Church workers from the United States who had gone to Uganda to complete building a school were among those wounded in bomb blasts that took place during the 2010 World Cup soccer final. An Islamic extremist group is said to have claimed responsibility for the attacks.

The BBC reported on July 12 that the Somali Islamist group al-Shabab said it was behind the two blasts in the Ugandan capital Kampala the evening before, killing 74 people.

A spokesperson for the group, Sheikh Ali Mohamud Rage, threatened more attacks in a statement in Mogadishu.

Ugandan peacekeepers are in Somalia, and al-Shabab …

The Roman Catholic Church has brokered a historic deal to release 52 political prisoners in Cuba, following three-way talks between Cuban President Raul Castro, Spanish Foreign Secretary Miguel Angel Moratinos and Havana Cardinal Jaime Ortega.

“Five prisoners will be released immediately and will be able to travel to Spain accompanied by their families,” said a statement from the Cuban church. “Another 47 will be freed and will be able to leave the country over a period of three or four months from now.”

Six more of the jailed will be relocated to prisons closer to their families. Spain has agreed …

Grace and peace to you in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The 219th General Assembly approved the recommendation of the Middle East Peacemaking Issues Committee on Friday regarding the report “Breaking Down the Walls,” which spotlights the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The full Assembly action followed a unanimous decision by the committee to accept an amended version of the report, which came to it from the GA Middle East Study Committee (MESC).

In his sermon based on Rev. 22:1-6 at closing worship of the 219th General Assembly (2010), the preacher charged each member of the congregation in the plenary hall to go home and sit by the metaphorical River of Life and ask, “What would God have me do?”

The report of the Assembly Committee on Health Issues closed out a long evening of business on Friday at the 219th General Assembly (2010). 

Among the items approved by the Assembly was an overture encouraging all Presbyterians, especially pastors and church leaders, to be tested for HIV to help eliminate the stigma associated with such testing.

After considerable debate and two votes on an authoritative interpretation of authoritative interpretations, the Moderator of the 219th General Assembly (2010) informally bestowed a new title on all in attendance Friday night.

The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s 219th General Assembly (2010) has called for the United States to end direct combat operations in Afghanistan, the denomination’s first such statement since the war began in 2001.

The action, approved by the Assembly by a show-of-hands vote Friday, also asks the U.S. government to increase humanitarian and economic development assistance to Afghanistan. In addition, it calls for the United States to work with the Afghan people to facilitate peacemaking through consensus-building, open communication, economic incentives and diplomacy.

The 219th General Assembly (2010) today urged the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Board of Pensions (BOP) to extend equal spousal and dependent benefits to same-gender domestic partners as it does to married plan members.

The disciplines of science and theology do not dwell in opposing realms, according to William P. Brown, whose latest publication brings together conversations between the theist and the evolutionist.

Brown, who spoke at Thursday’s Science and Faith luncheon sponsored by the Presbyterian Association on Science, Technology and the Christian Faith, is professor of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary.