Christianity Today's War in Iraq: Full Coverage archives CT's stories on the war: reflections on the Christian response, debates over the war, and relevant articles from previous conflicts.

Other relevant articles from news agencies around the world include:

• A congregation divided | On the war, not just a matter of practicing what I preach (Henry G. Brinton, The Washington Post)
• Clergy rightly mum about war | The first question we asked ourselves was: What should be our objective? Should it be to comfort—or to advocate? (Gerald L. Zelizer, USA Today)
• How can this be a just war? | American Christians don't have the luxury of ignoring the question of whether America should have attacked Iraq (John J. Dwyer, Ft. Worth Star-Telegram)
• Church members speak their piece | War often puts parishioners at odds with faith leaders (The Indianapolis Star)
• Religion in a time of war | More than any crisis in modern memory, the War on Terror—including the current U.S. military presence in Iraq—is being debated in religious, usually Christian, terms (Speaking of Faith, Minnesota Public Radio)
• Clerics, laity disagree | Antiwar rhetoric rings from many U.S. pulpits, but the people in the pews support President Bush's policy in Iraq. U.S. Christians back war with Iraq by about a 2-to-1 margin (The Washington Times)
• War in the locker room—God, Iraq split Americans | How it is in sunny Sonoma, in springtime, as slaughter begins (Olivia Crawford, Pacific News Service)
• Faithful fall on both sides of war | Conflict splits local Christians into camps of peace, patriotism (The Denver Post)
• Religious leaders comment on Iraq war | A roundup of responses (UPI)
• A test of faith | Onset of war with Iraq also highlights the divide among Americans (Grand Forks [N.D.] Herald)
• Clergy grapple with Iraq war | Whether for U.S. attack or against it, they put their trust in God and prayer (Akron Beacon Journal)
• Worshipers struggle with idea of war | Diverse views emerge among congregations (San Francisco Chronicle)
• Maimonides on war | A religious tradition that President Bush might appreciate (David Klinghoffer, National Review Online)
• Is war ever just? Mennonite views vary | Not all are pacifists (The Hutchinson [Kan.] News)
• Views on war not based on faith | Two surveys—one on faith and the war in Iraq, the other on America's shifting belief patterns—may be inviting ostensibly contradictory conclusions (UPI)

• War seen as in line with Christian view | The Bush administration's decision to minimize civilian casualties in the war in Iraq shows that the conflict is being fought in accordance with Christian principles (The Washington Times)
• Assyrian Christian minister says 'I was wrong' | A visit to relatives in Baghdad radically changed my mind (Ken Joseph Jr., UPI)
• Also: Ken Joseph's Assyrian Christian News
• How a visit to Iraq can change your mind … | I arrived in Iraq a pacifist Christian and left Iraq as a Bonhoeffer Christian (Victor Eremita, Obedient Hound, TheOoze.com, and Relevant)
• James Dobson supports war efforts in Iraq (Press release)
• Praise the Lord and George W. Bush | A recent Gallup poll shows that church-going Americans are more likely to support war against Saddam Hussein than are Americans as a whole (Mark Tooley, Seattle Post-Intelligencer)

