A top Roman Catholic official opened a conference on protecting children from sexual abuse Monday by defending Pope Benedict XVI, arguing that he deserved thanks for his efforts.
CNN's Susan Hendricks interviews Brent Strawn, who teaches about the Old Testament at Candler School of Theology.
Bishop Eddie Long has apologized to the Anti-Defamation League over an incident in which he was wrapped in a Torah scroll and crowned "king."
The Catholic church is outraged at new contraception rules. CNN's Brianna Keilar has more.
Recently, the chairman of the U.S. bishops' Committee on Religious Liberty argued that the Obama administration's requirement that most health insurance plans cover contraception goes against "the mandate of Jesus Christ."
Two prominent Muslim civil liberties groups called for Police Commissioner Ray Kelly to resign on Thursday because of his participation in a film that they say paints all Muslims as terrorists.
A federal appeals court has blocked an Oklahoma voter-approved measure barring state judges from considering Islamic and international law in their decisions.
There are two Rick Santorums: The first one I might not agree with, but the second one truly scares me.
A long-time follower of a jailed polygamist sect leader says he has been ex-communicated after admitting to having sex with his wife -- a violation of an order that Warren Jeffs apparently issued from behind bars.
A Russian court has rejected a petition that sought to ban a Russian translation of the Bhagavad Gita, one of Hinduism's most important texts.
Pope Benedict XVI speaks about the need for peace in his Christmas Eve Mass.
Pope Benedict XVI presided over Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve, delivering a homily that focused on the "essence" of the holiday rather than the "commercial celebration" it has become.
Pope Benedict XVI prayed for peace in Syria, reconciliation in Myanmar, and comfort in flood-stricken Thailand and the Philippines in his annual Christmas message "To the City and the World" on Sunday.
Pope Benedict XVI confirmed plans Monday to visit Mexico and Cuba before Easter.
If there is one institution that has made a point of desperately trying to keep women in their place, it's organized religion.
The Archdiocese of Chicago will pay $3.2 million to settle a lawsuit that alleged church leaders failed to remove a priest they knew had sexually abused minors, the plaintiff's attorneys said Tuesday.
As Zoroastrian funerary processions enter the graveyard overlooking the Tehran suburb of Ray, their sobriety is often shattered by the sound of explosions and gunfire. Frequently, the way forward is blocked by Islamic Revolutionary Guards conducting a combat exercise among the tombs. According to Zoroastrian custom, burial needs to take place within 24 hours, and the Revolutionary Guards will not halt their training activities there for the funerals.
Each year, faithful Muslims make a pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. CNN's Nima Elbagir describes their journey.
Each year, more than 3 million Muslims commit to Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca that represents the fifth and final "pillar" of Islam and the largest annual human gathering on the planet. Every Muslim who is physically and financially able to do so is expected to make this pilgrimage once in their lifetime.
Pope Benedict XVI is planning potential trips to Mexico and Cuba in 2012, the Vatican said.
Today, Keivan Mohammad Hassan lives a peaceful life with his family as a civil engineer in Sacramento, California. But things could easily be very different.
Officials with Libya's interim government are reassuring the West that their religious views are moderate, after the country's interim leader called for the country's new laws to be based on Sharia, or Islamic law.
Iranian media outlets have "systematically stirred up" widespread contempt toward the country's 300,000-strong Baha'i religious minority, the group says.
One of the 78 wives of jailed polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs left the Arizona community of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints this week and is receiving medical treatment at a shelter, authorities said.
Israel's government approved an extraordinary deal Tuesday night -- agreeing to release more than 1,000 Palestinians from prison, including hundreds serving life sentences for attacks on Israelis, in exchange for a single slender young Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit.
Israel's ambassador to the UK says Hamas was pressured into the prisoner swap by the Arab Spring.
The Rev. Robert Jeffress, a leading evangelical minister, claimed last Friday that Mormons are not Christians. Jeffress went on to declare that Mormonism is "a cult," meaning it's not a "real" religion, and he implored his followers to reject Mitt Romney, a Mormon, as a candidate for president because as Jeffress sees it: "As Christians, we have the duty to prefer and select Christians as our leaders."
Egypt's military rulers have rejected the resignation of Hazen Beblawi, a top official who served as both the deputy prime minister and finance minister.
Muslims and Christians alike say Egypt's generals have to go following clashes that left at least 25 dead on Sunday.
Violence has returned to the streets of Cairo -- this time in fresh confrontations between army forces and pro-Coptic Christian protesters.
Thomas Jefferson famously wrote about the wall of separation between church and state. He didn't mention separating church and politics, but everybody knows it's a sticky wicket.
The archbishop of Canterbury tries to heal rifts in the Anglican church of Zimbabwe, Nkepile Mabuse reports
Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf said Monday that clashes hours earlier between army forces and pro-Coptic Christian protesters had "brought us back" to the tense, violent period at the onset of the recent revolution.
Pope Benedict XVI said goodbye to his native Germany on Sunday, capping a packed four-day visit in which he met with political and religious leaders in a country that -- like many others in Europe -- has seen growing disenchantment with the Roman Catholic Church.
Pope Benedict XVI meets members of the Muslim community in Germany. CNN's Fred Pleitgen reports.
On the third day of his visit to his native Germany, Pope Benedict XVI made two stops Saturday straddling the lines of history that have divided the country violently -- in past decades into Communist east and democratic west and in past centuries into mostly Protestant north and stalwart Catholic south.
Pope Benedict XVI met Friday with a group of people who had been sexually abused by clergy in his native Germany, where disenchantment with the Roman Catholic Church has grown in the wake of the scandal.
On his first state visit to his homeland, Pope Benedict XVI met Thursday with Germany's prime minister and president and spoke to legislators, but insisted that his purpose was not economic or political, but spiritual.
These days, Republicans are hardly shy about coveting Jewish votes.
Egypt has forbidden the picking and exporting of palm fronds used in the upcoming Jewish holiday of Sukkot, leaving Israel scrambling to make up for the shortage.
Lotus Capital Managing Director, Hajara Adeola discusses the fundamental principals of Islamic banking.
Home to some 70 million Muslims, Nigeria is stepping up efforts to capitalize on the growing popularity of the one of the world's fastest-growing financial sectors: Islamic banking.
Ireland stepped up its battle with the Roman Catholic Church over child abuse Sunday, with Justice Minister Alan Shatter vowing to pass a law requiring priests to report suspicions of child abuse, even if they learn about them in confession.
The Vatican has rejected criticism that church leaders sought to cover up extensive abuse of young people by priests in Ireland, in a lengthy statement sent to the Irish government Saturday.
For Christians, the wild celebrations of Mardi Gras come before the solemnity of Lent, a last chance to celebrate before the abstinence marking the 40 days to Good Friday and Easter.
CNN's Jim Clancy has more on reported violence during Eid-al-Fitr celebrations in Syria.
CNN's Gary Tuchman and 3TV reporter Michael Watkiss discuss polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs' guilty verdict.
In a growing toll, 18 officers and two civilians were killed in an attack on a military academy in Algeria, the country's ministry of defense said Saturday.
Egyptian Gabriel Khoury's first foray into television drama "Dawaran Chobra" is being watched by millions on four channels every night during the holy month of Ramadan.
Pope Benedict XVI is in Madrid, Spain for World Youth Day. CNN's Al Goodman reports.
Rio de Janeiro will host the next World Youth Day, Pope Benedict XVI announced Sunday to hundreds of thousands of young Roman Catholic pilgrims at the close of this year's event in Madrid.
Pope Benedict XVI arrives in Madrid for World Youth Day, but demonstrators protest over the cost of the pontiff's visit.
Catholic youths should not hide their beliefs from their peers, Pope Benedict XVI told them in a World Youth Day speech delivered Thursday in Spain.
A man arrested in Madrid on suspicion of planning an attack against a demonstration to protest the visit of Pope Benedict XVI was a volunteer for the papal visit's organizing committee, a committee senior spokesman said Wednesday.
Critics say hosting Pope Benedict XVI in Madrid for World Youth Day is too costly. CNN's Al Goodman reports.
Evidence against polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs include audiotapes and images showing him and his wives.
Warren Jeffs leaves the courthouse after being sentenced to life in prison for sexually assaulting children.
Polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs is found guilty on both counts of sexual assault of a child.
A Texas jury finds polygamist sect leader Warren Jeffs guilty on two counts of sexual assault.
Last-minute shopping before the start of the Muslim month of Ramadan brought back bustle and commercial activity to the center of a city that is increasingly showing strain from Libya's grinding civil war.
Should France ban the wearing of veils covering women from head to toe?
Thousands of ultra-orthodox and nationalist right-wing Israelis rallied peacefully outside Jerusalem's Supreme Court Monday night in a public display aimed at expressing solidarity with two rabbis recently detained in a police probe into incitement surrounding a controversial religious text published two years ago.
To fight child abuse by priests, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops revised its 2002 charter Thursday, the group said.
The three Iranian security officers rang the doorbell, politely informed the man of his arrest, thoroughly searched the house, confiscated high-tech gear and books, and whisked him away to the nation's notorious Evin Prison.
Evangelist Billy Graham makes his first public appearance in years while attending the re-opening of his library.
