Panel cites 11 religious freedom offenders. A federal watchdog panel an-nounced 11 countries should be named “countries of particular concern” for their records on religious freedom, including three not currently on the State Department's list. The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom urged the inclusion of Vietnam — removed from the State Department's list in 2006 — along with Pakistan and Turkmenistan. The other countries recommended for the designation of “countries of particular concern” are Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Uzbekistan, which have been on the State Department's list since 2006. The commission also cited countries on its “Watch List” that require monitoring because of religious freedom violations permitted or implemented by the governments — Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Belarus, Cuba, Egypt, Indonesia and Nigeria.
Have a Bible question? Ask a Pole. Americans are more likely than Europeans to own and read a Bible, but Poles are most likely to have a basic knowledge of Scripture, according to a Vatican report. The statistics are among preliminary findings of a study of Bible reading in the United States and eight European countries conducted by an Italian market research firm in preparation for an international synod of Catholic bishops. More than 90 percent of American households contain at least one copy of the Bible, the highest level among the countries studied, according to the study. Three out of four Americans had read at least one passage of Scripture over the previous year, compared to only one out of four Spaniards, who ranked last in that respect. Not surprisingly, exposure paid off in familiarity with the book. When asked seven basic questions about the Bible's contents and authorship, 17 percent of Americans were able to answer all correctly, compared to an average of 15 percent in all the countries studied. But Poles took the prize for biblical knowledge, with 20 percent earning perfect scores on the test. The lowest rank went to the Russians, only 7 percent of whom were able to answer all the questions right.
Televangelist Copeland seeks IRS review. Kenneth Copeland Ministries, one of the ministries that has refused to cooperate fully with a financial investigation by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, has invited the Internal Revenue Service to conduct an inquiry of its own instead. Grassley's office reported four of the six ministries he has been investigating are cooperating with requests to provide him with financial information. Creflo Dollar Ministries in College Park, Ga., has refused to submit financial records. Grassley, the panel's top-ranking Republican, and committee Chairman Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont., had asked ministries that weren't cooperating fully to submit materials by March 31. Jill Gerber, a spokeswoman for the Senate Finance Committee, said both Copeland's and Dollar's ministries continue to decline to send the requested information. “As for the Copeland request for an audit from the IRS, Sen. Grassley has always said that the IRS enforces existing law, while Congress evaluates the adequacy of existing law,” she said. “The two functions are completely different.”
Compiled from Religion News Service