• German church leaders criticize Washington over war on Iraq | Easter messages focus on Bush (DPA)
• Antiwar Protestants | The once awesome power of the late, great Protestant churches will fade away perhaps within a decade. Not because of a struggle, but because the troops will abandon the commanders whose own ambition blinded them from seeing the necessity of a regime change—their own. (Dave Berg, The Washington Times)
• Quakers find voice during times of war | In worship, they remain silent unless led by the divine to speak out. In wartime, they have no choice but to speak. (The Tampa [Fla.] Tribune)
• Antiwar voice loses his job in archdiocese | Archbishop John G. Vlazny, had repeatedly warned Frank Fromherz, peace and justice director of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Portland, that his antiwar activism went too far (The Oregonian)
• Churches are peace symbols | While noisy street protests have given Germany's campaign to stop the US-led war in Iraq its visibility, voice, and headlines, the nation's churches have provided the movement with its soul (The Boston Globe)
• Pope calls for Iraq war to end soon | Pope John Paul II pleads for swift end to Iraq war, expresses concern for civilian welfare (Associated Press)
• Archbishop in Qatar strictly for theology | Rowan Williams, who was at the forefront of the anti-war movement, has no plans to visit British troops or even to mention the war (The Times, London)
• Americans bow before holy shrine to deter protesters (The Daily Telegraph, London)
• Profs urge preaching against war | Five Princeton professors and 17 other theologians, ethicists and ministers from across the country and published in the current issue of Sojourners, a Christian-interest magazine (The Star-Ledger, N.J.)
• Dissent OK, anti-war Chaput says | Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput, responding to Catholics who disagree with the church's condemnation of the Iraq war, reiterated his opposition to the conflict Wednesday but emphasized that Catholic teaching allows room for dissent (The Denver Post)
• If you want to effect change, play by the rules | Neither Wesley nor Luther expected to remain on the payroll while they railed against the establishment. Nor should Methodist pastors who tilt at windmills in Iraq while neglecting their flock (Virgil Van Camp, Amarillo [Tex.] Globe-News)
• The archbishop and the general | Time to clear up at least one apocryphal story floating around cyberspace about our secretary of state and the current archbishop of Canterbury (Tony Norman, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
• Onward, Christian pacifists | The debates of the 1930s repeat themselves (Joseph Loconte, The Weekly Standard)
• War no more? | How much of a pacifist is the pope? (William McGurn, The Wall Street Journal)
• Christian council condemns war | "We condemn this unjustified war, which has no international legitimacy … those engaged will bear a tremendous responsibility in front of God, the people, and history," says Jordan's Council of Church Leaders (Jordan Times)
• Chapter & verse | Reclaiming God from pro-war hypocrites—and unmasking Bush as a lousy Christian (Sherman Alexie, The Stranger, Seattle)
• Clergy against war walk 'delicate line' | While most Americans support it, the leaders of most denominations are publicly antiwar. Does that hobble clergy in ministering to congregants, especially those with loved ones away at war? (The Boston Globe)
• Religious leaders play a part in shaping views on war | The United States has probably never gone to war with less backing from the nation's religious leaders (The New York Times)
• Churches deplore war in Iraq | World Council of Churches called the assault "immoral, illegal and ill-advised." (CBC)
• Archbishops pray for peace | The Archbishop of Canterbury said that the country has entered "dangerous new terrain" with unpredictable consequences (The Times, London)
• Religious leaders regret war, support troops | Religious leaders in Casper and elsewhere in Wyoming generally regret the failure of negotiations to disarm Saddam Hussein, but expressed support and offered prayers for the troops in the war with Iraq (Casper Star-Tribune)
• Catholic and Anglican primates join in condemnation and prayer | Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the leader of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, described the war in Iraq as "wrong and evil" (The Guardian, London)
• Public supports war despite church leaders | Have these religious leaders forgotten how Milosevic was driven from power? (Bob Thomas, Daily Journal, Kankakee, Ill.)
• Pope cites peace movements in opposing war | The vast antiwar movement in the world shows that a "large part of humanity" has repudiated the idea of war as a means of resolving conflicts between nations, he says (Associated Press)
• Weaknesses and moral inconsistency led us to war | International alliances must be rebuilt so the world does not fragment again (Rowan Williams, The Times, London)
• Conscientious objector numbers are small but growing | Antiwar groups say that an increasing number of military personnel are calling antiwar hot lines to say they do not want to fight in Iraq for religious, moral or political reasons (The New York Times)

• Military chaplains tackle tough issues | Because America often adheres to those theories of a just war, it makes it easier for military chaplains to do their jobs and soldiers to do theirs, says one (Montgomery [Al.] Advertiser)
• Pastor serves troops as military chaplain | It's nothing like Baghdad. On a sunny spring morning in Gilbert, Iowa, the combat zones of Iraq seem a world away (The Tribune, Ames, Ia.)
• Out of the ashes | In a burned-out tent, a U.S. Army chaplain in Kuwait finds a reminder of God's protection (Barbara K. Sherer, Beliefnet)
• Local pastor sends church word from Kuwait | It's not exactly the comfortable confines of New Covenant Evangelical Presbyterian Church. But pastor George Yates isn't letting sandstorms and artillery fire stop him from preaching the gospel (New Castle [Penn.] News)
• 179th chaplain heads to Mideast | Keith Bohley, a chaplain with the 179th Airlift Wing of the Ohio Air National Guard, doesn't know where his next official service will be staged (News Journal, Mansfield, Oh.)
• Chaplain shares odyssey that led him to the desert | Troops are eager 'to serve God and country,' he says (The Dallas Morning News)
• Military feels priest shortage | Catholic chaplains in great demand in all branches (Chicago Tribune)
• Canadian military accused of anti-evangelical bias (ChristianWeek)
• Chaplains offer blessings, prayers for troops | Some Catholic chaplains' views conflict with Vatican's and bishops' (The Denver Post)
• Chaplain armed only with prayer | Fort Carson priest heading off to war (The Denver Post)
• Chaplains respond as news from Iraq war puts Nellis AFB on edge | As a group, the chaplains said they're seeing more people at church services and in consultations since the Iraq war began (Associated Press)

• Dispatch from the war: Guiding soldiers through adversity | A soldier tells of his unit's first encounter with enemy fire (Steve Munson, The Dallas Morning News)
• The power of prayer | As the war rages on, many troops turn to religion (Newsday)
• USS Lincoln crew renews faith under roar of jets | Religion provides solace in combat (The Detroit News)
• Facing uncertain fate, troops line up for baptism | Since the 82nd Airborne arrived here in mid-February, 104 paratroopers have been baptized, according to chaplains at the camp (Chicago Tribune)
• Troops urged to avoid 'mark of Cain' | Combat leader's words draw tears (Chicago Tribune)
• Veterans find war is a powerful agent of spiritual change | Across the country, support groups and retreats for older vets are cropping up to address the long-term impacts of the battlefield on spirituality (The Dallas Morning News)
• A letter from the frontline | "We take action against our enemies and against the enemies of humanity. That leads to a momentary peace because true peace will not come until the return of Christ." (CPL Bryce D. Mitchell, Benton [Ark.] Courier)
• Bibles OK, but '3 P's' prohibited | U.S. troops in Iraq can carry Bibles into combat. But don't send them pork, pornography, or political propaganda (The Washington Times)
• Iraq POWs and relatives rely on God | Faith will see them through war ordeal, they say (Charisma News Service)

