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• Gay couples could adopt children | Government pledges a free vote on the issue in the House of Commons (BBC)
  
  
• Rights for same-sex couples | Same-sex couples in Alberta will enjoy some of the same legal rights as married couples (Canadian Press)
  
  
• Most Finns oppose ecclesiastical blessings of same-sex relationships | One-third would accept gay clergy (Helsingin Sanomat, Helsinki, Finland)

Polls, surveys, and studies:

• Religion and health: New research revives an old debate | Dozens of scientists have claimed they have found evidence of links between religion and health, but one psychologist says these studies should never have been started. (The New York Times)
  
  
• The state of grace: Small churches face challenges | American worship is lopsided toward small congregations, fewer men in the pews, a once-a-week gathering and few newcomers at the service, a national survey shows (The Washington Times)
  
  
• Study finds 'generational' shift to Protestantism among Hispanics | But Hispanic Catholics and Protestants share many of the same views on public issues (Religion News Service)
  
  
• Americans credit faith for nation's strength, poll says | Most Americans say the United States is a Christian nation, but faith isn't necessary to be a good citizen (The Washington Times)
  
  
• Quarter of pew believers take God's word as gospel | God created the world in six days and the Antichrist is coming, say nearly one in four Australian church-going Christians (Sydney Morning Herald)

Church & state:

• Groups try to revive lawsuit over church-based job program | Texas officials should pay back taxpayer money that went to a job training program "permeated with Christianity," say rights groups (Associated Press)
  
  
• County attempts to thwart ACLU | Rutherford County officials are taking steps to remove religious connotations that might be tied to their posting of the Ten Commandments in the county courthouse last month (The Tennessean)
  
  
• Judge files bias suit against state office | Blair Scoville Morgan says she was discriminated against because of her religious beliefs (The Tennessean)
  
  
• Behind closed doors | Many religious boarding schools are unregulated, leading to tragedy (Editoral, St. Louis Post-Dispatch)

Politics:

• DeLay proves to be a thorn in Bush's side | House Whip refuses to soften party's conservatism (Financial Times)
  
  
• DeLay Diplomacy | Crass political reality is that Republican Whip is also an evangelist (Mary McGory, The Washington Post)
  
  
• Clergy tell senators support depends on cloning ban | A broad coalition of Christian clergy yesterday urged the Senate to quickly pass a bill banning the cloning of human embryos for any purpose, and warned senators that this vote would be crucial for pro-life constituencies in upcoming elections (The Washington Times)

Persecution:

• Two witnesses in Staines' murder declared hostile | Missionary murder case continues in India (PTI)
  
  
• Also: Dara Singh's associate arrested in Orissa | Buluram Mohanty wanted for murdering Muslim trader while Singh stands trial for killing missionary Graham Staines (Rediff.com)
  
  
• Indonesia arrests leader of Islamic militants | Jaffar Umar Thalib, leader of Laskar Jihad, charged with inciting Muslims to attack Christians near Ambon (The New York Times)
  
  
• Pakistan defers stoning sentence | Zafran Bibi's adultery case will now be heard by the federal Sharia court in Islamabad (BBC)

Missions & ministry:

• British missionaries take 'sleeper' jobs to infiltrate Muslim nations | Frontiers has more than 600 missionaries in 40 Muslim countries (The Sunday Times, London)
  
  

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May (Web-only) 2002, Vol. 46