RELIGION

I'm not ashamed to admit that I'm a Christian, but you don't need to be in the pew every Sunday to know there's something wrong in this country when gays can serve openly in the military but our kids can't openly celebrate Christmas or pray in school, Perry says in the ad.

At one point, the cowboy-boot wearing huckster from the Lone Star State was the darling of the GOP's right, before shoddy debate performances and a goofy stump speech in New Hampshire sent his poll numbers plummeting. Now Perry has adopted a hyper-Christian posture in a last ditch effort at garnering support from Iowa's Evangelical base of Republican voters.

Pope Benedict XVI will visit Communist Cuba this spring, a senior Roman Catholic Church official said Thursday.

For more than 40 years actor Martin Sheen has inhabited complex characters from the troubled Capt. Willard in the Vietnam film Apocalypse Now to U.S. President Josiah Bartlet on the hit TV drama The West Wing.

he op-ed came on the heels of a series of bombings in Mumbai that killed almost two dozen people in mid-July.

Pakistani actress and model, Veena Malik, had everyone's attention when rumors about her nude photoshoot for the cover of FHM India's December issue did the rounds of the Internet. There was an interesting comment made by Hafsa Ahmad, a blogger, which was carried by the Express Tribune, a Pakistani newspaper. Ahmad questioned the fuss over the issue and if Veena was actually worth it. She has been called a feminist and the voice of women's rights in her home country. The question Ahmad ...

Chafee was accused of putting the religion down.

Rick Perry may be forgetful when it comes to stuff like which cabinet departments he'd like to eliminate, or the legal voting age in the United States, but when it comes to gay-bashing, the Texas governor and Republican presidential hopeful is right on top of his game.

The United States Department of Labor filed a lawsuit against Whole Foods Market Group on Tuesday on behalf of a former employee, alleging she was fired after she reported health concerns stemming from a raw sewage spill at a market in Miami Beach, Fla.

In a ridiculously repressive and absurd proposal, an Islamic cleric residing in Europe has banned women from touching or being anywhere close to bananas and cucumbers, in a bid to avoid sexual thoughts.

First, it was the Catholic Church. Then Penn State. Now, a new child-abuse scandal in Hollywood is raising questions over the safety of minors in the entertainment business and sparking calls for new child-labor regulations.

The insolvency of an Islamic mortgage lender in Canada may hinder the growth of sharia-compliant finance in North America, where the industry has struggled to gain traction in the absence of a supportive regulatory framework.

The annual Kennedy Center Gala this year bestowed its recognition on Diamond, actress Meryl Streep, cellist Yo-Yo Ma, singer Barbara Cook and saxophonist Sonny Rollins. It's also a weekend that saw the comeback victory of Tiger Woods, the personally troubled golf great, who finally won a tournament after a two-plus-year drought, the Chevron Challenge and Sherman Oaks, held Sunday in Los Angeles. Why do we hold up athletes as role models so much more often than we do artists?

On December 2, Western media reported that a 46-year-old former monk set himself on fire to protest against the Chinese government's rule of Tibet.

Followers of Shia Islam known as Shia Muslims across the world took part in mourning processions on Sunday prior to observing Ashura; the Muslims flagellated themselves and walked on fire.

Eddie Long's spokesman, Art Franklin, said the leader of New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, Georgia told congregation members that he will take time off during church services Sunday. Franklin said Eddie Long plans to remain as senior pastor at the Atlanta-area church, but that he felt a break was needed. Franklin didn't give a timetable for Eddie Long's sabbatical. He said Long and his family are asking for privacy and sensitivity to their family.

Veena Malik appears to be the Pakistan version of India's Rakhi Sawant. With her constant effort to make it to the headlines and flow of controversies one after another, the 33-year old model seems to be a mirror image of Sawant and a little too desperate for attention. All her stunts might have worked out well for her. However, undermining the risks, she just did a little too much this time.

She's out. She's in. And now, she's out again. Bishop Eddie Long's wife has been back and forth with whether or not she's seeking divorce from the controversial minister. In a couple of days, the saga involving Vanessa Long and her divorce, or not, from Eddie Long has been twisted.

On Thursday, Vanessa Long filed for divorce from her husband, Bishop Eddie Long -- the anti-gay preacher of the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church who was accused of coercing four men into having sexual activity with him. She even released a statement about the filing. But now she's planning to remain married.

A woman claimed she was held against her will for 12 years on the Church of Scientology's cruise ship, The Freewinds, the same ship Tom Cruise reportedly celebrated his 42nd birthday in 2004 captured on video.

One of Newt Gingrich's former Republican colleagues called the current GOP presidential frontrunner an evil person on Tuesday. Do his previous policy positions and statements support that characterization?