• Iraq's heritage | The war and archeology (David Klinghoffer, National Review Online)
• Iraq using sacred sites to protect its military, Australia says | Ctesiphon, an important third century site, being used to shelter vehicles (AFP)
• Troops stationed near ancient city of Ur | The fighting, which continues in the nearby southern Iraq city of Nasiriyah, has so far spared the remains of Ur and the two families guarding them, who have worked as guides there for generations (Associated Press)
• Some say war could lead to more research at spiritual sites | While the war endangers many historic sites in Iraq, there's also the possibility that if regimes change, archaeologists will be able to do new research there, archaeologists said (The Tennessean, Nashville)
• For some, first taste of combat | "This is a place of the Bible," said Pfc. Benjamin Putnam "This is where many wars were fought." (The Baltimore Sun)
• Allied troops bypass holy sites | The troops passed by Abraham's birthplace of Ur and the heart of ancient Sumer, whose poetry told of a creation and flood like that in the book of Genesis (The Washington Times)
• Iraq's place in the Bible | In a recent story in the Wall Street Journal, writer David Klinghoffer argued that the region we now know as Iraq has more claim on the title "Land of the Bible" than present-day Israel (The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.)

• Time of the signs | Do similarities between world events and the Scriptures point to Judgment Day? (The Sacramento [Calif.] Bee)
• End times not a new revelation | For some Christian denominations, the end times is serious business. For others, the Book of Revelation is highly symbolic, not to be taken literally (Amarillo [Tex.] Globe-News)
• Religious leaders, scholars debate end-time prophecies of Bible | But none say there's a connection between Iraq war and Armageddon (Iowa State Daily)
• Does war with Iraq signal the beginning of 'End Times?' | While not convinced that the war with Iraq signals the imminent return of Jesus, Mark Hitchcock does believe the conflict's eventual result - the removal of Hussein and his regime - is a big step in that direction (Crosswalk.com)
• War evokes biblical tales | Are these the last days? Some Christians say so (The Norwich [Ct.] Bulletin)
• Treasured past once again at risk | Many Iraqis convinced U.S. wants to blunt resurrection of Babylon (San Francisco Chronicle)
• End games? | War in Iraq has some pointing to signs of apocalypse—but it's a point that's been made before (Ledger-Enquirer, Columbus, Ga.)
• Religion speaks on the Iraqi war | Some doomsayers predict world's end (WJRT, Flint, Mich. | video)
• Armageddon? Some say war means end is near | There hasn't been the rush of interest that followed the terrorist attacks, but end-times Web sites are logging more hits (The Times, Gainesville, Ga.)
• Mideast war ignites Armageddon theories | Some evangelical Christians believe Iraq figures prominently in the end times. Others think apocalyptic interest has waned because of failed predictions that the turn of the millennium signaled Armageddon (The Denver Post)
• Some Christians say Iraqi war could mark the end of the world | Area church leaders have differences of opinion on issue (The Tennessean, Nashville)
• 'End-times' talk muddies the international waters | More than foolish, it is easy and cheap theology. It is much harder to try to reclaim the world from peril (William McKenzie, The Dallas Morning News)

• Christians fear future more than Saddam | Christian girls wearing bright lipstick and no headscarves voiced fears that such freedoms would come to a rapid end if hardline clerics among Iraq's Shia majority impose Sharia, Islamic law, and turn the once-secular state into an Islamic republic (The Times, London)
• Do Arab Christians have a future? | In the last 30 years, Arab Christians have attempted to weather several storms: the Lebanese war, the intifada and Israeli violence, the Iranian revolution and the resurgence of Islamic revivalism and now the war on Iraq (George Emile Irani, The Daily Star, Lebanon)
• In Detroit, church that Hussein built prays for his defeat in war | Iraqis in U.S. remain hopeful of finding missing loved ones (The Wall Street Journal)
• Christian Iraqis seeking asylum in United States detained in central Mexico | The Chaldean Christians have a sizable community in Southern California and frequently try to enter the United States through Tijuana (Associated Press)
• Baghdad Catholic leader vows to keep city's churches open for refuge | The head of the Roman Catholic Church in Baghdad has vowed that the city's churches will remain open to allow Christians and Muslims to take refuge there during the US-led war, according to a newspaper article published Tuesday in Switzerland. (AFP)
• Arab Christians squeezed by conflict | Beleaguered Arab Christians are finding their position among majority Muslim populations more precarious than usual as the US and UK pursue military action in Iraq (BBC)
• Iraqis detained in Mexico sent to San Diego to seek asylum | Chaldeans entered Mexico illegally (Associated Press)
• Iraq: Church services continue | Telephoning members difficult (Adventist News Network)
• Church services dwindling | "Previous Sundays there have been three or four hundred Christians worshiping there and today the crowd was only about thirty, thirty-five people" (Newshour, PBS)

