the Paris Grand Mosque in the French capital. Five years after it was set up by Nicolas Sarkozy France's official Muslim council has been beset by infighting with critics accusing it of failing the country's five million Muslims(AFP/File/Olivier Laban-Mattei)" border="0"/></a></p><br clear="all"/> (AFP) http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080507/ap_on_re/evangelical_manifesto ap/20080507/evangelical_manifesto AP Wed, 07 May 2008 22:06:45 GMT <p><a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080507/ap_on_re/evangelical_manifesto"><img src="http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20080507/capt.5fa7f4f075c6465ca221792798403c67.evangelical_manifesto_dcsa105.jpg?x=87&y=130&q=85&sig=gGyTF2T2i10mR5flHQV68g--" align="left" height="130" width="87" alt="Os Guiness, a well-known evangelical author and speaker, joins other conservative Christian leaders who believe the word 'evangelical' has lost its religious meaning, at a news conference in Washington to talk about the release of their self-critical 'Evangelical Manifesto' which condemns Christians on the right and left for 'using faith' to express political views without regard to the truth of the Bible, Wednesday, May 7, 2008. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)" border="0" /></a>AP - Prominent evangelicals urged Christian conservatives Wednesday to support "an expansion of our concerns beyond single-issue politics," angering some leaders on the religious right who have been closely allied with the Republican Party.</p><br clear="all"/> <p><a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080507/ap_on_re/evangelical_manifesto"><img src="http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20080507/capt.5fa7f4f075c6465ca221792798403c67.evangelical_manifesto_dcsa105.jpg?x=87&y=130&q=85&sig=gGyTF2T2i10mR5flHQV68g--" align="left" height="130" width="87" alt="photo" title="Os Guiness, a well-known evangelical author and speaker, joins other conservative Christian leaders who believe the word 'evangelical' has lost its religious meaning, at a news conference in Washington to talk about the release of their self-critical 'Evangelical Manifesto' which condemns Christians on the right and left for 'using faith' to express political views without regard to the truth of the Bible, Wednesday, May 7, 2008. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)" border="0"/></a></p><br clear="all"/> (AP) http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080507/ts_alt_afp/usvoterepublicanmccain afp/20080507/usvoterepublicanmccain AFP Wed, 07 May 2008 19:52:49 GMT <p><a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080507/ts_alt_afp/usvoterepublicanmccain"><img src="http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/afp/20080507/capt.cps.nco66.070508215149.photo00.photo.default-340x498.jpg?x=88&y=130&q=85&sig=hWs8odeZEEXsxZa1VqOUqA--" align="left" height="130" width="88" alt="Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, seen here on May 06, 2008, vowed in a speech on Wednesday to make freedom of religion a key foreign policy issue if he is elected to the White House in November.(AFP/Getty Images/File)" border="0" /></a>AFP - Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain vowed in a speech on Wednesday to make freedom of religion a key foreign policy issue if he is elected to the White House in November.</p><br clear="all"/> <p><a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080507/ts_alt_afp/usvoterepublicanmccain"><img src="http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/afp/20080507/capt.cps.nco66.070508215149.photo00.photo.default-340x498.jpg?x=88&y=130&q=85&sig=hWs8odeZEEXsxZa1VqOUqA--" align="left" height="130" width="88" alt="photo" title="Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, seen here on May 06, 2008, vowed in a speech on Wednesday to make freedom of religion a key foreign policy issue if he is elected to the White House in November.(AFP/Getty Images/File)" border="0"/></a></p><br clear="all"/> (AFP) http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnews/20080507/ts_usnews/obamaholdsontohisjewishsupporters usnews/20080507/obamaholdsontohisjewishsupporters U.S. News & World Report Wed, 07 May 2008 19:51:19 GMT U.S. News & World Report - Democrat Barack Obama currently does better among Jewish voters than presumed Republican nominee John McCain, according to a Gallup Poll released today. He continued to trail opponent Hillary Clinton slightly among Jewish Democrats interviewed in April. But this looks to be good news for Obama, who has battled persistent and false Internet rumors that he is Muslim. And he appears to have maintained his Jewish support after breaking last month with his former pastor, the Rev. ... http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080507/pl_nm/usa_evangelicals_dc