Yahoo! News: Religion News

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• Mormon church set to become Florida's largest private landowner
• Atheist student leader OK at Ore. Christian school
• Vatican unveils new magazine in Latin
• US religious retailer apologizes to Asian Americans

Mormon church set to become Florida's largest private landowner Posted: 08 Nov 2013 03:30 PM PST By Barbara Liston ORLANDO, Florida (Reuters) - The Mormon church is poised to become the largest private landowner in Florida as a result of a deal to buy nearly 400,000 acres in the state's Panhandle region. The property is mostly timberland, and the church "intends to maintain timber and agricultural uses of the lands," according to a statement released by St. Joe Company, a Florida real estate firm. The signed sales agreement with the church's company, AgReserves Inc., for $565 million is subject to regulatory and shareholder approvals, according to the statement. Paul Genho, chairman of AgReserves, Inc., in St. Joe's statement, described the entity as a "tax-paying affiliate of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," also known as the Mormon church.

Atheist student leader OK at Ore. Christian school Posted: 08 Nov 2013 01:25 PM PST EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — Despite a public declaration that he's an atheist, the student body president of a Christian university in Eugene isn't in trouble with his school.

Vatican unveils new magazine in Latin Posted: 08 Nov 2013 10:58 AM PST The Vatican on Friday presented a revamped version of its Latin-language journal "Latinitas" as it tries bid to make the dead language still used in the Catholic Church accessible to a wider audience. The first issue of the new twice-yearly magazine includes a preface written by Pope Francis, whose new Twitter account in Latin -- "Papa Franciscus" -- has reached more than 180,000 followers. "The aim is to highlight the glorious tradition behind us that has to be preserved and re-launched," Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, head of the Vatican's culture department, said at the event. The pope's predecessor, Benedict XVI, last year set up a special pontifical council known as "Academia Latinitatis" to spread learning in Latin in one of his last acts as pope before resigning.

US religious retailer apologizes to Asian Americans Posted: 08 Nov 2013 08:42 AM PST The retail arm of the largest US Protestant denomination has apologized to Asian Americans for using stereotypical images including rickshaws. For its summer Bible school, a unit of the Southern Baptist Convention promoted to children a "Far Out Far East Rickshaw Rally: Racing to the Son." Advertisements included images of the hand-pulled cart as well as other Asian motifs including boxes of Chinese takeout food. Community advocates protested after the advertisement came out in 2004, saying it cast Asian Americans in stereotypical, foreign imagery associated with poverty.

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