• Muslims, Christians side by side as Iraq peace protests sweep globe | Religions unite against war in Indonesia, where they've been killing each other (Associated Press)
• With quiet aplomb, nun aids antiwar protesters | Sister Patricia Crowley said she had paid the $100 bail of at least 10 protesters (The Boston Globe)
• Priests, monks nabbed in latest war protest | Police arrested monks, priests, rabbis and other clergy in San Francisco on Friday (Reuters)
• Christians spill blood in protest | A Dominican priest and a member of the Catholic Worker movement spilt what they claim to be their own blood, in the form of a cross on the floor of the office of the US Consul-General (XtraMSN, New Zealand)
• Also: Bishop apologizes for bloody protest | Bishop Dunn said the act was offensive and he offered to pay for any cleaning costs (The New Zealand Herald)
• Also: Cross of blood on US carpet (New Zealand Herald)
• Catholic Church rallies Filipinos against war | The largest demonstrations have been marked by prayer more than protest (Asia Times)
• Parishioners stage neighborhood protest in Englewood | St. Sabina's Pfleger: 'God is not an American' (WMAQ, Chicago)

• Onward Christian soldiers | Conservative fundamentalists with close ties to President Bush are planning a new missionary push in Iraq—and they might already be converting U.S. troops to their cause. (Max Blumenthal, Salon.com)
• Jesus in Baghdad | Why we should keep Franklin Graham out of Iraq. (Steven Waldman, Slate.com)
• A faith-based initiative | Steve Weaver is an emergency-management consultant for the Church World Service, with which he will shortly cross the border between Jordan and Iraq. (CNN)
• A crusade after all? | Plans of some Christians to evangelize as they offer aid pose dilemma for Iraqi reconstruction. (The Christian Science Monitor)
• Interview: Missionary work in Iraq | Time talks to Southern Baptist Theological Seminary leader Albert Mohler about venturing into Iraq (Time)
• Christians in Iraq 'live like slaves' | Ottawa cleric fears further hardships for non-Islamics (The Ottawa Citizen)
• A controversial crusade | Evangelizing may backfire, some say (Newsday)
• Evangelical crusaders prepare to fight Islam with aid and a Bible | Such insensitivity is viewed by some as playing into the hands of those to whom the "war on terrorism" is a religious crusade (The Independent, London)
• Christian group gives RM100,000 | National Evangelical Christian Fellowship Malaysia gives equivalent of US$26,000to the Iraqi Welfare Fund to help rebuild the country (The Star, Malaysia)
• Aid packages: Christian charity or U.S. crusade? | Some Muslims fear shipments to Iraq have evangelical purpose (The Dallas Morning News)
• Giving spirit: Churches flow aid to Iraq | From brownies to bandages, aid from churches flows to troops and civilians in Iraq (Miami Herald)
• A tale of two Fridays | Workers from Mr. Graham's Christian relief organization, Samaritan's Purse, are in Jordan, waiting to inveigle Iraqi infidels with a blend of kitchen pantry and Elmer Gantry (Maureen Dowd, The New York Times)
• Praise the Lord and pass the, um, Bibles | The work of God and the GOP, the divine mating of religion and politics, must move in deliberate haste to serve both Jesus and George W. Bush in timely devotion (Bill Gallagher, Niagara Falls Reporter)
• Christians are making technological inroads in evangelizing | In Iraq, and throughout the Islamic world—using satellite TV, radio, cassette tapes and videos—Christian groups claim they are having more success than ever evangelizing Muslims, despite the obvious tensions created by war and the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. (Associated Press)
• Turn the other Sheikh | Using the new, improved sermon tank (James Ridgeway, The Village Voice)
• Are Christian evangelists eyeing Iraq? | Attempts to preach Christianity in Iraq where Muslims constitute 98 percent of the population has set off alarm bells (Al Jazeera)
• Agency sensitive to need in Iraq | Food for the Hungry is collecting aid and preparing to assist 100,000 Iraqis when it becomes safe to enter the country (San Antonio [Tx.] Express-News)
• Should Christian missionaries heed the call in Iraq? | Christian relief workers want to help the Iraqi people, but they also want to spread the Gospel to a population that's 97 percent Muslim. (The New York Times)
• Relief plans for Iraq raise questions of hidden motive | Muslim critics say Christian groups should stay out (Winston-Salem [N.C] Journal)
• There is aid, but where are Iraqis? | Relief groups, including some in O.C., were ready, but refugees haven't shown. (The Orange County [Cal.] Register)
• The new Christian crusades | Religious right Islam-bashers target postwar Iraq (Bill Berkowitz, WorkingForChange)
• Bible brigade is ready to roll | President Bush is under pressure to clarify his position on the role evangelical Christian aid groups are set to play in post-war Iraq (The Observer, London)
• Hell for leather | As always with your CLASSic Anglo-American imperial conquest, sword, flame, bullet and bomb will be accompanied by the maniacal whacking of Biblical leather (The St. Petersburg Times, Russia)
• A sign of caring for Iraqi people | Wooster woman makes comforters for Mennonite collection of relief aid (The Beacon Journal, Akron, Oh.)
• No strings attached | For Iraq's suffering people, aid is aid—Christian or otherwise (Franklin Graham, Los Angeles Times)
• Groups critical of Islam are waiting to aid Iraq | The situation presents a dilemma for the Bush administration, which does not want to alienate its strong Christian evangelical constituency but cannot afford to have the war in Iraq perceived as a crusade to Christianize a Muslim nation (The New York Times)
• Ambassador Franklin | Graham was helping Muslims before helping Muslims was cool: Since when did that become a threat to U.S. interests? (World)
• Why is Bush afraid of Franklin Graham? | If Bush wants to convince the world this isn't a war against Islam, he needs to tell the Christian leader to stay out of Iraq (Steven Waldman, Beliefnet)
• Relief groups eager to enter Iraq | Critics, however, already are raising concerns that evangelical relief groups may try to use humanitarian aid to make inroads in Muslim countries (Associated Press)
• Muslims question Christian aid (News14, Charlotte, N.C. video available)
• Bringing aid and the Bible, the man who called Islam wicked | Evangelists Fears that U.S. Christians will inflame situation (The Guardian, London)
• Relief groups lash Pentagon | Military is accused of endangering aid by trying to control it (The Charlotte Observer)
• Charlottean at Iraqi border waiting to help | Charlotte's Ray Branch, who works with Samaritan's Purse, lives for this (The Charlotte Observer)
• Muslims: Franklin Graham's aid is unwelcome | Graham's aid group accused of seeking to convert Iraqis to Christ (The Charlotte Observer)
• Churches working to help refugees | A Fremont congregation raises $9,000, but getting supplies to Iraq is hard (Oakland [Calif.] Tribune)
• Rev. Franklin Graham plans aid for Iraq | Opposition from Muslim groups continues (Associated Press)
• Mixing humanitarian aid with the gospel provokes debate among relief groups | Will proselytizing in Iraq offer comfort and hope to a nation that is 97 percent Muslim? (Newhouse News Service)
• Aid groups gearing up for Iraq emergency | World Vision among those ready to go in (Scripps Howard News Service)
• Aid agencies poised to offer relief | United by compassion, diverse groups focus on serving the devastated (The Dallas Morning News)

