Religion and politics

Incumbent President Andrzej Duda flashes a victory sign in Pultusk, Poland, Sunday, July 12, 2020. An exit poll in Poland's presidential runoff election shows a tight race that is too close to call between the conservative incumbent, Andrzej Duda, and the liberal Warsaw mayor, Rafal Trzaskowski.(AP Photo/Czarek Sokolowski)
July 13, 2020 - 2:22 pm

Polish president wins 2nd term after bitter campaign

WARSAW, Poland (AP) — Polish President Andrzej Duda declared victory Monday in a runoff election in which he narrowly won a second five-year term, acknowledging the campaign he ran was often too harsh as he appealed for unity and forgiveness. The close race followed a bitter campaign between Duda...
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FILE - This combination of the 2020 file photos shows, from left to right; Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. in Washington on May 5, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas in Washington on June 24, Rep. Chris Smith, R-N.J., in Washington on June 2, Sam Brownback, Ambassador at Large for International Religious Freedom, in Washington on June 10. China on Monday, July 13, said it will ban entry to U.S. Senators Rubio and Cruz, Representative Smith and Ambassador for Religious Freedom Brownback over their criticism of the ruling Communist Party's policies toward minority groups and people of faith. (AP Photo)
July 13, 2020 - 7:44 am

China sanctions Cruz, Rubio, Smith, Brownback for criticism

BEIJING (AP) — China said Monday it will impose sanctions on three U.S. lawmakers and one ambassador in response to similar actions taken by the U.S. last week against Chinese officials over alleged human rights abuses against Muslims in the Xinjiang region. U.S. Senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz,...
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A sign on a street near the Lighthouse Pentecostal Church in Island City, Ore. lists its worship schedule on Friday, July 10, 2020. In mid-June, the small-town church in northeastern Oregon became the epicenter of the state's largest coronavirus outbreak when over 200 people linked to the Lighthouse Pentecostal Church tested positive. The left side of the sign reads, "IF YOU DONT PRAY YOU BECOME PREY." (AP Photo/Ben Lonergan)
AP News
July 12, 2020 - 7:05 am

Churches amid the pandemic: Some outbreaks, many challenges

NEW YORK (AP) — Crowded bars and house parties have been identified as culprits in spreading the coronavirus. Meat packing plants, prisons and nursing homes are known hot spots. Then there’s the complicated case of America’s churches. The vast majority of these churches have cooperated with health...
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Muslims offer their evening prayers outside the Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia, one of Istanbul's main tourist attractions in the historic Sultanahmet district of Istanbul, following Turkey's Council of State's decision, Friday, July 10, 2020. Turkey's highest administrative court issued a ruling Friday that paves the way for the government to convert Hagia Sophia - a former cathedral-turned-mosque that now serves as a museum - back into a Muslim house of worship. The Council of State threw its weight behind a petition brought by a religious group and annulled a 1934 cabinet decision that changed the 6th century building into a museum.(AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
July 11, 2020 - 2:13 pm

World Council of Churches expresses dismay over Hagia Sophia

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) — The interim secretary general of the World Council of Churches has written to Turkey's president expressing his “grief and dismay” over Turkey's decision to change the status of Istanbul's landmark Hagia Sophia from a museum to a mosque. As a World Heritage museum, “Hagia...
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Two people walk down the steps outside the Supreme Court, Thursday, July 9, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
July 11, 2020 - 12:14 am

Thomas spoke, Roberts ruled in unusual Supreme Court term

WASHINGTON (AP) — Justice Clarence Thomas spoke and Chief Justice John Roberts ruled. The Supreme Court's most unusual term featured victories for immigrants, abortion rights, LGBTQ workers and religious freedoms. The usually quiet Thomas' baritone was heard by the whole world when the coronavirus...
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FILE - Los Angeles Archbishop Jose H. Gomez celebrates the first English Mass with the faithful present, at the nation's largest Catholic Archdiocese in Los Angeles, Sunday, June 7, 2020. A religious freedom law firm with ties to President Donald Trump says it will sue California over its recent ban on singing or chanting in the church to slow the spread of the coronavirus. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes, File)
July 10, 2020 - 6:51 pm

Church singing ban strikes sour note with California pastor

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — Crossroads Community Church Senior Pastor Jim Clark wants to keep his 1,500 parishioners safe during the coronavirus pandemic but he's drawing the line at a new California ban on singing or chanting at religious services. “I said enough’s enough,” Clark said. “We will be...
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Muslims offer their evening prayers outside the Byzantine-era Hagia Sophia, one of Istanbul's main tourist attractions in the historic Sultanahmet district of Istanbul, following Turkey's Council of State's decision, Friday, July 10, 2020. Turkey's highest administrative court issued a ruling Friday that paves the way for the government to convert Hagia Sophia - a former cathedral-turned-mosque that now serves as a museum - back into a Muslim house of worship. The Council of State threw its weight behind a petition brought by a religious group and annulled a 1934 cabinet decision that changed the 6th century building into a museum. (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel)
July 10, 2020 - 4:47 pm

Turkey's president formally makes Hagia Sophia a mosque

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — The president of Turkey on Friday formally converted Istanbul’s sixth-century Hagia Sophia back into a mosque and declared it open for Muslim worship, hours after a high court annulled a 1934 decision that had made the religious landmark a museum. The decision sparked deep...
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Two people walk down the steps outside the Supreme Court, Thursday, July 9, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
July 10, 2020 - 1:34 pm

Thomas spoke, Roberts ruled in unusual Supreme Court term

WASHINGTON (AP) — Justice Clarence Thomas spoke and Chief Justice John Roberts ruled. The Supreme Court's most unusual term featured victories for immigrants, abortion rights, LGBTQ workers and religious freedoms. The usually quiet Thomas' baritone was heard by the whole world when the coronavirus...
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FILE - In this June 10, 2020, file photo, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaks during a news conference at the State Department in Washington. From Tokyo to Brussels, political leaders have swiftly decried Beijing's move to impose a tough national security law on Hong Kong that cracks down on subversive activity and protest in the semi-autonomous territory. But the rhetoric from democratic nations has more bark than bite. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, Pool, File)
AP News
July 10, 2020 - 5:49 am

China vows retaliation against US sanctions over Xinjiang

BEIJING (AP) — China said Friday it will retaliate against U.S. officials and institutions following Washington’s imposition of sanctions on three local officials of the ruling Communist Party over human rights abuses in the northwestern region of Xinjiang. China will “definitely fight back”...
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Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a news conference at the State Department in Washington, Wednesday, July 8, 2020. (Tom Brenner/Pool via AP)
AP News
July 09, 2020 - 4:51 pm

US sanctions Chinese officials over repression of minorities

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States on Thursday imposed sanctions on three senior officials of the Chinese Communist Party, including a member of the ruling Politburo, for alleged human rights abuses targeting ethnic and religious minorities that China has detained in the western part of the...
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