nm/20080507/usa_evangelicals_dc Reuters Wed, 07 May 2008 18:09:20 GMT Reuters - A group of U.S. evangelical leaders called on Wednesday for a pullback from party politics so that followers would not become "useful idiots" exploited for partisan gain. http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080507/pl_nm/usa_politics_mccain_dc nm/20080507/usa_politics_mccain_dc Reuters Wed, 07 May 2008 17:57:44 GMT <p><a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080507/pl_nm/usa_politics_mccain_dc"><img src="http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/nm/20080509/2008_05_09t134945_450x347_us_usa_politics_mccain.jpg?x=130&y=100&q=85&sig=7hwVMj.aOBl1j9u4Oz.UPQ--" align="left" height="100" width="130" alt="A television frame grab shows Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain and his mother Roberta McCain, 96, in a new television ad, entitled 'Johnny's Mom,' that was released by the campaign on May 8, 2008. The new ad, where McCain and his mother discuss his childhood, will air this Sunday on Mother's Day on networks including ABC Family, A and E, Hallmark Channel, Lifetime, Oxygen and TLC. (John McCain 2008/Handout/Reuters)" border="0" /></a>Reuters - Republican John McCain said on Wednesday religious freedom was suffering in China, Saudi Arabia and elsewhere and pledged to champion the right to worship if elected president in a speech aimed at mending fences with conservatives long suspicious of him.</p><br clear="all"/> <p><a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080507/pl_nm/usa_politics_mccain_dc"><img src="http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/nm/20080509/2008_05_09t134945_450x347_us_usa_politics_mccain.jpg?x=130&y=100&q=85&sig=7hwVMj.aOBl1j9u4Oz.UPQ--" align="left" height="100" width="130" alt="photo" title="A television frame grab shows Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain and his mother Roberta McCain, 96, in a new television ad, entitled 'Johnny's Mom,' that was released by the campaign on May 8, 2008. The new ad, where McCain and his mother discuss his childhood, will air this Sunday on Mother's Day on networks including ABC Family, A and E, Hallmark Channel, Lifetime, Oxygen and TLC. (John McCain 2008/Handout/Reuters)" border="0"/></a></p><br clear="all"/> (Reuters) http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080507/ap_on_re_us/church_children_seized ap/20080507/church_children_seized AP Wed, 07 May 2008 00:58:44 GMT <p><a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080507/ap_on_re_us/church_children_seized"><img src="http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20080506/capt.3a8f7e27ef014889a081b68d20e6e960.church_children_seized_aq101.jpg?x=127&y=130&q=85&sig=TX.U3XAkIh4YPHLOIIvJMw--" align="left" height="130" width="127" alt="This undated photo provided by the The Lord Our Righteousness Church, shows church leader Wayne Bent. Bent was arrested Tuesday, May 6, 2008, on three charges of criminal sexual contact. Bent, who goes by the name of Michael Travesser, claims to be the Messiah. He allegedly acknowledged having sex with his followers, but there was no immediate information from state police on who the alleged victims are. (AP Photo/Courtesy of The Lord Our Righteousness Church)" border="0" /></a>AP - The leader of an apocalyptic sect in northeastern New Mexico was arrested Tuesday and charged with felony sex crimes against children.</p><br clear="all"/> <p><a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080507/ap_on_re_us/church_children_seized"><img src="http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20080506/capt.3a8f7e27ef014889a081b68d20e6e960.church_children_seized_aq101.jpg?x=127&y=130&q=85&sig=TX.U3XAkIh4YPHLOIIvJMw--" align="left" height="130" width="127" alt="photo" title="This undated photo provided by the The Lord Our Righteousness Church, shows church leader Wayne Bent. Bent was arrested Tuesday, May 6, 2008, on three charges of criminal sexual contact. Bent, who goes by the name of Michael Travesser, claims to be the Messiah. He allegedly acknowledged having sex with his followers, but there was no immediate information from state police on who the alleged victims are. (AP Photo/Courtesy of The Lord Our Righteousness Church)" border="0"/></a></p><br clear="all"/> (AP) http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/time/20080506/us_time/isliberalcatholicismdead time/20080506/isliberalcatholicismdead Time.com Tue, 06 May 2008 00:05:00 GMT Time.com - Pope Benedict's visit may have pulled the plug on a movement that helped define the faith here for almost a half-century http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080505/pl_nm/usa_politics_evangelicals_dc nm/20080505/usa_politics_evangelicals_dc Reuters Mon, 05 May 2008 22:55:57 GMT <p><a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080505/pl_nm/usa_politics_evangelicals_dc"><img src="http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/nm/20080506/2008_05_06t072908_450x300_us_usa_politics_evangelicals.jpg?x=130&y=86&q=85&sig=bzyMXYhQ2ErdqJ81HdnC1g--" align="left" height="86" width="130" alt="Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain (R-AZ) stands on stage during a visit in Charlotte, North Carolina May 5, 2008. (Chris Keane/Reuters)" border="0" /></a>Reuters - Presumptive Republican presidential nominee John McCain will almost certainly garner less of the evangelical vote in November than the almost 80 percent that President George W. Bush took in 2004, a former top Bush aide said on Monday.</p><br clear="all"/> <p><a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080505/pl_nm/usa_politics_evangelicals_dc"><img src="http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/nm/20080506/2008_05_06t072908_450x300_us_usa_politics_evangelicals.jpg?x=130&y=86&q=85&sig=bzyMXYhQ2ErdqJ81HdnC1g--" align="left" height="86" width="130" alt="photo" title="Republican presidential candidate Senator John McCain (R-AZ) stands on stage during a visit in Charlotte, North Carolina May 5, 2008. (Chris Keane/Reuters)" border="0"/></a></p><br clear="all"/> (Reuters) http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080505/pl_nm/usa_politics_religion_dc nm/20080505/usa_politics_religion_dc Reuters Mon, 05 May 2008 19:12:56 GMT <p><a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080505/pl_nm/usa_politics_religion_dc"><img src="http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/nm/20080505/2008_05_05t151555_450x300_us_usa_politics_religion.jpg?x=130&y=86&q=85&sig=KkHKzGb7JjE964C7FQChsw--" align="left" height="86" width="130" alt="US Democratic presidential candidate Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) smiles during a campaign stop in High Point, North Carolina May 5, 2008. (Chris Keane/Reuters)" border="0" /></a>Reuters - White Roman Catholics have become a key base for Sen. Hillary Clinton in her quest for the Democratic presidential nomination and one she needs to win by huge margin, a conference on faith and politics heard on Monday.</p><br clear="all"/> <p><a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080505/pl_nm/usa_politics_religion_dc"><img src="http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/nm/20080505/2008_05_05t151555_450x300_us_usa_politics_religion.jpg?x=130&y=86&q=85&sig=KkHKzGb7JjE964C7FQChsw--" align="left" height="86" width="130" alt="photo" title="US Democratic presidential candidate Senator Hillary Clinton (D-NY) smiles during a campaign stop in High Point, North Carolina May 5, 2008. (Chris Keane/Reuters)" border="0"/></a></p><br clear="all"/> (Reuters) http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20080505/ts_csm/aprosecute csm/20080505/aprosecute The Christian Science Monitor Mon, 05 May 2008 08:00:00 GMT <p><a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20080505/ts_csm/aprosecute"><img src="http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/nm/20080502/2008_05_01t211559_414x450_us_usa_polygamists.jpg?x=119&y=130&q=85&sig=Dxsg6tejGYUAuOFwhdu5VQ--" align="left" height="130" width="119" alt="Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints members and mothers Velvet (L) and Ruth approach a news conference outside of YFZ Ranch in Eldorado, Texas in this file picture taken April 24, 2008. When a renegade Mormon sect was looking for a quiet place to live out its polygamous beliefs, it made a Texas-size mistake when it picked this state. (Jessica Rinaldi/Files/Reuters)" border="0" /></a>The Christian Science Monitor - It was a showdown, of sorts, over how far states should go to keep tabs on the Fundamentalist Church of Latter Day Saints, the group known to endorse multiple wives for men and motherhood for underage girls.</p><br clear="all"/> <p><a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20080505/ts_csm/aprosecute"><img src="http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/nm/20080502/2008_05_01t211559_414x450_us_usa_polygamists.jpg?x=119&y=130&q=85&sig=Dxsg6tejGYUAuOFwhdu5VQ--" align="left" height="130" width="119" alt="photo" title="Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints members and mothers Velvet (L) and Ruth approach a news conference outside of YFZ Ranch in Eldorado, Texas in this file picture taken April 24, 2008. When a renegade Mormon sect was looking for a quiet place to live out its polygamous beliefs, it made a Texas-size mistake when it picked this state. (Jessica Rinaldi/Files/Reuters)" border="0"/></a></p><br clear="all"/> (The Christian Science Monitor) http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080504/ap_on_re_eu/britain_postwar_jews