ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — The leader of Nigeria’s main umbrella group for Christians says its members will defend themselves as attacks by a radical Muslim sect continue. Pastor Ayo Oritsejafor of the Christian Association of Nigeria gave the warning Saturday to journalists in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital. It comes as members of a radical Muslim sect known as Boko Haram have carried out new attacks targeting Christians in Nigeria’s Muslim north. Oritsejafor said: “We have decided to work out ways of... Read more

MOSCOW (AP) — The head of the Russian Orthodox Church has urged the government to listen to protesters demanding free elections. Patriarch Kirill warns that Russia cannot afford another revolution. He says “the government should, through dialogue and by listening to society, correct the course and then everything will be fine.” Tens of thousands of people turned out for two demonstrations to protest vote fraud in last month’s parliamentary election and call for an end to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s... Read more

CAIRO (AP) — Egypt’s Christians are celebrating their first Christmas after the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak amid tight security and a display of national unity to allay fears of growing powers of Islamists. The celebrations of Orthodox Christmas, which Egypt’s Coptic Christians mark on Saturday, follow escalated violence against the country’s minority in the wake of the protests that forced Mubarak out of office. Christians, who make up 10 percent of Egypt’s 85 million people, blame much of the... Read more

BEIJING (AP) — A Tibet activist group says two people have set themselves on fire in southwest China in the latest in a series of apparent self-immolation protests against Chinese rule. The London-based Free Tibet said in an emailed statement late Friday night that witnesses saw a man set himself on fire Friday near a monastery in Aba prefecture in Sichuan province. It says security forces put out the flames and took the man away. His condition is unknown. Free... Read more

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — In accordance with a new church law approved at the end of last year, 82 churches, congregations and other religious groups have so far asked to be officially recognized by Parliament, Hungary’s Justice Ministry said Friday. The published list includes representatives from a wide range of religions and churches, including Methodists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Baha’i Community, Buddhists, Mormons, Muslims, Reform Jews, Hindus, the Salvation Army and Hare Krishnas. The churches — some active and recognized in... Read more

MANAMA, Bahrain (AP) — Anti-government protesters converged on the headquarters of Bahrain’s main opposition party Saturday, defying a government ban on the gathering and pressing ahead with their campaign for greater political and civil rights for the nation’s Shiite Muslims. The protest in front of Al Wefaq’s offices in the capital of Manama was a show of defiance by the party that has been the main backer of the Shiite majority’s 10-month-old protest movement, which is aimed at breaking the... Read more

HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — Juliet Steer was dying of cancer when she chose her final resting place in the woods of southeastern Connecticut. She picked the plot in an interfaith section of a Jewish cemetery in Colchester because it was peaceful, her brother said, and she died at age 47 in 2010. But that peace has been broken by a lawsuit seeking to have her remains exhumed and moved because Steer was not Jewish. The dispute over Steer, who was... Read more

BOSTON (AP) — Dozens of clergy sex abuse victims are gathering in the U.S. to mark a decade since the abuse crisis broke and devastated Roman Catholics. The conference in Boston this weekend coincides with the 10th anniversary of a Boston Globe newspaper story that began a stream of revelations about abusive priests and church leaders who failed to stop them. An organizer said clergy sex abuse victims make up about two-thirds of the 120 people signed up for the... Read more

PRISTINA, Kosovo (AP) — Kosovo police say they have detained at least a dozen ethnic Albanian protesters trying to block Serbia’s president from attending a Serb Orthodox Christmas ceremony in Kosovo’s west. Police spokesman Baki Kelani said the protesters used vehicles and tires to block a convoy led by Serbia’s President Boris Tadic. He said 8 people were briefly detained, while 5 remain in police custody. Tadic is on a traditional visit to monks in the medieval monastery of Visoki... Read more

BOSTON (AP) — Dozens of clergy sex abuse victims are gathering in Boston to mark a decade since the abuse crisis broke and devastated Roman Catholics and their church nationwide. The conference this weekend coincides with the 10th anniversary of a Boston Globe story that began a stream of revelations about abusive priests and church leaders who failed to stop them. An organizer said clergy sex abuse victims make up about two-thirds of the 120 people signed up for the... Read more