• A prayer to make a difference | Judy Brenneman prays at church on the ninth of each month for peace (York [Pa.] Daily Record)
• Lynch household clung to hope, faith | "We felt it really brought the Lord in closer and Jessie could feel, definitely feel, that she was being prayed for," Mr. Lynch said (The Washington Times)
• Also: 'Prayer and our boys brought Jessica to safety' (The Daily Telegraph, London)
• Baghdad prays as U.S. bombs drop | For Roman Catholic author James Douglass, a veteran crusader for nonviolence, how was it to be in a Baghdad under bombardment by his own nation? (Associated Press)
• Churches to join in nationwide prayer about war | Working through the National Prayer Committee, a coalition of religious leaders in all 50 states, local pastors are spreading the word through a vast e-mail network (The Sun, Bremerton, Wash.)
• Moral uncertainties about war reflected in nation's prayers | As believers head to their houses of worship this weekend, there seem to be fewer "God Bless Americas" and more prayers for the citizens of Iraq (Newhouse News Service)
• Children's prayers for peace | The child's words are neatly printed on a piece of white card, cut into the shape of a dove (BBC)
• For parishioners, right or wrong takes a back seat to prayer | In Catholic churches nationwide on the first Sunday since war began, priests and their followers seemed to have turned their focus away from the philosophical questions and had turned to a more basic, immediate need: comfort (The New York Times)
• Prayer - the common bond | Northeast Ohio Christians yesterday flocked to church services to appeal for a quick end to the war with Iraq and to find their own spiritual peace (The Plain Dealer, Cleveland)
• L.A. churchgoers pray for speedy peace in Iraq (Los Angeles Daily News)
• As fighting in Iraq rages, parishioners cling to their faith | They seek strength in difficult times (Ventura County Star)
• Church leaders pray for war's end | There was no opposition to the Iraq war among religious leaders across the township who are responding to the war in different ways, with prayer the common element (Mt. Olive [N.J.] Chronicle)
• Now that war has started prayers are for quick end | Despite where they stood on the war, many ministers and church members turned their thoughts to troops Sunday (Houston Chronicle)
• Church prays for both sides | St. David's Evangelical Congregational Church members gathered Sunday night to pray about the war (York Daily Record)
• War and prayer | All we are sure of is that Americans everywhere should do the one thing we believe can make a difference—pray (The Sampson Independent, Clinton, N.C.)
• Believers place hopes for peace in God's hands | In Carolinas, faithful turn to Web sites, prayer and each other (The Charlotte Observer)
• War on Iraq: Brits told: pray for the president | Evangelical group In Touch Ministries have sent thousands of pamphlets called A Christian's Duty to Marines serving in the Gulf (Sunday Mail, Glasgow, Scotland)
• Pastors: Pray for peace during wartime | "Prayer of faith changes things," says one minister. "Expect to hear good reports, because that's why we're praying" (Mobile [Ala.] Register)
• Prayers on war and peace | 'This is a time for us to talk to each other and hear each other' (The Dallas Morning News)

