Religious News from Around the World

Religious Blog Updates from CNN

• My take: Keep bad theology out of Oklahoma May 22, 2013
  Editor's Note: The Rev. Ian Punnett is the author of "How to Pray When You’re Pissed at God (Or Anyone Else For That Matter)" and a veteran talk show host. He has been married for 28 years and is the father of two college age boys. By Ian Punnett, Special to CNN (CNN) – “God never […] […]
• Who hears #PrayersForOklahoma? May 21, 2013
  By Daniel Burke, CNN Belief Blog co-editor (CNN) – God may not notice the thousands of prayers tweeted for victims of Oklahoma’s devastating tornado – but Ricky Gervais sure has. And he is not pleased. As of Tuesday afternoon, more than 75,000 people have used the hashtag #PrayForOklahoma, including pop starlets, pastors and politicians, according to Topsy.c […]
• Vatican: Pope didn't perform exorcism May 21, 2013
  By Dan Merica, CNN (CNN) – A Vatican spokesman on Tuesday refuted claims that Pope Francis performed an exorcism on a man in St. Peter’s Square after Mass on Sunday. But he did not altogether deny the encounter. “The Holy Father had no intention to perform any exorcism,” the Rev. Federico Lombardi said in a statement. […] […]
• My Take: Town prayers need less Jesus, more Krishna May 21, 2013
  Editor's note: Stephen Prothero, a Boston University religion scholar and author of "The American Bible: How Our Words Unite, Divide, and Define a Nation," is a regular CNN Belief Blog contributor. By Stephen Prothero, Special to CNN (CNN) — At first glance, it would seem that the town of Greece, New York, has been brazenly violating […] […]
• High court to review church-state dispute over public prayers May 20, 2013
  By Bill Mears, CNN Supreme Court Producer Washington (CNN) - A dispute over public prayers at town board meetings will be taken up by the Supreme Court in coming months, another contentious case over the intersection of faith and the public arena. The justices announced Monday it will decide whether a New York community may […] […]
• Proof of heaven popular, except with the church May 19, 2013
  By John Blake, CNN “God, help me!” Eben Alexander shouted and flailed as hospital orderlies tried to hold him in place. But no one could stop his violent seizures, and the 54-year-old neurosurgeon went limp as his horrified wife looked on. That moment could have been the end. But Alexander says it was just the […] […]
• Pat Robertson shrugs off adultery, CBN regrets the misunderstanding May 17, 2013
  By Eric Marrapodi, Co-Editor CNN Belief Blog (CNN) - The Christian Broadcasting Network regrets the misunderstanding. Again. Pat Robertson, the network's 83-year-old founder, was not condoning adultery when he answered a viewer's quesion on "The 700 Club" this week, the network said. The viewer said she was having difficulty forgiving her […]
• My Take: What Tsarnaev gets wrong about Islam May 16, 2013
  Editor’s note: Hussein Rashid is a native New York Muslim. He teaches at Hofstra University in the Department of Religion. He is an associate editor at Religion Dispatches, a term member on the Council on Foreign Relations and fellow at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding.  By Hussein Rashid, Special to CNN Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the Boston […]
• End times for doomsday-linked radio network? May 16, 2013
  By Jessica Ravitz, CNN (CNN) - Dealing with a struggling radio business – this wasn’t the way it was supposed to be. By all his calculations, Harold Camping expected to be nearly two years into his Rapture revelry, hanging in heaven with God and the select others who’d been saved. But when his predicted and […] […]
• Franklin Graham: IRS targeted ministries May 15, 2013
  By Daniel Burke, CNN Belief Blog Editor (CNN) – Franklin Graham, one of the country's most prominent evangelicals, says the targeting of conservative groups by the Internal Revenue Service included two of his ministries. "I am bringing this to your attention because I believe that someone in the administration was targeting and attempting to intimi […]