French Court Convicts Church of Scientology of Fraud

"A three-judge panel at the Correctional Court in Paris convicted the church and six of its members of organized fraud, but stopped short of banning the church, as prosecutors had asked. The court also fined the members as much as 400,000 euros ($595,000) each and sentenced them to as much as two years in prison, though the sentences were suspended."

Anglican Deal May Lead to Married Priests

"The Vatican's attempts to heal the centuries-old rift with the Anglican Church may have a consequence nobody intended: an end to celibacy for priests. By offering a new Anglican rite under the umbrella of Catholicism, Pope Benedict XVI has invited married Anglican clergy into the fold—and cracked open the possibility of the same for Catholic priests."

Vatican Makes Anglicans an Offer: Come Back to the Church

"The Vatican has opened an express lane to traditional Anglicans — unhappy with their own church's moves toward accepting female and gay bishops — to reunite with the Roman Catholic Church their forefathers left nearly 500 years ago."

Church of Sweden to Conduct Gay Weddings

"The Lutheran Church of Sweden, of which 74 percent of Swedes are members, announced Thursday it will conduct wedding ceremonies for homosexuals."

Survey Shows Decline in Pastoral Salaries and Benefits

"About half the nation's full-time pastors report they received no salary increase in the past year, continuing a downturn in salaries among top leaders in churches, according to a new survey published by Christianity Today International and Leadership. In fact, the extensive survey, published in the 2010-2011 Compensation Handbook for Church Staff, shows a slight decline or stall in pay levels for the majority of all church staff positions surveyed."

New Research Explores How Different Generations View and Use the Bible

"A new research report from the Barna Group examines recent nationwide studies on how different generations of American adults view and use the Bible. For the purposes of this research, the Mosaic generation refers to adults who are currently ages 18 to 25; Busters are those ages 26 to 44; Boomers are 45 to 63; and Elders are 64-plus."

Atheists Split Over How Mean to Be to Faithful

"Can a non-religion schism? Maybe that’s too dramatic a phrase, but there’s a rift growing between so-called 'new atheists,' who favor an aggressive, mocking stance toward religion, and the old live-and-let-live kind."

Army Agrees Kansas Priest Worthy of Medal of Honor

"As his fellow prisoners of war returned home from the Korean War, they shared stories of self-sacrifice about Rev. Emil Kapaun, the humble priest from Kansas. The prisoners of the 8th Cavalry Regiment spoke of how Kapaun, an Army chaplain, continued to look after his men even though he was wounded and sick himself. Risking his own life, Kapaun would sneak out after dark to scrounge food for those too weak to eat, fashion makeshift containers to collect water and wash their soiled clothes. Kapaun died at the camp hospital seven months after he was first taken captive by the Chinese in 1950. More than a half-century later, the Army's top civilian leader has recommended that Kapaun, who is also a candidate for sainthood, receive the Medal of Honor."

Believing in God and Evolution

There is a "theological and scientific struggle taking place at Christian colleges. Some professors, with support from prominent scientists, are trying to defend the teaching of evolution and to make it safe for those who teach biology and the Bible to talk about ways in which belief in evolution need not represent an abandonment of faith. Many Christian colleges have statements of faith -- which in some cases must be followed by all students and faculty members -- that endorse the literal truth of the Bible or of specific parts of the Bible (six literal days of creation, for example, or that Adam and Eve are the parents of all humans). So teaching evolution as scientific fact, which would just be taken for granted at many non-Christian colleges and universities, raises all kinds of delicate issues."

Rev. Moon Marries 45,000 Mass Wedding

A total of 45,000 people worldwide "took part in a mass wedding that was the largest in a decade — and quite possibly the last for the church's controversial founder, the Rev. Sun Myung Moon."

Evangelicals Endorse Immigration Reform

"The National Association of Evangelicals' board overwhelmingly approved a resolution to seek 'faith and equal treatment' of immigrants"

Global Report: 1 in 4 Practice Islam

"The global Muslim population stands at 1.57 billion, meaning that nearly 1 in 4 people in the world practice Islam, according to a report Wednesday billed as the most comprehensive of its kind."

Solving the Catholic School Crisis

"Nearly 1 in 5 Catholic schools in the U.S. have closed their doors this decade. . .Many Catholic schools, however, are following in the steps of their public brethren and trying to survive by changing the way do business. Mandating that students work to pay off tuition, forging partnerships with philanthropists and foundations, converting to charter schools, and taking control away from pastors and putting it in the hands of lay experts — these are just some of the ways in which dioceses (essentially a Church district) are hoping to stem the school closure tide, which has reached worrisome proportions in America's urban areas, where close to half of all parochial schools are located."