• Muslims reach out to other believers in Beaverton | They're scared of Baptists (The Oregonian)
• Jewish, Christian leaders unite | Campaign is a project of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, whose co-chairmen are Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein and campaign strategist Ralph Reed, the former Christian Coalition leader who often provides political advice to the Bush administration (The Washington Times)
• Rowan Williams to attend summit in Gulf | Archbishop will be one of several Christian and Muslim leaders (The Daily Telegraph, London)
• Mayor of New York rips biased Muslim textbooks | What Is Islam All About charges that many Jews and Christians lead "decadent and immoral lives." (New York Daily News)
• Students speak out against religious extremists | Many University students were upset about comments made by evangelist Donnie Morris who made his third visit to campus Monday afternoon (The Crimson White, University of Alabama)
• Religious tensions war's wild card | One of the many questions local clergy members are asking is how the war in Iraq will affect relations between Muslims and Christians (The Express-Times, Penn.)
• The perception of a crusade | For many Muslims, getting rid of Saddam takes a back seat to the issue of religion (KCBD, Lubbock, Tex.)
• Church leaders call for peace | Christian and Muslim leaders have appealed for unity between faiths amid concern over rising tensions now the war against Iraq has begun (BBC)
• For Arab Christians, these are fearful days | Many Christians now fear they may be targeted as part of a backlash against the US-led war to topple Iraq's Saddam Hussein (The Boston Globe)
• Cardinal: War may pit religions | Head of Chicago archdiocese fears shattered alliances, persecution (The Denver Post)
• Iraq: Christian community faces uncertain future in postwar era | "There is a risk that Iraq's Christian community might become a scapegoat" (Radio Free Europe)
• Soldier allegedly spoke of friendly fire | 'Religious war' allegedly upset Muslim soldier (The Boston Globe)
• Assyrian Christians afraid for relatives still living in Iraq | About 80,000 Assyrian Christians live in the Chicago area, a large majority of whom fled Iraq because of political persecution, according to the Assyrian National Council of Illinois (The Daily Herald, Chicago suburbs)
• War brings new surge of anxiety for followers of Islam | In ways large and small, many Muslim Americans say, the backlash they have felt since the attacks of Sept. 11 has intensified since the United States attacked Iraq (The New York Times)
• War must not become 'religious catastrophe,' says Pope | "War must never be allowed to divide world religions," he told visiting Roman Catholic bishops from Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country (Reuters)
• Also: Pope fears religious hatred in Iraq war (Associated Press)

• Jesus, the Stars and Stripes, and the American main street | The Free Methodist Church in Lawrence sends parishioners to fight in Iraq (Helsingin Sanomat, Helsinki, Finland)
• 'Spiritual warfare' looms | Such words have caused deep alarm among military and diplomatic authorities (The Globe and Mail, Toronto)
• Some congregations mixing God, country | Patriotism in worship has long been a sensitive issue to congregations (Tallahassee [Fla.] Democrat)
• Meshing of religion with politics refreshing for some Americans, concern for others (Voice of America)
• Letters to God about the war in Iraq | The cross and the American flag. The two symbols have led to impassioned debates and "letters to God" at Azusa Pacific University, as students sort through their feelings about the war in Iraq (San Bernardino County Sun)
• Do God and country mix? | Some congregations embrace expressions of patriotism while others are more reserved (The Dallas Morning News)
• In the eyes of the faithful, God is behind America | God is good and so are President George W Bush and America's war on Iraq, the congregation at one of the nation's biggest places of worship agreed at the weekend (The Daily Telegraph, London)
• With God on his side | Throughout America's history, there has been one ally presidents have invoked above all others (Garry Wills, The New York Times)
• Asbury Theological Seminary removes flags from cafeteria | Wilmore leadership wants to avoid 'sign of conquest' (Lexington [Ky.] Herald-Leader)
• Area clergy cope with Iraq war | Though Crofton ministers are supporting U.S. troops in Iraq, they say the war has challenged them to reconcile devotion to country with their devotion to God (The Capital, Annapolis, Md.)

