Yahoo! News: Religion News

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• German court backs Catholic Church against tax opt-outs
• Anglican church chooses new leader to weather storms
• Pakistan Islamist accuses Obama of religious war on Muslims
• Church of England group meets to select archbishop
• German court backs Catholic 'pay to pray' rule

German court backs Catholic Church against tax opt-outs Posted: 26 Sep 2012 10:47 AM PDT PARIS (Reuters) - Germany's top administrative court agreed with Roman Catholic bishops on Wednesday that German believers who refuse to pay a special church tax could be shut out of Catholic worship. The verdict, based on German corporate law, upheld the system by which the state collects religious taxes from registered Catholics, Protestants and Jews with their monthly returns and distributes them to the religious communities. Reformist Catholics have decried the tax, introduced in the 19th century to compensate for confiscated church properties, as a "pay to pray" system. ...

Anglican church chooses new leader to weather storms Posted: 26 Sep 2012 08:48 AM PDT LONDON (Reuters) - Church of England officials met in secret on Wednesday to choose the next Archbishop of Canterbury, a centuries-old role with the modern task of preventing 80 million Anglicans worldwide from splitting over gay marriage and women bishops. The new church leader must reconcile modernists and traditionalists, and stem a long-term decline in church attendance, a difficult juggling act that some see as a poisoned chalice. ...

Pakistan Islamist accuses Obama of religious war on Muslims Posted: 26 Sep 2012 06:50 AM PDT ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - One of Pakistan's most feared Islamists accused President Barack Obama on Wednesday of starting a religious war against Muslims over his handling of a video that mocked the Prophet Mohammad. Hafiz Saeed, accused by India of masterminding the 2008 attack by Pakistani gunmen on India's financial capital Mumbai, said Obama should have ordered steps to remove the film from the Internet instead of defending freedom of expression in America. "Obama's statements have caused a religious war," Saeed told Reuters in an interview. "This is a very sensitive issue. ...

Church of England group meets to select archbishop Posted: 26 Sep 2012 06:45 AM PDT Senior members of a Church of England commission are starting a three-day meeting Wednesday to select a new archbishop of Canterbury — the spiritual leader of the 78-million-strong Anglican communion.

German court backs Catholic 'pay to pray' rule Posted: 26 Sep 2012 06:15 AM PDT Germany's top administrative court has ruled that Catholics who opt out of paying religious taxes must automatically leave the church as well.

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