ap/20080504/britain_postwar_jews AP Sun, 04 May 2008 23:05:31 GMT AP - Documents released Monday show how the British government tried to send thousands of Palestine-bound Jewish survivors of the Nazi genocide back to postwar Germany without inflaming world opinion. http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080504/ap_on_re_eu/france_virgin_mary ap/20080504/france_virgin_mary AP Sun, 04 May 2008 21:39:35 GMT AP - A Roman Catholic bishop said Sunday that the church has officially recognized that the Virgin Mary appeared to a 17th-century shepherd girl in the French Alps. http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080503/ap_on_re_us/investment_scheme ap/20080503/investment_scheme AP Sat, 03 May 2008 10:07:10 GMT AP - Federal authorities arrested a man accused of running an investment scheme that netted more than $25 million by targeting Christian investors nationwide. http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080503/pl_afp/usreligionrightsasia afp/20080503/usreligionrightsasia AFP Sat, 03 May 2008 01:27:15 GMT <p><a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080503/pl_afp/usreligionrightsasia"><img src="http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/afp/20080503/capt.cps.nbn00.030508032432.photo00.photo.default-512x341.jpg?x=130&y=86&q=85&sig=jOLkK8NIW34w1LpjI2fl8Q--" align="left" height="86" width="130" alt="Vietnamese Catholics in Hanoi in January pray during a vigil asking for the return of a church property seized by the communist government in the 1950s. A US religious freedom watchdog on Friday asked the State Department to include Vietnam, Pakistan and Turkmenistan in its global blacklist of religious freedom violators on a watchlist.(AFP/File/Frank Zeller)" border="0" /></a>AFP - A US religious freedom watchdog on Friday asked the State Department to include Vietnam, Pakistan and Turkmenistan in its global blacklist of religious freedom violators, and maintained Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, on a watchlist.</p><br clear="all"/> <p><a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20080503/pl_afp/usreligionrightsasia"><img src="http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/afp/20080503/capt.cps.nbn00.030508032432.photo00.photo.default-512x341.jpg?x=130&y=86&q=85&sig=jOLkK8NIW34w1LpjI2fl8Q--" align="left" height="86" width="130" alt="photo" title="Vietnamese Catholics in Hanoi in January pray during a vigil asking for the return of a church property seized by the communist government in the 1950s. A US religious freedom watchdog on Friday asked the State Department to include Vietnam, Pakistan and Turkmenistan in its global blacklist of religious freedom violators on a watchlist.(AFP/File/Frank Zeller)" border="0"/></a></p><br clear="all"/> (AFP) http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080502/ap_on_re/methodists_gays ap/20080502/methodists_gays AP Fri, 02 May 2008 23:28:34 GMT <p><a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080502/ap_on_re/methodists_gays"><img src="http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20080502/capt.6e218e8e33d846f28fab01de052ba854.methodist_gay_wedding_txmo103.jpg?x=130&y=82&q=85&sig=1x7PjwTqBIRqzECqY3UZxQ--" align="left" height="82" width="130" alt="Julie Bruno, right, and her partner Sue Laurie kiss after being married across the street from where the United Methodist Church's general conference is meeting in Fort Worth, Texas, Friday, May 2, 2008. The lesbian couple held a wedding at a park across from the Fort Worth Convention Center, protesting the church's refusal to change its policy that gay relationships are 'incompatible with Christian teaching.' (AP Photo/LM Otero)" border="0" /></a>AP - More than 200 Methodists attended a lesbian couple's commitment ceremony Friday in defiance of a vote to uphold a church law that says gay relationships are "incompatible with Christian teaching."</p><br clear="all"/> <p><a href="http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/religion/*http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080502/ap_on_re/methodists_gays"><img src="http://d.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20080502/capt.6e218e8e33d846f28fab01de052ba854.methodist_gay_wedding_txmo103.jpg?x=130&y=82&q=85&sig=1x7PjwTqBIRqzECqY3UZxQ--" align="left" height="82" width="130" alt="photo" title="Julie Bruno, right, and her partner Sue Laurie kiss after being married across the street from where the United Methodist Church's general conference is meeting in Fort Worth, Texas, Friday, May 2, 2008. The lesbian couple held a wedding at a park across from the Fort Worth Convention Center, protesting the church's refusal to change its policy that gay relationships are 'incompatible with Christian teaching.' (AP Photo/LM Otero)" border="0"/></a></p><br clear="all"/> (AP)