Latest Religion News
About 140 Rohingya Muslims on wooden boat off Indonesia's coast as residents refuse to let them land
LABUHAN HAJI, Indonesia (AP) — About 140 weak and hungry Rohingya Muslims, mostly women and children, were on a wooden boat anchored about 1 mile (0.60 kilometers) off the coast of Indonesia’s northernmost province of Aceh on Tuesday, officials said, and local residents refused to allow them...
China and the Vatican agree to extend an agreement on appointing bishops
BEIJING (AP) — The Chinese government said Tuesday that it had agreed with the Vatican to extend a provisional agreement on the appointment of Catholic bishops in China for four more years. The 2018 agreement, extended twice previously, was an attempt under Pope Francis to bridge...
In annual religious pilgrimage, Panamanians crawl to reach the Black Christ of Portobelo
PORTOBELO, Panama (AP) — At dawn, pilgrims like Ernesto Troya undertook the hardest stretch of their journey to reach the statue of the Black Christ of Portobelo in Panama. Moved by faith, they crawled for several hours along the street toward the image of the saint. It is one of...
Hundreds mourn Catholic priest and Indigenous peace activist killed in southern Mexico
SAN ANDRES LARRAINZAR, Mexico (AP) — Hundreds gathered Monday to mourn Catholic priest Marcelo Pérez, an activist for Indigenous peoples and farm laborers who was killed in the southern Mexico state of Chiapas. It was a killing that many say was a tragedy foretold, in a state...
Judge hears arguments to block Louisiana's Ten Commandments displays in schools
BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) — A federal judge heard arguments at a hearing Monday on whether he should temporarily block a new Louisiana law that requires the Ten Commandments to be displayed in every public school classroom by Jan. 1. Louisiana, a reliably Republican state in the Bible...
Self-exiled Turkish spiritual leader Fethullah Gülen dies in the US
SAYLORSBURG, Pa. (AP) — Fethullah Gülen, a reclusive U.S.-based Islamic cleric who inspired a global social movement while facing unproven accusations that he masterminded a failed 2016 coup in his native Turkey, has died. The Alliance for Shared Values, a New York-based group...
DeSantis using state money, time and his power to fight abortion rights measure
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) — After a month of updating Floridians on hurricanes, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis is now focusing his official office on fighting an abortion rights amendment, holding a campaign-like rally at state expense two weeks before the election. DeSantis' event...
Some Jewish voters in presidential swing states reconsider their longtime devotion to Democrats
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — For Rona Kaufman, the signs are everywhere that more Jews feel abandoned by the Democratic Party and may vote for Republican Donald Trump. It's in her Facebook feed. It's in the discomfort she observed during a question-and-answer at a recent Democratic Party...
Yehuda Bauer, prominent Israeli Holocaust scholar, dies at 98
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Yehuda Bauer, one of Israel’s foremost Holocaust scholars who shaped the way people around the world study and learn about the Holocaust, has died in Jerusalem. He was 98. No specific cause of death was given by the Yad Vashem, Israel's national Holocaust...
Catholic priest and Indigenous activist Pérez killed by 2 gunmen in southern Mexico
TAPACHULA, Mexico (AP) — Catholic priest Marcelo Pérez, an activist for Indigenous peoples and farm laborers in southern Mexico, was killed on Sunday. The prosecutors' office in the city of San Cristóbal de las Casas, in the state of Chiapas, said the religious leader was shot...
