Religion News

New York imam: Mosque fight about Muslim role
AP – Tue Aug 31, 6:43 pm ET

AP

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates - The imam leading plans for an Islamic center near the site of the Sept. 11 attacks in New York said Tuesday the fight is over more than "a piece of real estate" and could shape the future of Muslim relations in America. Full Story »
Book based on interviews with pope due out this year
Reuters – Tue Aug 31, 1:13 pm ET

VATICAN CITY (Reuters) - Pope Benedict has granted a series of interviews to a German journalist who will publish it late this year as a book in German and Italian editions, the Vatican announced on Tuesday. Full Story »
Felipe Oliveira Baptista named Lacoste's artistic director
AFP – Tue Aug 31, 11:59 am ET

AFP/File

PARIS (AFP) - Portuguese designer Felipe Oliveira Baptista has been appointed creative director of Lacoste, the label with the distinctive crocodile logo announced Tuesday. Full Story »
Pope grants interviews to journalist for new book
AP – Tue Aug 31, 7:21 am ET

VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict XVI has granted a series of interviews to a German journalist that will form the basis of a new book expected later this year. Full Story »
Suspect in Mormon church attack was former member
AP – Mon Aug 30, 10:31 pm ET

VISALIA, Calif. - The suspected gunman in the fatal shooting of a Mormon church official in Central California was mentally ill and believed the church had wronged him when he was a member in the 1980s, family members said Monday. Full Story »
Trial begins in Islamic charity tax case
AP – Mon Aug 30, 11:27 pm ET

EUGENE, Ore. - The prosecution said Monday the founder of the U.S. branch of an Islamic charity accused of trying to smuggle $150,000 to Muslim fighters in Chechnya took extreme steps to leave no paper trail. Full Story »
Group sues Ill. police over Muslim chaplain flap
AP – Mon Aug 30, 8:41 pm ET

CHICAGO - A Muslim advocacy group filed a federal discrimination lawsuit Monday over an Illinois State Police decision to revoke the appointment of the agency's first Muslim chaplain. Full Story »
Mormon church officials talking with Chinese
AP – Mon Aug 30, 8:26 pm ET

SALT LAKE CITY - The Mormon church is in talks with the People's Republic of China to improve relations for church members living in mainland China, church officials said in a statement Monday. Full Story »
Student indicted in Muslim cabbie attack in NYC
AP – Mon Aug 30, 7:58 pm ET

Reuters

NEW YORK - An arts student accused of slashing a Muslim taxi driver's neck has been indicted on hate-crime charges, prosecutors said Monday as the student's lawyer lashed out at media interest in a case that comes amid debate over attitudes about Muslims and a plan to build a mosque near ground zero. Full Story »
U.S. election skews NY Muslim center debate: imams
Reuters – Mon Aug 30, 4:51 pm ET

DUBAI/NEW YORK (Reuters) - A U.S. debate over plans for an Islamic center near New York's World Trade Center site has been politicized ahead of the congressional election, the Muslim cleric heading the project and other city imams say. Full Story »
Obama says not worried by Muslim "rumors"
Reuters – Mon Aug 30, 3:18 am ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A public opinion poll showing Americans are increasingly convinced, wrongly, that he is Muslim does not trouble him, President Barack Obama said on Sunday. Full Story »
Wright criticizes those who think Obama is Muslim
AP – Sun Aug 29, 9:31 pm ET

AP

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. - The Rev. Jeremiah Wright, President Barack Obama's controversial former pastor, accused people who wrongly believe Obama is Muslim of catering to political enemies during a fiery speech Sunday in Arkansas. Full Story »
Obama says he isn't worried about Muslim rumors
AP – Sun Aug 29, 9:31 pm ET

AP

NEW ORLEANS - President Barack Obama said Sunday he isn't worried about a recent poll showing that nearly one-fifth of Americans believe he is a Muslim. "The facts are the facts," said Obama, who is a Christian. In an interview broadcast on "NBC Nightly News," the president blamed the confusion over his religious beliefs on "a network of misinformation that in a new media era can get churned out there constantly." Full Story »
'Misinformation' behind mislabel as Muslim: Obama
AFP – Sun Aug 29, 9:16 pm ET

AFP

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Barack Obama blamed a "network of misinformation" for keeping alive persistent rumors that he is Muslim, but he shrugged off the misconception as being out of his control. Full Story »
Fundraising effort begins for NYC Islamic center
AP – Fri Aug 27, 11:55 pm ET

AP

NEW YORK - The developer behind plans to build an Islamic community center and mosque two blocks from ground zero kicked off fundraising for the project Friday by raising $10,000 in just a few minutes from a congregation of Muslim worshippers. Full Story »
NY gov slammed for 'westernized' Muslims comment
AP – Fri Aug 27, 8:10 pm ET

ALBANY, N.Y. - Muslim leaders in the United States are criticizing Gov. David Paterson for his description of the developers of an Islamic center and mosque planned near ground zero as peaceful, "almost westernized" Muslims. Full Story »
Lutherans split over gay pastors, Bible beliefs
AP – Fri Aug 27, 6:06 pm ET

AP

GROVE CITY, Ohio - Critics of the country's largest Lutheran denomination and its more open stance toward gay clergy formed a new Lutheran church Friday at a meeting of a conservative activist group. Full Story »
Church: Calif. minister guilty for marrying gays
AP – Fri Aug 27, 5:51 pm ET

SAN FRANCISCO - A retired Presbyterian minister was found guilty of misconduct Friday by a church court for officiating the weddings of 16 gay couples when same-sex marriage was legal in California. Full Story »