• Bush marks Holy season by reflecting on Iraq war | President Bush, whose public expressions of faith have raised eyebrows in Europe, on Saturday mourned the loss of American lives in Iraq, saying God's purposes were "not always clear." (Reuters)
• How churches played into Iraq's hands | At a time when Christendom should have acted, Tariq Aziz's papal audience sent out the wrong message (Gerard Henderson, Sydney Morning Herald)
• America's one-sided prayers | God has rolled into Baghdad. Our jihad is almost complete (Derrick Z. Jackson, The Boston Globe)
• Bush puts God on his side | Before September 11, President George W Bush kept his evangelical Christian beliefs largely to himself (BBC)
• A pagan view of waging war | History's pagans might have approved of President Bush's Iraq policy, an author suggests (Peter Steinfels, The New York Times)
• Some doubt fellow United Methodist (the President) | At the Calvary United Methodist Church in the Bronx, feelings about the war easily intermingled with views of the president's religious convictions (The New York Times)
• The footsteps factor | From boyhood to the war in Iraq, George W. Bush has tried to follow his father's path (Kevin Phillips, Los Angeles Times)
• Wonder-working power | George W. Bush, armed with the sharp sword of Christian fundamentalism, wades into battle (James Heflin, Valley Advocate, Easthampton, MA)
• Bush mix of God and war grates on many Europeans | No less than the German president, French prime minister and Belgian foreign minister have joined religious leaders in expressing concern about Bush's beliefs and the place of religion in U.S. politics (Reuters)
• Religious aggression? | Counselors, politicians, and war (William F. Buckley, National Review Online)
• Religion a strong current in U.S. wars | The nation often has invoked faith in waging its conflicts. A subtext has been a belief that we have been uniquely blessed by God. (Los Angeles Times)
• Religion good but factor in wars | Most Americans are convinced that the influence of faith in the world is a good thing, but a majority also believes that religion plays a significant role in most wars and conflicts, according to a survey conducted by the Washington-based Pew Forum (UPI)
• Conversion plays a role in the war | There is a holy-war motif on the part of both the United States and Iraq (Leo Sandon, Tallahassee Democrat)
• From the fear of being killed comes the fear of killing | There is a line early on in the Bible that encapsulates precisely the dilemma of the war in Iraq (Jonathan Sacks, The Times, London)
• Faith vs. fighting | Orange County worshippers face conflict over religious principles and need for war (The Orange County Register)
• God wouldn't condone any war | Asking for divine help with violence is wrong (Martha Hill, The News-Press, Fort Myers, Fla.)
• Christians are obliged to intervene against evil | During difficult times in the family or nation, people ask questions. (Gerald Kline, The Courier, Conroe, Tex.)

• Vt. clergy say war coloring holy days | Does celebrating life-affirming holy days during a deadly war seem an impossible conflict? (Rutland [Vt.] Herald)
• Preaching for God and guns | Seldom have black preachers mixed Bible readings, political debate and target practice (The Washington Times)
• War from the pulpit | Leaders in most denominations add to national dialogue (San Bernardino County Sun, California)
• What preachers are saying about war | Excerpts from sermons (The Charlotte [N.C.] Observer)
• Spiritual leaders struggle to address fear, uncertainty of times | Excerpts from sermons and speeches that religious and nonreligious leaders prepared for their congregations and groups throughout the Bay Area (San Francisco Chronicle)
• Politics don't dominate Sunday sermons | At many churches in Wisconsin and the nation, religious leaders chose to stick to sermons they had written before the bombs started falling or to emphasize topics unrelated to war (Stevens Point Journal)
• Lent during wartime | Clergy say reflections on human shortcomings come easier in time of conflict (The Fort Pierce/PSL [Fla.] Tribune)
• Reconciling faith and war | Pastor challenges church to love the enemy (The Detroit Free Press)
• Worshipers confront war issue head-on | Many services put focus on Iraq (Chicago Tribune)
• God in wartime: religious leaders face difficult task | Despite indications for months that an armed conflict was on the way, the reality of war, like a death of a loved one or the onset of an illness, was hard for religious leaders to prepare for (Santa Cruz [Calif.] Sentinel)
• Balancing prayer & politics | Clergy across West Michigan are wrestling with whether to speak out on the war (The Grand Rapids [Mich.] Press)
• Ministers don't skirt talk of war | The large war-time turnouts predicted by some ministers didn't seem to materialize, but that didn't keep preachers from touching on the topic in one way or another (The News, Stuart, Fla.)
• Bay Area residents wrestle with divisions | On the first Sunday since the United States invaded Iraq, many Bay Area pastors steered clear of sermonizing about the war (San Jose [Calif.] Mercury News)
• As war heats up, pastors face divided flocks, divided feelings | Church members are not looking for "the pastor's op-ed piece on the war," says Craig Barnes. "They are looking for something transcendent as a way to rise above the storm." (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)
• Local church services reflect on war | Sunday worship services drew somber Christians who turned to their faith to cope with the emotions of a nation at war (The Wichita Eagle)
• Local church leaders addressing war in Iraq | Even if they objected to the war in Iraq before it began, local religious leaders are turning their attention to members of their congregations with military connections (The Telegraph, Nashua, N.H.)
• No rest on the Sabbath for Iraq war debate | Few things concentrate the mind on heaven quite like war (USA Today)
• Some Wisconsin pastors spoke about war, others stuck to prewritten sermons (Associated Press)
• War in Iraq not prominent in N.H. sermons (Associated Press)
• Clergy stay neutral on topic of war | Local leaders reluctant to offend (The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.)
• Nebraska churches struggle with war | As battle grows, pastors offer prayers, support for congregations (Associated Press)
• This war a difficult for N.C. ministers to discuss from pulpit (Associated Press)
• In uncertain times, clergy make prayer the focus | Leaders of Portland's religious communities began choosing their words carefully (The Oregonian)
• Sermons plumb morality of war, peace, respect for authority | Many clergy leaving tough ethical choices to those in the pews (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
• Worship and war also conflict | Churches across the country addressed the war Sunday, from all kinds of perspectives (Portland [Maine] Press Herald)

