In a case that has become the focus of a national debate on religious freedom, Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court has ruled against the right of Baha'is to be properly identified on government documents.

Catholic Bishops in India have appealed for justice for the country's Muslim population as it faces increasing pressure from nationalists, alongside Christians. They have also highlighted the plight of Dalits (formerly known as 'untouchables') and other minority communities.

Spokespeople from a range of Christian organisations rallied to support a civil partnership storyline in long-running cult BBC radio soap opera 'The Archers' today - after Stephen Green of fringe group Christian Voice announced that the very thought made him 'queasy'.

South African Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu says it is distressing that Israel blocked a planned mission by him and British professor Christine Chinkin to investigate the killing of 19 Palestinian civilians by Israeli shells - writes Peter Kenny for Ecumenical News International.

The image, message and reality of the crucixion of Jesus Christ "calls us [Christians] not to glorify, but to attend to the suffering in the world and to struggle for its elimination," said the participants of a recent theological consultation on cruelty organized by the Faith and Order Commission of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in partnership with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).

Churches in Sri Lanka have denounced the revival of a draconian anti-terrorism law by the government aimed at hobbling support for ethnic Tamil rebels with whom government forces are in almost a fully-fledged war despite there being an official cease-fire - reports Ecumenical News International.

Concern has been raised over whether a new law in Russia will have an impact on religious organizations there - writes Linda Bloom, a New York-based journalist for the United Methodist Church.