Famed evangelist Billy Graham, 92, was being treated Wednesday at an Asheville, North Carolina, hospital for pneumonia following an overnight health episode, according to a spokesman.
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) on Tuesday voted to allow the ordination of openly gay and lesbian ministers.
Muslim-Christian sectarian violence intensified in Egypt this weekend, spurring an emergency meeting of the Cabinet and public exhortations from Coptic Christians for international protection.
At least six people were killed and 120 injured in sectarian clashes outside a church in Cairo on Saturday, officials said.
The late Catholic leader moves one step closer to becoming a saint
CNN's Diana Magnay on the reaction to John Paul II's beatification in the Polish city of Krakow.
For many Poles, John Paul II's beatification simply confirms what they already knew. They thought him a saint already, the very fact of his papacy a blessing for Poland.
Nadia Bilchik talks to T.J. Holmes about the process of beatification, and others who have been through the process.
Christopher Lukasik was building shelves when a metal rod hit his eye, tearing about a third of his optic nerve fibers and leaving everybody from his doctors to his family wondering whether he would ever see again.
Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe arrived in Rome for the beatification of the late Pope John Paul II, airport officials said Saturday, despite his EU-wide travel ban for alleged human rights abuses.
More than one million people are expected in Rome this weekend for the beatification of Pope John Paul II, the biggest event in Vatican City since his death six years ago.
During Easter celebrations at the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI addresses the conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa.
CNN's Soledad O'Brien sits down with Harvard Law professor Noah Feldman, who describes the basics of Sharia Law.
To be fair, I'm not sure if all Republicans love Sharia law, but they certainly do love talking about it.
French police arrested two veiled women protesting the country's law banning face-hiding Islamic burqas and niqabs Monday, just hours after the legislation took effect.
CNN's Atika Shubert on the controversial burqa ban that has divided opinion in France.
Top U.S. officials in Afghanistan on Sunday condemned the burning of a Quran in the United States that sparked three days of protests in which more than 20 people died.
The New Hampshire House majority leader lashed out Friday on his Facebook page at a Roman Catholic bishop, calling the clergyman a "pedophile pimp" who "has no moral credibility to lecture anyone."
Almost two weeks after the House Homeland Security Committee hearing on radicalization in the Muslim community in America, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin has announced he will hold a hearing in the Senate. But, rather than focus on the problem of radicalization in the Muslim community, Durbin's panel will be directed to another subject: anti-Muslim bigotry in the United States.
Meet Kevin Fisher, who is leading the fight against a new mosque in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Soledad O'Brien reports.
Egypt's military has started rebuilding a church burned down in an outbreak of unrest between Christian Copts and Muslims, a military official told CNN on Sunday.
Thirteen people were killed and 90 wounded in clashes between Coptic Christians and Muslims in Cairo, state-run Egyptian television reported Wednesday.
Mourners gathered Thursday to bury seven Coptic Christians killed in sectarian clashes that left more than a dozen dead in the Egyptian capital this week.
Polygamist leader Warren Jeffs is in Texas to face bigamy and sexual assault charges. CNN's Gary Tuchman reports.
The Vatican is warning people who plan to travel to the beatification of Pope John Paul II to look out for scammers claiming to sell tickets for the ceremony.
A lawsuit claims that the owners of the World Trade Center reneged on an agreement for rebuilding a Greek Orthodox church destroyed in the collapse of the twin towers after the attacks of September 11, 2001.
Iraqi Christians seeking refuge in France face an uncertain future. CNN's Jim Bittermann reports.
At Sunday mass in the suburbs outside Paris, a score of Iraqi Catholics are praying for themselves and their families.
The makers say the app isn't replacing the confessional, but it will help people with the sacrament. WCVB reports.
Yes, the Roman Catholic Church still supports the new app designed to help Catholics make confession. To a point.
CNN's Ben Wedeman reports on the aftermath of a New Year's church bombing that rekindled sectarian tensions in Egypt.
The Palestinian Islamic Army, which has links to al Qaeda, carried out the New Year's Day attack on a Christian church in Alexandria, Egypt, that left almost two dozen people dead, Interior Minister Habib al-Adly said Sunday.
Night had fallen when the men heard the sounds on the mountain. First it was a chime, then a recitation of verses, followed by the crackle of wood burning. They scrambled to the summit to see what was happening.
In March 2010, Cardinal Sean Brady read a letter from Pope Benedict XVI on sexual abuse by Catholic priests in Ireland.
Irish victims of sexual abuse are "disgusted" by a newly revealed letter in which a Vatican official expresses "serious reservations" about requiring bishops to report suspected abuse by priests to police, they said Wednesday.
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