• Churches see that families of troops not overlooked | Thanks to the efforts of churches and volunteer organizers across the country, the families of soldiers and sailors fighting in Operation Iraqi Freedom are getting support and assistance. (ChurchCentral.com)
• Iraq on minds of churchgoers | Many in Wake town pray for war's end (The News & Observer, Raleigh, N.C.)
• Church pastors face questions of war | Some analyze, some guide; all try to comfort. (The Herald-Mail, Hagerstown, Md.)
• Churches to gather for prayer | Tonight's vigil inspired by soldier who is MIA (The Beacon Journal, Akron, Oh.)
• Churchgoers seek solace and calm in face of war worries | They are images that can shake the rock of faith: A purported American serviceman sprawled dead, his arm reaching out. The worried faces of captured soldiers forced to tell the world who they are (The Orange County Register)
• Services offer 'safe place' from war worries | Ideally, pastors want to help quiet internal battles between war and peace, and between faith and politics (The Winchester [Va.] Star)
• Ministers attempt to offer guidance | Ministers say they are asked to answer whether the war is right or wrong, but many eschew direct answer (Odessa American)
• Clergy ponder ways to comfort worshippers (The Honolulu Advertiser)
• In prayers, Kansas town shows unity | They came by the hundreds in this small town to a Methodist church, where an organ played somberly and softly, to pray for the safe return of one of their own (The New York Times)
• Sadness as church services reflect somber reality of war | First coffins of British servicemen killed in Iraq returned home (The Independent, London)
• Prayer gives Montco church common ground on war | Members of Conshohocken United Methodist unite in support for U.S. troops and compassion for Iraqis (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
• Outreach comforts families | Church creates supportive community during war with Iraq (The Dallas Morning News)
• Old hymns hold a new urgency | In songs and in prayer, those at a small church express hope for the safety of loved ones and others in the military (Los Angeles Times)
• Germany turning to the church as war rages | Last year alone, the Catholic and Protestant churches in Germany lost about 440,000 members. But faced with the violence of war in Iraq, they are coming back, says Germany's protestant news agency EPD (Deutsche Welle)
• Leaning on faith in war time | Rabbi Craig Scheff, Al Haaj Ghazi Khankan and the Rev. Calvin Butts speak on religion in the face of war (The Early Show, CBS)
• Varied faiths gather for an evening of peace | Last night's event drew around 100 people (The Seattle Times)
• Faith strengthens, comforts youths | Religious leaders help children, teens deal with Iraq war (The Dallas Morning News)

• Politics and religion join the fray in Shiite slum | In Saddam city, who is shooting whom, and why, is one of the mysteries clouding this war-damaged and dysfunctional city. (The New York Times)
• Gulf-bound troops get primer on Islam | It isn't enough to learn how to salute and shoot. Today's soldier also has to know where Mecca is, how to behave around Muslim women and how customs in the Arab world vary from those in the United States (Associated Press)
• For one pastor, the war hits home | The Rev. Tandy Sloan has presided over many a funeral and memorial service in Cleveland. But on Sunday, he wondered why his only child had to die in Iraq. (The New York Times)
• A Christian in Iraq | One American's view of the war, from the heart of Baghdad (Newsweek Online)
• Contrary to policy, U.S. forces occupy schools and church | Experts say the move, which began four days ago in a northern Iraqi town, may violate international law (The Christian Science Monitor)
• Sorting the good guys from the bad guys | They call it the fog of war, and in Iraq this week, it's been particularly dense (Kristen Campbell, Mobile [Ala.] Register)
• Identifying when race, faith are relevant | When Sgt. Hasan Akbar was accused of rolling grenades into the tents of his superiors in Kuwait, killing and wounding fellow Americans last month, one of the fragments sent hurtling into war coverage was this volatile question: When do you identify someone by race or faith? (Keith M. Woods, The Poynter Institute)
• Former missionaries to Iraq still hold a passion for the country | Larry and Evelyn Richards and their three children were kicked out of Iraq 34 years ago (The Herald, South Carolina)