WASHINGTON (AP) _ Two evangelical groups have organized a national day of prayer for communities affected by the Gulf oil spill.
It will be held Sunday at churches across the country. The event is being put together by The National Association of Evangelicals and the Evangelical Environmental Network.
EEN president Rev. Mitch Hescox says the prayers will [...]

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) _ Some of the victims of Sunday’s twin terror bombings in Kampala, Uganda, have been laid to rest. The attacks left nearly 80 dead. There were funerals Tuesday in Kampala.
A Somali group previously linked to al-Qaida is claiming responsibility for setting off the explosions as people gathered at two locations to watch [...]

SELINSGROVE, Pa. (AP) _ It’s a time of pain and prayer for a Pennsylvania church.
Five of its missionaries were injured in twin bombings that happened Sunday night as people at two locations had gathered to watch the World Cup’s final match. Dozens were killed.
Fifteen people, about half of them members of Christ Community United Methodist [...]

RIPON, Calif. (AP) _ Walter Hawkins, a Grammy Award-winning gospel singer, composer and pastor from Oakland has died.
Family members say Hawkins died Sunday at his home in Ripon, Calif. He was 61.
Edwin Hawkins says his younger brother had been battling pancreatic cancer.
Born in Oakland, Walter Hawkins studied for his divinity degree at the University of [...]

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) _ At least one American has been killed and three others who are part of a church group were injured in what Ugandan authorities believe was a terrorist attack carried out by a group linked to al-Qaida.
More than 60 people were killed.
The three injured Americans had been at an Ethiopian restaurant in [...]

GARDEN GROVE, Calif. (AP) _ The Rev. Robert H. Schuller has stepped down as lead pastor of Southern California’s Crystal Cathedral megachurch. Schuller’s daughter, Sheila Schuller Coleman, has taken over the lead role in the church.
The 83-year-old Schuller has been in the pulpit for 55 years and has been host of the “Hour of Power” [...]

HAVANA (AP) _ The Roman Catholic Church says Cuba’s communist government has agreed to free 52 political prisoners and allow them to leave the country in what would be the island’s largest mass liberation of dissidents in decades.
A statement from Havana’s Cardinal Jaime Ortega said five are to be released into exile in Spain as [...]

COVINGTON, Ky. (AP) _ Authorities suspect fireworks may have caused an early-morning fire Monday that damaged the bell tower and choir loft of a 103-year-old church in northern Kentucky.
The Kentucky Enquirer reports that debris from bottle rockets and other fireworks littered the sidewalk and street in front of St. Benedict’s Church in Covington.
The Covington Fire [...]

BEKASI, Indonesia (AP) _ Following rumors that Indonesian Christians were conducting a mass baptism, hard-line Islamic leaders have urged mosques to create a youth guard to stop conversions.
On Saturday, around 100 young men turned out in a suburb of Jakarta wearing martial arts uniforms.
While the youths were unarmed, a local leader of the Islamic Defenders [...]

WASHINGTON (AP) _ President Barack Obama says the Rev. Bill Hybels and other clergy — both liberal and conservative — have told him that reforming U.S. immigration laws is a moral imperative.
The senior pastor of the Chicago area’s Willow Creek Community Church introduced Obama Thursday at American University in Washington.
Hybels said many worshippers at Willow [...]