HARRISBURG, Pa. — The father of slain American Joel Shrum says Shrum’s wife and children have returned home safely to the U.S. from Yemen. Al-Qaida’s Yemen branch claimed responsibility for Shrum’s death last Sunday, saying he was trying to spread Christianity in the mainly Muslim Arab nation. The 29-year-old Shrum, of Mount Joy, Pa., was…
Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich said Friday that President Obama gives people reason to believe that he’s a Muslim. The statement, which Gingrich made at a campaign event in Port Fourchon, La., comes as the former House speaker is struggling to stay relevant in the Republican presidential nominating contest. The comment marks the second time this…
NEW YORK — Undercover NYPD officers attended meetings of liberal political organizations and kept intelligence files on activists who planned protests around the country, according to interviews and documents that show how police have used counterterrorism tactics to monitor even lawful activities. The infiltration echoes the tactics the NYPD used in the run-up to New…
From the perspective of the nation’s professional prison chaplains, America’s state penitentiaries are a bustle of religious activity. More than seven-in-ten (73%) state prison chaplains say that efforts by inmates to proselytize or convert other inmates are either very common (31%) or somewhat common (43%). About three-quarters of the chaplains say that a lot (26%)…
WASHINGTON — Behind high prison walls and rolls of barbed wire, Muslim and pagan inmates are most likely to have extreme religious views and be the least assisted by religious volunteers. Most prisoners who want religious books will get them, but wearing a beard is far less likely to be permitted. And the majority of…
