WASHINGTON (AP) _ Exit polls show a majority of Catholic voters supported Republican candidates on Tuesday — a major shift among a voting bloc that has strongly favored Democrats in the past. Data from the National Election Pool reported by CNN found 54 percent of Catholics voted for GOP candidates on Tuesday, while 44 percent [...]

HAVANA (AP) _ Cuban President Raul Castro has joined an American archbishop and other Roman Catholic leaders in opening a national seminary on the outskirts of Havana. It’s the first religious construction on the communist-run island in more than a half century. Havana Cardinal Jaime Ortega had warm words for both Castros at the seminary’s [...]

WASHINGTON (AP) _ The executive director of the D. James Kennedy Center for Christian Statesmanship hopes newly elected members of Congress recognize that God has placed them there for a purpose. George Roller says he believes God puts people in positions and “takes people out.” He warns incoming lawmakers to beware of temptations to pride [...]

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ Volunteers from the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma are providing meals to inmates and workers at the Oklahoma County jail after a drain collapse in the facility’s kitchen. Sheriff John Whetsel says the drain collapsed Wednesday and the kitchen repairs won’t be completed until next week. The Baptist convention’s disaster relief [...]

BAGHDAD (AP) _ Iraq’s dwindling Christian community is grieving and fearful after militants seized a Baghdad church during Sunday Mass, held the congregation hostage and triggered a raid by Iraqi forces. The bloodbath left at least 58 people dead and 78 wounded — nearly everyone in the church. At least 41 Christians in the church [...]

BAGHDAD (AP) _ An Iraqi Christian says she and other worshippers were listening to a Bible reading at a Catholic church in Baghdad Sunday when gunmen burst in and started shooting. U.S. and Iraqi officials say Islamic militants then held around 120 Iraqi Christians hostage for four hours at Our Lady of Deliverance Church until [...]

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) _ A Korean-American missionary held captive in North Korea for six weeks after illegally crossing into the country last Christmas says his interrogators beat and tortured him. Robert Park crossed a frozen river into North Korea from China, shouting that he brought God’s love and carrying a letter urging the totalitarian [...]

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) _ Christian singer Michael W. Smith says he wrote the song “Leave” out of concern for victims of bullying and abuse. In a survey of 43,000 U.S. high school students by the Josephson Institute of Ethics, half said they had bullied someone in the past year, and nearly half said they were [...]

DETROIT (AP) _ A woman who put a card on her church bulletin board seeking a Christian roommate has been accused of violating fair housing laws against religious discrimination. The Michigan Department of Civil Rights is investigating the complaint filed by someone who saw the handwritten ad posted by the 31-year-old woman in Grand Rapids. [...]

JOS, Nigeria (AP) _ A Nigerian Army spokesman says six people have been killed in an apparent reprisal attack in central Nigeria, a region violently divided between Christians and Muslims. Lt. Col. Kingsley Umoh says the attackers hit the Christian village of Chewenkur Tuesday morning. He says the attackers, suspected to be Fulani Muslim herders, [...]