Dozens of colleges have scrutinized how on-campus Christian groups operate after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowed a law school to deny funding to a Christian group that would not admit gays. The 2010 ruling touched on gay and religious rights on campus, and the tension is now at the center of a handful of disputes at colleges. A chapter of the Christian group InterVarsity at the University of Buffalo was temporarily suspended. The student government is evaluating its groups... Read more

BOSTON (AP) — Boston College is challenging a federal judge’s order to hand over interviews with seven former Irish Republican Army members to U.S. government officials. Under terms of a treaty, American officials plan to share the interviews with British authorities investigating a 1972 homicide. The case involves an oral history project that recorded recollections from combatants in the “Troubles” in Northern Ireland, a four-decade conflict between the country’s British Protestant majority and Irish Catholic minority. Boston College spokesman Jack... Read more

NC board vows to keep praying in Jesus’ name SALISBURY, N.C. — County commissioners plan to continue offering Christian prayers at public meetings, regardless of warnings from a civil liberties group about recent court rulings affirming a ban on the practice. The Rowan County Board of Commissioners meeting Monday night drew a crowd of supporters for elected officials, who say they’ll defy a decision by the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals striking down sectarian prayer, or prayer that’s explicitly... Read more

ROME (AP) — Pope Benedict XVI has led a solemn service to mark the start of the Lenten season of penitence, including the placement of ashes on the forehead of faithful. Benedict wore purple-colored vestments as he celebrated Mass in the Basilica of Santa Sabina, an ancient church on Rome’s Aventine Hill. Although the 84-year-old pontiff has been using a wheeled platform to navigate the long aisle of St. Peter’s Basilica to save energy, he walked unassisted into and out... Read more

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel gave preliminary approval on Wednesday to a plan to build 600 new homes in a settlement deep inside the West Bank, a move that drew rebukes from the United Nations and Palestinians and threatened to raise tensions with the U.S. as the prime minister prepares to head to the White House. Israeli officials tried to play down Wednesday’s decision, saying construction was years away at best. But the timing of the move may further hinder already... Read more

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — By dawn on Wednesday, stately St. Charles Avenue, where tens of thousands spent Mardi Gras feasting, drinking and scrambling for beads, was cleared of mountains of trash left behind by revelers. New Orleans’ iconic green streetcars again clacked along the tracks, and in the French Quarter stragglers mustered what energy they could as the exodus of visitors began. Later, churches in the heavily Catholic city filled with the faithful as Ash Wednesday ushered in the season... Read more

CAIRO (AP) — The leadership of the Islamic militant Hamas on Wednesday settled internal disagreements and approved a unity deal with its political rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a senior official said. Hamas’ political bureau, the group’s top decision-making body, met in Cairo and signed off on the deal after more than 12 hours of talks over two days, said Izzat al-Rishq, an aide to Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal. Since 2007, the rivals have run separate governments — Abbas in... Read more

CINCINNATI (AP) — A U.S. church is offering a drive-thru Ash Wednesday blessing for parishioners who might be pressed for time. The Rev. Patricia Anderson Cook of Mt. Healthy United Methodist Church in Ohio plans to provide the service for people of all faiths and services. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the Christian season of Lent, which concludes after 40 days with the celebration of Easter. The Cincinnati Enquirer newspaper reports that the service is aimed as well at... Read more

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — Washington state cannot force pharmacies to sell Plan B or other emergency contraceptives, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, saying the state’s true goal was to suppress religious objections by druggists — not to promote timely access to the medicines for people who need them. U.S. District Judge Ronald Leighton heard closing arguments earlier this month in a lawsuit that claimed state rules violate the constitutional rights of pharmacists by requiring them to dispense such medicine. The... Read more

TACOMA, Wash. (AP) — Washington state may not force pharmacies to sell Plan B or other emergency contraceptives, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, saying the state’s true goal is to suppress religious objections by druggists — not to promote timely access to the medicines for people who need them. U.S. District Judge Ronald Leighton heard closing arguments earlier this month in a lawsuit that claimed state rules violate the constitutional rights of pharmacists by requiring them to dispense such medicine.... Read more